Thinking of You: Q&A for Online Faculty

In this episode, I share some concerns about using Zoom to replace on-campus learning time, and some suggestions for how to use Zoom if you decide that's what's best for your students at this time. 

If your course is already online, do you need to make any adjustments based on the COVID-19 situation? I share how I've made a few adaptations in my courses. Share thoughts and feedback here. 

In this episode, I share a few thoughts on late work policies that work for students and faculty. I also present my current late work policy (see more on my blog here) in case it's helpful. 

What should you do when a student experiences an emergency or major life event? Do you stick with your syllabus or make exceptions to your policies? What about a student who hasn't started the class more than halfway through but now wants to make up the work? I'll share my criteria for working with students in these situations. 

How can we help when students haven't been able to get their required course materials due to financial aid delays, international shipping, and other issues? Please share your ideas and experiences with this if like: [email protected] 

It's week 1, and you may be experiencing a high volume of questions in your online course. Here are a few tips for answering these questions and refining your course based on the questions that are coming in. 

This is a quick mini episode to answer the age-old question: should students be able to see what other people have posted before they submit their own response in a discussion board? Or should you require them to post first before viewing other students' responses? You probably won't be shocked to find that I have a strong opinion on this one :). Send along your questions to [email protected] and have a great week!

In this episode, I provide some ideas for how to respond when a student feels that they are teaching themselves in an online course. 

Today's question covers how to kindly and effectively teach students who are not native English speakers. I go over my thoughts on how to assess work and facilitate the best possible learning experience for all of our students.  Share your own thoughts, resources or questions on my website. 

Negative course evaluations are never fun, particularly when student feedback is personal rather than constructive. In this episode, I share a few thoughts on how to use them to improve your teaching and how to avoid using them for self-flagellation. Resources mentioned in the episode are available here.