[Pols-announce] Suggestions and Guidance for switching a course to online and working online

[Haider-Markel, Donald Patrick]

Making online content accessible: https://content-accessibility.ku.edu/

From: Pols-announce <pols-announce-bounces at lists.ku.edu> On Behalf Of Haider-Markel, Donald Patrick via Pols-announce
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2020 3:31 PM
To: POLS-ANNOUNCE <pols-announce at lists.ku.edu>
Subject: [Pols-announce] Suggestions and Guidance for switching a course to online and working online

FYI, feel free to share additional ideas here; let's just take this slow and not try to do too much at once
DHM

Suggestions and Guidance for switching a course to online and working online

(Compiled based on input from faculty and online sources)

Please review regular updates from KU https://coronavirus.ku.edu/

All courses in session have at least online Black Board (BB) shells. If you are not using yours yet you will need to make it available to students. Find help here: https://blackboard.ku.edu/

Working Online: VPN is a good option https://howto.ku.edu/vpn-ku-anywhere

Collaborating online: see https://howto.ku.edu/mycommunityatku


Revising your Course

?  Review your course schedule and set priorities. What do you need to do immediately, and what can wait until later? Take this week-to-week. KU may restart in-person courses.

?  You might want to record short lectures to help students understand difficult concepts. Do not record lectures unless you need to.

?  Consider setting up a discussion board on Blackboard for students to interact with you and each other.

?  You may need to learn how to program quizzes and exams on BB

?  Examine the methods on BB for collecting written assignments.

?  Can any assignments be dropped?

?  Pick tools and approaches familiar to you and your students. Introduce new tools only when necessary.

?  Reset expectations for students: You will have to reconsider some of your expectations for students, including participation, communication, and deadlines. Let students know what your expectations are for their checking email or Blackboard.

?  Reset expectations for yourself: You are not going to teach a well-designed online course in this scenario--that's OK.

?  Ask for help: Connect with colleagues who are faced with similar challenges or similar kinds of courses. Refer to the resources on this site or reach out for support by phone or email.

?  Remind your students of due dates

Some ways to think about your students

1.      Your students know less about technology that you think. Many of them know less than you. Yes, even if they are digital natives and younger than you.
2.      They will be accessing the internet on their phones. They have limited data. They need to reserve if for things more important than online lectures.
3.      Students who did not sign up for an online course have no obligation to have a computer, high speed wifi, a printer/scanner, or a camera. Do not even survey them to ask if they have it. Even if they do, they are not required to tell you this. And if they do now, that doesn't mean that they will when something breaks and they can't afford to fix it because they just lost their job at the ski resort or off-campus bookstore.
4.      Students will be sharing their technology with other household members. They may have LESS time to do their schoolwork, not more.
5.      Many will be working MORE, not fewer, hours. Nurses, prison guards, firefighters, and police officers have to go to work no matter what. As healthcare demand increases but healthcare workers get sick, there will be more and  more stress on those who remain.
6.      Some of your students will get sick. Others will be caring for people who are ill.
7.      Many will be parenting.
8.      Social isolation contributes to mental health problems.
9.      Social isolation contributes to domestic violence.

  1.  Alert them to any material that is not appropriate for children to watch, including minute markers for scenes of violence or nudity. Again, you need to assume that they are doing their work with children in the background.
  2.  Students will be losing their jobs, especially those in tourism and hospitality.



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