Preparing to Teach Online

Planning for an online class should begin several months before the course is scheduled to take place. It takes time to plan, build, and test the course website. Adding components such as narrated PowerPoint, Centra, or other tools (e.g., chatrooms or online assessment) requires advance planning and possible training sessions.

IDDL posts information about all distance learning courses on VTOnline. The VTOnline catalog makes it easy for students to learn about and register for online courses. If you are planning to teach a new online course, you'll need to contribute details about your course to the IDDL/VTOnline staff. In Oct (spring) or March (summer and fall), you'll receive an email requesting these details.

The semester before you teach the class (or earlier):

• Schedule to attend an orientation to online teaching workshop to learn about the resources and technologies available to eLearning instructors. FDI and IVC training is offered at the beginning and end of each semester.
• Select the software you would like to use to communicate with your students and make sure you are familiar with its use and common problems. While your students will most likely come to you first with technical proplems, you can always direct them to IDDL/VTOnline support for any questions they may have.
• Browse the VTOnline website to see how it can help provide support for your students. You may want to link to some of its pages from your course site.

Right before the course starts:

Send an email to everyone on your student roster introducing yourself, providing contact information for yourself and IDDL support services (https://secure.iddl.vt.edu/icg/support.php), the URL of the course website, notice of when the course will actually start, and a bit about your expectations.

Your course will have a Blackboard website automatically asigned to it. This is one of the best ways to post course information. Be sure to test out your Blackboard site before your class begins. Be sure to let your students know how to participate in your course.

Make sure your course website contains:

• The course syllabus or a link to it;
• A statement of how students should contact you and how long they should be expected to wait for a response (1 day? 3 days?);
• Instructions on how to download and install any necessary software - contact us via our support request form if we can help with this;
• Instructions on how to find course materials, such as URLs to those online and a suggestion of where to mail-order printed materials (eg, University Bookstore: http://www.bookstore.vt.edu);
• A list of Virginia Tech support services available to students (eg, VTOnline: http://www.vto.vt.edu/resources.php)

Remember, in an online environment, announcements and reminders can't come too often. Follow up with students you haven't heard from in awhile. They may be having technical problems.