New to Teaching Online? Here’s How to Make the Transition

For colleges and universities across the country, it’s a spring semester like no other. Campuses are shut down due to COVID-19, classrooms and lecture halls replaced by remote computers and digital learning platforms. For many professors, the shift to online instruction is its own kind of test, one with no easy answers. Will the practices, strategies, and curriculum that worked in my classroom translate to remote learning? What does student engagement even look like if I can’t see my students? And with the possibility of remote learning continuing into the fall, professors now are having to think long term. Courses need to be redesigned for online, and new practices adopted.

Fortunately, remote learning is not a strange new world for every educator. Certainly not for Denise DeLuca, the director of the Sustainable Design program at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, whose school has offered a fully online graduate program for the past 10 years. In that time, DeLuca has gained valuable insights into how to create a stimulating remote learning environment, and how best to encourage student collaboration and engagement.

The crucial first step, she says, is shifting your perspective.

“I had to put myself in the learner’s seat—in front of a laptop, or even a phone—where there are endless distractions, especially digital,” she explains. “It’s no problem to listen to a hour-long lecture when you’re in a lecture hall, but that’s almost impossible online where emails and Facebook and Amazon.com and text messages are screaming for attention.”

In this environment, DeLuca says, teachers need to think of themselves as the curator and facilitator of their students’ learning experience—less the sage on the stage, and more the guide on the side. Specifically, she suggests the following:

Don’t be a talking head. You can still lecture, but break it into five- to ten-minute presentations (no longer than twenty!). After students have had time to process the information and reflect, let them engage with the content through online discussion boards or other interactive forums.

Assign meaningful projects for team-based learning. Students learn best by doing, so have them work on projects that are personally relevant, and let them work in teams. They’ll be encouraged to connect with each other—a process they know well from social media.

Have students give feedback on each other’s work. Online tools such as commenting boards give students a framework for offering constructive criticism. More introverted students may actually prefer the process to face-to-face interactions. Make a point of eliciting student suggestions about the class itself, so you can take advantage of their creative ideas.

Use the connecting power of the internet to bring the world into your online space. Even when students are scattered across the country, digital platforms allow you to facilitate online field trips, host guest speakers, and introduce students to others in your network. Think about how you might use these resources to tailor experiences to different kinds of learners.

DeLuca emphasizes that a properly designed online course can be a powerful tool for bringing students together, in the same way that the digital space has been a lifeline for people in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Preparing material in advance is key, as is understanding the strengths of the online platform. But, ultimately, students want to connect—with you and with each other.

“Be with your students,” she says. “In spirit if not in person.”

Denise DeLuca will present these and other strategies in the webinar Designing an Engaging Online Experience, on 4/20 and 4/22, that I will be facilitating. We hope to see you online! Learn more and register here.

p.s. MCAD received two faculty grants to develop new courses in the Sustainable Design program. Learn how you can apply for $30K grants to support your efforts to bring innovation & entrepreneurship into your courses and programs. Next deadline for proposals is May 20, 2020. Find out more here.