{"id":177,"date":"2020-03-17T19:28:52","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T19:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cla.purdue.edu\/academic\/communication\/blog\/?p=122"},"modified":"2020-03-17T19:28:52","modified_gmt":"2020-03-17T19:28:52","slug":"teaching-a-com-course-online-tips-from-an-instructor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cla.purdue.edu\/communication\/teaching-a-com-course-online-tips-from-an-instructor\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching a COM Course Online: Tips from an Instructor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><em>Erica Young, M.S.Ed., is a Limited-Term Lecturer with the Lamb School who has been teaching COM 217: Science Writing and Presentation for three years, nearly two of which have been exclusively online. She is currently the Executive Director of Online Learning at another institution and a former Instructional Designer at Purdue. In this post, she shares research-driven and tested online teaching strategies that are specific to COM 217 and, but can help instructors of all courses more broadly, using Purdue University-supported solutions.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cla.purdue.edu\/academic\/communication\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Chaos-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Quote in Boilermaker Gold on a Black background: &quot;That's the improtant thing in all of this: Support. Help students to know that you care about them, that you know they are real people with real problems, and that you understand that the chaos COVID-19 has caused is unnerving.&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-126\" width=\"512\" height=\"512\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Student Presentations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Like most communication courses, COM 217 requires\npresentations to fulfill the learning outcomes of being able to present\nverbally and being able to use effective data visualizations and other visual\naids.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Tools:<\/strong> I have my students create a YouTube channel during the first week of the course.\u00a0 Most of them already have one since YouTube and Gmail use the same login and most people already have a Gmail account.\u00a0 Students use YouTube to create and share their videos.\u00a0 <\/li><li><strong>Peer Feedback:<\/strong> I set up a discussion board on Blackboard for each major presentation, but if you\u2019re using BrightSpace, you can do that there, too.\u00a0 Some students simply share the link to their YouTube video on the discussion board.\u00a0 Others use the embed code found in YouTube and paste it into the HTML box when they make a post which allows the video to play right inside of the discussion post.\u00a0 I allow the students to use whichever method of posting they are more comfortable using.\u00a0 Peer review occurs through response posts on the discussion board.\u00a0 <\/li><li><strong>Instructor Feedback:<\/strong> I attach the presentation rubric to the discussion board and use it to grade the assignment.\u00a0 When I shifted from the on-campus course to the online version, I tweaked the rubric in a couple of ways.\u00a0 I allocated a few points toward response posts\/peer-review just to incentivize the students to watch their peers\u2019 videos and comment on them.\u00a0 I also added \u201cvideo quality\u201d to the delivery portion of the rubrics.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Communicating Course Updates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cla.purdue.edu\/academic\/communication\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Instructor-presence-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Quote in Boilermaker Gold on a black background: &quot;Maintaining an instructor presence is an important part of online teaching.&quot; - Erica Young, M.S.Ed., Online Limited Term Lecturer for the Lamb School\" class=\"wp-image-125\" width=\"512\" height=\"512\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p> <strong>Just like in a face-to-face class, updating your students on course expectations and resources is an important part of teaching online, especially when things are changing so quickly. <\/strong>\u00a0I often post video updates for my class using Purdue\u2019s Kaltura Mediaspace.\u00a0 Alternatively, you can record the video on your phone and upload it to YouTube, just as many students do.\u00a0 If you are using Blackboard or BrightSpace, you can embed a video in an announcement. At a minimum, you should provide text-based announcements. Maintaining an instructor presence, however you choose to do that, is an important part of online teaching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Video Lectures<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cla.purdue.edu\/academic\/communication\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Short-Videos-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Quote in Boilermaker Gold on a black background: &quot;Videos should be under eight minutes long. If you're planning to create video lectures, chunk your material into subtopics and create several short videos.&quot; - Erica Young, M.S.Ed., Online Lecturer for the Lamb School\" class=\"wp-image-124\" width=\"512\" height=\"512\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>A large body of learning science research shows that videos should be under eight minutes long.\u00a0 If you\u2019re planning to create video lectures, chunk your material into subtopics and create several short videos as opposed to one long video. Don\u2019t rely solely on video lectures, either. Think of alternative ways that students can learn, such as reading articles.\u00a0 Consider open educational resources for teaching materials, such as <a href=\"openstax.com\">OpenStax<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Effective Slide Design<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>COM 217 teaches the assertion evidence model of PowerPoint design.\u00a0 I provide links to resources on that model (like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7h5R6i9q80I\">this video<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xNW84FUe0ZA\">this video<\/a>), and to assess my students\u2019 learning I have them upload a slide that uses the model.\u00a0 I also teach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.emergingedtech.com\/2017\/06\/mayers-12-principles-of-multimedia-learning-are-a-powerful-design-resource\/\">Mayer\u2019s Principles of Multimedia Learning<\/a> at the same time. I ask my students to incorporate at least one of the principles into the slide and to name the principle they used, which is a great way to tell if the objectives are met. You may find these resources helpful as you prepare course content, too! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Stay Engaged<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cla.purdue.edu\/academic\/communication\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Worst-Approach-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Quote in Boilermaker Gold on a Black Background: &quot;The worst approach to online instruction is to 'set it and forget it.'&quot; - Erica Young, M.S.Ed., Online Limted Term Lecturer for the Lamb School\" class=\"wp-image-123\" width=\"512\" height=\"512\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Above all, remember that the worst approach to online instruction is to \u201cset it and forget it.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong> If you\u2019re having trouble gauging how things are going for your students, solicit their feedback through a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/innovativelearning\/supporting-instruction\/instructional-technology\/qualtrics.aspx\">Qualtrics<\/a> survey. Students like to be heard and being able to know how things are going for them can help you to tweak your online approach to be better for your students and yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Online learning is constantly evolving, and none of us is doing it perfectly.\u00a0<\/strong> I hope my experiences can be helpful to you and generate some ideas.\u00a0 Please share your ideas in the comments so that I and others can learn from you, too! If there is anything I can help you with, <a href=\"mailto:ericayoung@purdue.edu\">please reach out<\/a>.\u00a0 <strong>We\u2019re in this together.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Erica Young, M.S.Ed., is a Limited-Term Lecturer with the Lamb School who has been teaching COM 217: Science Writing and Presentation for three years, nearly two of which have been exclusively online. She is currently the Executive Director of Online Learning at another institution and a former Instructional Designer at Purdue. In this post, she [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[46,47,48,49],"class_list":["post-177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tips","tag-covid-19","tag-online-learning","tag-online-pedagogy","tag-online-teaching"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cla.purdue.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cla.purdue.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cla.purdue.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cla.purdue.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cla.purdue.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cla.purdue.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cla.purdue.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cla.purdue.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cla.purdue.edu\/communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}