Ways that we can make online classes better

Last semester I took a class with Dr. Rayburn, who was on his last semester before retirement. Needless to say, Dr. Rayburn was not a technologically inclined person. Switching to online classes for the end of the year was his worst nightmare.

Some things we can do to help make the transition better for professors that are living their worst nightmares by having to teach online:


  • Assign TAs that are especially tech-savvy to professors that are especially not.
  • Reworking discussion posts: I hear students complain about them often--I don't think that they are inherently flawed, but perhaps overused. Finding ways to spice up the discussion might be a fun way to shake things up. For example, maybe sometimes students could hold the discussions on different mediums or platforms, like through Voicethread or through micro-vlogs. 
  • Options: I love that this course gives concept-level options for each project that are gated by potential grades. A similar system would be a welcome addition in other online courses that I've taken.
  • A better anti-cheat system! I've seen online courses that simply become open-book courses because they can't figure out how to prevent cheating. Faculty needs to be made aware of their options with for testing online.
  • Increase options for student socialization: I really miss making friends in my classes. I think some things like a class Facebook or Slack group might go a long way in making the class feel a bit more tight-knit (it'd have to be optional to join, of course). 
If anyone has any other ideas, feel free to let me know. These are just some things that I've thought of. I think integrating a lot of our Web 2.0 tools is valuable, but you want to avoid overwhelming the students (or the teachers)!

Comments

  1. DaeunJuly 26, 2020 at 5:55 PM

    Hi Kantelis, thank you for sharing your ideas about making a better online class. I really like all of them. In addition to the concept-level option available in this class, I also really like the token system. This semester, I realized offering some flexibility to students is critical in terms of their well-being. More importantly, some flexibility doesn't harm student learning and could even improve it by allowing some latitude to focus on what students think is really important to them rather than just finishing all the tasks cursorily.

    ReplyDelete
  2. VanessaJuly 28, 2020 at 9:01 AM

    Rayburn retired in spring? Wow, what a time to make an exit.

    Anyway, for the faculty who are less tech-savvy AND less familiar with mediated communication, the shift to remote represents a major restructuring of their pedagogical mental model. It isn't easy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. George KantelisJuly 29, 2020 at 2:03 PM

      That's true! It's especially hard given the lack of prep time.

      Delete

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