Online teaching can be challenging for faculty who are used to face-to-face instruction. However, with some planning, preparation, and support, you can make a successful transition to the virtual classroom. Here are some best practices for transitioning faculty to online teaching.
Before you start designing your online course, you need to assess your own needs and expectations. What are your learning objectives, teaching style, and preferred tools? How comfortable are you with technology and online platforms? How much time and resources do you have to create and deliver your course? These questions will help you identify your strengths and areas for improvement, as well as the type and level of support you may need from your institution or peers.
Online teaching can take different formats, such as synchronous, asynchronous, or blended. Synchronous means that you and your students meet online at the same time, using tools like video conferencing, chat, or live polls. Asynchronous means that you and your students access the course materials and activities at your own pace, using tools like recorded lectures, discussion boards, or quizzes. Blended means that you combine both synchronous and asynchronous elements, depending on your goals and context. You should choose the format that best suits your course content, learning outcomes, and student needs.
One of the main challenges of online teaching is to keep your students engaged and motivated. To do this, you need to design your course with interactivity, feedback, and collaboration in mind. Interactivity means that you create opportunities for your students to interact with you, the content, and each other, using tools like polls, quizzes, games, or simulations. Feedback means that you provide timely and constructive comments on your students' work, as well as solicit their opinions and suggestions on the course. Collaboration means that you encourage your students to work together on projects, assignments, or discussions, using tools like wikis, blogs, or forums.
Another challenge of online teaching is to assess your students' learning and performance effectively and fairly. To do this, you need to adapt your assessment methods and criteria to the online environment. You should use a variety of assessment types, such as formative and summative, objective and subjective, individual and group, to measure different aspects of your students' learning. You should also use clear and transparent rubrics, guidelines, and expectations, to communicate how you will evaluate your students' work. Moreover, you should use tools like plagiarism checkers, proctoring software, or peer review, to ensure academic integrity and quality.
Online teaching can be demanding and time-consuming, especially if you are new to it. To manage your workload effectively, you need to set realistic goals, prioritize your tasks, and delegate when possible. You should also establish a regular schedule and routine, to balance your teaching, research, and personal responsibilities. Furthermore, you should use tools like calendars, planners, or timers, to organize your time and track your progress. Additionally, you should seek help and support from your colleagues, mentors, or experts, when you face challenges or difficulties.
Online teaching is a continuous learning process, both for you and your students. To evaluate and improve your online teaching, you need to collect and analyze data and feedback from various sources, such as surveys, analytics, or reflections. You should use this information to identify what works and what doesn't, what are the strengths and weaknesses, and what are the opportunities and threats. You should also use this information to make adjustments and improvements to your course design, delivery, and assessment, as well as to your own skills and competencies.
Transition always poses its unique challenges and consequently, calls for unique strategies. The abstract nature of the learning process makes the transition process much more complicated as there are several highly dynamic elements (the learners' needs, complexity/nature of the content, access to technology, student engagement, course design and the educators' proficiency) to be considered. When educators around the world were preparing for online teaching due to the Pandemic, there was no time for a long- thought out strategy. Three years down the line, a majority of educators are now comfortable with online teaching and are able to effectively deliver online sessions. Online teaching is now inherent in the global education system.
To start with teaching online: 1. Identify the fire zone ( passion+expertise) 2. Get into the Genius Zone ( Your unique point of contribution) 3. Identify your ideal market ( people who are the exact fit for buying your solution) 4. Test the market segment 5 Is your solution (product) solving their problems. 6. Improvise the product to become an exact fit. 7. The end outcome of your market segment is your case study to show your results 8. Market your results. 9. Keep on investing in yourself. 10. It's a long term GAME. Must understand the BASIC Buoyancy Attitude Skill Intelligence Consistency