Remote Course Planning

Remote Course Planning

With the initiation of Summer Session A right off the heels of the Spring semester, instructors will likely remain delivering “emergency” remote instruction.  With little time to think through potential modifications to curriculum/content, learning activities, or assessments, even a week or two of focused time can yield strong results in delivering your course remotely with more intention. For faculty teaching in Summer Sessions or Fall, an extended period of time is available to plan intentionally for teaching and learning in the remote environment.  If faculty reflect on lessons learned during the current emergency remote instructional phase and work to design more flexible course frameworks for the future. 

The following Planning Guide will help instructors make more intentional decisions around how to work throught the following for the design and delivery of your upcoming course including How to:

  • Establish and maintain a sense of community and connectedness from day one
  • Eliminate erroneous materials in order to amplify essential understandings and skills
  • Select activities/assignments that support student learning
  • Utilize assessment to facilitate and monitor student learning.       

As you design your remote classes, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning (pedagogical decision making and delivery options) or the Office of Instructional Technology (technical tools for delivery and course design options in Canvas/Catcourses).  Additionally, both websites have a wealth of resources at your disposal and our staff are here to assist you.

Planning Guide

Header image that reads "Remote Teaching Strategies"

Principles of Learning

CETL has created and gathered resources to help you plan and move to remote instruction.

  • Start planning with an in-depth checklist for how to get ready and prepare to transition into online instruction. Read it here.
  • This infographic displays the vital components required for successful online teaching experience. View here.
  • Additional ideas and Resources from UC Davis can be found here.

Reflective Planning

  • Protect yourself and your students from Zoom-bombing. OIT has put together a full page of information and help topics for Zoom here.
  • Need help with Zoom? Download CETL's Getting Started with Zoom for Education here.
  • Sign up for a Zoom consult to get started or learn more about the different functions for remote instruction, designed specifically for faculty by signing up here.

Teaching for Understanding

  • Read our Tips for Effective Group Work Online here.
  • Doing group work with online requires some planning. We've provided a Checklist for Online Group Work here.

Student Engagement Strategies

  • Increasing student engagement during emergency remote instruction presents us with much the same challenge as with onsite courses. Some students always share their thoughts and others remain quiet. Providing opportunities for engagement online takes thoughtful planning and preparation and CETL has provided useful strategies to consider here.

Planning Assessments

  • We cannot deny that for many students and faculty, the first weeks of our transition to emergency remote instruction were very tough, and the potential for a disruption to student learning was high.  The unusual circumstances present us with an opportunity to rethink how we assess student learning here at the end of the semester.  Consider whether the following alternatives suggested here may be appropriate to your course and situation.

  • Educational research questions the assumptions that it is more prevalent or easier to cheat in online exams, read more about Online Education and Authentic Assessment here.

Reducing Cognitive Load

  • We have known for some time that high levels of stress can wreak havoc on our overall health. COVID-19 and the ensuing changes in one’s personal life have certainly heightened levels of stress and anxiety for many in our community. For first-generation and/or underrepresented minority college students, moving into emergency remote instruction (ERI) is an unfamiliar academic environment that may activate or amplify these physical and psychological reactions. The increased demands placed on students during remote learning have increased the cognitive load placed on students and pose additional risks to deep and lasting learning. Read more about strategies to reduce cognitive load for students here.

Additional Resources

  • Looking for alternatives to Zoom? Check out this blog.
  • Exploratory study that identifies the role(s) of the online instructor and categorizes critical competencies for online teaching
  • 10 Tips for Effective Online Discussions | Educause Review - Tips to help educators ensure that online discussions are engaging and beneficial for students. Explore the list here.
  • You can also find a sample rubric for online posts here (download it to make your own modifications here).
  • Touro College provides a number of excellent resources for online learning in higher education here