March 27, 2020

COVID-19 Teaching: worrying about what might go wrong

As we prepare to teach online, it's natural to worry about all the things that might go wrong. This is new to most of us! But, my Grandma Powell had some good advice, and I hope you'll check the video to see how it applies to teaching with Zoom and other online adventures.

Keep Teaching everyone!  This is the last scheduled daily video, but who knows? We may be back in the near future with more teaching hints and ideas. Leave a comment here if you have an idea for a topic to cover!

March 26, 2020

COVID-19 Teaching: we meet my office mate

Today, Mr. Kudu (my office mate) reflects on what he's noticed during the last week of video-making.  Check it out. You also learn why I am not a ventriloquist, sound engineer, or cinematographer.

March 25, 2020

COVID-19 Teaching: structuring your online course materials

Today, we're going to think about the content for your new online course (lectures, assignments, etc.) and how to structure them. We aren't in the classroom anymore, Toto!

So, you can use this technique: Chop and Flow

Think about the flow of how you want students to work through material and chop it into accessible pieces. Check out some ideas here!

COVID-19 Teaching: moving exams and quizzes online (Part 2)

Today's video shares information that can help you structure your exam or quiz in your learning management software in a way that is challenging for students who are attempting to work together. Perhaps normally you would be watching the class take the exam in your classroom, or your Testing Center would provide oversight. However, that's not possible now. What can you do? Check out this short video for some key ideas.

March 22, 2020

COVID-19 Teaching: moving exams and quizzes online (Part 1)

If you are needing to give an exam or quiz online, now, your students are most likely sitting (unsupervised) in their home or dorm room. Today's video covers how to restructure that exam to assume it is open book. Ask higher level questions that don't have answers found directly in your textbook or other resources!

COVID-19 Teaching: moving labs online

If you teach a lab course and suddenly need to move it online, here are some hints from some of my colleagues at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on how to modify and reshape the laboratory experience to fit online.

March 19, 2020

COVID-19 Teaching: Backward Design

If you teach at a college or university, you've joined a club of instructors who have made it through 2/3 of the semester and now need to restructure your class to be online or completed remotely. COVID-19 has forced students out of the classroom, and we're really starting a grant experiment to see how we can construct student learning opportunities quickly and in a completely different manner than we had planned.

I'm starting a new series of videos, called "1.5-minute Teaching" in which you'll find short but (hopefully) helpful ideas to help with teaching in this scenario. And, maybe the ideas will be useful later in the normal world as well!

First off, let's talk about Backward Design. Your first step is to figure out what you are going to do--you have to change the syllabus. What content can you keep? How do you redo this section of the semester?

Backward Design is a great tool for constructing your course. If you haven't used it before, here's a great chance to use it for a small piece of your course. Take a listen!