Online Teaching: Pedagogy : USC Center for Excellence in Teaching

Flipped Course Model is important to developing effective online courses that have both synchronous and asynchronous components. The flipped course model can also assist planning for hybrid online/onground courses in the fall 2020 semester.

Hybrid Streaming Model provides a hybrid format for face-to-face and online students. Students may attend face-to-face synchronous class sessions on ground, or participate online, either synchronously (streaming) or asynchronously (Blackboard). The instructor provides simultaneous instruction for students participating both in class and online.

Residential Model provides examples for how residential experiences may be planned, and a list of considerations for instructors who will be teaching residential experiences–meaning they will teach students in person in a physical classroom at least part of the time during the semester and follow university and departmental guidelines for physical distancing.

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General considerations
Plan your online course
Prepare your Blackboard course site
Create assignments and tests
Provide course content to your students via Blackboard and Zoom
Plan discussions in Bb Discussion forums or live Zoom sessions
Plan Zoom sessions
Manage student accommodations
Conduct live Zoom sessions
Share Zoom recordings
Administer exams
Provide feedback to students on graded work

General considerations

Fostering student success in online courses Basic tips on switching to the online modality
What online students want
Minimize cheating through course design
The faculty decision chart assists faculty with supporting students in common situations. For each situation, required or recommended actions are specified. Where indicated, some reporting is mandatory for faculty as responsible employees.
Educational Terminology is a glossary that explains common educational terms, particularly used in online teaching, you will likely encounter used in CET resources and institutes.

Course workload

Contact hours and course credit provides UCOC guidelines on satisfying contact hours requirements in online courses.
UCOC standard contact hours reference chart
Course workload estimator

Plan your online course

General course structure

CET Syllabus Template can be used as a starting point for a new or revised syllabus. Includes information for online courses and COVID-19.
Flipped Course Design is important to developing effective online courses that have both synchronous and asynchronous components.
Research into the efficacy of flipped courses has been summarized by the USC Marshall School of Business.
Pedagogical Planning for Residential Programs offers examples and considerations for rotating students through on-campus classes.

Develop course learning objectives

Writing learning objectives reviews important factors in developing effective learning objectives.
Bloom’s Taxonomy is a model for examining student learning goals that many faculty find useful in developing their courses
The learning objectives FAQ answers common questions faculty have about the development and uses of learning objectives

Plan assessments aligned with the course learning objectives

The course alignment grid is a practical method for ensuring that your course is coherent and achieves your learning objectives
Planning online assessment reviews principles of developing and conducting online assessments
Selecting online assessments provides an overview of types of assessments used in online courses and their typical applications
Academic integrity in online assessment
Assessing fieldwork & practicums online including applied clinical skills
Assessing handwritten student work which is common in STEM fields (structures, equations) and the arts (drawings)
Conducting online qualifying exams

Plan synchronous and asynchronous course components

Deciding between synchronous & asynchronous modes of teaching informs your decision on when, why, and how course materials and activities should be accomplished asynchronously or synchronously
Engaging students with instructors, peers, and content

Create course policies consistent with online teaching

Writing course-specific policies introduces general guidelines for composing policies and includes examples of communication, participation (in-class work), and technology policies
Netiquette policies inform students of the expected behavior in online settings
Menu of discussion norms lists diverse behavioral norms
In-class work as participation details process for holding students accountable for in-class participation

Review syllabus

The CET syllabus evaluation tools help faculty identify areas for improvement in their own syllabi. Checklists are available for a variety of course types: online and unground, synchronous and asynchronous
The diversity & inclusion syllabus checklist can aid in ensuring that syllabi are consistent with diversity, inclusion, and equity goals.

Prepare your Blackboard course site

Preparing for online teaching: Set up Blackboard and Zoom (video)
Blackboard course template to give instructors a head start on preparing their online or unground course
Upload the syllabus to Blackboard
Make the Blackboard course available to students
Communicate with your students through Blackboard

Create assignments and tests

Develop aligned assessments

The course alignment grid is a practical method for ensuring that your course is coherent and achieves your learning objectives
Planning online assessment reviews principles of developing and conducting online assessments
Selecting online assessments provides an overview of types of assessments used in online courses and their typical applications
Open-book exams reviews the design of exams that allow students to access resources such as textbooks and the Internet
Test question design reviews types of questions common in online tests and tips on their use.
Handwritten student work provides procedures for having remote students submit work that is typically not digital in nature, such as handwritten equations and drawings

Compose assignment descriptions

The CET assignment description template is a guide for developing informative assignment descriptions for online courses. Sample assignment descriptions
Design academic reflection assignments
Teaching and grading creativity
Use of social media contains considerations and suggestions for the use of social media in assignments
Make Blackboard assignments

Prepare online assessments and exams

Planning online assessment reviews principles of developing and conducting online assessments
Selecting online assessments provides an overview of types of assessments used in online courses and their typical applications
Test question design reviews the types of questions usable in Blackboard tests and when to use them
Make Blackboard tests and quizzes
Assessing students in Zoom explains when and how to perform live testing of students in Zoom
Conducting online qualifying exams
Turnitin assignments check for plagiarized text

Make discussion forums in Blackboard

General manual for online discussion forums

Develop rubrics

Tips for designing grading rubrics
Create and grade with a rubric in Blackboard
Blackboard rubric resources
Grade Turnitin assignments in Blackboard (video)

Provide course content to your students via Blackboard and Zoom

Blackboard organization

Organize course content with folders

Lecture in online courses

Lecture in online courses presents options for delivering basic content in online courses (recorded training session)
Sources for free images
Record a lecture presentation using Zoom (video) (document)
Setting the playback range for a Zoom cloud recording
Editing a Zoom transcript
Sharing Zoom cloud recordings
Record a PowerPoint lecture using PowerPoint
Save a PowerPoint lecture as an mp4 file
12 research-based principles of multimedia learning guide to making more effective presentations
Tips for recording lectures
Upload videos to YouTube

Provide resources

Upload course materials/files in Blackboard
Explore use of OERs (Open Educational Resources) to increase accessibility
Make resources available to students through the USC Libraries’s ARES system
USC Libraries support services for online content

Plan discussions in Bb Discussion forums or live Zoom sessions

Choosing between instructor-led and student-led discussions
Strategic questions engage students and promote a lively conversation
Challenging Discussions is a series of modules reviewing how to plan for and conduct effective in-class discussions. It also introduces techniques for addressing upset students.
Student-led discussions is an overview and detailed recommendations for implementation
How to create a Blackboard discussion forum
More Blackboard resources on discussion forums
Manual for online discussion forums

Plan Zoom sessions

Schedule Zoom sessions in Blackboard (video)
Time zone chart for scheduling of live sessions
Practice holding a session without students
Adjust your Zoom account settings (video)
Use online icebreakers during Zoom session (video)

Active Learning Facilitation

Active learning facilitation is a guide to important components to plan for before, during, and after an active-learning exercise
Observation guide for the active learning classroom is a checklist for the evaluation of active-learning experiences
15 Active Learning Strategies
Active learning in the large classroom details activities that can be scaled up to any size of class
Make a guest speaker an active-learning opportunity
How to make a USC Librarian’s visit to your class an active-learning experience
Collaborative quizzes as an active-learning experience
Case-Based Role Play
Use of structured critique, or peer review, in courses
A peer-feedback form for group presentations
Students learn through teaching. A description of how almost any class activity typically led by an instructor can be led by students as an active learning experience, sample activities, and how to structure such an activity.

Effective groupwork

Manage student accommodations

Guidance for faculty regarding student accommodations
Tips for accessibility in the online environment

Conduct live Zoom sessions

Record a Zoom session (video)
Make a TA the co-host
Share handwritten content in Zoom
Share your screen with participants (video)
Use breakout rooms to facilitate student groups (video) (recorded training session)
Use the raise-hand feature (video)
Use Zoom polling (video)
Using the chat feature (video) (recorded training session)
Using the whiteboard feature (video) (recorded training session)
Change your Zoom background (video)

Share Zoom recordings

Review, share, and delete Zoom cloud recordings
Zoom cloud recording passwords

Administer exams

Remote proctoring tools including Respondus
Blackboard testing and options

Provide feedback to students on graded work

Entering and managing grades
Effective instructor feedback in online environment (video)

Online Teaching: Pedagogy

New CET Resources

Online assessment (without proctoring)

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