The University of the West Indies

UWI Teaching & Learning Remotely

Tips on Teaching Remotely

Plan your Teaching

  • Create a To Do checklist in preparation for the start of online teaching.
  • Place all your resources on OneDrive for remote access
  • Plan activities to engage your students. Your presence must be felt in the class

 

Prepare Materials

  • The same slides and activities you used in your traditional classroom may not work the magic in the online classroom. Re-mix them.
  • Instructions can be easily misinterpreted when teaching online. Create brief explanatory videos.
  • Break down and scaffold content into manageable learning chunks. Find strategies to monitor understanding and to prevent silent and lost students.

Prepare Activities

  • Assign active learning groups for collaborative learning.
  • Utilise audio and visual tools to keep students motivated.
  • Make accommodations for the differently-abled learners.

 

Discussions

  • Upload topics for discussion that are well-researched and that align with your learning outcomes.
  • Create a discussion forum for feedback to and from the students.
  • Create an active learning classroom, not an online lecture classroom.
  • Provide clear guidelines for students about the posting of quality responses. Provide rubrics for responding, if necessary.
  • For larger classes you may create discussion groups to manage the quantity of responses from students

Test

  • Test your computer and other equipment early - do not wait until minutes before your class
  • Invite a group of students or a colleague to a practice run before the actual day

 

Teaching

  • Find a comfortable, quiet space at home from where you can teach
  • Remote teaching requires effort and preparation. It is not a “plug in and leave it” activity.
  • Do not put your course on autopilot. You must maintain an active presence in the course,
  • You may not be able to read your students’ facial cues but be aware of the impact of the stress of change on learning.
  • Be prepared to read and respond to all discussion posts from your students and provide feedback.

 

Above all, enjoy teaching your students!