No sweat remote start: Top tips for success
By Dr. Leslie Cramblet Alvarez
To continue to keep the campus safe and make time for testing, DU courses will begin remotely, resuming in-person on Tuesday, January 18. After so many online, hybrid, and hyflex classes over the last two years, you may be feeling ready to hit go on a remote start. On the other hand, if you’ve already been planning for a F2F course, the remote start announcement may mean another pivot (yes, we hate that word now, too).
The good news is that the recent requirement of a Canvas presence in all courses means you’re likely more ready for a remote start than you might think. Read on for tips to get started remotely and help your students make progress before the first in-person meeting.
Get Canvas set up: Make sure to have your syllabus, readings, and assignments set up in your Canvas courses.
- Teaching a course you’ve already taught? Be sure to so that you can edit rather than re-do everything.
- Prepping a new course? Consider using a free that will make the work easier and give a clean, dressed-up look to your course.
Don’t forget to publish! DU faculty have the ability to publish Winter courses at any time. Allowing students access before the start of the term gives them time to familiarize themselves with the course in advance.
Create a syllabus quiz: Many faculty spend time during the first week of class going over learning outcomes, expectations, class norms, policies, and assignments. You can recreate some of this online by asking students to read the syllabus and respond to a . See an example .
Consider a course overview syllabus video: While you should have a copy of your syllabus in Canvas, you can also create an accompanying video to provide an overview to the course as you might do on the first day or in the first week. This could also be followed by a brief quiz.
- BONUS: Easter Egg activities. You can hide a task in your video or syllabus asking students to do something fun (related to class or not!). See about how she does this.
Meet synchronously online! Zoom is always an option for courses where it might be helpful to get off to a synchronous start. Don’t forget you can set up Revisit our blog, Online engagement and interactivity in online synchronous learning.
Crowdsource community agreements: Get started on an inclusive classroom. To build community and set up norms for communication and collaboration, consider setting up community agreements. This can be accomplished as a discussion or writing assignment. Typically, faculty will set up their “ground rules” and/or “norms” and students are invited to co-create these agreements as a class community. See our for more assistance.
Create an introduction : Because the first week is important for community building, another way to do this is to allow students to introduce themselves. This can be done as a response to a traditional “getting to know you” prompt or it can be done as a brief video in !
Assign a week one activity online: Beyond orientation to the syllabus and building community, you can dig into content remotely through posted readings and assignments. See more about setting up assignments from the . Wondering how much time these activities should take? Revisit our blog, .
Don’t forget accessibility! See our Canvas Accessibility Checklist to make sure your course is prepared for students with (or without) accommodations.
The OTL is here to support you as you kick off your course and provide help with all aspects of Canvas from planning to building! for workshops and drop-in hours to assist you. You can always with our instructional designers or our Faculty Developer of Online Learning.