The sessions below are recordings of presentations that took place during NISOD's Online Convenings in May 2020.
I’ve Designed a Beautiful Online Course: Now What?
You’re an excellent teacher and your passion for student learning is evident in your face-to-face classroom. This session demonstrates how to bring that same passion to your online classroom. Learn how to keep your online students engaged for better success and retention while you experience more joy in teaching. One of the hardest tasks involved with online teaching is connecting with virtual students. Leave this session knowing how to humanize your course and ensure that you and your online students see each other.
Anita McCoy, Instructional Technologist, Guilford Technical Community College
Student-Focused Best Online Teaching and Learning Practices in the Age of COVID-19
This session offers a practical and proven best practices approach that identifies the barriers associated with remote teaching and learning and seeks to remove them through a toolkit of strategic teaching practices while promoting online engagement and student success. Participants consider five key barriers to effective remote teaching and learning, develop a strategies-based approach to overcoming identified barriers to teaching and learning, and develop individual customizable best teaching and assessment toolkits they can use to promote equity and inclusiveness in their remote classrooms.
Sonia Chandarana Tandon, Professor, History, Forsyth Technical Community College
How to Get and Keep Students Involved
This presentation describes how instructors can get students to participate the first week of class and how to create an interactive environment that continues to promote engagement throughout the semester. Learn how to create options for different learning styles and preferences while addressing accessibility, as well as how to introduce the course and check students’ understanding on the first day of class. Participants also learn how to encourage students to interact with the material, the instructor, and each other, and how to inspire students to reflect on their learning strategies and experiences in a meaningful way.
Annette Gillum, Instructor, Arts and Education, Angelina College
Avoiding Big Brother Tactics in Online Instruction: Developing Creative Assessment Alternatives
In a world where the answer to almost any question can be found on the internet, creating online assessments can be a challenge. This session explores how to use creative assessment ideas such as projects, student-initiated questions, and portfolios to avoid surveillance-based testing. While the assessment examples discussed are viewed primarily through a mathematics lens, the strategies presented can be adapted to any discipline.
Amanda Davis, Assistant Professor, Mathematics, Forsyth Technical Community College
From Stage to Screen: What Professional Speakers Can Teach Us About Virtual Learning
Many instructors feel lost after being quickly thrown into teaching virtual classes. It’s hard enough to engage students in face-to-face classrooms. Will it be even more difficult to engage students using Zoom? Professional speakers must also engage their audience. What can we learn from them that will be useful in engaging remote students so they understand, retain, and apply ideas?
Donn King, Associate Professor, Speech and Journalism, Pellissippi State Community College; Becky Milam, Director, Student Transitions and Persistence, Pellissippi State Community College
Cultivating an Engaging Online Learning Frameworks Course
Learning frameworks courses, also known as study strategies courses, instruct students in the theoretical underpinnings of strategic learning and the application of learning strategies. This presentation focuses on instructional best practices, course content, and innovative class activities for creating engaging and dynamic asynchronous or synchronous online course environments. The presenters also discuss ways you can audit your syllabus to ensure that meaning-making activities are included in your curriculum.
Jonathan Lollar, Doctoral Research Assistant, Texas State University; Russ Hodges, Associate Professor, Developmental Education, Texas State University
