Tips for teaching online

Communicate

What to do

• Welcome your students and encourage introductions via the discussion board.
• Schedule a ‘live’ discussion board time.
• Introduce Collaborate (real time communication) via the discussion board conversation.
• Proactively manage communications via the Class Conversation tool by initiating conversation around a
  topic - for example by posting a ‘provocative’ statement and inviting response.
• Demonstrate the communication tools students can use in Ultra.

Tools

• Discussion Boards
• Class Conversation Tool
• Collaborate Subject Rooms
• Collaborate Breakout Groups
• Collaborate FAQs
• Collaborate Protocol
• Announcements
• Messages

Make the learning explicit

What to do

• Clearly present the sequenced learning journey you require students to undertake.
• State the relevance of each resource and activity so students know why it is included and what you want them to do with it.
• State the purpose of each topic/resource/activity.
• Link learning to outcomes and or assessment tasks.
• Sequence the learning experiences/resources in the order that you want the students to experience it.
  • Introduce, explain why (how it relates to the learning) and provide instructions for every resource or activity you make available to students in your subject site.
  • Link the topic learning to the learning outcomes and or assessment tasks.

Tools

• Record at your desk (MediaSite Desktop Recorder)
• Upload existing media
• Create an Ultra document

Assessment

What to do

• Plan and design your assessment for the online environment.
• Non-weighted assessment for feedback combined with weighted assessment is a best practice strategy.
• Provide personal feedback in a recorded audio format or in writing.
• Provide feedback to students regarding their learning progress by offering online quizzes.
• Written assessment tasks can be explained and presented in Ultra. Drop boxes to collect submissions and check the originality of students’ work can be created. Recordings, individual and group, can be submitted as a link in the drop box comments box.

Tools

• Create an assignment task/dropbox
• Create an online test
• Provide feedback