The following resource was originally compiled for the 2020-21 academic year, and has been updated for Spring 2022.
The resources below have been aligned with the recommended strategies of the ACUE course in online teaching. A team of facilitators from Academic Technology Services (ATS), the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), and the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) offered this course to Amherst faculty in the summer of 2020. A public (and abbreviated) version of the ACUE program is available here in their “Online Teaching Toolkit”.
This list also incorporates strategies from Small Teaching Online by Flower Darby.
Please also see the Disciplinary-based and Pedagogical Resources for Teaching Remotely (from the CTL)
Jump to: Welcoming Students & Building Community ♦ Transparency and Student Engagement ♦ Microlectures, Course Content, and Metacognition ♦ Active Learning and Group Work ♦ Assessment and Feedback ♦ Effective Discussions ♦ Resources
Welcoming Students & Building Community
- Create a “Welcome” video message and post it to Moodle
- Create an online introduction or “ice-breaker” discussion forum (with optional video!)
- Send regular announcements to the class through Moodle
- Learn how to pronounce students’ names with NameCoach
Strategies for Accessibility
- Provide different modalities for the first welcome message, such as a video or audio or a written note.
Examples from the Amherst Classroom
- Building Community with Students to Investigate Issues of Diversity and Inclusion in STEM (Sheila Jaswal, Megan Lyster, and Leah Schmalzbauer)
- Create Inclusive & Connected Learning Communities with NameCoach (Harris Daniels, Nick Horton, Jagu Jagannathan, & Austin Sarat)
Transparency and Student Engagement
- Design a well-organized and uncluttered Moodle site
- Choose a Moodle course format
- Moodle Design Tips Video (YouTube)
- This demonstration features inserting images and adding labels. Pages are also useful for organizing information on Moodle.
- Upload syllabi, course readings, and course schedule information to Moodle
- Provide an audio or video talk-through of the syllabus, or weekly videos introducing course content and goals
- Engage students with polling or survey activities, in Zoom or face-to-face sessions
Strategies for Accessibility
- Enable students to contribute in a variety of ways, through in-class discussions, online discussion boards etc.
Examples from the Amherst Classroom
- Providing a Roadmap for Remote Learning in an Introductory Chemistry Course (Chris Durr)
- Organizing and Sharing Content for Effective Course Delivery (Brittney Bailey)
Microlectures, Course Content, and Metacognition
- Record and share asynchronous video lectures
- Kaltura Video
- Quick Tips for Creating Videos
- Equipment available from IT
- ACUE: Plan and Record Engaging Microlectures
- Draw or annotate slides while recording
Strategies for Accessibility
- Create Accessible Documents
- Kaltura provides automatic captioning for videos
- Make your face is well-lit in Zoom sessions and video lectures (helps in lip reading)
- Make slides or related media available in Moodle before or after lectures
Examples from the Amherst Classroom
- Video-Based Microlectures for Flipped Learning (Hannah Hunter-Parker)
- Video-Based Teaching and Learning During COVID-19 (Ivan Contreras, Nicola Courtright, David Hall, Darryl Harper, Jagu Jagannathan)
- Creating Video-Based Lectures (Chris Kingston, David Hansen, Adi Gordon, Pat O’Hara)
- Applied Learning and Reflective Writing in Geology (Dave Jones)
Active Learning and Group Work
- Use breakout rooms in Zoom for group discussions or think-pair-share activities
- Encourage students to schedule and arrange group meetings via Zoom.
- Create Google Docs for collaborative writing, sharing or annotating- either asynchronously, or as an activity during a Zoom session.
- Have students collaboratively annotate course readings (or even the syllabus!).
- Draw, brainstorm, comment, or annotate images or readings on a collaborative whiteboard
- Zoom Whiteboard
- Google Jamboard App - please contact askIT@amherst.edu to use Jamboard with your Amherst account
- Set up a class blog or website
- Wordpress - contact askIT@amherst.edu to request a blog
- The IT-maintained Available Software web site lists Amherst-provided software titles.
Strategies for Accessibility
- Enable informal group interaction for temporary, ad-hoc in-class discussions to respond to prompts, adopt think-pair-share strategy.
- Form formal, somewhat long-term groups with attention to specific skills/abilities required to accomplish a task, assign or allow self-assignment of roles keeping in mind particular cognitive and social skills needed for the performance of tasks.
Examples from the Amherst Classroom
- Digital Annotation and Collaborative Analysis using Perusall (Rhonda Cobham-Sander, Catherine Infante, Kate Follette, Connor Robinson, Sarah Hews, Nicola Courtright, David Hanneke, Frost Library)
- Video Annotation and Intellectual Learning Communities (Christopher Grobe)
- Social and Collaborative Annotation Using Zoom (Anna Abramson)
- Redesigning Class Discussions and Final Class Presentations in an American Studies Course (Molly Mead)
- Student-Driven Inquiry: Shared Data and Shared Experiences (Jen Manion)
- Collect & Reflect: Digital Portfolios as Metacognitive Practice (Paul Schroeder-Rodriguez)
Assessment and Feedback
- Create and grade exams, quizzes, and other assessments online
- For performative activities, consider integrating online videos, simulations, readings, or other activities that align with the goals of your class and develop skills students will need when they return to the physical classroom or lab.
- Students can generate recordings, videos, or photos to share with you and/or the class.
- While all course activities, assignments, and assessments must be as equitable as possible, remote students may need different activities or assignments than students on-campus.
Accessibility
- Only implement time-based restrictions (eg the quiz must be completed in 60 minutes) if it is crucial to meeting the learning goals for your course.
- For more information on designing for flexibility and allowing for student choice & agency during this unique time, please see this excellent resource from the Center for Teaching & Learning.
Examples from the Amherst Classroom
- Rethinking Assessments in Psychology (Catherine Sanderson)
- Facilitating Consistent Grading of Assessments with Gradescope (Nathan Pflueger)
- Quizzes for Self-Regulated Learning (Buffy Aries)
Effective Discussions
- Create Moodle forums for class discussions or to simply let students share material.
- Faculty and students can insert video or audio of themselves into a forum post for a more personal feel.
- Just as an instructor in a face to face session would participate and guide a discussion, faculty teaching online should plan to play an active role in discussion forums. You can respond to student posts, or respond at the end of a thread to summarize student’s positions and make connections between recurring ideas.
UDL Bonus
- Pay attention to your instructional style, and notice if you gravitate toward visual, hearing, or cognitive abilities.
- Use a combination of different approaches with suitable language descriptions for any visual elements in the class (writings on board, slides, images, etc).
Examples from the Amherst Classroom
- Discussions in Islamic Constitutionalism, Spring 2020 (Mona Oraby)
- The Four-Role Discussion Forum to Promote Critical Analysis (Michaela Brangan)
Resources
ACUE’S Online Teaching Toolkit
Published Spring 2021 by Academic Technology Services