Course Continuity: Online Course Examples

Synchronous - Meets real-time, students and faculty required to be online at the same time.
Asynchronous - Students are not required to be online at the same time.

This page outlines a few typical, example online courses:

• There is no judgment about best options. The example "Efficient" course is a great, fast response to an emergency.
• While course components are bundled in the examples, they are meant to mix-and-match across any course.
• There is a brief section on synchronous components (be careful) and a starter list of self-paced components.

• Course readings in Moodle or Box and links to open web resources.
• Use of Moodle discussion forums driven by 2-3 weekly faculty discussion prompts with a detailed grading rationale.
• Posted PowerPoint/Google Slides/Keynote lectures with faculty speaker notes (no audio).
• Students submit assignments to the faculty member via email, Box, or Moodle.
• The faculty member exchanges periodic email with students, including graded assignments.
• Basic document accessibility throughout the course.

• Course readings in Moodle and links to open web resources.
• Extensive use of Moodle discussion forums driven by 3-4 faculty discussion prompts with a detailed grading rationale.
• Links to lectures between 6-15 minutes each with faculty voice-over narration. To be precise: the lectures are not in Moodle. The links are to YouTube where the lectures have been uploaded and automatically captioned. Or the lectures have been uploaded to Box at Earlham.
• Weekly Monday emails from the faculty member to students: here's this week's agenda.
• Students submit assignments to the faculty member via Moodle.
• The faculty member either grades assignments in Moodle (with or without Moodle Gradebook) or via email.
• Basic document accessibility throughout the course.

• Course readings in Moodle and links to open web resources.
• Extensive use of Moodle discussion forums driven by 3-4 faculty discussion prompts with a detailed grading rationale.
• Students undertake 1-2 alternative video-based discussion forums using free third-party tools like Flipgrid or Vialogues.
• Links to lectures between 6-15 minutes each with faculty voice-over narration. To be precise: the lectures are not in Moodle. The links are to YouTube where the lectures have been uploaded and automatically captioned. Or the lectures have been uploaded to Box at Earlham.
• Tests or quizes, created as either Moodle Assignments, Moodle Quizzes, Qualtrics surveys,or Google Forms.
• Every Monday, the faculty member posts a short, talking-head webcam video introducing this week's work and referencing last week.
• Students submit assignments to the faculty member via Moodle.
• The faculty member either grades assignments in Moodle (with or without Moodle Gradebook) or via email.
• The faculty member periodically sends a short, personalized voice message to students using the one-button audio recorder, Vocaroo, or another audio tool.
• Basic document accessibility throughout the course

You could make your online course entirely or largely self-paced, where students complete a series of deliverables and you schedule periodic check-ins. Or you can mix and match self-paced components in a course where students progress together through the end of semester. For example:

• Read/view/listen to the following items. Summarize, reflect on, and/or analyze them by Date X. 
• By the end of semester, read/view/listen to several things and, in addition, complete a major task or two (paper, project, presentation, recording, demonstration, etc.). 
• Keep a weekly journal, log, or portfolio where you do X, Y, Z due by Date Q. 
• Study X and complete Y quizzes by the end of semester. 
• Finish X case studies by Date Q. 
• Complete X problem sets by Date Q, possibly with personal reflection. 
• Engage with X and Y problem-based learning scenarios, individually or as a student team, due Date Q.

Any example can be tweaked to involve group or partner work, such that self-paced tasks or a self-paced course can still entail collaboration.

Components that can be added to your course. 

• Office hours via Zoom
• Real-time discussions via Zoom
• Real-time lectures and/or whiteboards via Zoom

Things to consider before implementing:

• Will all students have adequate technology and bandwidth?
• Will students be in multiple time zones?
• Will materials be equally accessible to all of your students?

Some Earlham faculty are considering a dual approach: Zoom for those students with technology and bandwidth, and self-paced options for students unable to connect synchronously.

Zoom Quick Start Guide for Teaching (Earlham)
Zoom Teaching Manual (Claremont McKenna)