Online Class Format

[Charlotte]

Could we have a thread on how everyone is designing their online classes? I'm prepping a couple online classes for this fall and have the luxury of time to actually put more thought into the design.

Do you use a textbook or multiple readings from other sources? Something else?

Do you provide video lectures, written lectures, offer optional video meetings, etc.?

Assessments: quizzes, discussions, papers, journals, reflections, etc.?

What has worked best for you and your students?

[downer]

You will find that the best format depends very much on what kind of class you are teaching, and you don't provide that info.

It also depends to some extent on what LMS you are using and what personal preferences you have.

[marshwiggle]

I'm doing STEM stuff that relies heavily on labs. (The students get kits to do labs on their own.) I'm doing everything asynchronously. There are no Zoom sessions; each week students read the approporiate material and then do the corresponding labs. From the fall, students really liked the asynchronous design so they didn't feel time pressure in getting stuff done, and could schedule it to suit themselves.

[dr_codex]

As Downer rightly notes, the details are going to depend on many parameters.

That said, I've found that the hardest thing to transfer into an online class is student-to-student interaction. (To be fair, it's also hard to have in medium- to large-lecture courses.) It's such a critical part of learning, but one that is hard to develop in an authentic way. I would think carefully about how to do this, and to try all kinds of collaborative work.

[lilyb]

That said, I've found that the hardest thing to transfer into an online class is student-to-student interaction. (To be fair, it's also hard to have in medium- to large-lecture courses.) It's such a critical part of learning, but one that is hard to develop in an authentic way. I would think carefully about how to do this, and to try all kinds of collaborative work

I've designed multiple online courses now and am in complete agreement with codex. For instance, I've tried every imaginable configuration for discussion boards and still cannot get something like a real conversation going.

I've done much better with having students work with a partner or small group and upload videos of their conversation. You can have each of them role-play an author or character, debate two sides of an issue, or talk about an ethical dilemma.

Grading videos is time-consuming, and these assignments do not take the place of whole-class discussions. Still, the students do interact meaningfully with each other. They also liked these assignments, according to the their class evaluations.

[downer]

What would you count as a real conversation? How would you distinguish it from people just leaving comments on other student's posts?

Would it require an exchange of at least a reply from the OP to the commenter?

What if someone else chimes in on a thread? Whose grade would that help?

I actually am asking in all seriousness because I now have a rubric that gives different grades on discussions depending on whether students just leave comments or engage in a real conversation. But it is hard to spell out criteria.

[ciao_yall]

This is my rubric as shared with my students for discussion posts. Plagiarize away...

After class (or when you do your posting), you can post your responses to your classmates' examples. These might take the form of...

• A similar example that illustrates the same theory your classmate has posted, or;
• Apply a different theory or interpretation to your classmates' example, or;
• How you might take this idea and apply it to your project.

These should be finished before the next class.

Post your 3 responses in the discussion thread. I will record your scores here.

5 points * 3 responses = 15 points

5 points: Thorough, thoughtful reply that adds to the conversation.
4 points: You have read their comment but don't seem to be adding to the conversation
3 points: You have read their comment but haven't even thought about it
2 points: Somewhere between 3 and 1
1 points: No evidence of having read or thought about your classmate's comment, e.g. "Right on! (end)"
0 points: Not responded

[downer]

Thanks ciao_yall. Not very different from what I have, though I like your list of examples. (Not sure I can fit them in the LMS rubric, but I can put them in the instructions.)

[lilyb]

What would you count as a real conversation? How would you distinguish it from people just leaving comments on other student's posts?

Maybe that's part of my problem--that I didn't nail down the attributes of a "real conversation." I had them post to a thread so many times and refer to other classmates' comments with the poster's name. As a whole, it all felt artificial and stilted.

[sinenomine]

Something that I had already been doing in my on-ground classes (humanities) has transferred well to the online format and generates meaningful conversations. We all read the same article or watch the same video focused on the topic for the week, and then each of us — myself included — does some additional research on an element of the article/video that provoked our curiosity and share our findings on the discussion board, either in written or video form. Then we use those posts as starting points to expand on the conversation.

[the_geneticist]

My classes are all labs.  Every week there is a lab manual chapter to read, a quiz before lab, and an assignment due after lab.  The labs are run synchronously and live over Zoom with TAs.  The worksheet (and any accompanying data) appear at the start of each lab section.
TAs usually have a brief presentation using slides to lay out the parameters of the lab and include several questions for the class to discuss.
I kept the lab sections synchronous for many reasons (one being that if we said labs were all asynchronous, the upper admin would have tried to cut TAs).  We don't give attendance or participation points, but most student still attend.
I've had great success with having students design experiments one week, we film their set up, and give them the video of their results the next lab.

[spork]

Frequency of tasks in online courses seems to matter:

https://activelearningps.com/2021/02/10/comparing-the-performance-of-on-campus-and-online-students-in-an-accidental-experiment/.

[marshwiggle]

I've had great success with having students design experiments one week, we film their set up, and give them the video of their results the next lab.

So do the TAs perform the labs, according to the students' designs? If so, how many students do you have?

Frequency of tasks in online courses seems to matter:

https://activelearningps.com/2021/02/10/comparing-the-performance-of-on-campus-and-online-students-in-an-accidental-experiment/.

If I read it correctly, attending class matters for in-person classes more than task submission, but task submission matters more than class attendance for online students. It's very interesting.

[Charlotte]

You will find that the best format depends very much on what kind of class you are teaching, and you don't provide that info.

It also depends to some extent on what LMS you are using and what personal preferences you have.

Yes, I was hoping this thread might continue for awhile and be a useful resource for others too rather than just suggestions for my own courses. I should have clarified that!

[downer]

Worth noting there has already been a good deal of advice given on online teaching in the Teaching section. Worth a look through that.