With the impact of COVID-19 closing most campuses around the country, educators, students and institutions have made the transition to online-only courses. If you’re one of the many instructors who’s made this move—kudos. Now comes the task of keeping students engaged, motivated and on the path to success—even while learning in virtual “classrooms.”
We’ve gathered some of our favorite blog posts about online teaching and learning from over the years, each offering tips you can quickly implement, whether you’re transitioning your course online for the first time or looking for ways to keep students focused and engaged while learning at home.
Setting Up Your Online Course
Making the transition to online? The following articles and resources cover key topics to tackle as your course gets up and running, like steps to ensure your students know course expectations and strategies to facilitate group work.
- Clearly Communicating Information About Your Online Course
- Success Strategies for Teamwork in the Online Setting
- Assignments in the Online Course: How Much is Too Much?
- Resources for Teaching Online
Fostering Student Success in a Virtual “Classroom”
Just as you’ve had to evolve your approach to online teaching, your students have had to evolve their own approaches to online learning. Save—and share with your students—the following links for studying, test-taking and overall success tips for taking an online course.
- Helping Students Prepare for Online Courses
- Get Plugged In: 10 Attributes of a Successful Online Student
- Helping Online Learners Assess Potential Distractions
- Tips for Student Success in an Online Course
- Online Teaching Tips for a Quality Virtual Classroom
- Tips for Taking Online Exams
Bolstering Your Curriculum & Teaching Approaches for Remote Instruction
Whether you’re considering ways to supplement your current instruction, or looking ahead to future online classes, these articles and resources provide peer-tested strategies, insights and more to keep students focused and on the path to achieving course goals.
- Creating Online Activities that Align with Your Outcomes
- What to Consider When Planning Assessments in Online Courses
- Promoting Student Civility: Online and Offline
- Four Tips: Creating Prompts for Online Discussion Boards
- Adjusting the Lens: Active Learning in Online Classes
- Teaching Strategies to Motivate Online Students
- Virtual Trouble: Managing Challenge Student Behaviors in the Online Environment
For more content to support your online instruction, check out our COVID-19 faculty page. There you’ll find resources and tools, like webinars led by experienced online instructors on a variety of remote teaching topics—from virtually assessing students to fostering group discussions.
You can also find peer-tested, on-demand webinars from the Empowered Educator event; relevant sessions include online-learning topics like managing challenging students in a virtual setting and creating a sense of community despite being off campus.
