How to Survive Online Teaching

Online teaching can be a rewarding experience for both your students and you. But the online environment presents complications you won’t experience in a traditional classroom. Teaching online can at times be difficult and frustrating, but there are certain things you can do to make the class beneficial for everyone involved.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Before the Quarter or Semester Begins

1. Complete your school’s orientation and online training. During the orientation, you’ll learn how to use your online classroom and the different ways you can communicate with your students. Once you have access to your online environment, play around in your classroom to see how it works.

2. Consider the different ways you can communicate with your students. Your online classroom may have the following:
   
   • Email can be sent to individual students or the entire class
   • Message boards or discussion forums can be used for group work or individual instruction
   • An announcement board can be accessed by the entire class
   • Student folders can be set up for each student. Instructors can leave graded assignments and other materials in a student’s folder
   
   If you can create message boards or discussion forums, you can assign them to students if you have group work. Students in the group will have access to each other and they can ask you questions in their forum.
   
   You might also create a forum where students can talk about anything like movies or sports. This will give them a chance to get to know each other and you better.

3. Get your materials and lesson plans completed as soon as possible. If you’re not planning your own assignments and course schedule, read as many of your course’s assignments as you can. These may be located online, in a textbook or both. Think about what the course is trying to teach students each week and make notes on tips you can give your students to help them complete assignments.

4. Devise a clear grading system after going over the assignments. Decide how you will grade for correctness of answers, neatness, grammar, spelling, punctuation and participation.

5. Write an announcement for your announcement board or email that clearly explains your grading expectations. In the announcement, let students know where they can find your comments on their work.

6. Write announcements explaining how you expect students to conduct themselves in the classroom. If your online environment has discussion forums or message boards, let your students know how they’re to treat each other during discussions.

7. Write announcements for each week’s lessons and assignments. Make it clear to your students what they will be reading and learning about each week.

8. Make sure your students have access to your written communications. In some online environments, you have to give each student access to different parts of the classroom.

9. Post your announcements for classroom expectations, grading expectations and week 1 lessons, or send them via email to all students if you don’t have an announcement board.

10. Send your class an introductory email telling them about yourself and the course.

11. Call your students using a calling card before class begins. A reason students have trouble in online classrooms is because they don’t feel like the have a real-live instructor. A quick call will allow you to introduce yourself. Talk a little about the class, where they can find information on your grading expectations and course assignments and where they can find graded assignments. Encourage students to stay in contact with you and read your comments on their assignments so they can improve.

During the Quarter or Semester

12. Give students access to weekly course announcements or emails on Mondays or whenever the class week begins. Not all students will access the class at the beginning of the week. But the ones who do will need to see your expectations for that week as soon as possible.

13. Save your students’ work by downloading attachments or copying and pasting their work into a word processor file. Then create another file with your comments on the students’ work. For each assignment, you’ll have an original copy of the students’ work and a copy with your grade and comments. Saving their work will help you determine how the students are progressing and may provide key evidence if you discover a student has plagiarized.

14. Grade assignments in a timely fashion, give students constructive comments and keep a record of their grades. Some schools will require you to have assignments graded by a certain number of days. Getting grades back to students as soon as possible helps to keep them moving ahead in the course.

15. Respond to students’ email or comments as soon as you can. Sometimes you won’t know the answer, especially if it’s a technical question, but let them know you’ll try to find the answer or point them in the right direction. It’s important to respond immediately so your students feel like they’re actually making contact with someone.

16. Encourage your students with every opportunity. You can do this on their assignments, in emails, on forums or in announcements.

17. Stay on top of students who are falling behind. It’s difficult for some students to stay active in online classes because they aren’t getting human contact throughout the week. Let your dean or administrator know about these students and devise a plan for keeping them involved.

18. Be mindful of plagiarism. Plagiarism is a problem in traditional classes, but even more so online. Report plagiarism to your dean or administrator as soon as you discover it and send along whatever documentation and evidence is required.

19. Report students who harass you or other students. Save copies of inappropriate emails and make screenshots of objectionable posts.

20. Get in touch with your administrator or dean for support if you’re frustrated for any reason. Sometimes you’ll need a pep talk because your students aren’t participating. Other times your dean or administrator will be your advocate when a student is behaving inappropriately and discipline is necessary.

After the Quarter or Semester

21. Finish grading work for students who received incompletes. Just like in traditional classrooms, you may have students who have legitimate reasons for not finishing the course on time.

22. Be ready to provide documentation if it’s needed. Students may challenge their grades after the semester is over. You may need to defend why a student got a particular grade.

23. Take some time to relax and reflect. You’ve earned that break. For your next online class, think about what worked and what didn’t. Use this knowledge to improve on the next class.

Tips & Warnings

• Many students who take online classes will be adults returning to school. They’ll have families and day jobs. However, your school will expect them to finish their work in a timely fashion. Don’t let students guilt trip you into getting more leeway if they don’t have legitimate excuses. It’s not fair to their peers who are in similar situations or to you.
• You may find that you’re more tired when reading assignments off a computer screen than reading hardcopy papers. If you’re used to teaching in a traditional classroom, you’ll need to learn to pace yourself when grading onscreen. Get away from the computer. Take a breather and stretch.
• Don’t give your students your contact information, including your phone number and personal email address. Some students might take advantage of you by calling you at all hours, or they may try to harass you if they have a disagreement with you. Use a calling card when you contact them. This way your number won’t show up on Caller ID.
• Some schools have specific policies regarding students contacting you by email. Some will only want students to contact you through the online classroom, while others will allow them to contact you over school email. Make sure you know the policy before handing out your school email.