Online teaching practices buffet resource toolkit full buffet

Resource Toolkit
for Online Teaching Practices Buffet:
Tools, Strategies & Materials for a More Effective Online Class
with Drs. Anamara Ritt-Olson & Katherine Guevara
This toolkit represents a curated, non-exhaustive list of samples & resources.
Several provided samples & resources are from the University of Southern California.
Faculty may copy/edit & use these samples in their own courses.

Step 1: Inclusive Frameworks & Policies
Before teaching, take time to (re)design the course framework &
policies through the lens of inclusion

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
A framework with guidelines to improve & optimize teaching & learning
for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.
CAST (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2.
Retrieved from http://udlguidelines.cast.org

American College Health Association (ACHA)
• Guidelines for supporting vulnerable campus populations during the
COVID-19 pandemic including
• African American/Black students
• Asian & Asian American students
• Students with disabilities
• First-generation & low-income students
• International students
• Latinx students
• LGBTQ+ students
• Native American students
• Undocumented students

How to Refer Students to Support Services
This sample resource reviews the most common student support
scenarios & how faculty should respond per university policy when
referring students to available campus support. Obtain a copy of the
equivalent resource from your institution, or have available the contact
information for the equivalent student support services your institution
provides.
Faculty Decision Chart

How to Revise a Course Policy
1. Check with department on existing mandatory policies that may take precedence.
2. Consult sample policies for wording you may wish to incorporate into your own; opt for positive
not punitive language.
3. After drafting your policy, analyze it through the lenses of specificity, consequence, and
inclusivity.
a) Is the policy as specific as it can be?
b) Is the consequence for not following the policy clearly stated?
c) Does the policy unfairly burden or otherwise impact certain student populations more than
others?
4. Ask a colleague to review your policy, and incorporate relevant feedback into the final draft.
5. Before the course is taught again (not in the middle of a course), edit the course syllabus to
reflect the new/revised policy.
6. Review and co-approve policies with students (ideally on the first day of class).

Norms & Netiquette Checklist
Request student input/co-creation for video, voice, chat, discussion & tech
failure norms
Build in turn-taking that allows all voices to be valued & validated
Model & practice norms the first few class meetings
Encourage students to contact you with questions/concerns/needs
Follow up with students when you notice a change in their use

Netiquette – Samples
Video
• Preferred but optional
• If virtual background, choose one for an interview & keep same one throughout
Voice
• Always mute except during indicated turn-taking & question time
• Use the raise digital hand feature to indicate speaking turns
Chat
• Contributions that benefit the whole group & when asked everyone
• Assistance with tasks private pair share with one other person
• Personal matters private to instructor

Tech Failure Policy – Sample
Tech Failure
• Remain calm
• Don’t blame yourself
• Try again
• Reach out
• Tech support/Tech TA
• Send email/communicate

Norms & Netiquette - Samples
o Netiquette Policies
o Menu of Discussion Norms
o Facilitating Challenging Discussions (video series)
o Manual for Online Discussion Forums
o Strategic Questioning Techniques
o The 5-Minute Rule
o Disarming Upset Students
o Gender-Inclusive Use of Student Names & Pronouns (video)
o Gendered Pronouns
o 5 Tips for Engaging International students
o Supporting Military & Veteran students (video)

Communication Policy Checklist
Indicate how to reach you (usually university email & office hours)
State how long it takes you to reply (24 hours except weekends; following business day
after holiday)
Include when you do not respond (at night; weekends; before an exam or assignment
deadline)
Describe how to find answers to common questions before reaching out (syllabus; TA;
peers; posted to LMS)
Share your asynchronous check-in schedule (monitoring LMS discussion)

Welcome Video
Establish a welcoming culture from the start by posting a short course
welcome video for your students. Encourage them to do the same by
posting their welcome to the discussion board. This also helps
familiarize them with the course tools they will be using. Below is a
template for scripting your welcome video.
Introducing Your Course with Video

Communication Policy – Sample 1
Students are encouraged to contact the instructor by USC email and during office
hours. The instructor will reply to emails within 48 hours, 72 hours over a weekend,
and the work day following a holiday. The instructor does not respond to questions
during the 24 hours before an exam or assignment is due, and may not respond to
emails sent from non-USC accounts.

To communicate with the instructor outside of class or office hours, email the
instructor from your USC email account. In the subject line, indicate the course
number and your full name. Simple questions will be answered by email, but for
more complex discussions students may be instructed to visit office hours. Email
will be answered within 24 hours.

To promote independence and critical thinking, students are encouraged to work through the
following process for obtaining answers to course-related questions before contacting the
instructor. First, consult the course syllabus. If you do not find the answer you need, next consult a
classmate. If you are still not satisfied with the answer, email your section TA. Finally, after you have
exhausted these methods, email the instructor. In your email, please indicate the steps you have
gone through to seek the answer. Your question will be answered within 24 hours between 9am-
5pm, but response may be delayed on the weekend or holidays. Please use USC email for all
correspondence with the section TA and instructor.

Technology Policy Checklist
List what hardware & software are required for class (include acceptable
versions)
Explain how students can acquire the hardware & software needed for
class if they do not have it or need help accessing it (digital equity)
Indicate how students can access course readings/viewings
Indicate how students can access class recordings
Provide a recorded or live “tech tour” of the course inside the LMS

Required Tech Policy - Samples
Students are required to have access to a computer with webcam and high-speed
Internet connection in order to access the learning management system
[Blackboard] and any streamed audio/video content components.
Students are required to have the latest version of Google Chrome (preferred), or
Internet Explorer installed on their computer and be proficient with Microsoft
PowerPoint, Word, and Excel.

Digital Equity - Sample
USC Technology Rental Program
We realize that attending classes online and completing coursework remotely requires access to
technology that not all students possess. If you need resources to successfully participate in your
classes, such as a laptop or internet hotspot, you may be eligible for the university’s equipment
rental program. To apply, please submit an application. The Student Basic Needs team will contact
all applicants and distribute equipment to eligible applicants prior to the start of the fall semester.
USC Technology Support Links
• Zoom information for students
• Blackboard help for students
• Software available to USC Campus

Tech Access to Materials - Sample
Synchronous Session Recording Notice
Synchronous sessions will be recorded and provided with transcripts to all students asynchronously.
Information on recorded class sessions can be found on the Academic FAQs for Faculty on the USC COVID-
19 Resource Center.
Sharing of Course Materials
USC policy prohibits sharing of any synchronous and asynchronous course content outside of the learning
environment.
SCampus Section 11.12(B) Distribution or use of notes or recordings based on university classes or lectures
without the express permission of the instructor for purposes other than individual or group study is a
violation of the USC Student Conduct Code. This includes, but is not limited to, providing materials for
distribution by services publishing class notes. This restriction on unauthorized use also applies to all
information, which had been distributed to students or in any way had been displayed for use in
relationship to the class, whether obtained in class, via email, on the Internet or via any other media.
(SeeSection C.1 Class Notes Policy).

Accommodations Policy Checklist
Describe your efforts to provide captioning, transcripts, compliant slide decks, narrated
images & images for all (accessibility checkers)
Encourage students to contact the university’s student disability support center for
official accommodations (do not negotiate them)
Remind about & accept official accommodation letters at any time during the semester
& implement them from then on
Refer students to university COVID-related safety & accommodations
List the campus student support resources (mental health, etc)

Creating Accessible/Compliant Materials
• Follow Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia for effective slide design
• Check the accessible formatting of course slides & other documents
• Include images that represent the diversity of your students
• Consider using Open Educational Resources (OER) to replace for-pay
course readings/viewings

Learning Differences during COVID
In addition to contact information for the equivalent of your Disability
Services & Program Office that issues official accommodations, also
consider putting a link in your syllabus to the equivalent of the USC
Kortschak Center.
This article discusses how the Kortschak Center provides tips and
support for students learning online during COVID with strategies
particularly helpful to students with learning differences

Accommodations Policy - Sample
Statement for Students with Disabilities (required to appear in all syllabi)
Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to
register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for
approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to
me (or to TA) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in GFS 120 and is open 8:30
a.m.–5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Website for DSP (https://dsp.usc.edu/) and contact
information: (213) 740-0776 (Phone), (213) 740-6948 (TDD only), (213) 740-8216
(FAX) dspfrontdesk@usc.edu.

Final Check
• Review your syllabus through the lens of supporting diversity &
inclusion, fostering student success in online courses & recalling what
online students want
• Ask a colleague/peer to review your syllabus for best practices
• Request student input via a mid-semester evaluation

Step 2: Inclusive Teaching
While teaching, incorporate planned active learning strategies to
promote & support inclusion

Toolkit – resources for inclusive
teaching

Mental health / wellbeing
• ***Links to your University’s Here***
• If you are in distress and need resources but it is not a crises you can reach out to California Peer-Run Warm
Line 1-855-845-7415.
• If you are in crisis the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255

Co create the rules of engagement
• What should we do if someone interrupts someone else?
• What is you disagree strongly with what someone says?
• How do you let the instructor know you need a break?
• What are some ways we can support each other?

PLEASE RESPECTFULLY React to what others
share
• Respond to each other in the chat, even to share a +1 ,“hugs” or <3
• Co-create with your class visual signals they can use in the webcam, such as a thumbs up or a
hands held in the shape of a heart.
• Use Zoom’s meeting reactions.

This link has ideas on building your virtual
classroom norms and rules
• https://diversity.berkeley.edu/establishing-your-virtual-culture

Land acknowledgment
• Here is an interactive tool where you can find out which land
acknowledgments you may want to make when doing your
instruction session: https://native-land.ca/

Content
warnings
• Some of materials in this class include
sensitive material that might be triggering
and/or set off strong negative emotions

WHAT IS YOUR
PRONOUN?
WHAT IS YOUR
PRONOUN?
LET ME KNOW.

Images and
flashing lights
• Transcribing recorded lectures is fantastic but
additionally include;
• Image descriptions
• Avoid flashing lights

Online teaching practices buffet resource toolkit full buffet

From Harvard’s co-constructing a caring
community online
• Represent your week in an emoji or hashtag
• What shape describes your week?
• What weather pattern or forecast describes how you are doing?
• What’s one thing that is bringing you joy this week.
• Tip: temperature checks can be verbal or, with larger class sizes, shared via chat.

This add on
for
powerpoint
has ways for
your students
to engage in
the content
Pear deck –
active
learning tool
• https://www.peardeck.com/ppt-templates

GAMES
• https://www.playfactile.com/

End class with a check in
• Examples of closing circles include:
• Share 3 words around what you’re taking away
• Share 1 word to represent how you are feeling
• Share a question you’re still sitting with
• Share 1 sentence about how your thinking changed in this class.
Tip: this can be shared non-verbally via chat or on a shared google doc/slide if time runs short.

Think-pair-share
• students are given a minute to think about—and perhaps
respond in writing—to a question on their own. Students next
exchange ideas with a partner. Finally, some students share
with the entire class.

Concept map
• This activity helps students understand the relationship between
concepts. Typically, students are provided with a list of
terms. They arrange the terms on paper and draw arrows
between related concepts, labeling each arrow to explain the
relationship.

Collaborative note taking
• The instructor pauses during class and asks students to take a
few minutes to summarize in writing what they have just learned
and/or consolidate their notes. Students then exchange notes
with a partner to compare; this can highlight key ideas that a
student might have missed or misunderstood.

Brainstorm technique to try
• Everyone write your own idea down quietly
• Them hand that to the person in your group who is your leader

An example of an activity I did
with breakout rooms

Group
Challenge
• The leader of the group is the person whose
birthday is coming up next.
• Choose an ice breaker
• Choose a health issue that makes sense to use
with the HBM
• Then work together to apply the Health Belief
model to that health issue
• You must turn in a page with the names of
each person in your group, the ice breaker that
you chose, the health problem that you chose
and a table with at least three parts of the
health belief model applied to that.

Ice breaker
Ideas
• The Little Known Fact: ask participants to share their name, major,
age, hometown, and one little known fact about themselves.
• One Word: What’s the one word you’d use to describe yourself?
Everyone picks one and then they’re referred to by that name
throughout the meeting. It’s more than a silly way to start the
meeting; it helps everyone get to know one another a bit better.
• Skill Set: Everyone should be constantly trying to improve
themselves, and that includes on the job, so ask what one skill or
talent each person would like to develop. It could be work-related,
which helps you understand a team member’s interests and where
they need help, but keep it more open-ended. That’s more fun.
• What’s Your Favorite Year: As the meeting settles, get people
focused by asking what their favorite year is and why. Not only is
this interesting, but it provides an avenue for people to know each
other in a more intimate way.

Three Activities that Help Students Think to Speak
In order to help students articulate their arguments, we developed
three scaffolded activities that can be run as a single hour-long
workshop, building from
1.a low-stakes “warm-up” round that uses a silly proposition to
introduce students to the general idea of using a rhetorical toolkit, to
2.a second round that gets students to translate these basic rhetorical
gestures into a set of more sophisticated “moves,” and to apply them
to a more serious proposition, to
3.a final set of rounds that lets students apply the unpacked moves
from round two to a debatable topic from their course, with the added
goal of sequencing these moves effectively in order to create the
narrative arc or syntax of a persuasive argument.

First round- — with a “silly” proposition
• First Round Download our deck of simple rhetorical gestures and
think of a silly (though debatable!) proposition—e.g., “Tacos are
delicious” or “Mondays are the worst.”
• Arrange students in a circle, with you in the middle.
• Introduce the silly proposition, and let students know that you’ll
randomly present them with a “move” to which they’ll respond.
• Move around the circle, prompting students at random to
continue their peers’ line of argument with the next card from
the deck.
• E.g. if the first student says “Tacos are delicious,” and the second
student is dealt “However…,” she might say, “However, burritos are
even more delectable.”

Second Round — with a “serious”
proposition
• Download our deck of sophisticated moves and prepare a higher
stakes proposition. We’ve used:
• That single-gender clubs should be abolished.
• That it is contrary to the academic spirit to deny controversial speakers a
forum on campus.
• That Russian athletes should be banned from participating in the Olympics.
• That all first-year students should be taught meditation to reduce stress on
campus.
• As in the previous activity, arrange students in a circle, with you in
the middle; introduce the proposition; let students know that you’ll
randomly present them with a “move” to which they’ll respond; and
move around the circle, prompting students at random to continue
their peers’ line of argument with the next card from the deck.
• This time, you might want to call time-out after a student responds and ask
him/her (or a peer) how they might hone that response to make it

Third Round — order the argument
• Download our deck of sophisticated moves and our simplified
guide to the parts of an argument.
• Pair students and assign them / have them choose a real
debate proposition from your course.
• Have them arrange the cards of debate moves in the order in
which they might use them to build an argument for their
proposition.
• Have them practice speaking their way through the argument to
each other.

More on debates
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RaV5UqBwE_fTr4IKfTxgoDd1
3xTSjBcWdgsrAfonidA/edit

Biases
Addressing biases in the classroom

25 mini films that address race
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/learning/lesson-plans/25-mini-films-for-
exploring-race-bias-and-identity-with-students.html

Resource for
supporting
students during
covid
• https://www.acha.org/documents/resources/guideline
s/ACHA_Supporting_Vulnerable_Populations_During_t
he_COVID-19_Pandemic_August2020.pdf

Great resource for
online teaching
• https://www.purdue.edu/innovativelearning/supportin
g-instruction/portal/#h03

An example from that resources
• Gamefication:
• Energize learners with rewards for accomplishing tasks. E.g.,Give bonus points
for regular on-time submissions or give exemption from one submission.
• Gamify questions into multiple choice, word cloud generator, image choice,
graphs, or polls using Kahoot, Mentimeter or Poll Everywhere.

Free to use
materials
• https://www.oercommons.org/curated-collections

An example from that resource
• A video on medical tourism
• https://www.coursera.org/lecture/global-health-introduction/13-5-
medical-tourism-9tezS

Student wellness
during covid
• http://www.distanttogether.org/

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