@S.Gunabalan perhaps you could add your insights here too

Hi A. S.!

I think the secret is in the right design mix between synchronous and asynchronous modalities in the process of a course, this more or less independent of if it is new digital or old analogue ICTs that are the secrets are both a well- designed combination of synchronous and asynchronous

Totally asynchronous courses, as MOOCs, have to little dramaturgy for most students as they lack synchronous components to drive the process. But too much synchronous components in relation to asynchronous has too little flexibility and access. See some of my papers on this If interested.

Article A time based blended learning model

Article Time Shifting and Agile Time Boxes in Course Design

Thanks Anders Norberg for your thoughts and links. I agree that a mix of synchronous and asynchronous can be ideal. So, if someone who has never taught online before suddenly had to start within the week, what would you suggest to them?

I record two videos a week for my online classes -- an announcements video, typical of announcements at the beginning of an in-person class, and also a lecture video. I record the lecture video at my desk using my iPhone and a tripod mount, then I edit in any needed slides. The students have a quiz over each chapter, but much of the rest of the class is online discussion, typically with 2-3 topics a week, depending on the class. Finally, I give "take-home" midterm and final tests that focus on critical thinking.

Thanks Michael Marweck! I have colleagues concerned about cheating. Do you have tips to address this?

As a person with experience and a researcher on the subject, my sites with pupils are in Hebrew. If anyone wants to translate them for him/herself, you will find some incredible suggestions there. Here is an example of the activation of 4th graders in city planning. https://sites.google.com/nahalal.tzafonet.org.il/tikshuv-nahalal/%D7%AA%D7%A9%D7%A4/%D7%9E%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%99%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%91?authuser=0

You can read more in an article that I published in 2018.

Meaningful Learning And Motivation To Write. Teachers-Students Building A Website Together

Conference Paper Meaningful Learning And Motivation To Write. Teachers-Studen...

In my opinion, teachers teaching online should up skill themselves to understand the teacher's tools available for the platform that they are teaching on. Engagement in virtual world is a completely different ball game. The tools usually help in driving engagement and encourages two way communication.

I think it is important to engage the beneficiaries themselves, looking at the limited time you have to structure your thoughts around it. maybe it is important to have a direct engagement with them which is targeted, and suits the target audience. That will reserve time for you to prepare what will work best.

I think it is important to note that applying online learning required cooperation in two directions. Schools and universities prepare a suitable environment and infrastructure (virtual labs., e-larning software, smart boards, communication tools,...etc.). On the other hand students and teachers should understand the online learning values and have the required competencies to use the technology products in teaching-learning processes.

Without this understanding, I think it is difficult to apply a qualitative online learning.

Many thanks for your question.

Hi again Anna S. CohenMiller !

I saw you posed me a follow-up question: "So, if someone who has never taught online before suddenly had to start within the week, what would you suggest to them?"

Well, the teacher (T) could need some initial technical help, but could in principle continue with the logic in course design that he is familiar with. (If she/he is not just a guest lecturer in a course or similar, but the main teacher responsible for the whole course process.)

T first gathers students to a synchronous session, but this time not a co-located one, but via a synchronous platform (Zoom, Adobe Connect, Skype, whatever) where T introduces the course and gives the first lecture. Then T hands out assignments, as texts to be read before next synchronous meeting. These texts are for asynchronous use, perhaps made available on the LMS or just distributed. T hands out an assignment to discuss a relevant problem in the LMS forum and says that everyone has to contribute in some way - so students can begin to communicate in the course.

Then next synchronous session - I would recommend that this is no mainly a lecture top get on in the course, but a discussion or similar about the read texts and conclusion concerning the problem discussed, and the job to be done asynchronously until next synchronous meeting. So it goes on – sync-asynch-synch-asynch shifts with perhaps a planned climax in a problematisation workshop or concluding application discussion - prepared asynchronously and finalised in the synchronous meeting where more instant-interactive communication can take place. Upcoming interesting problems in the synchronous session can be assigned to be discussed asynchronously until next synchronous meeting.

But, I hear protests: students will not read texts in preparation to a synchronous session – they just go there and hope all we be OK if they just look interested – and T is used to it always being so, so T make the lecture basic as if no one had read the texts. So is a culture of inactivity created and ambitious students are ill-treated.

Instead, the teacher should have the synchronous session to build on the student reading/work, and not give up on that. To help students with new habits, T can also demand that they after the text reading but before the next synchronous meeting send in answers on 3 questions (on a Google form or something), very simple – Just examples: 1) What of this connected to your earlier knowledge and experience? 2) What did you find extra interesting or unexpected or new? 3) What did you find difficult to understand so we should use extra time on that in class? These answers T has not to work with a lot, just take samples when planning the next synchronous meeting.

Then I would recommend to bring in more and more of the flipped classroom logic as well, to use synchronous session to discussion and application and checking that all understand and follow. Then the asynchronous homework does not need to be recorded lectures from T. It can be good you-tube videos, it can be texts, it can be anything – but it needs a framing, what to do with it, how to use it, etc. So for example Ted-Ed is an excellent tool.

Anna S. CohenMiller - Usually I have blended learning and I have skillful with using almost the digital latest tools & resources, but now it is going to be remote/distant learning. Our sessions are expected to be 60 minutes.My interaction with students is going to be via chatting/board discussion if it is not a live stream; I am not sure yet about all students' ability to log in even though I have sent a survey. I am still in the planning process so this thread is so helpful to me. I know I will need to insert a tool to check their sentiments during attending the session - as they are not in front of you to see/check their reactions- which is something I find it missing while tailoring the remote lesson plan.

Anyway, here is a google document for the best resources & tools fo remote learning/distant teaching. I know many in other regions will find it helpful. It would be great if others contribute. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OChaWkF8-k263bAXyPARJmF4x8vZEV2HCGxy5P6e80A/edit

I use the Zoom platform for the synchronous portions. I screen share a PowerPoint slide deck to structure the discussion. The slides have visual clues (icons for various types of student actions with a text cue) to prompt for student participation. This allows students to order their thinking and mentally prepare for the participation as I introduce the slide. Slides have the most important information shared. I utilize PowerPoint animations such as revealing bullet points on click.

Students keep their video feed on (helps with engagement) and unmute themselves to orally share or use chat for written contributions. It's important to say, "Just unmute yourself to share or drop your response in chat." When not sharing, it is important that participants mute themselves. Headphones are also important to prevent feedback loops. This is also true for the instructor.

I prompt for various reaction buttons (Yes/No, raise hand mainly). I also use the poll feature for surveys to gauge student opinions/reaction. They can be anonymous or not.

I utilize the breakout rooms for group work. During the small group work, I pop in and out of the groups virtually, monitoring work and answering questions. Group work typically requires students to use their asynchronous experience or the information just covered in the whole group. I often will drop a document into the whole group chat prior to starting the breakout groups to be used by the group during breakouts.

I find 90 minutes is optimal for Zoom. It's long enough to delve deeply into content and have groups. Any longer is just too exhausting.

One critical piece of advice I would give to anyone facilitating a Zoom platform class for the first time is to quadruple usual wait time. Students are learning the technology. It takes a bit for them to determine how to unmute themselves and actually share.

Pam

Acredito no sistema Blended Learning porque ele permite um planejamento pedagógico adequado para o equilíbrio entre aula presencial e aula virtual.

It is important to have been trained in virtual teaching. What I do is to use the tools and resources we have in the platform. Questionnaires are very useful for students to answer questions, to do matching exercises, etc. because students have limited time to answer and they receive feedback once they complete the exercises. Forums also help students in developing their writing skills and criticism. Obviously, professors have to give clear guidelines on how to participate in the forums. I also assign students oral practices. I give them a topic to develop in 3 minutes orally., for example about a current event. They record themselves and send them to me.

Rather than morphing live lectures, tests, and quizzes into virtual versions of the same thing, we’re helping our university partners try something completely new by exposing students virtually to real-world organizations, their employees, and their business challenges.

If you’re unfamiliar with industry-integrated project based experiential learning, take a look at our experiential learning framework, which outlines the approach we use to help schools build collaborative learning engagements in conjunction with industry partners. Through our projects, students practice using critical soft skills — such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity — and key technical skills (like Tableau, AutoCad, Photoshop, G-Suite, SQL, and Jira) in an effort to produce real business outcomes for real stakeholders. CapSource students walk away from these engagements with reference-worthy experiences that they can add to their resumes and discuss on job interviews. 

By going virtual with industry collaborations, educators are able to teach students the complexities of working on distributed teams, which has been increasing in popularity long before the Coronavirus outbreak. With experience conducting virtual meetings, collaboratively managing projects using virtual tools, and successfully delivering project results through a fully virtual environment, emerging professionals can separate themselves as a prime candidate for the roles that interest them once officially in the professional work environment post-graduation. 

https://capstonesource.com/virtual-experiential/

P/P with voice over.

Hello Anna,

I've been teaching online since 2016 (incl. at NU ;)

I found suggestions above really helpful, especially when one starts teaching remotely. I also came across this checklist in one of other related conversations at researchgate.net. Please see attached. Greetings to GSE faculty.

A. S. CohenMiller - Turning the schedule and the curriculum online is not an easy job. It needs preparation of staff and their trains; It also needs reformatting the content to match online delivery. Use of Zoom or WebEx may be useful in such delivery together with the learning management system.

In my view I can argue that asynchronous method will be the best method at this time of emergency. this is because it allows for flexibility in terms of time, allows repetition of the learnt content later time and gives learners opportunity to learn even beyond the scheduled times. Platforms to be used include moodle and Microsoft office Onenote.

In moodle, the teacher can record lessons and post on to the moodle, the learners can access at different times. The teacher also prepares assignments and tasks, and posts for learners to access. The teacher also creates a discussion forum where learners can engage in discussion and share their work for other members to critique. To create an inclusive environment in moodle, the teacher creates content that has both text and audio visual content. The fact that it can enable learners to study even at different times, makes it care for slow learners too.

On the other hand, synchronous methods such as zoom have an advantage that it enables the learner to ask questions that are not clear instantly and get a response, as opposed to asynchronous where the learners posts and waits for some time.

However, despite this advantage advantage of synchronous, its my view that asynchronous methods is method in more appropriate.

Check this blog out: https://catlintucker.com/2020/03/designing-an-online-lesson/

I also have some discussion in Vietnamese here. Some bold texts are link to the software, you can try: https://thetoobluescientist.com/thiet-ke-bai-hoc-online-5es-va-cong-cu-di-kem/

Check the document that Gerardo Avalos posted on March 24 in this post: https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_platforms_would_you_recommend_for_online_classes_that_are_flexible_easy_to_use_and_free_or_inexpensive

— What is essential to be a good online teacher? — "Be flexible and open-minded vis-à-vis new technology. It might be daunting" at first, but students adapt to it very quickly.

Eurydice Network interviews Sophie Queuniet from Columbia University in the City of New York, who uses a 100% online synchronous approach ✍️

➡️ https://europa.eu/!WD47fv

I am developing some PowerPoints with voiceover using Screencast-o-matic.com, which I was encouraged to use during an assignment task as part of the master's in education I completed recently. I will need to do more 'live' classes, but I think my aim overall is to use a combination of both. It is good to read from other posters that learners are apparently adapting quite quickly. I have a friend teaching younger kids and he told me that after a positive experience initially, several of his students have ADD, for example, and the challenges or even difficulties in managing these in a real-world class are intensified online.

Nice Dear Frank Stephen Thompson

I'm currently involved in adapting our Trade Union Studies Certificate programme for online delivery due to Covid-19 restrictions here in Ireland. This programme is normally delivered via 3-hour night classes once a week. We consider exact replication of this method for delivery online to be unsuitable. Learners in their home environment may find it difficult to have exclusive use of equipment for that length of time and/or ensure against interruptions from other members of the household. Instead we prepare reading materials/ PowerPoint with voice over/video/podcasts incorporating the lecture material and make this available some days in advance of class. A reduced class time is then used as a tutorial and allows for better engagement amongst learners and with the tutor as the material is a little more familiar. Microsoft Teams is useful as it allows for sharing of PowerPoint and a blog type arrangement for questions/observations. Otherwise Screencast is useful; we also upload videos to our own YouTube channel and have started using 'menti' - (www.mentimeter.com ). Looking forward to seeing other responses here - still learning!

Tish

Corona Virus has made a revolution within the economic and social processes around the word. Technology has been introduced in all the areas around the word and education is not the exception. However, I have heard that many students are not following the daily instruction and education is not getting empowered but children are not taking advantage of the platforms and teachers’ efforts. Students need to be trained, like averything else, in the use of technology for distance learning, whereas responsibility is the central point. in countries that have rich economies, most of the students could have access to internet and laptops, but what about poor countries? Most of the students lack of resources to get the resources and in many cases, rural area do not get internet. This pandemia has moved the world to spaces that we were not prepared. People is learning and adapting to this new of life, it will take time.

Nice Contribution Tish Gibbons

I always use collaborative boards. This is a way of motivating all students to participate. Usually, my students work in groups or in pairs and I assign a board to each group. There, I can see their work and I can give them feedback to make corrections. I also give them PPP with voice so they can review contents out of class.