I’ll never forget the day in 2013 I got a call from Syracuse University’s iSchool asking me to teach a brand new elective graduate level course on the topic of Social Media. I was working at a hot edtech start up called 2U (pre-IPO) and was familiar with what quality online education could look like. I was, at the time, under 30 and ecstatic that my lifelong goal of becoming a university professor had found me decades before I thought it would. Fast forward with a move to the Newhouse School of Communications as part of the Master's in Communications in 2016 and with a total of 190 students in 17 semesters over seven years - I know my way around an online classroom.
Online Education Can Be (and is) Great
Online education, even today, still comes with a stigma of being lesser quality than on the ground instruction. This is an unfair comparison to make. This is like saying that the academic experience at a community college and at Harvard are the same because they’re both in higher education. The quality, rigor, and experience all boils down to the quality of the online platform, the faculty building the content, and the richness of face to face connection. An online education forum post without ever meeting your teacher is by far a subpar experience compared to meeting your teacher and your classmates in an online classroom each week. All of this takes investment of both time and money to build out a flawless infrastructure. Sure, you can cheap out on online education and do message boards, but that’s not great education and doesn’t take different learning styles or learning disabilities into account.
Seven years ago in "IST 500: Advanced Topics in Innovation - Social Media Strategy” (or #CMGRClass as we called it) my co-teacher Kelly Lux and I cobbled together a private website as a subdomain of www.syr.edu to house the syllabus and course material, and used Blackboard (ugh) and Google Hangouts in order to see our students each week. We had guest speakers come in a few times throughout the course and record the class (of which are still housed on my YouTube page). While that’s not necessarily optimal, we had some great discussions even then. Thankfully technology has come a LONG way in that time. At Newhouse and on the 2U Learning Management System (LMS) platform we used Adobe Connect as our classroom, and eventually switched to Zoom (which the entire world now seems to use) a couple years back.
Tips to Get You Started
My program is considered a flipped model; do everything first, then come and talk about it. Our courses can take upwards of a year to build and stay “fresh” for about 3-5 years (depending on the course). Courses are produced to be movie quality cut down to 2-10 minute videos with interactive questions, discussions, and assignments all built right in. Students are expected to have completed 1-2 hours worth of instruction before entering a nearly 2 hour weekly live discussion with me, in addition to a variety of papers & assignments outside of class. Just as with on the ground learning, how you structure your class time matters significantly. Here’s what I’ve learned about doing this online:
Start off every class with a very clear agenda that keeps things moving.
I put this in the chat box to start every class. The old principle of about 2-3 hours of prep for every 1 hour of instruction still holds true. I time out my entire class and each week it’s different. For example:
5-10 minutes for any announcements.
5-10 minutes for any assignment clarifications/review
30 minutes for discussions based on the week’s materials
30 minutes of group work in small breakout sessions that I bounce in and out of
20 minutes of group presentations
5 minutes of what to expect next week
Optional: Line up a Guest Speaker and set aside 45 minutes for an interview or have them judge a group competition. Bonus, they don’t have a to travel anywhere and most people are thrilled to do it!
Set expectations early on.
In every class I always pause for students to ask questions. It’s a “Help Me, Help You” kind of moment. But overall, you should set expectations to start the term. You may need to tell your students that it is or isn’t ok to eat/drink in your class, just as you would in person. Requiring them not to take class from bed, or to be fully clothed is also something I’ve had to remind adult graduate students of - so it would stand to reason any K-12 might also need this!
Utilize all of the platform features. And more importantly, make the students utilize the features.
Get them comfortable with the technology and how to use it, so that they’re prepared for what it’s like in the real world. Screen share, share videos, use the whiteboard, everything you’d use in a “real” classroom. My personal favorite is polling. Set up a few poll questions to start a discussion and use it as a baseline for your lecture. It’s a great way to see what they know, or where they’re at, and they feel really engaged. The better you are at the technology, the richer the experience your students will have.
Google Docs are your friend.
I keep all of my teaching notes, outlines, questions for discussion right up on the side of my screen opposite the class. I also use these for group work. In an 11 week class, I have about 15-20 pages of notes and guidelines. This comes in handy when I teach the class again the next term - less prep work! Also, I have a few shared docs with the other instructors so we’re all on the same page.
Utilize answers from the asynchronous work for class discussions.
It’s a great way to engage with your students and show that you’re paying attention and that it’s not just “busy work.” For example in class you could say, “I noticed in unit X, Jeremy said ABC. What do you all think of that response? How does it relate to what Stacy said in Unit Y regarding 123?” Bring the materials to life in class.
Set rules for the chat box.
Turn off private 1:1 discussions to limit chatter during class if you’re dealing with a younger bunch. I always say in the beginning to use the chat box but keep the discussion on topic.
Group work is important!
It breaks up the monotony and gets student applying what they’ve learned. It’s also an excellent way to use something happening this week/month and stay relevant even though your course might have been created a few years ago.
Set up individual 1:1 meetings via video.
…at least once per term to check in on students. I’ll send around a Doodle with my available times in a week to meet and discuss course work or even just have coffee and chat if they want. 75% of students take me up on this.
Give a lot of feedback.
Whether it’s in class or in assignments, online education needs that personal touch. Students need to feel that they’re valued and listened to, but also that they’re getting quality instruction. I set an expectation for myself that an assignment will be graded within one week of the due date.
Make yourself available for a bit after class.
I always have students who stick around and want to ask questions they didn’t want to ask in class, or just chat. It’s the same as if we were in a regular classroom and they just hung around.
You’re not going to please everyone all of the time.
The feedback I get from my students is invaluable. Thankfully 95% of the time it’s positive, but even the 5% that’s critical has made me a better teacher over the years. Most of them truly enjoy this format and as a teacher it’s definitely more connective than most would ever imagine. Also having the flexibility to teach online from almost anywhere is amazing!
Switching to Online Really Fast
I write this during a global pandemic when many K-12 and Higher Education institutions are having to go online overnight. Doing so, so quickly, and if you’re not used to it can seem extremely overwhelming. The first time you put yourself in front of a camera is likely to not go well - but that more that you do it, and the more you get comfortable with it, you may find that it’s extremely enjoyable. When everyone is on camera, and you’re face to face in such an interesting way, there’s no opportunity for someone to be “asleep in the back row.” If you prepare, get comfortable with the technology, and use a bit of creativity to really engage everyone you’ll be confronted with why you enjoy being an educator. You already know the material, now you’re just learning a new methodology.