Getting Back to Online Modality?

With Covid-19 Delta variant numbers on the rise, especially in young adults, academic institutions once again are facing the grim reality of getting back to the online modality. Our university and especially my college is doing the best it can to limit face to face (F2F) interactions in non-academic activities, in an effort to prolong and hopefully circumvent the need to get back to an online modality of instruction. While these efforts may pay off, the variants lose their steam or vaccination rates continue to rise to combat the spread of infections, it is best to be prepared to face the eventuality of returning back to the online modality at least for some part of this semester.

What is the best way to be prepared for getting back to the online teaching modality is a question, that I have been looking into for sometime now as part of a COVID-19 Task Force of our college. Clearly, there is no silver bullet and no one size fits all solutions. However, a few points are worth mentioning.

• Have a plan in place to deal with this eventuality. You know what has worked for you and not worked for you in the past. You are the best person to have an idea of how your course would be affected by a transition to the online modality.
• Have the contact information of key personnel handy. This includes IT and distance education staff who are often in-charge of media software and hardware that you might need for successful transition.
• Start working towards your transition plan now. This could include recording lectures, finding useful online material to share with your students and working towards building quizzes and assignments into to your LMS systems. These instruments will enhance the student learning experiences, even if we continue to work in the F2F modality.
• Keep an eye out for students with special needs. Compliance with American Disability Association (ADA) guidelines require that your videos and audios are properly transcripted. There are some technological tools such as Otter.AI that is integrated into Zoom or in-built transcription services in Microsoft Teams. These come in handy in a pinch but will require some polishing. Most universities employ third-party transcription services that will take some time for getting back your transcriptions. So starting early is critical. Work closely with the student and student services office to ensure students who are given special considerations are not left behind or end up having less than optimal educational experience.
• Create redundancies when and where possible. Sudden transitions often tend to overwhelm computer servers that are used to support LMS and video sharing. Think of alternative methods (One-Drive or dropbox) may be useful alternatives and come in handy to share files if things start to unravel quickly.
• Think of alternative testing instruments in case of a transition. Traditional in-class testing methods are not completely suitable in an online mode. Use of testing software (e.g., Protorio) may be challenging in large classes and may place undue burden on students. Bandwidth issues can crop up and disrupt tests. It is important to have a plan B, especially in courses that rely heavily on exams for student assessment. There is a growing body of literature that highlight the utility of labor-based or contract grading to improve student experiences. See if this modality will work for you.
• Keep students in the loop. It is important that any modifications to evaluation strategies be explicitly be made known to students well in advance. If possible, it is best to add it as an addendum to the syllabus as early as possible (preferably when the syllabus is first handed to the student).
• Ensure students have access to technology. It is important that students known upfront what the hardware and software requirements would be in case of a transition to online modality. It would also be worthwhile to emphasize this point several times during the semester, especially in tune with any guidelines that may be put out by the university administration.
• Clearly spell out your absence policy in the syllabus. Reiterate or Provide in Writing any changes when there is a change in modality. To avoid any misgivings later on, it is important that students know your policies. This becomes especially true when there is a change in modality. If nothing changes, it may be still useful to say so. If you change your policy make sure it is documented.
• Provide informational resources to students. Ensure students know the resources they have available through the university for them to be successful. In particular, changes to tutoring or other services provided on-campus might be useful to help students navigate the semester successfully. In a similar vein, how will your office hours be handled is also valuable to the students.
• Manage student expectations. Let students know what you are doing to ensure as smooth a semester as possible. Discuss with them the time it takes to make videos and presentations. Be proactive and include student in the decision making process as much as possible. However, it is important to be clear that you will not alter your expectations and cannot let students determine it.

Remember switching to an online modality due to pandemic is not the same as creating an online course. While perfectionism continues to be an aspirational ideal, it is important that you temper your own expectations on what is possible within the realm of the unforeseen.