Course Management
Your first semester teaching online will help you determine how you will manage the course in future offerings. ATC recommends keeping a course history log or journal, as you teach the course, to document intended course improvements. If you find that you are spending hours of time revising the content and grading, plan on making some adjustments. For fully online courses, consider providing some ungraded activities. Inform students that these activities will be included as participation points at the end of the semester.
↓ Download Module - Manage Time and Workload Effectively (pdf)* - includes examples and ideas you may use in your online course
Effective online instructors use technology to manage their time and workload.
- Use the right communication tool for the right task (Ragan & Terheggen, 2003) (See Example 1 in PDF download)
- Post announcements to reach entire class
- Use collaboration tools such as Elluminate Live! for tasks requiring synchronous discussions and idea sharing in groups
- Use a gradebook to manage grades for assignments
- Create feedback rubrics to respond to common questions or issues. (Ragan & Terheggen, 2003) (See Example 2 in PDF download)
- Post a student FAQ
- Establish a routine for regular and planned interaction within the course and with the students. (Ragan & Terheggen, 2003) (See Example 3 in PDF download)
- Establish and notify students of accepted file formats for submitting assignments.
- Establish and notify students of reasonable response times so they know when to expect your answer
- Use the Groups feature in D2L to divide students into teams
- Use peer assessment to provide an additional feedback opportunity while reducing faculty workload (Ko & Rossen, 2004, p. 122).
*Adapted from Ragan, L. (2007, August 27). Best Practices in Online Teaching - Pulling It All Together - Manage Time and Workload Effectively. Retrieved from the Connexions Web site:http://cnx.org/content/m15046/1.2/
This work is licensed by Larry Ragan under aCreative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 2.0), and is an Open Educational Resource.