Tips for Teaching Online

In spring of 1999, I taught my first course online; it was an experimental course called "Contours of Cyberspace," and I had taught it one time previously in the classroom, with selected portions online. I was also pilot testing a course management system, in this case WebCT. These tips were developed out of this first experience, in response to a request to lead a faculty forum on teaching online.

Things that Worked for Me

• I sent out a "welcome" email message a couple of days before class was scheduled to start. This served as a heads up and also gave students an opportunity to login and familiarize themselves with the environment.
• I put all of the activities for the week in a single web page. This seemed to work well for most students.
• As part of the first week's activities, I had students introduce themselves to the class in the discussion forum, and modeled the type of introduction I wanted. I think this really personalized things, and helped students "remember the human" in their discussions. [There were no incidences of flaming in my course, which may or may not be a result of this activity.] I also had students read about 'net etiquette (netiquette), and although we didn't discuss the subject of netiquette, I did spell out my expectations for communications.
• To encourage discussion and prevent people from "hiding," I divided the class into groups of 6-7 students, trying to mix things up a little (making sure I didn't get "clusters" of people who all had the same major, were all in the same year, or already knew each other). Each group was assigned a different discussion focus for the topic of the week.
• Because students were assigned discussion topics, I gave them an opportunity to focus on their own interests in several short (2-3 page) papers related to the main topic for that week. For example, in the week we talked about electronic commerce, I had them profile a company doing business over the Internet. Each student had to provide a context for the company by also discussing its competitors.
• Because I had taught this course once before in the traditional manner, I was able to consider very carefully what benefits the online environment might provide. The level of student-to-student interaction was extremely high, and meant that I didn't need to lecture, that I could instead facilitate. For me, this was a huge advantage.
• I invited my colleagues to serve as guest lecturers, which gave me a bit of a break from the discussion forum, and allowed me to concentrate on grading papers. Some guests were more active than others, however.

Things I Would Do Differently Next Time

• I would try to give students at least two "breaks" from the weekly discussions, substituting an individual project or something they can do on their own. I noticed a definite fatigue factor around week 6 that continued until the end of the term.
• I would wait until Week 2 to set up groups. This would give students an opportunity to interact with the entire class, and would give me a good idea of who the enthusiastic and reluctant participants are, so that I could distribute groups more evenly.
• I would hold regular "virtual" office hours in the chat room. Most chat software has a "ring" feature that will notify you when someone enters the chat room, so that you can continue working on other things. I would also establish a "Virtual Office Hours" forum in the discussion area, where students can ask a question (privately or via the forum) and I could respond so that everyone in the class can read the answer. I would allow anonymous posts in this forum.
• Rather than doing group presentations [there were two], I would have each group compose and post a summary of their weekly discussion in a discussion forum set aside for that purpose. I think part of the fatigue I saw was just from students trying to read every group's discussions.

Things to Think About (Words of Caution/Wisdom?)

• How comfortable are you with technology? If you're not a technology "wiz," do you have someone you can rely on for support (and I don't mean the Computing Center help desk)? There's a whole new layer of student-instructor interaction in the online environment; students rely on you for technical advice as well as your content expertise. If you have a resource person available, list them on your course web site as a support person, and specify what kind of support they will provide.
• What can the online environment provide for your students that the traditional classroom can't (or doesn't)? Are there aspects of your traditional course that could be enhanced in the online environment? Don't forget that there are different levels of "online-ness" that you can consider in your courses.
• In an online environment, you don't have the luxury of verbalization, which allows you to say a lot in a short span of time. Written communication needs to be concise, clear, and carefully worded. Make sure that instructions are clear, and don't assume your students will "get it." Have someone else read your instructions and follow them, if possible, to make sure you haven't left anything out or made references to something that isn't really there.
• When choosing to use the online environment, consider privacy and security issues. I felt it was important to provide my students with an environment that would simulate the privacy and security of a traditional classroom as closely as possible. My course web site was passworded, and students were able to engage in discussion with each other without the world looking on. This is one of the big disadvantages of using something like Motet, and one of the major advantages of using courseware such as WebCT or Blackboard.