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Helpful Hints for Effective Online Teaching: Pre-Class Preparation

CSI Staff

Staff Writer

Center for Support of Instruction

Published: November-December 2002

Category: » Online-pedagogy » Classroom-management

Faculty members who plan and prepare their materials ahead of time report that online classroom set-up goes very quickly. They also report less anxiety at the beginning of the semester, even when they agree to take on new or additional class sections. Please note that these suggestions are intended as food for thought and do not replace specific guidelines and procedures provided by individual academic units.

Getting Organized

Even before you're staffed for a class, contact your course manager to discuss existing class materials. Ask to be put in touch with a faculty member who's already taught the course successfully and request to shadow his/her class if possible. As a course manager who arranges for her faculty to shadow a class fully one semester prior to teaching reports, "The new faculty member gets a feel for the rhythm of an online course. Also, it allows the faculty member to see how students interact and respond to online course material." There are many benefits to shadowing. A faculty member remembered, "As a new faculty member, I gained tremendous insight from visiting a veteran's completed classroom. I also benefited from his time and generosity. Whenever I had a question, the veteran was able to offer suggestions based on his experience." Other departments take mentoring a step further and include new faculty members in their virtual department meetings even before they've taught for the university.

Also, ask your course manager for any standardized department materials, guides, or conventions to be included in your class. For example, one department asks all faculty to name their administrative conferences and cyber cafés consistently, so that students in the program know exactly what to expect in those areas of the WebTycho classroom across the curriculum. The department also uses a template for all their course content materials. Again, students appreciate this consistency and navigational ease.

Verify with your course manager that you have the latest edition of the textbooks and all other course materials including the Graduate School’s current syllabus and Read Me First document. 

In addition, verify with your course manager class start and end dates as well as any holidays scheduled during the semester.

Identify any areas of previously taught WebTycho classes that you want to import directly into your new WebTycho classroom(s). When you import materials from a previous class, they will overwrite any materials you've posted, so you need to use the import feature first.

Visit UMUC's Office of Information & Library Services (ILS) to arrange for reserved readings in your WebTycho classroom. For your convenience, a direct link to the Electronic Reserve Request Form is also available in the Faculty Center. In addition, when you import reserved readings, ILS is automatically notified so that the staff can start the approval process for using the materials. For this reason, we encourage faculty to import their reserved readings from previous classes.

For additional assistance, refer to the Beginning of Semester Checklist: School of Undergraduate Studies | Graduate School.

Prepare Your Syllabus, Read Me First, and Lesson Guide/Assignment Schedule

When planning assignments, consider the overall number of deliverables required and the spacing of those deliverables. Plan at least one deliverable due within the first two weeks of class. This serves numerous purposes. As one faculty member told us, "An early assignment gets the students actively participating in the course from the get-go, identifies any student problems using WebTycho's features, and provides you with an early indication of your students' abilities." For example, at the beginning of the semester, to help teams establish their group identities and dynamics with little consequence to their grades, faculty may assign members to post a team web page due one week hence that counts for 5% of the overall grade.

Plan carefully in order to manage the grading load at the end of the semester. Avoid assigning any due dates on holidays. Be very clear about how and where students should submit assignments and about your late assignment policy.

Once you’ve determined the deliverables, assign percentages to each graded assignment. Make interaction a priority for students in your online classroom by assigning 10-30% of the grade to class participation.

Avoid duplication of information as it can lead to confusion among the students. For example, items addressed in the syllabus don't need to be addressed again in your Read Me First.

Upon preparing your syllabus, Read Me First, and lesson guide/assignment schedule, allow them to sit overnight. Proofread and correct errors prior to posting.

In sum, the primary message from seasoned faculty to their online colleagues is "You can't be too prepared." We hope you find these "best practices" useful and we want to thank our experienced faculty members for their valuable insights. You may also be interested in "Setting Up Your WebTycho Classroom "

Other articles in this series

• Helpful Hints for Effective Online Teaching: Introduction
• Setting Up Your WebTycho Classroom
• Managing the Online Classroom