“Be an online teacher” they said. “It’s so easy!” they said.

I decided I would write a short summary of some of the most helpful things I’ve learned on my journey of being an online instructor. This is by no means a definitive guide. It is only meant to help shed some light on what for many, can be a daunting transition.

It’s all about relationships – Online teaching (like most teaching) is all about relationships. Building them, strengthening them, engaging in a way that is accessible and real. But this can be difficult given the often impersonal nature of online learning. How can you overcome the literal and digital distance?

Start by being present online as much as you can manage (within the work day). Read those emails. Respond to your messages. Answer those questions, even if they seem redundant. Hang out in the discussion forums. Try to see the humour each day brings. Try to keep parents and guardians in the loop (though given current circumstances this may be difficult or impossible. Be realistic about it). Maintain your relationships with kindness and compassion. Have empathy and patience, and be as approachable as you can be. Don’t be surprised if you get students writing to you with personal problems; help the best you can, and be a good listener.

Of course it goes without saying that you should report anything you have a duty to report (or that you just have a bad feeling about), and have your list of contacts ready so that you can forward your concerns if they need to be addressed by a colleague or fellow professional. These are strange times, and we need to be there for our students more than ever.

Manage the workload; it’s greater than you think! It is critical that you manage the workload (both theirs and yours). Take the amount of work you think students “should” be doing and then half it (and then possibly half it again). Try to keep things simple. Demonstrate (using infographics, images, animations or video) whenever possible. But absolutely avoid overloading. Nothing shuts down online learners faster than being met with a wall of assignments/tasks every time they log in. (Also, don’t evaluate every single task you give them or you will burn out in a week).

You should expect that both you and your students can log out by 3:30 to go take some much needed down time (You need to log out and tend to your own needs. I can not overstate this enough). If your administration is being unrealistic about the amount of work it expects completed and you feel comfortable talking to them, explain that online work sometimes takes longer than would seem necessary, especially when you are new to it. If they remain intractable about it, find a way to fudge it. There’s no way your students are going to be successful if they are simply overwhelmed by the amount of work given.

Look at it from a student’s perspective – If at all possible, look at your Learning Management System or delivery platform, assignments and emails through student’s eyes. If your LMS or platform has a “student view” option, use it. Go through your assignments (before you make them live) read through for errors and clarity, check that links are functional and that everything the student needs works. Make sure that students with low vision, poor hearing or learning exceptionalities find your materials accessible (font style and size, colour scheme, availability of closed captioning etc). Too many teachers just post stuff with typos, broken links or poor quality resources that don’t work. Try not to be that teacher. But if you do get a panicked email from a student about a broken link, don’t sweat it. Just apologize and go fix it as soon as possible. Everybody makes mistakes.

Be flexible. Use asynchronous instruction. Right now a lot of classroom administrators will want you to keep regular classroom hours and have live streaming sessions during your normal class time. While this seems like a logical approach, it isn’t. This is overrated and inconvenient for many students. It is better to make a video that students can access later, on their own time (and rewatch multiple times for things they didn’t get everything the first time around).

If you do have to have synchronous “virtual” classroom times, try to engage students and spend time talking with them rather than talking at them. Give them a problem, reading or prompt to think about a few days ahead of time and then have a discussion about it. Or ask them to prepare questions ahead of time so that you can address their concerns in real-time. Do not just lecture as usual simply for the sake of fulfilling some kind of top-down requirement.

Chunk it! Break it down, keep it short, sweet and to the point. Make assignments and readings concise and full of value. If you do a quiz to follow up for understanding, make it short and meaningful (not just “hand” questions…make sure they’re doing some interpretation and analysis of the information as well (“head” and “heart” questions). A few well-written questions are worth far more than a ton of “point to the answer” questions, thought this could vary depending on what subject you teach. Make sure your readings are pointed and direct, and that you’re not duplicating the same information in multiple readings. Your students will thank you for it.

Be Specific. When you do assign tasks (like a written response) try to keep it on the shorter side by using questions or prompts that help guide the student’s thought process. Don’t just ask them what they think. As them what they think through a certain critical framework, or by comparing the concept to something else they are already familiar with. Always ask them to give you examples from the text(s) when possible. Try to get them to make their writing pointed and specific. Quantity over quality.

I’ll have the usual, please. Keep your assignments looking the more or less the same as they always have; clearly written with simple instructions, precise prompts and questions, and a rubric that tells students exactly what expectations they are being assessed on, what each level of performance looks like (described clearly) and how much this is worth towards their final mark (for summatives). If you can, create a short video to go with the assignment that gives demonstrations of what to do, or uses exemplars so students can “see” what their assignment should resemble.

Only the lonely – I would be extremely hesitant with any group work right now; many students can’t get online during regular class hours for various reasons, and so group work could be hard. I would keep any collaborations light and asynchronous; proof read a short text for a classmate by a deadline, participate in a brief asynchronous discussion (read and respond), leave two positive comments and a question on a presentation by a classmate. But really, if you can do without group work, do so. It just adds an extra level of stress that isn’t needed at this point in time.

Video chats are nice, but not necessary. while Zoom and Google classroom meetings might seem great, they can be a potential pitfall. Zoom is prone to troll crashing (and is pretty big on selling student and teacher data), and Google is also actively harvesting student data. Personally, I would ask your board to have an IT specialist to check the terms of service and permissions for every app, platform or service that they recommend you use in teaching. If you decide to use something else, check the TOS and permissions carefully, and vet it with IT, your admin or both. We need to be vigilant about protecting student’s rights to privacy more than ever. More on this in a bit.

Threaded discussions are great – to a point. Make sure your instructions for threaded discussion posts are very clear, and the expectations and timelines are clearly posted. Keep them to once or twice a week at most and make sure you model the types of responses you want to see in the thread. Monitor your discussion threads carefully, responding to ideas that might need attention. Teens are still learning about “netiquette” and how to politely disagree with someone else’s point using the written word, so it really helps to have an adult presence actively in the forum to help guide them.

Questions? What Questions? Never ask “any questions?” when posting an assignment or signing off on a video. If you want questions, write “what questions do you have?” or, going a step further, solicit ONE question about the lesson from each student (as part of the day’s work). Make sure you read and respond to them all (you can batch similar questions together and respond in the next lesson). This is a great way to quickly check for understanding and see what concepts you need to review.

Be Funny (if that’s your schtick…otherwise carry on being your awesome self. After all, you are a teacher, not an entertainer). Add appropriate humour if that’s the kind of teacher you are. Dad jokes, SFW memes and funny videos or GIFs can really make your “landing page” for students a bit more dynamic and welcoming (and even if they do roll their eyes, you can’t see it!) Just be really careful that you keep in on the wholesome/corny spectrum. Don’t link to anything online that you wouldn’t actually say or screen in your brick and mortar classroom. Exercise your best professional judgement.

The world is your oyster. Bring in contemporary events and “teachable moments” when necessary or appropriate; right now there’s so much going on in the world! There are plentiful opportunities to talk about math, science, politics, geography, social sciences, the arts, history, the economy…the sky is the limit (just be sure that what you’re hooking into isn’t going to stress your students out; some of them are already having a rough time, so be sensitive to the needs of your learners). Be reading the news and looking for little teachable moments and “openers” that can harness the power of the world as it’s actually unfolding right now.

Use AI and pre-programmed functions to do your dirty work. This is helpful for checking student log ins and assessing quizzes for understanding. There are lots of platforms and external sites where you can build your own online quizzes to check for understanding (I always used Minds Online, but for those without the help of an LMS you can use SurveyMonkey). The answers will be automatically assessed, so you don’t have to do it, but students still get quick informal feedback on their performance. I strongly suggest you utilize these tools. If you are a really lucky teacher, some LMS platforms will automatically check when a student logs in. If a student has not logged on for a certain number of days it will send a voice mail or email home. See if your course platform has this function…it can save you a lot of time. If you don’t have it, you might suggest to your board or administration that it be considered a desirable feature for the future.

Be willing to accept defeat…sometimes. Sadly, you must accept that some students will not log in no matter what. Accept that some parents will never pick up the phone. Accept that some students will never “get” the assignment without you spoon feeding it to them (if appropriate, ask strong students to volunteer as peer tutors to help their classmates for extra credit). It’s frustrating and time consuming, but it’s the job. Sometimes students just need a bit of extra help at first because they are feeling overwhelmed and daunted by the concept of online learning. Be patient and keep supporting them.

Of course, it also needs to be said that some students will need paper copies of work or alternate assignments because they have no internet connection or computer at home. Be prepared for this. Be willing to be flexible, and use “old school” technology (the mail, phone calls and voicemail) when appropriate. Just keep working hard and doing what you can. No one expects you to be perfect, and no one expects you to save the world. Do what you can.

Protect your own personal information. Always disguise your number before calling a student or a parent from your personal phone. Do not give out your personal contact information or a street address. Let your students know that if all else fails, they can always call the school and leave a voicemail on your school line and you will get back to them (make sure you’re checking this regularly). You do not want students coming to your house or calling your private number (out of desperation, adoration or a desire for vengeance), so make sure you keep that information under wraps.

You can potentially thwart school leaking over into your down time and personal life by making yourself accessible online for a good portion of every day. That being said, there will be times when you need to turn off the email/message alert so that you can focus on other tasks. That’s perfectly reasonable. Students can wait an hour or two while you finish up other things. But do try to get back to them before the end of the school day so they know how to proceed on their own or in the next lesson.

Ask for feedback and don’t be afraid of what you’re going to hear. You might be pretty new to this, and you might be feeling pretty crappy about your online teaching abilities right now. It’s okay. Rome wasn’t built in a day. If at some point you have time (and that’s a pretty big IF), you might consider creating a student survey that allows students to give you feedback on your course in terms of appearance, structure, assignment clarity, their level of engagement, and your availability to them for help (again, SurveyMonkey is great for this). Make your questions specific. Use it to strengthen your performance now, or later (after all, this might be the “new normal” come next year).

The tools don’t make the carpenter. Don’t feel you need to use every educational tool out there. It simply isn’t realistic or smart, and can cause confusion for you and your students. Start with the most secure and simple tools you are given, and then branch out from there. For most teachers that will look like this:

A main “landing/course hosting” page (LMS or platform) that you can put daily updates, assignments and links to resources on. Hopefully it also has a calendar so you can set reminders and deadlines, and a “student view” portal so you can see what you’ve published through your student’s eyes. Common ones are Desire2Learn (Minds Online), Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, Seesaw, Moodle and Blackboard. Give yourself some time to just muck around with the platform and get a feel for how its laid out and what is there. You might want to learn how to use a quiz-making site or app (if your hosting platform doesn’t have one). That way students can check their understanding and have it automatically corrected (faster for both you and the students). You can use the same site or a similar one for setting up a student survey to get feedback on your performance. You may want to use a video hosting site like Youtube for your own lessons and lectures. That might be fine for you. Do not ask your students to post there, or on social media sites (there are some serious privacy concerns for sites like TikTok, Vine, Facebook and others). Some course platforms (like Seesaw) allow for the direct uploading of videos. You can also just have students compress videos and send them to your email. Of course if you simply want to add voiceover narration to a presentation, PowerPoint allows you to do that. A secure drop box. Hopefully your platform has drop boxes for assignments, but if not students can email them to you, or you might be able to use TurnItIn (which is great for checking plagiarism, a problem that can really be prevalent in online classrooms). Make sure you instruct your students on how to clearly label, save and send a file in the correct format. Email and or chat feature. Most platforms have this built-in, but some don’t. Make sure your email is on every assignment (it might seem redundant, but it can save students time and stress). Let students know when you are having online “office hours” and are available to email or chat. Remind them frequently that during the school day you are only a click away.

Once you have these basic tools, the rest is gravy. Add on new, fancy tools or cool links to enrichment sites only as you really feel they are necessary and add value to your course.

A note about virtual classrooms: You’ll notice I did not add meeting software or a virtual classroom to this list, and that’s because I think for many students and courses it is more pain than it is worth. If students miss meetings they feel disconnected and left out. If they’re on a really different schedule because of a job or child care, it will just become a source of frustration to them. Ultimately what you decide to do will be up to you and your administration. Try to make sure any live class meetings you have are recorded so that students who miss them can “catch up.”

And finally…

Make time for yourself. When you first start working as an online instructor it can be tempting to spend every spare minute checking out new cool sites and constantly checking up on your discussion boards…even in the middle of the night. It’s not unlike being a first year teacher again; dragging too much work home and not knowing when to walk away. Resist the urge to do this. You will burn yourself out, eventually limiting your ability to be there for your students (and more importantly) your own family and friends. As the old saying goes, secure your own oxygen mask first. Don’t be afraid to turn off your computer and go out and do some yard work, bake a cake, give yourself a pedicure, play a board game with your family. This is just as important as your job. Schedule a time for when you will be online and work on your job, and when you will be offline, giving your full and undivided attention to your loved ones (including yourself!) Do not apologize or bow to pressure from students, parents or administrator about needing time for yourself.

Teaching online is a huge adjustment, and very few of us “ducks” take to the water easily. Be kind and patient with your learners, but also be kind and patient with yourself. You will get this, and it will become less frustrating and more intuitive. You will find a flow and develop a preference for certain tools and ways of doing things (just as you did in your B&M classroom). It’s okay to feel overwhelmed, lost, frustrated and to question everything. Everything you are feeling is totally normal and to be expected. You are not alone. Reach out when you need help. Talk to your colleagues, talk to your friends and family…and talk to me! Please email me if you want to talk about challenges you’re facing with online learning and adapting to this huge change. I am happy to listen and help in any way I can.

Rebecca Alexandre

alexandre.rebecca@bsd.ca