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Reading a book on online teaching, perfectly timed (expensive indivd'ly - perfect for the Univ. library to get an e-book): https://www.igi-global.com/book/exploring-online-learning-through-synchronous/233693. First question: synch or asynch? I'm concluding, bolstered by Spring experience: blended!
100%-asynch limits student interaction/bonding w/each other & with faculty, eliminating that aspect of learning. I tried mostly asynch with one class post-COVID, & we had attrition from students who became unmotivated & lost. When we went synch at end of semest., they came back.
Some authors are making the case for at least weekly checkins in mostly asynch. classes. - even 30 mins of common time keeps people connected, let's them ask questions. Announcing things asynch. always seems to leave ppl confused (where do I find that?) v. showing on screen.
Interesting concept in @heatherleslie's article. 3 components of online ed: student-content interaction, student-student interaction, student-instructor interaction. Best class is when you have all 3.
Another idea from @heatherleslie, citing Bower&Hardy: "an online instructor’s most essential job is to engage&sustain students in high levels of interact'n & involvement." If they're not engaged, they won't learn, so focus must be on sparking that & not just "delivering content."
Yes, there are def. ppl who just want to upload stuff, have students look at it on their own time, & not interact. That's not me. It takes more work to sustain interaction b/w them & each other, & b/w them & me. But I'm glad the research confirms it boosts their learning!
Also helpful from @racheltoor https://www.chronicle.com/article/Turns-Out-You-Can-Build/249038: "Less is just as gd, or better, than more. Instead of assigning novels or bks, I will use shorter [rdgs] that accompl. the same pedag. goals" to "recogniz[e] that no one, incl. me, has the same attention span as b4 Covid-19."
Also @racheltoor: "Make all assign'ts due at the same time each wk.... Students told me that they were having trouble kpg track of what was due when for diff. classes, espec. those that were asynch." That one is tough b/c I often had thgs due day b4 class...but worth considering!
@racheltoor on assigning pers. essays to connect in online ed: "Students want to be seen... to be reminded that we understand that they’re struggling. Writing about themselves allowed that to happen & them to express themselves as the flawed, scared, & wonderful humans they are."
Great advice from @JoshuaElliott3 about bldg soc. presence in online clsroom, thru "icebreakers, netiquette activities, & disc'n activities." He gives lots of sugg'ns for how online icebreakers are diff. from f2f, esp. if asynch. (iMovies, web or PP pres'ns possib. as "About Me")
I may skip my Uni's formal online ed training for self-directed learning, b/c I'm not sure I want to bother w/peer review pt (v. being happy with where I am & turning back to writing!). But this @calstate-wide instrument is useful for self-assessment: http://courseredesign.csuprojects.org/wp/qualityassurance/qlt-informal-review/
Finished the excellent bk edited by @CynthiaChandler, & now am moving onto Univ.-suggested resources on online teaching. Hey, @TheTattooedProf, one of the first articles our IITS recommends in their self-paced curric. is your https://www.chronicle.com/article/Teaching-Online-Will-Make-You/247031. Great article!
@TheTattooedProf:"Developing exams for my online students led me to reassess why I used timed, closed-bk exams in the 1st place. Now, whether I’m teaching online or in pers., I use redesigned, untimed, open-resource exams b/c they accurately assess how students are actually lrng"
More wisdom from @TheTattooedProf: "In my online courses, instead of the usual threaded discussions via the LMS, I expanded my use of blogs, developing a system in which students essentially ran the blog and were responsible for most of its content throughout the course."
And still more from Kevin Gannon: "Did my assignments, as drafted for a physical classroom, rely too much on the fact that I could answer students’ questions after class?"
And more from Kevin Gannon on the virtue of transparency in explaining your online pedagogy to students: "Metacognition is most effective when learners realize they’re engaging in it." So important - thank you for emphasizing that, @TheTattooedProf.
Another article our IITS recommends is: https://elearnmag.acm.org/featured.cfm?aid=3342226. It suggests that the online classroom must be grounded in 3 Rs: "relationships, relevance, and rigor."
Will I drop them into a rabbit hole if I ask them to search up #haiti #onhere at start of class to see why what they're learning is relevant, & how they'll know way more than most folks when they're done with class? Too many recent controversies here re Haiti/abol'ists etc. 
From @SyracuseU: "Are these assignments items that I lk forward to receiving from my students? If not, what... could I ask for that would be interesting or exciting for [them]?... Assign that product instead." https://answers.syr.edu/display/AC/Summer+Online+Course+Checklist
Also from Syracuse: each session/module should have:
--s'thg to read
--s'thg to hear/view
--s'thg to discuss
--s'thg to do
https://answers.syr.edu/display/AC/Summer+Online+Course+Checklist
--s'thg to read
--s'thg to hear/view
--s'thg to discuss
--s'thg to do
https://answers.syr.edu/display/AC/Summer+Online+Course+Checklist
Interesting idea: you could have them do some CATS ( https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/cats/) in the chat box if you're synch on zoom. So stop and say: what have you gotten so far out of our discussion & have them each type something into the chat box.
Super helpful from @SyracuseU, netiquette guide for students. Those who never took online classes may not know how to act, & you don't know what rules to set in advance: https://answers.syr.edu/display/AC/Netiquette+for+Students
Some Zoom Best Practices from @uiowa, with links to Zoom help guides on securing meetings: https://teach.uiowa.edu/Zoom/teaching-best-practices
Excellent pt by my colleague Matt Atherton: don't think you need to do same as ppl who have been teaching online for years, that's too ambitious. For fall:"try to build a nice solid one story house." B/c "A sundeck, spa & all that stuff can come later" if you reteach it.
Also from Matt Atherton about social presence and building community: "you want to avoid that correspondence course [mentality], we sort of just give them homework and they do it" in solitude.
He says students also can engage more deeply with rdgs in online class when they are main event v. passively showing up to f2f cls & listening. Students say "I loved the rdgs!" much more in his online evals than for f2f. But he says: "they're the same readings!"
Also from M. Atherton: as much as you prepare to be online, your cls will succeed or fail not because of bells & whistles, but if you have a passion for material & show you care about students & engage them. So figuring out HOW TO KEEP THEM ENGAGED online remains the #1 task.
He stressed: KEEP IT SIMPLE. Don't add podcasting and fancy bells & whistles if you're new to distance learning. Stick with engaging them in the material, being responsive and passionate. That's a good thing to keep in mind as we're all feeling overwhelmed!
