Strategies for Remote Teaching

When you find yourself unable to teach in a regular face-to-face setting, consider the following factors and strategies:
 

Determine schedule changes:

If a situation that leads to the need for rapid online teaching lasts a while, such as an outbreak of a pandemic disease that may keep the campus closed for weeks, then check with the Thom Wurmouths office to see whether the college prefers the class to meet at the regularly scheduled time. 
 

Communicate effectively:

Students will need to learn from you what to do in situations that have caused campus closure. Ask your students to keep communication channels open and to access their iLearn course sites regularly.  Additionally, using the communication tools such as messages and announcements tools within iLearn will allow for the constant flow of communication. These tools include:
  • Announcements
  • Messages 
  • Forums
 
In addition to receiving official notifications from the college, you should inform students to make sure that they pay attention to the iLearn bullhorn notifications for announcements and email (which is called “messages” in iLearn), that you can use to communicate about your plan for the course.
 

Balance synchronous/asynchronous teaching:

You have many tools to teach online, and most of these tools are in iLearn. These tools can be synchronous and asynchronous. While synchronous tools can help you easily replicate what you do in the regular classroom, there might be content or activities that are better left in an asynchronous format, such as readings and discussions.
 

Synchronous Communication

  • Team members meet at the same time, but not necessarily at the same geographic location.
  • It may include conference calls, face-to-face-meetings, or online meetings.

Asynchronous Communication

  • Team members do not meet at the same time or in the same geographic location.
  • It may include discussion forums or email exchanges.
  • Asynchronous communication is advantageous when it is impossible for individuals to meet at the same time, due to factors such as different time zones

 

 

Workshops:

Digital Education is offering training and support. Sign-up for one of our many workshops https://my.marist.edu/center-for-teaching-excellence