• Learn how to determine student grades before the end of the semester in iLearn.  
• Register to participate in the next session of our Research 101: Workshop Series, Identifying Funding. 
• Planning your course for next semester? Schedule a consultation with one of our Instructional Designers or Instructional Technology Specialists. Contact us today. 

CITL Best Practices and Teaching Tips for Course Success

• Have a clear communication plan and course schedule and timeline with students.
  • Over-communication is often necessary, especially in fully online courses or any course that integrates online components – think consistent and frequent. Example:
  • Tell the students they will receive an email with reminders for the upcoming week every Friday by noon. Then send a mid-week encouraging note! You can also leverage technology, record a video message for them versus use of email communication, and post the video message in your class. However, do not make them guess when you will communicate – schedule it and lay out expectations. Example: Students need to login to the course at least every 48 hours and you will respond to non-emergency emails M-F within 24-36 hours of email.
  • Maintain existing and effective patterns of communication. If students typically frequented your open office hours or through schedule appointments, this can all continue in a virtual environment via Zoom® or Teams® or over the phone. Same time, but different place!
  • Maintain clear schedules and expectations with assigned due dates to help students anticipate and plan for assignments but remember flexibility! Example: If you have a weekly quiz or written assignments due, consider setting the due date for the same time every week, i.e., Monday at 4pm. This allows the weekend for students to complete work within a household where parents may be working remotely and the internet burden in their household is heavy. Consider staggered due dates and have a plan for alternative assignment submission outside of an expected “real-time” and “synchronous” course lecture or activity.
• Keep on hand the University student success resources - the Counseling Center, Health Services, Tutoring, Advisors, Accessible Education Center, and the Library, are just a few examples of student success services still available to students regardless of how courses are delivered. Students have access to computers in the Library for any online course needs. Also, consider, typing up a contact list and keeping on hand to email students when needed or simply post this list under content if you use iLearn as this will save you time in the long run!
• Develop mechanisms to check student progress and keep them on track.
  • If using iLearn, leverage analytics to check student progress. If you need assistance with this, contact the CITL.
  • Require feedback from students in various forms. For example, setting due dates on dropbox assignments in iLearn can “flag” students who are late or who have missing assignments so you can then follow up with the individual student.Consider a post-class survey as a means to “record attendance” for the class session
    During a live class session, use the chat or poll feature to “raise hands,” pose questions, or poll students during the class time
  • With any content you post for students in iLearn, such as readings or recordings, you can see which students have accessed the materials and for how long they spent reviewing the material
• If not using iLearn, these same approaches can be modified to track student engagement with a simple Excel spreadsheet or through survey tools such as Microsoft Forms® or Qualtrics® and then use email or phone calls to connect with students

CITL Newsletter 

View this month's CITL Newsletter to stay up-to-date on current technology trends, instructional design tools, and more! 

View previous editions: 

• July 2020 
• September 2020
• October 2020