5 Things You Can Do Now to Prepare for Going Online This Fall

Ready or not, the Fall 2020 semester is here! You may or may not know what that looks like yet for your courses. Will you be back to face to face or be online in some capacity? Either way, here are five things you should be doing now to be ready for whatever curveball the Fall 2020 semester throws at you!

Preparing for the start of a new semester is always filled with so many emotions — excitement, motivation to try new ideas, nervousness, and probably a little stress in there too. However, no matter what field of education you are in, this start of the semester is probably bringing a whole new set of emotions — uncertainty, concern, stress. To help minimize those heavy emotions and bring back some of the excitement and motivation, we have created this simple list of five things you can do over the next few weeks to help prepare you for the start of the semester.

Don’t miss out on the FREE Course Map Planning Sheet Download below!

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Table of Contents

Mapping Out Your Semester

Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan

We all know that lesson plans, curriculums, and program standards are what make the education-world go round, but have you mapped out your semester yet? Mapping or planning out your semester is one great way to ensure a couple of important things happen in your course:

  1. Students learn and achieve what you need them to throughout the semester.
  2. You have an inkling of an idea of what topic or concept you are supposed to be lecturing on today.
  3. Your instruction is focused and doesn’t veer off on too many tangents.
  4. You are able to easily track you and your students’ progress throughout the semester. 

Planning out your course is not specific to one style or format, of course. It can be done for all courses across all formats or learning environments (online, F2F, hybrid).

Need a FREE Course Map to Help You Plan Your Online Course?

Be sure to snag our Course Planning Map above to help you start planning out your semester. We encourage you to use this map to plan out all of your courses. 

If you are mapping out a face to face course, we also want to challenge you to think about how the different components you are planning would transfer to online learning. We hope all your face to face courses are able to stay in the classroom, but it won’t hurt to keep the idea of going online in the back of your mind as you are planning. 

Our Course Planning Map will prompt you to think about and plan for all the important aspects of instruction, such as; learning objectives, learning materials, and assessments. 

Be sure to get the FREE file above! 

Think Project-Based Learning Assessments

As learning is shifting to the online environment, your focus does not have to turn away from your students and to the computer screen. Instead, be creative and find new ways for your students to take charge of their learning even though you may be at a distance!

Project-based learning can be an extremely powerful and engaging way to learn even in the online environment. 

“Project Based Learning is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.”  PBLworks.org 

 

Project-based learning is meant to be student-centered and student-driven, so think outside of the box and find new opportunities for your students to really control and engage in their own learning. Give them all the tools and supports they need and then let them learn! You probably will be surprised at what they can do. 

Please do keep in mind that this may not always be appropriate for all ages of students. However, we do believe that given the correct supports and tools, even our youngest students can do amazing things online. 

ePortfolios are an amazing online tool for project-based learning! We would recommend checking out Digication as an excellent platform designed to be used in any education setting. ePortfolios can be an outstanding digital platform for students to demonstrate their learning creatively. 

Here are a few ideas of project-based learning assessments that could be showcased in an ePortfolio:

  1. Create a website for a service or product (business, accounting, media, trades)
  2. Record a podcast (communications, media, leadership)
  3. Document a creation process (art, culinary, trades)
  4. Create an ebook (writing, language studies)
  5. Design and develop a training program (kinesiology, nursing, health care)
  6. Develop a personal ePortfolio of a skill (resume building, leadership, graduating students)
  7.  SO MUCH MORE!

Please comment below or share any additional ideas you might have on our Facebook page!

Record Lectures

After you’ve planned out your course, you can now start recording some of your lectures! Having your lectures pre-recorded will save you so much time as you begin delivering your course. 

You might be asking, “Why would I pre-record my lectures if I teach face to face?” There are so many ways you can use recorded lectures in person. One of the biggest is that it frees you up to do other things! 

If you teach K-12, imagine creating stations that your students can rotate through. At one station, students can watch your lecture(s); at another, they do an activity; and at another, they meet with you.

In higher ed, you can have students watch lectures as homework before coming to class (flipped classroom), allowing for more active interactions during the precious in-person time. 

Finally, think of the stress you will save yourself if you were to have to move your course online again. So get recording!

Tips for recording lectures:

  1. Create some sort of visual aid to lecture with (PowerPoint, relevant graphics, study guide) Check out Canva if you need to create interesting graphics easily. 
  2. Keep your face visible during the lecture along with your visual! Students want to see you, even if you are recording in your dining room with the cat in the background. 
  3. Consider recording multiple mini-lectures (<10mins) instead of one long lecture. Students can navigate and complete the mini-lectures easier and more successfully than trying to focus on one long lecture – make the most of your students’ attention span! 
  4. Have the right software and tools to make recording videos easy. When you have the right gear, any task can be completed more efficiently. Check out our recommendations below. 

Software and Tool Recommendations:

  1. Screencast-O-Matic: screen and video recording tool that can be launched directly from the browser. Has many great features that make creating videos very simple and intuitive. One of our favorites! 
  2. Camtasia: the best all-in-one screen and video recording software. Allows for video editing, special effects, callouts, and much more. If you are going to be doing any serious video recording and production, this is a must-have. 
  3. Toonly or Doodly: two fun animated video creation tools. Engage your students by creating an explainer video using the fun animations these tools offer. 
  4. Snagit: the easiest screen capturing tool on the market. If you need to create screenshots to share with your students, then you will fall in love with this tool! 

Check out our Educational Technology Recommendation page!

Practice Virtual Office Hours

Social distancing looks like it might be around for a while. However, instructors still need to be able to meet and work with students and colleagues. This is the time to learn how to use and begin embracing meeting virtually. With a positive mindset, everyone can benefit from this new norm. 

To help you prepare for the upcoming semester, we recommend you start practicing these virtual meetings whenever you get the chance! Need to call your Grandmother? Try setting her up to connect with you via Zoom. It is good practice for you, and it could help you learn how to explain to others how to use the tool. Trust us, if you can get your Grandmother on Zoom, you can help everyone – Thanks Grandma! 

Practicing using this technology now will again save you so much time and headache when it comes to implement and rely on it in your course. 

There are many different tools out there that will allow you to meet with others virtually. Microsoft Teams and Zoom are the two video conferencing tools that are dominating the market right now. 

Be sure to add a statement in your course syllabus or newsletter explaining to students how to contact you to set up a virtual meeting or when they can log into your virtual office hours. 

Appointlet is an excellent scheduling tool that will sync with your calendar and allow students to schedule meeting times with you without the hassle of back-and-forth emails. 

Find Your Favorites

There are endless online tools, apps, resources, games, software, and learning platforms out there, and the list will only keep growing! If you haven’t started exploring these tools now is the time.

We’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite technology tools so please save and share our list. However, we also recommend that you start your own list of some of your favorite tools. Keep this list close by, and as you discover new tools, be sure to add it to your list. Trust us, when you are in a crunch and need the perfect tool, this list will come in handy. 

Save and Share our Educational Technology Recommendation page and refer to it later!

We are always adding to our list of recommendations, but if you know of something we are missing from our list, please let us know! 

Of course, we hope you will like and share our page as one of your go-to resources for online teaching and learning. 

Thanks!

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