Please contact dcal@dartmouth.edu or learning.design.tech@dartmouth.edu to discuss any of these course standards.
Where to Begin
❒ Clearly state when and how often students should expect to interact with you.
Clearly state when and how often students should expect to interact with you, both synchronously (office hours, class discussion) and asynchronously (email, Canvas discussion boards, assignments).
❒ Describe how you will deliver content to your students.
Pre-recorded video and live sessions using web conferencing (Zoom) that will be recorded and available for students to view are two popular options. Remember that it is difficult to require students to log on at a prescheduled time due to a variety of issues: internet bandwidth, timezones, and life circumstances among them. Therefore, the more you can make available for students to engage with on their own schedule, the more students you can reach.
❒ Create a place where students can ask questions about course format and logistics.
Create a place where students can ask questions about course format and logistics, such as a Canvas discussion thread, designated first five minutes of a live session, or a course feedback form that is submitted directly to you.
❒ Develop a plan for creating behavioral norms within the class.
Develop a plan for creating behavioral norms within the class. Perhaps this is a list of pre-established expectations, or perhaps you will set these collaboratively with your students. This explicit list of behaviors can help inform students what you’d like to see in assignments, on a discussion board, or within live sessions. Review the First Day of Classes resource for tips on setting expectations.
Building and Sustaining Community
❒ Articulate requirements for student engagement.
Articulate how students will be required to interact with you and each other, and where they will have the optional opportunities to do so.
❒ Create opportunities for human connection.
Consider the portions of your course that help build human connection and emphasize them as much as possible.
Review your course materials and content delivery
❒ Align your course materials with your learning objectives.
Review your course content through the lens of your learning objectives for your students. Is there content you might cut, substitute, or add in a remote environment?
❒ Review the available technology and make choices.
Your support team can help you with this. Become as comfortable as you can, attend a training, schedule practice time, and ask for help when you need it.
❒ Use clear video labels and descriptions.
Clearly define and label any recordings so that students know which course content can be found in each video.
❒ Explain how students should review materials timing.
Share expectations of when and how students should be viewing videos and reading materials.
❒ Review policies for time zone considerations.
Align your policies and expectations so that students in different timezones, with varying degrees of internet bandwidth and life circumstances, have flexibility within the course structure.
❒ Create a rhythm and consistency with due dates and expectations.
This doesn’t mean you can’t be creative and diverse with assignments themselves!
Create opportunities for engagement and discussion
❒ Explain how students should engage.
Develop and share a plan for how (and why!) students will engage with you and with each other.
❒ Communicate how students should expect the instructor to engage in discussions.
Document your expectations and reasons for when you will participate in online discussions (both live and asynchronous).
❒ Set discussion expectations.
Set policies, assignments, and expectations so that students are able to give and receive feedback, both with you and with each other.
Revising Assignments for Remote Teaching and Delivering Assessments and Exams Online
❒ Create frequent opportunities for students to get feedback on their work.
Frequent low stakes activities where students are submitting a product (assignment, knowledge check quiz, survey on confusion points, discussion posts) help keep them on track with the course schedule. Students may need more help with time management in the remote format, and clear deadlines with checkpoints can mitigate this problem.
❒ Alter face-to-face assessments for remote teaching.
Consider how assessments that you delivered in a face-to-face setting might need to change while still meeting the learning objectives you have for your students.
❒ Clearly articulate how and when students will be assessed.
Clearly articulate how/when students will be assessed, how they should prepare for these assessments, and what you hope the assessments will accomplish within your learning objectives.
❒ Review assessments for accessibility barriers.
Consider how accommodation needs might fit into your assessment plan. Schedule a conversation with Student Accessibility Services if needed.
❒ Use "due dates" in Canvas
Clearly post due dates using Canvas tools.
Communicating with Students and Office Hours
❒ Clearly share links for office hours.
Post your plan for office hours with any necessary links that students will need to access in an upfront location.
❒ Clearly share links for class sessions.
Ensure that all the links students will need, for meetings or recordings, etc. are available on your Canvas homepage (or easily navigable from there).