Part I: Planning Your Course

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Course Requirements

• Review your syllabus, requirements of programs this course is included, and University policies and guidelines (e.g. accessibility, privacy considerations).
• Review Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines for improving the learning environment for all students.

Teaching and Learning Context

• Review ‘Get Started with Teaching Remotely’.
• Think about who your students are and what challenges they may face while participating in your course.
• Consider technology your students may have access to at home – contact CITL to discuss.
• Consider your instructional approach (how you like to teach).
• Reflect on your past teaching and identify the concepts that your students may have had trouble grasping. Think about how you motivated student participation and engaged them in the learning experience.
• Become familiar with or refresh your knowledge of Brightspace by attending webinars offered by CITL and review Frequently Asked Questions and Student Resources.

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Competencies/Attributes

• In addition to four to six core content discipline-specific learning outcomes, consider including outcomes related to the digital and higher-order thinking skills you want students to acquire (e.g., analyze, synthesize, problem solve, collaborate). Also, students should be able to reflect and make connections among information learned in your course to other courses or disciplines, and the world in which they live).
• Don’t try to do too much.

Communicating Learning Outcomes

• Use verbs from learning taxonomies or Bloom’s Taxonomy – Revised for 21st-Century Learners to help write observable and measurable learning outcomes that you later use to guide your selection of assessments and activities to help students achieve these intended outcomes.
• Consider how goals/outcomes are communicated from a universal design perspective.
• Prioritize the learning outcomes according to importance. This will help you later decide on the course organization and help your students prioritize their learning.

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Assessment

• Review existing assessments and determine if they help students achieve the overall course learning outcomes.
• Reflect on your past assessment strategies and think about how they can be modified for remote or online instruction.
• Review ‘Moving Assessment to Remote Learning within Brightspace’.
• Examine types of assessments that support different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, see this Taxonomy Wheel.
• Provide opportunities for students to self-reflect and get feedback from you and their classmates, see Examples of Peer Assessment Assignments.
• Review Memorial’s Guidelines for Accommodations to assist students.
• Apply UDL principles in assessments.
• Organize assessment due dates into a course schedule for the entire semester.

Feedback

• Use rubrics to make expectations (criteria and standards) clear to students and to help you grade assessments.
• For examples of rubrics for critical thinking, written and oral communication, etc. view VALUE rubrics created by the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U).
• Build in ways to make sure students are accountable for the work they do in discussions and in groups.
• Consider different types of feedback and frequency required for students to track their progress and stay motivated to complete the course.

Technology

• Use the Assignments (Dropbox) tool in Brighspace for students to submit essays/research papers and for you to easily track submissions, annotate papers, and/or provide audio feedback.
• For privacy and security of student data, use technology supported by Memorial:
  • Brightspace communication, collaboration and assessment tools.
  • Other educational technologies supported by CITL (i.e. Peer Scholar).

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Activities

• Identify the successful activities you use in-class and think about how they can be delivered online.
• When appropriate, limit activities that simply focus on rote learning or memorization.
• Scaffold learning activities to move students from mastering content to learning how to apply the content, reflect, and make connections. Watch this video of a five stage model.
• Have students find and evaluate information themselves by providing criteria and guidelines.
• Include activities to help students summarize key points.
• Embed formative classroom assessment techniques throughout course for students to monitor their progress.
• Incorporate group projects and online collaborative learning activities.
• Engage students with online discussions to apply content and reflect on what they are learning.
• Give some consideration to activities that can be done synchronously (real-time) versus asynchronously.
• Use synchronous activities when there is opportunity for students to interact and collaborate (e.g. presenting troublesome topics or hosting review sessions that may require Q&A and bringing in a guest speaker). Contact CITL for consultation.
• Design activities to meet all students’ needs.
• Get students’ feedback on course content and facilitation.

Supporting Content/Resources

• Consider the best way to make content available to students (e.g. provide course notes in text format, audio, and video).
• Review any existing resources (e.g. instructor notes, PowerPoints slides, and readings) for currency and make plans for revisions and additions to facilitate and support each of the learning activities. Contact CITL for a consultation with an instructional designer.
• Where possible, link to relevant web content or Open Access resources (e.g. OER Commons Collections or CC Search and Linney – MUN’s Learning Object Repository) rather than create all the content yourself.
• If required, create a video narration of your own slides, record yourself demonstrating a task, or work with CITL to create a video. See media examples on CITL website.
• Link to an audio clip, record your own (e.g. using Microsoft voice recorder or audacity) or create a podcast.
• Consider using resources currently available through Memorial Libraries by incorporating the Course Resources (Reserve) tool in your course site.
• While many resources you find online are available for use under current Fair Dealing guidelines, it is important to verify copyright restrictions and apply proper attribution when using the work of others. Copyright support is available at the library if you are unsure about licensing or have questions about fair dealing.

Technology

• Incorporate technology, such as twitter, video assignment tool within Brightspace, peerScholar and other technologies supported by CITL to foster communication and collaboration, see Which Tool Should I Use?.
• Use the appropriate technology for your teaching situation (e.g. class size, type of activity, course goals/learning outcomes). Contact CITL should you need help in making these decisions.

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Effective Course Design

• List each of your learning outcomes.
• For each outcome, list the content (assessment, activity, and resource) students will complete and how feedback will be provided for you and the students to determine if they achieved the intended learning outcomes.
• Check that verbs in your learning outcomes, assessments, and teaching and learning activities match. For example:
  • If the learning outcome is for students to be able to analyze information and an exam with questions requiring students to remember content-related facts is the assessment, then the outcomes and assessment are not aligned. There is no opportunity for students to practice analyzing information.

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Course Structure

• Scaffold major topics/themes, so build on one another in a way that allow students to integrate what they learned in a previous week with new topics/information in the upcoming week (e.g. from simple to complex or known to unknown).
• Decide how many weeks or class sessions are required to cover each major topic/theme that comprise your course content for the semester.
• For each major topic, introduce the concepts/information to be covered, define learning outcomes, explain purpose of readings, and include the activities and assignments students are expected to complete. This will help students plan and manage their time.

Course Schedule

• Sequence the activities and assessments you selected around the major topics/themes into a weekly course schedule.
• Ensure ample time is allocated between each activity and/or assessment for students to apply concepts, for you to provide feedback, and for students to analyze feedback to improve learning.
• Suggest completing the activities and assignments yourself to ensure they can be completed in time frame allocated and using the instructions and resources provided.

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Course Expectations

• Review syllabus requirements under University Regulations stated under General Academic Regulations (Undergraduate) in Memorial’s Calendar.
• Review Guidelines for Course Syllabi at Memorial.
• Check with your academic unit to see if a syllabus template is available.
• Ensure overview of course includes the course structure and describes how content will be delivered (instructor printable notes, slide presentations, links to websites, audio clips, instructor-created video,videos on YouTube, real-time scheduled web conferencing sessions).
• Explain why the course content is relevant and show the connection between the learning outcomes and assignments/activities. Use a concept map, for example.
• Communicate the course workload to help students plan and manage their time (e.g. include formal study time and self-study time).
• Place information about supports and accommodations at the top of the syllabus so students can easily see what is available to help them succeed.
• Include a schedule for the entire semester and note any due dates.
• Coordinate grading allocations (e.g. weight) so appropriate to each component based on the determined level of importance.
• Clearly describe instructions and resources required for each assessment component. Include any rubrics to help students see your expectations for submissions. This too may also decrease the number of inquiries from students.
• Provide clear participation and/or evaluation guidelines for any asynchronous discussions and synchronous activities/interactions in your course.

Communication Strategies

• Similar to how you would speak in a typical lecture, write in a more conversational style to engage students.
• Include netiquette rules to promote respectful communication, interaction and collaboration.
• Clearly articulate how students can contact you and when they can expect a response. For example, how often will you be checking and responding to email.
• List your office hours and the tools students can use to reach you.
• Outline when students can expect grades and feedback.
• Provide resources for students to become familiar with the tools used.
• Encourage the use of audio and video to help students connect with you and each other.

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Student Feedback

• Include opportunities for feedback from students part way through the course or even after each major section to assess how they are doing and how the course is progressing.
• Ask students to evaluate the learning activities and resources (including technology) used.
• Use Brightspace Survey Tool to solicit feedback.
• Encourage students to complete CEQs.