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Posted (edited)

Surely I can't be the only college instructor on here who is scrambling to get classes moved to online. 

Here is a great article that talks about the differences between designing a class intended for online delivery and an emergency move of an in seat class to online during the crisis:

https://anygoodthing.com/2020/03/12/please-do-a-bad-job-of-putting-your-courses-online/

 

Edited by regentrude
  • Like 7
Posted

This is spot on. I saw it on Facebook earlier.

also important to remember, students sent home may very well also have a houseful of younger siblings who are also home from school running around making noise & driving them crazy. And parents trying to work from home too.

I’m worried about the mental health toll on my now at home college kid.

  • Like 2
Posted

Not an instructor but was interested.    One thing that was not addressed (or I missed it) was Time Limits and students with disabilities.  For students who get time and a half (with on campus tests), may need a way to have extended time.   I've noticed in my dd's online classes (she signed up for those), the time given to everyone seems to be in mind for time and  a half to get it done.  No one is rushed then.  Others will handle it other ways.  and yes, I'm sure some get 1.5 x of the time limit.   Hope that insight helps some of you with planning and doing what you are supposed to do with ADA stuff.   I really liked the proctoring suggestion on the blog.  These students signed up for in class.  don't ask them to get webcam and resort to proctorU or RPNow as if you are suddenly using a study.com course to transfer to Thomas Edison.  (not that we're there yet with middle gal, but soon..... )

and remember, pick a time zone for that 11:59 pm.  your students will be scattered around now.  I'm in a state with two time zones.  Students in my daughter's state wide online course are in both of those.  The school picked one. 

good luck to y'all. 

 

  • Like 1
Posted
1 hour ago, cbollin said:

Not an instructor but was interested.    One thing that was not addressed (or I missed it) was Time Limits and students with disabilities.  For students who get time and a half (with on campus tests), may need a way to have extended time.   I've noticed in my dd's online classes (she signed up for those), the time given to everyone seems to be in mind for time and  a half to get it done.  No one is rushed then.  Others will handle it other ways.  and yes, I'm sure some get 1.5 x of the time limit.   Hope that insight helps some of you with planning and doing what you are supposed to do with ADA stuff.   I really liked the proctoring suggestion on the blog.  These students signed up for in class.  don't ask them to get webcam and resort to proctorU or RPNow as if you are suddenly using a study.com course to transfer to Thomas Edison.  (not that we're there yet with middle gal, but soon..... )

and remember, pick a time zone for that 11:59 pm.  your students will be scattered around now.  I'm in a state with two time zones.  Students in my daughter's state wide online course are in both of those.  The school picked one. 

If tests are given in Canvas (or other LMS), we can group students who receive extended time into a group and set different time limits.

ProctorU and similar services will be completely overwhelmed when all US colleges go to online. Unproctored exam are the only  way to go. But that may mean tight time limits on exams so that students have enough time to complete, but not enough to disseminate the test or consult too many unallowed sources. It will be difficult to construct just the right length of exam if you don't have experience with the specific format (it's the same with regular in class tests); I expect some trial and error.

When I give an assignment through Canvas, it uses the time zone I am in. A student in a  different time zone can set their Canvas time to their local time zone and would see the due date translated into their local time. At least that is what Canvas claims.

  • Like 2
Posted (edited)

yeah, your system has thought of that and solutions are there with time zones.  My point was more that I was just surprised being sensitive to time zones wasn't in the article as something to be mindful for the student's stress levels especially mentioning the detail about after 9pm for any kids in the house.    yep. agreeing with proctor overload.  My middle daughter will need about 3 study.com classes this summer into fall. I hope it's all back to normal by then.   But unproctored exams have worked ok with her courses (in non MOOC settings). But then again, she hasn't done physics.  I'm sure you'll find the balance.

hope this is encouraging.  even in smaller courses where online course has been established for several semesters, some times stuff goes weird.   give yourself grace and patience when it does. 

 

Edited by cbollin
Posted

My dd is hoping ProctorU won't be used because she has to pay $20 for each test, which adds up very quickly. She said if her university uses it, the remaining tests for this semester will cost her an additional $180, money she hasn't budgeted and doesn't have. 

Posted
3 hours ago, regentrude said:

When I give an assignment through Canvas, it uses the time zone I am in. A student in a  different time zone can set their Canvas time to their local time zone and would see the due date translated into their local time. At least that is what Canvas claims.

Canvas does do this but only if the student sets their local time zone. My DD didn't do this at first (back in high school) and it threw a monkey wrench into the first assignment that she cut close on turning in. So, as a suggestion, I'd just make sure to extra mention the time zone on top of setting it up in Canvas.

  • Like 2
Posted
5 hours ago, regentrude said:

If tests are given in Canvas (or other LMS), we can group students who receive extended time into a group and set different time limits.

ProctorU and similar services will be completely overwhelmed when all US colleges go to online. Unproctored exam are the only  way to go. But that may mean tight time limits on exams so that students have enough time to complete, but not enough to disseminate the test or consult too many unallowed sources. It will be difficult to construct just the right length of exam if you don't have experience with the specific format (it's the same with regular in class tests); I expect some trial and error.

When I give an assignment through Canvas, it uses the time zone I am in. A student in a  different time zone can set their Canvas time to their local time zone and would see the due date translated into their local time. At least that is what Canvas claims.

The student has to know to set the time zone, which is in their Profile settings.  Many students will not think to reset them from what they picked when they set up their account (which is probably their school time zone).

In Canvas, Announcements seem to get sent to the email the student used to register with Canvas (unless they turned off that notification).  That can be really helpful, because it gives the student a 2nd means to  see the information (both when logged in to Canvas and via email).

There is a Canvas App, which I like for some things, but there are some functions that are only available on the full computer version (ex. sorting Discussion Board questions by Unread or searching for a term in discussions.

If you are using online class discussions, I really like it when teachers give one date for the first submission and a later date for replies.  This gets students to post their first comment before the end of the week.  If everyone procrastinates, it can be touch to get in the required number of replies.  I had a few assignments this term where the settings didn't allow students to see other comments until they did one of their own (sometimes even with a 30 min delay to see others).  This meant that you had to do an original response before seeing what others had said.  (Maybe less applicable to physics.)

 

  • Like 1
Posted
14 minutes ago, Sebastian (a lady) said:

If you are using online class discussions, I really like it when teachers give one date for the first submission and a later date for replies.  This gets students to post their first comment before the end of the week.  If everyone procrastinates, it can be touch to get in the required number of replies.  I had a few assignments this term where the settings didn't allow students to see other comments until they did one of their own (sometimes even with a 30 min delay to see others).  This meant that you had to do an original response before seeing what others had said.  (Maybe less applicable to physics.)

I am running a discussion board, but not for credit - mostly as a way to imitate the help sessions for students who cannot participate in zoom. With 500 students, I need to move those questions away from my email!!! So, order won't matter that much.

  • Like 2
Posted
6 hours ago, wilrunner said:

My dd is hoping ProctorU won't be used because she has to pay $20 for each test, which adds up very quickly. She said if her university uses it, the remaining tests for this semester will cost her an additional $180, money she hasn't budgeted and doesn't have. 

This is an issue being addressed by my department. Aside from being overwhelmed with students, it is, in my department's opinion, not right to ask students to now pay for proctoring when they didn't sign up for that type of course. 

2 hours ago, Sebastian (a lady) said:

ally like it when teachers give one date for the first submission and a later date for replies.  This gets students to post their first comment before the end of the week.  If everyone procrastinates, it can be touch to get in the required number of replies.  I had a few assignments this term where the settings didn't allow students to see other comments until they did one of their own (sometimes even with a 30 min delay to see others).  This meant that you had to do an original response before seeing what others had said.  (Maybe less applicable to physics.)

 

We use a one day delay on our discussion posts and the you can't see other post until you make your own, but they're only required to reply to 2 student's comments, not a larger number. 

  • Like 1
Posted (edited)
12 hours ago, Hilltopmom said:

This is spot on. I saw it on Facebook earlier.

also important to remember, students sent home may very well also have a houseful of younger siblings who are also home from school running around making noise & driving them crazy. And parents trying to work from home too.

I’m worried about the mental health toll on my now at home college kid.

My daughter has many friends who just now came home to finish their college online.  Most have older siblings, but 2 of the 7 have young siblings, one has 3 young siblings, the youngest of whom is 3!  He's happy to be home but says that the 3 year old could make online work difficult.

Edited by ElizabethB
Posted

Yes, that article very much reflects how my college is approaching it. Do what you can, show some mercy.

My college is closed today and tomorrow (March 16-17) so that they can begin online instruction on Wednesday. They started preparing several weeks ago for the possibility. They have set up faculty discussion boards by course so that sharing can occur and have made the online shells available to the face-to-face professors with the warning that not all of the online material is necessarily appropriate. Online courses at my college are standardized, and the material is put together for online-only learning. In many cases we also use different textbooks. But it's hopefully a help. 

My online classes are marching on as if nothing happened, but they are quiet. I got very few questions over the weekend.

My kids are commute to a school that decided to extend spring break by a week. Both have peeked in Blackboard and said that nothing is going on yet.

Posted (edited)

Not sure if it has been posted before but here is an awesome song written for all you professors!

Removed

ETA: Haha, hadn't read the thread. And Regentrude posted it yesterday! I sent it to my sisters!

 

Edited by lewelma
  • Like 1

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