For all the college profs suddenly faced with teaching online with approximately zero prep, a thread of miscellaneous tips from 7 years of teaching online very happily at @HBUApologetics:

Focus on the essentials: what is the primary nature of your course? if it's a discussion course, on discussion. If it's a writing course, on feedback and revision. If it's a lecture course, on providing lectures.

Be as old-school as you can. No bells & whistles. Email and discussion boards are all you REALLY need. You can always add other things later. All those Blackboard / Moodle / etc. features that look great if you can figure 'em out? JUST BACK AWAY. Use the forums.

Don't try to do synchonous activities (like live video chats) unless you've done them before. Even then, try not to. Go asynchronous. Your students may be in the same time zone as you, but trying to figure out tech with time pressure & at home w/other people around: much harder.

BE PATIENT. Students are unsettled by new things. (Aren't we all?!?) They're worried about being able to do their work. They WILL ask questions about things that seem obvious. Answer them patiently. Your calm and patient responses will shape their experiences.

Use this as an exercise in empathy. How does it make YOU feel to have to teach in a new format, with anxiety about other things in your life? Well, that's what ALL our students feel like when they start classes - just because we're used to how classes run, doesn't mean they are.

Be honest with students about any difficulties you have with technology, etc. If you can't upload docs or get the videos working, admit it! The "we're all in this together" spirit helps make for a better classroom (and students appreciate a prof who's recognizably human.)

Simplify your assignments. Cull the smaller ones; don't try to replicate all in-class activities. Focus on the most important pieces. Less is more.

Clarify directions. Then clarify them some more. All the things you're used to explaining in class after you give the assignment? You have to spell it out. Make sure you tell students that they should ASK QUESTIONS and above all make sure you MEAN IT and welcome those questions.

Figure out how you'll measure participation, and make sure that it's clear, moderate in amount, & easily measurable by you, like X number of substantial posts per week. Not: "x number of posts, y number of replies, z number of responses to others' responses..." (You'll thank me.)

By the way, the old-school way of just doing hash marks on a sheet of paper with the students' names on it = perfectly good way of tracking participation. No need to wrestle with online "participation" or "attendance" features.

PRO TIP: You know how there are a few students who are great at participation & extra-responsible? Designate them as Discussion Leaders and give them a chance to exercise leadership in the classroom. Rotate new students in after a couple of weeks if desired.

Patience, patience, patience! With your students, with your colleagues, and with yourself.

Embrace the positive aspects of online. You can require ALL your students to participate, including the shy introverted ones who never raise their hand in class. And ALL the students can have a voice, not just the ones who process quickly enough to respond on the spot.

Other positives: You can ask students to "go deep": discuss an idea at length over a whole week. You can make forums for group work and, because you can see their posts, you can ensure that everyone participates. Students can post rough drafts or outlines & get feedback.

Another Pro Tip: Be accommodating. Remember that some students may have difficult/distracting home environments; they may not have access to tech at home & have to use the library -- and have to travel to get there; they may suddenly have small siblings at home to care for.

Students will remember your kindness a lot longer than they'll remember any particular homework assignment.

Some tips for discussion forums:
1) Post an intro to the week's material: what you'd say at the start of class.
2) Provide a selection of discussion questions & give students to exercise agency to choose from amongs them.
3) Praise good posts & ask follow-up questions.

4) Tell students to use descriptive subject headers for posts (seriously, it helps)
5) & to flag questions for you w/ "QUESTION FOR PROF. X" so you're sure to see it.
6) If they email you with a good Q, say "Good Q, go ask it in class so everyone can learn!" (& answer it there!)

Remember the three Ps: Panic Produces Plagiarism. Being asked to work online, some otherwise honest students may freak out and act unwisely. Now's the time to raise your essay-prompt game! This is actually good for YOU too. Makes essays more interesting to read.

Write new prompts that require discussion of ideas from class, or apply the ideas. Try new forms, like dialogues or creative options like stories. And make sure that you recognize this is harder & reassure students: the work will be rougher and it's OK! (And BE OK with it.)

If you haven't done timed online tests before, Do. NOT. Start. Now. (It can be done, but it's MUCH more complicated than it seems. BTDT.) If you rely on in-class tests, consider if you can make essay questions, or do tutorials so you have a (scheduled) Q&A with each student.

More thoughts on discussion forums:
1) Make a separate forum for general chat: remember, students don't have the opportunity to catch up with their friends after class now.
2) Make your discussion topics directly relate to the assignments (write better assignments as needed)

If the discussion topics are clearly related to the assignments, & assignments require critical thinking, then students will have a natural reason to engage (other than "I have to participate for my grade"). This boosts motivation & engagement.

PRO TIP: Assign each student to write a reading response to a section of the assigned texts (divide it up each week). Make the RR include 1) summary, 2) discussion of the ideas, and 3) a couple of questions for discussion. This will be an eye-opener for you...

Assigned Reading Responses show where students are missing or misunderstanding key ideas. This might never show up in regular discussion, & students naturally avoid (or gloss over) topics they don't understand when doing assignments. But all is laid bare in the RR.

This allows for genuinely interactive online teaching: you find where students are confused, you ask leading questions ("Are you SURE that's what the author is saying here?") & let the class try to figure it out, and THEN you confirm correct answers & supply answers as needed.

Lastly -- have realistic expectations. It's OK for this all to be a bit of a mess. Teaching online effectively is a skill like any other teaching skill: you get better at it with time and practice (I've had a lot of that!) Don't expect marvels of yourself or the class.

Patience, kindness, a can-do spirit, humility, and a sense of humor are all really helpful. Even if you go back to teaching residential courses after this, you'll have learned a lot about teaching from this experience. Godspeed!

Apparently long Twitter threads aren’t quite as straightforward as I thought. (We’re all learning new things!)

Here’s a continuation of the thread that I thought was directly attached, but seems not to be: https://twitter.com/HollyOrdway/status/1238827177904390145?s=20

And another thought: students need CONSISTENT responses but NOT instant ones. Set a time daily for logging in & responding to emails/messages. Finish and leave the rest to the next day. This makes a healthy boundary for you & students relax as they learn your response time.