Greetings from SEALS (virtually). I've just finished sitting in on the last of several excellent panels on online teaching. Below are tips from the panelists, some of my own lessons learned, and key takeaways from the excellent book Small Teaching Online.  For more of the foundations of online teaching see Part I,   Part II,  Part III, and Part IV.

  • Have a class zero- you and students can record an introduction of themselves, pets, hobbies, skills, talents etc. Make sure you’re smiling and conveying your excitement in the video about the class.
  • You can also have a class zero where you spend 5 minutes on Zoom with each student before the first day of class talking to them about any questions they have about the class, their tech etc. 
  • Let students know that this online format is not just a pandemic issue. Virtual offices are increasingly common in practice.
  • Think about how to motivate students- what counts as a grade? Should you raise the class participation component and if so, how will you measure it? Will watching videos before class and participating in discussion boards count?
  • Stand when recording your video lectures or teaching synchronously. Students prefer it. You can get a standing desk or go old school like me and use a pile of textbooks to create a lectern.
  • Think about creating mnemonic devices through your intentional use of imagery. Use images appropriately so that the students can connect the image with what you want them to remember.
  • Allow the students to do more prep  before class. Let them find the rule and the law and use a problem method during synchronous sessions where the students work on hypotheticals.
  • Make sure that you explain the learning objectives each week or each module so the students know what they are doing, why, and where it fits in the course. You can even add how the module or unit will help them in practice.
  • You can get information to students with an announcement or email, but consider using a short video, especially if you want to explain an assignment and add more nuance. Make sure to add your personality in to the video. You can also use video to explain information that students find confusing. This way you can avoid answering the same questions over and over again.
  • Use the subtitle or caption feature for your powerpoints when you are recording your asynchronous lecture. 
  • Consider having a transcript of your lecture videos or a detailed outline, especially if you don’t have subtitles or captions in your videos. I don’t write out an outline for my classes, but if you do, you can post that outline.
  • Have some questions for the students to think about while they watch the asynchronous video lecture. I will use Feedback Fruits so students will answer questions while they watch the videos and won’t be able to continue watching until they answer the questions. You could be more low tech and provide them with the question in advance and require them to answer the questions before class in a no or low-stakes quiz.
  • Students seem to prefer short, informal videos to highly produced videos. Students respond better to conversational tones and unedited videos. Of course, don’t just read the slides.
  • Try to avoid talking about dates or current events in your videos, unless it’s really relevant. Make sure the videos can  stand alone as an independent product and don’t refer back to other videos.
  • Disclose your grading rubric early or have students develop a rubric based on what you have communicated. This will help you know whether they understand your materials and your grading standards.
  • Learn from neuroscience- do ungraded short quizzes and spaced repetition before and after class. For a business associations class, for example, you can use old bar questions each week, which will get them familiar with those type of questions.
  • Use some of what works in K-12 teaching about how to keep students engaged, where they empower the students to learn. We focus more on how we perform as teachers vs. how students learn. If you watch YouTube videos of K-12 teachers, you can learn a lot that will also apply to law students.
  • Use non-graded events throughout the semester such as short essays or multiple choice so that they can see how they are doing. Do this anonymously and provide the answers or model answers. 
  • If your class is small enough, greet students by name when they come in the Zoom room.
  • Start each synchronous class with a question in the chat- it can relate to the materials, something in the news, or pop culture etc. If you normally arrive early to the physical classroom, do the same on Zoom and recreate that casual conversation. 
  • Make sure to save the chat in Zoom so that you can refer to issues in the next class or you can send out an email or announcement to discuss what you may have missed in the class.
  • If you have a TA, that person can monitor the chat for you while you're teaching.
  • In the first week, think of creating an exercise that relates to what the students may do  for the final exam. This may include multiples choice, a short essay etc.
  • Have panels of students on call for certain parts of the class, just as you would in residential classes.
  • Try peer-to-peer formative assessment through peer review and team-based learning. This will work better in an online than a residential setting. See my earlier posts for more information on TBL.
  • Take a break in class if it’s more than an hour. Tell the students that they can use that time to take notes, talk with each other etc.
  • Add humor to the course. Consider a contest for best virtual background but be mindful that some students may not have the bandwidth for this. If all of your students can do it, consider a “prize” for the best background.
  • When you use breakout rooms, have a class document that students can fill out or download and then share the screen during the breakout rooms. While they can use a whiteboard in breakout groups, they can’t share their breakout room whiteboard in the main room. You can share using Google docs in Zoom. This may work better if students need to report back to the class.
  • In class, reboot student attention with thumbs up, thumbs down, polls etc. Try to keep things moving every 10-15 minutes.
  • Have students do a short reflection at the end of a unit to discuss what they learned or struggled with. Give them the choice of using video or written format.
  • If  your LMS allows it, have a conditional release system so students cant’t see certain content until they have reached a certain score or milestone with the materials.
  • Use the discussion board feature for students to answer questions and then make sure that you answer within 24 hours.
  • If you choose to use discussion board for substantive student submissions, make sure that you have a clear rubric, with word count requirements etc. Consider having students have a choice of questions to answer. You may decide that if a response does not meet the rubric, the student gets 0 points, so it’s all or nothing. You can also require students to post before they see other posts. If you have a very large class, you can divide them into groups so the students are only looking at a smaller group of posts.
  • Think about providing feedback on assignments via audio or video, if your class is small enough. Many students find that this provides more of a connection to the professor.
  • Early or midway through the semester, use Google forms, survey monkey, or another mechanisms for students to let you know anonymously what's working and what’s not. Ask them what you should start, stop, and continue doing.
  • Send personal emails when a student misses class. Just asking if the student is ok and making sure s/he knows where to find the class recording, can further the sense of community and connection.
  • At the end of the semester, have the students assess themselves. They can also discuss three takeaways from the course and how they plan to use it in practice.

Best of luck planning for the new semester. Stay safe!