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TTU-CR Transitioning to Teaching Online

Use this page of resources to design or re-design your class for online teaching and learning.

Checklist

Course Transition Checklist

  • Make a Communication Plan. Communicating frequently and clearly is the most essential thing you can do. Students can feel adrift in online classes, and they need to know that you are present, have specific expectations, and can guide them in their tasks. We recommend including a communication policy on your syllabus to set expectations. This should include:
    • how you plan to communicate to your entire class
    • how you plan to communicate with students individually
    • how frequently you will check and respond to messages
    • when you will be available for office hours via phone or video conference .
    • Note: this piece of crucial advice was taken from Teaching If the College Is Closed from Emerson College. 
  • Use Blackboard Announcements to quickly communicate with all students in your class at once. 
  • To support students and reduce the number of individual questions you must answer, consider implementing the following: 
  • Upload or post a Schedule to Blackboard. This should include a class by class breakdown of all required readings, activities, assignments due, etc. Consider using a Content area labeled "Schedule" with individual folders for each class meeting. 
  • Prepare for online exams. 
  • Put all of this information in one accessible, obvious place. Create a screen cast, annotate a screenshot, write it out long form....whatever you do, create an introduction to the Blackboard course and the new course format. Post it in Announcements or in a new Content Area. Make sure you have something in place that students can continue to refer to throughout the remainder of the class.