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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! Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links and I could earn a small commission at no additional cost to you should you make a purchase using them. All recommendations are based on my personal experience. Table of Contents Mapping Out Your Semester Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan Margaret Thatcher 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: Students learn and achieve what you need them to throughout the semester. You have an inkling of an idea of what topic or concept you are supposed to be lecturing on today. Your instruction is focused and doesn’t veer off on too many tangents. 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: Create a website for a service or product (business, accounting, media, trades) Record a podcast (communications, media, leadership) Document a creation process (art, culinary, trades) Create an ebook (writing, language studies) Design and develop a training program (kinesiology, nursing, health care) Develop a personal ePortfolio of a skill (resume building, leadership, graduating students) SO MUCH MORE! Please comment below or share any additional ideas you might have on our Facebook page! Introduction to Online Teaching Masterclass Do not miss out on this one time offer to pre-enroll in our Introduction to Online Teaching Master Course! This course is designed to provide online instructions with a strong foundation in online teaching best practices. Offer ends 3/22/2021 Claim Your Seat Now! S A L E ! 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

6 Tips to Help You Transition Your In-Person Class Online During the Coronavirus Outbreak Institutions across the nation are actively preparing to move their on-campus classes into an online format as a measure to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus. For many, this migration from in-person teaching to online teaching can be a daunting task, but it does not have to be! With these 6 helpful tips, you can easily move your in-person class online successfully. The tips below include online teaching strategies, tools that can aid in teaching online, and important things to consider as you make this transition. It is important that before you begin to transition your in-person class to an online environment, that you know the resources that are available to you through your institution. There is no sense in reinventing the wheel here! Most institutions have a team of Instructional Designers, Educational Technologists, and Distance Education Staff that are busy at work preparing to help you. If you are not currently familiar with what technologies your institution has, now is the time to know what is available to you and your students. Here are a few questions you should know the answers to as you begin transiting your course online: What Learning Management System (LMS) do we use at this institution? Where can I find LMS resources so that I can learn how to use the platform? What third-party technology tools are available to me to use? What virtual communication or video conferencing tools are available to me and my students? Are there any trainings available to aid me in learning how to best deliver my course online? What are institutional policies regarding the use of third-party technology tools? After you have read the tips and recommendations below it will be time to get started transitioning your in-person course online. This starts by making a plan, then communicating your plan to your students, putting your plan into action, and then constantly communicating with your students so you know what is working and what needs adjusting. So here we go! Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links and I could earn a small commission at no additional cost to you should you make a purchase using them. All recommendations are based on my personal experience. Table of Contents #1 Embrace Virtual Communication & Office Hours Communication is going to be the key to success over these next few weeks! Not only are you having to learn a new way of teaching but your students are also having to learn a new way of learning. As we mentioned above, make a plan and then let your students know what that plan is. Something we all take for granted with in-person classes is how easy it is to communicate the little details with our students without really even thinking about it. As you transition to communicating strictly online, you will have to be much more diligent and thoughtful with how and what you communicate with your students. They will not be able to read your mind so you must tell them everything they will need to know and do to continue to be successful in your, now, online course. Lucky for you and your students, communicating online has never been easier! Here are a few tools that make communicating online a breeze: Zoom: we will mention this tool often in this article. Zoom is an amazing video conferencing tool that will allow you video chat, share screens, record sessions, and save and share recordings. Google Hangouts: also a great video and chat communication tool. If your institution uses Google Suites, your students may already be familiar with the tool and its functionality. Microsoft Teams: is an easy to use communication platform that allows for ongoing chat sessions, video and audio calls, file share, and even the use of GIFs. If your institution uses Outlook or Office365 you may have access to this tool. Using one of the tools above, try hosting an open office hour session with your students. This would allow you and them to become comfortable using the new tool to communicate with each other and give them an opportunity to ask you questions. Showing your students that you are still very available to them will help ease their worries and yours too! #2 Change up Your Lecture Style Say goodbye to the lecture hall, and say hello to giving lectures in your sweatpants! You’ll learn that one of the great things about teaching online is the ability to do it from wherever and whenever you want. This means you can give your lecture from the comfort of your couch late at night or first thing in the morning while sitting in our favorite coffee shop. One major logistic to keep in mind when making this transition from in-person to online is that your course may need to become more asynchronous. Meaning your students may not be online the exact same time you are but they still need to be able to learn. Before, you gave your lecture every Monday and Wednesday at the same time at the same place and your students were expected to be there. This is an example of synchronous learning. However, your students may now need more flexibility when it comes to learning online. We would still encourage you to give “live” lectures using the tools listed below, but we would also highly recommend that you record your lectures so that students can still access the information even if they were not able to join the live session. Synchronous Learning A learning event in which a group of students are engaging in learning at the same time. Asynchronous Learning The act of facilitating learning outside of the constraints of time and place among a group of people. The tools listed below are capable of live video and audio conferencing, chat, and screen share. They also have the ability to be recorded so that students can watch your “live” lecture at their