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Preparing to Teach Online Series - Spring Series 2

March 05, 2021
Submitted By: FCLD Staff

In partnership with Online Programs, FCLD again will be offering an eight-part seminar series designed to prepare instructors for online teaching and learning.  There will be two overlapping series and faculty may self-select which of the two they wish to join.  Participating faculty will be enrolled in a Blackboard Course and all live sessions will be held in the Collaborate room of that course. Faculty interested in registering should email fcld@hartford.edu. When registering, please indicate whether you are registering for the Full or Flipped version per below.

This Spring, we are offering two versions of the Preparing to Teach Online Series:

THE FULL VERSION will meet virtually. ALL eight sessions will be held synchronously in Blackboard Collaborate.  This series was designed for newer instructors, those who are new to Blackboard, and/or instructors who have never taught online before. Each of the eight sessions outlined below will include detailed step-by-step instructions and examples.  Participating instructors will apply this instruction in their own courses, developing course content at their own pace.

FLIPPED VERSION – will include three live synchronous sessions and six supplemental modules designed for independent learning.  Sessions one, five and eight will be led by live instructors and held synchronously in Blackboard Collaborate.  The remaining six sessions will consist of completing online modules and specific exercises that apply what was covered in each module.  These exercises must be completed satisfactorily in order to receive credit for completion of the series.  This flipped series was designed for instructors with strong Blackboard skills, those who are comfortable with learning technology independently, and/or for experienced online instructors.  Instructors participating in the flipped series are welcome to any of the virtual sessions as well, should they find they need more detailed live instruction.

Session 1: Planning and Designing an Online Course*

Monday, April 5, 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

“What do I need to know to be an effective online instructor?” In this first seminar, we will answer this question, as well as demonstrate best practices for transforming face-to-face courses into online courses, discuss principles of learning objectives and chunking, build a Blackboard Content Folder, and share useful resources, such as a course development template, that will help you as you design your online course.

Session 2: Creating Organized & Effective Instruction

Wednesday, April 7, 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

In this hands-on seminar, we will use Blackboard to apply what was discussed in week one. Participants will learn different ways to structure and organize course content, as well as use Content Folders to create easy-to-follow online lessons. We will explore the many diverse sources of ready-made course content available on the Internet, and finally cover some legal concerns, such as accessibility, FERPA, HIPAA, Copyright and Fair Use.

Session 3: Basic Tools for Online Instruction

Monday, April 12, 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Just like any instruction, we need to be able to communicate with students, collect assignments, and facilitate group work such as case studies and projects. This seminar covers basic Blackboard tools that are essential for online instruction including Email, Announcements and Alerts, the Assignment Tool, SafeAssign, Blackboard Annotate for grading Assignments, and Journals.

Session 4: Fostering Interaction and Collaboration (Asynchronous Best Practices)

Wednesday, April 14, 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Distance education means there is “a distance between learner and teacher which is not merely geographic, but educational and psychological as well” (Moore, 1983). One hallmark of a well- designed online course is that it uses interaction to close this distance, building in lots of different ways for students to work together and form their own online community. During this seminar, participants will learn how to foster and encourage interactivity using tools such as the Discussion Board, Blogs, Wikis and Groups.

Session 5: Remote/Synchronous Learning Best Practices*

Monday, April 19, 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

In this session, we will show you how to hold your classes online in a synchronous format using Blackboard Collaborate.  We will cover how to use polling solutions such as the built-in polling engine in Collaborate, as well as Poll Everywhere.  Additionally, we will show you how to set up Breakout Rooms for group work, OneDrive and OneNote for document sharing and collaboration.  Additionally, we will cover some housekeeping for conference recordings, as well as show a comparison for Web Conferencing Tools.

Session 6: Tests, Grading, Feedback, and Support

Wednesday, April 21, 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Your course is designed, your content prepared and loaded, your instruction and assignments align with your objectives, there’s a good mix of media presented, and opportunities for collaboration and interaction -- but how will you inform your students about their progress? Grade Center! Learn basic and necessary housekeeping of Grade Center and ways to set up Grade Center to reflect your grading scenario. We will also demonstrate and discuss ways you can offer feedback and build in support for students into your course.

Session 7: Active Learning & Lecture Tools

Monday, April 26, 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Just because you are not face-to-face with your online students, it doesn't mean you can't 'talk' to them and with them or engage them with tools asynchronously. It's not difficult to prepare audio and video clips so you can demonstrate worked problems, introduce a topic, summarize a complex issue, or even meet once or twice. We will be covering the suite of Ensemble tools, including: Anthem for recording lectures offline, and how to share them with students in Blackboard, playlists for organizing videos/audio files, Ensemble Dropbox for allowing student video submissions, Ensemble Quizzes, as well as tools such as Quizlet and Cram.

Session 8: Ask the Experts*

Wednesday, April 28, 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

One of the best ways to learn about teaching online is hearing about the experiences of instructors who have taught online in the past. In this session, University of Hartford instructors and the FCLD team will share their online courses, tips, and tricks they have learned, as well as field questions from audience participants in this informal Q & A session.