Guidance to faculty and staff as you prepare to switch to remote instruction.
We’d like to share some practical tips on how to adapt courses for remote learning:
Be patient
Typical online courses can take up to three to four months to build, so building a course out in a matter of days may feel unfamiliar and frustrating. Please be patient, and refer to the resources and training Allegheny and the GLCA have made available.
This rapid transition to online teaching is a wonderful opportunity to think about creative ways for developing new learning opportunities and assessments, as well as ways to encourage engagement with your students and create a sense of community.
Synchronous or Asynchronous?
It is recommended that you try to substitute asynchronous activities for synchronous where possible. Asynchronous activities can ease scheduling difficulties while maintaining similar learning outcomes.
Please remember that some students may not have internet access or may only have internet access through their phones; others may be sharing a device with other family members who are also learning or working remotely.
Focus on interaction
Consider shifting focus from packaging and delivering content, to developing interactions between you and your students, students with other students, and students with the course content.
LITS is encouraging the use of online tools which Allegheny students already know and have access to i.e. G-Suite (the Google suite of tools) and Sakai. You can find out more about G-Suite and Sakai in their online support areas or by contacting LITS (infodesk@allegheny.edu).
Subject tutors and writing consultants are available for remote support.
Communication and feedback
In such a stressful time, clear communication with your students will be vital. Consider making expectations as clear as possible, establishing unambiguous and consistent policies and making them available in an easily accessible place (not just via email).
When it comes to assignment instructions, communication will also be very important. Students will appreciate being able to focus on the assignment instead of struggling with how exactly to do it. Encourage students to begin longer assignments early and ask questions often.
With the limitations on face-to-face interactions, feedback will be critical. Consider how you will keep in touch with students to provide feedback.
G-Suite products such as Gmail, Chat, and Meet are options to keep in contact and provide feedback to students. The use of Google Calendar appointment slots can be used to set up appointments for each of those product options.
Course content
Attention spans are short, especially when students aren’t in the classroom. Consider varying your course instruction by packaging it into “chunks,” and switching between these chunks every couple of minutes. Content chunks of five to seven minutes are ideal, with chunks over 15 minutes being discouraged.
Google Meet has an option to record your narration over a set of Google Slides or other digital content by recording a meeting with just you.
Consider breaking up your lectures with pre-made, third-party materials, such as book chapters, videos, websites, podcasts, online simulations and articles.
Exams
Sakai’s Tests and Quizzes tool can be used to administer exams with several question types.
In this unique situation, online exams will have implications similar to open-book exams. By taking the exam remotely, students will have access to the internet and each other.
Group work and discussions
Discussion threads or the blog feature or the forums feature in Sakai and shared documents in Google Drive can be used for group work. Because students are losing the ability to meet with their groups in person, consider setting up a group space in Sakai or a Google Meet room for them to virtually meet with their group members. Students will likely not know how to do this on their own.
Discussion threads can be a great way to keep lines of communication open between you and students. To use a discussion thread faculty can craft interesting discussion questions and set clear rules for posts and responses. If you’re teaching a larger class, you can break students up into smaller discussion groups.
Accessibility/Accommodations
While the current goal is to get your course up and running as soon as possible, please don’t assume all of your students will have access to a laptop and internet some may be working from their cell phones.
While no one solution is going to solve every possible situation, there are different options available to help service the needs of unique cases. Discuss alternative and realistic options with your students who need these special accommodations. For example, students can still access Google Meet sessions by calling in, even if they aren’t signed on to the internet.
Also, consider accessibility. Are your PDFs screen-readable? Is alt-text included with all of your images? If you use different colors for text on your slide deck, is there enough contrast between the text and the background?
Disability Accommodation Guidance for Faculty
- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) continues to apply to all methods of instruction.
- Students who are currently approved for extended time on in-class tests/quizzes are still entitled to time-and-a-half for anything online that is timed. This does not apply to papers/assignments that have been assigned ahead of time and are intended to be worked on outside of the scheduled online instruction period.
- Student Disability Services will coordinate with current, hired note takers about providing notes to students they are currently working with on a case by case basis.
- Faculty should only use college approved online platforms for instruction and materials so that we can ensure Section 508 compliance and online accessibility.
- Students who are utilizing assistive technology have had the software installed on their current machines, so that should not be an issue. PDF tends to be the most accessible document format for most reading software.
- Captioning should be implemented into all videos/audio.
- When recording audio or video for your course, develop a script when possible. It can be posted alongside the media as a transcript, and can also help you to create a better recording.
- Any newly approved accommodations for students or issues with current accommodations can be handled over email/phone if necessary.
- Be flexible and adjust deadlines and strategies to create an inclusive learning environment. Students with diagnoses such as an Autism Spectrum Disorder or anxiety may not adjust well to abrupt changes, making flexibility even more important during these unexpected changes to instruction.
*It is inevitable that we will have individualized circumstances to work around with some of our more creative and unique accommodations for students. Please don’t hesitate to contact Student Disability Services with any questions or concerns.
Audio quality
Nobody is expecting a Hollywood production. Quality audio will be more important than quality video. Audio quality can be improved by making sure you are speaking loud and clear, and by using a microphone if you have one available. Consider testing out your audio and getting feedback from others before meeting synchronously with your students.
FERPA
Q: Does it constitute a FERPA violation to a) give a student my cell phone number and tell them I would welcome questions or comments on readings by text b) to respond to their text by text, about course content (not grade information, or information about their standing in the course.)
A: FERPA doesn’t apply to your personal information, so no. The other option is to forward your office phone to your cell and give the students that — but that’s up to you. Google Chat can also be used to avoid personal cell phone numbers.
Q: Do instructors need permission from all students in their class if they want to record Google Meet classes and post them?
A: Students do not have the right to be private in a classroom. But a recording of a class in which students are visible is an educational record. See https://www.umass.edu/it/support/lecture-capture/lecture-capture-and-ferpa