While many faculty pivoted online at the end of last year’s Spring and Fall semesters, beginning a class online may be a new experience for many. Below, find some tips about how to approach starting the semester online whether by choice, or by necessity.

• Communicate Early and Often
• Think about Technology
• Start Strong
• Ask for Help

Click here for more general information on ITS support for Spring courses including information on Zoom, Panopto, student access to software, equipment loans, and much more.

Communicate Early and Often

With the announcement of a remote start your students will have many questions about how your course will kick-off in this new modality. Communicating openly and regularly can help minimize an inbox onslaught of one-off questions, and more importantly, calm some of your students’ (and your) anxiety.

You don’t need to have all the answers immediately. A quick message to acknowledge the pivot, and a promise to communicate again once you’ve created a plan will make a big difference.

Course Distribution Lists

All courses have email distribution lists. The students registered for your class are automatically subscribed to the list (with their Clark email addresses.) You and your students can use this as a way to communicate with the whole class.

The email address for the distribution list follows the syntax: course-section-semester@lists.clarku.edu (ex. Biology 114, section 01, this Spring translates to biol114-01-S21@lists.clarku.edu). You will also find a link to the distribution list in your Moodle course and in the Address List in your email.  Please note that you must use your Clark University email to send messages using this distribution list.  The students in your course also have permission to use this email address.

Moodle Announcements Forum

Another easy way to communicate with your class is to use the Announcements forum in your Moodle course. Faculty and TAs can create a post in this forum, and all students will receive the message as an email to their Clark University email address.

ClarkYou Roster

Your class roster in ClarkYou will also give you the option to email all (or select) currently enrolled students in your course.

Think about Technology

As you begin to formulate a teaching plan for the remote portion of the semester, it’s likely that technology will play a significant role. Thinking about your, and your students’ needs, and asking for support now, can help you get off to a great start in Week 1.

Moodle

Even if you don’t use Moodle in a regular semester, it can provide a central space for information, communication and resources for your students during a remote start. You can link to your Zoom classrooms so that students always have it available, you can post your syllabus or other resources, and make and collect important announcements.  If you haven’t used Moodle before, here are some videos to get started.

• • How to enable your course in Moodle
  • How to make your course visible in Moodle
  • More how-to videos on Moodle

Zoom

For those faculty who were expecting to welcome students back to a physical classroom, moving your first weeks of class to Zoom may be a good alternative.

All Clark faculty have access to a fully licensed account (previously called Pro accounts), which allow meetings that can run for up to 24 hours, with up to 300 participants.

While many of us have spent much of the last year in Zoom meetings, if you’re planning on using Zoom for your class to meet remotely, we recommend spending some time familiarizing yourself with how to host and facilitate meetings. Feel free to use your Clark account to practice with family and friends.

• • Zoom at Clark University
  • Zoom Support site
  • Best practices for Zoom sessions

Software and Hardware

Do your students have specific software needs during the remote period? All students have access to Zoom, Microsoft Office (including Teams), Moodle and more, but if you use specialist software, please read more about how ITS may be able to support them as they learn remotely.

• • Information on access to specialist software

When it comes to having the correct tools on hand, ITS can provide faculty with short and long-term loans of Web-Cameras and Headsets (with Microphones) for Zoom calls and recordings, along with other technology including video cameras, document cameras and drawing tablets.

• • Information on equipment loans

Start Strong

The last year has seen all of us become more open and able to continue to teach and learn remotely. Our hope is that faculty will begin the semester in a way that will allow our students’ learning to stay on track for the semester, while being as engaging and rich as possible.

Build Community

Since our remote start is temporary, your instinct may be to leave introductions, ice-breakers or community building until you can welcome your students in person. However, it is possible to begin that important process online, which will give you more time and flexibility when we do return to campus.  Students will be both eager to begin learning, and anxious on how to navigate learning online so acknowledging those motivations and getting to know each other can help create connections that will last all semester.

• • Click here for an excerpt from a book that focuses on how to build community in the early days of an online semester
    • Bender, T. (2003). Starting to Teach the Online Class. In Discussion Based Online Teaching to Enhance Student Learning (pp. 45-55). Stylus Publishing. 10.1111/j.1467-9647.2006.00283_8.x

Identify What Will Work

When considering the remote period, look at your syllabus and course schedule with a critical eye and identify content, activities and assessments that will work successfully with this new modality.

Many activities can now move into synchronous online (via Zoom), or asynchronous (via Moodle) delivery with a little adaptation, including lectures, discussions and small-group work. For example, if your course begins with a number of lectures about foundational theory and some introductory discussions, before the introduction of more hands on activities later in the semester, the changes you need to make may be minimal.

Alternatively, if your course begins immediately with hands-on activities that are difficult to replicate online without extensive planning you may need to be more creative. Some thoughts on how to accommodate a previously hands-on start to the semester include

• • Considering your full course schedule, are there some stand-alone lessons that would be successful online that could be moved earlier in the semester?
  • If you’ve previously invited guests into your classroom (librarians, career services, guest speakers) and your students can successfully engage with this content earlier in the semester, moving it to a Zoom session could be a good option. Be sure to reach out to your guests early to ensure they have the availability to move their appearance.
  • Movie and documentary screenings, with subsequent discussions can be an activity that lends itself to distance learning. If you need to discuss how to make a movie available to your remote students, please read more about our digitization service here.

Ask for Help

We’re here to support you during the remote start, and into the Spring Semester, so please don’t hesitate to reach out.

• For questions about how to approach teaching online, you can contact Laurie Ross of CETL or Joanne Dolan
• For technology questions, contact the Help Desk (helpdesk@clarku.edu) so that we can direct your request to the most appropriate department for the quickest response.
• Not sure what questions to ask, or who to ask them of? Email Joanne Dolan to get pointed in the right direction.