Organising your online course

The sudden transition to remote teaching and learning caused by Covid-19 has left many higher education instructors unsure how best to organise their course for the digital sphere. Here, three remote-teaching experts share their advice on organising online classes and content so students can easily navigate the course for better learning outcomes, before answering questions on key challenges linked to this. This webinar was filmed as part of a series produced by ACUE (the Association of College and University Educators) to help faculty with the digital pivot. If you’re in a hurry, browse the timeline below for the key topics covered and where in the video to find them.   

00:48 Alyson Snowe on how to organise online courses effectively to make it easy for students to navigate and access relevance resources  

08:10 April Moody on organising an online course with a clear sense of direction leading towards desired learning outcomes 

16:09 Michael Wesch on designing online classes that enable students to get away from their computer and avoid becoming “Zoomed out” 

27:35 What would poor online course design look like? Common pitfalls 

36:08 What should instructors moving to remote teaching for the first time prioritise in terms of how they organise the course and communicate with students 

40:55 How to scaffold major assignments if the modules are not released until later in the course? Where should instructors locate course resources that could apply to multiple modules? How should instructors place regular synchronous meetings in the organisation of the course? 

46:12 How to organise your course to facilitate effective grading of online work 

This video was produced by the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). 

Get more useful advice on designing and delivering remote courses via ACUE's online teaching toolkit