Online Facilitation Guide

New to teaching online?

This online facilitation guide provides you with useful links and videos to help set up your course for success.

Note: This guide is an introduction to teaching online and covers the basics needed to create and maintain an online course. Online teaching is constantly evolving, and it is always a good idea to pursue additional development opportunities.

1. Access and read your SF email

(firstname.lastname@sfcollege.edu)

Communications from your chairperson/director/coordinator, the Provost, the President, and campus offices will be directed to this email. Official announcements and information will be sent to this email. Make sure you have access to it and that you keep up with it.

2. Get Familiar with Canvas

• Watch how to log into Canvas
• Complete the “Canvas Resources—self paced” course that is already in your Canvas account so you can become familiar with it
• Watch how to work with your dashboard to locate the course shells you need to move online
• Modify (if needed) your Canvas profile
• Download the Instructor App (Android or Mac) and ask students to download the Student App (Android or Mac)
• Use the Canvas Instructor Guide to explore further and to search for specific questions about Canvas

There may be additional professional development offered by the Center for Academic Technologies and Training (CATT), so make sure to view their website or read your Santa Fe email.

3. Download the Sample SF Canvas Template / Import Content

• Watch how to search the Canvas Commons so you can download the SF Sample Canvas Template. This template can help streamline your course development and has great graphics to use in your courses.
• If you have access to another course you wish to copy, watch how to import course content from one Canvas course to another (if you need access, ask the other instructor to add you as a "teacher" to the course; this access can be removed later)
• Canvas breaks content up into Modules. Get familiar with the Module Index page and add modules if needed. Name each module so students can easily distinguish them.
• Instructional materials need to be accessible to all students—including students with disabilities. Complete the Accessibility and Copyright Primer that is already downloaded into your Canvas account to help with this process. The Primer will take roughly 45 - 60 minutes to complete.

4. Build your course

Multiple elements need to be in your course to help students navigate it. Add the following or modify anything that has been copied over:

• Instructor introduction
  • include details about who you are, your education and experiences, and what you are passionate about. Let students see you as a real person. A video is a great way to do this, but you can also put in pictures. The pictures can be of you or things that represent you (favorite things, places, food, pets, etc.).
• Office hours and contact information
  • if you will have online office hours, make sure to include directions about how to access them
  • Tools to use for online office hours may include Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Canvas BigBlueButton as well as others
• A syllabus that includes all course policies
  • Make sure to include your grading policies and scheme, academic integrity expectations, participation expectations, guidelines for collaboration and communication, etc.
    • Students need to know if you are using a point- or percentage-based system and what the cut-off scores are for each grade attainable (1000 points for an A, etc.)
    • Tell students how you will communicate with them (Canvas inbox, announcements, etc.) and how they should communicate with you
    • Make sure you and your students set their notification preferences in order to get updates and communication
  • Include a reasonable timeline as to when students should expect communication to be returned and when grading will be complete
    • many institutions ask their faculty to respond to student questions within 48 hours (even if this communication is to let students know that answering their questions may take more time); contact your chairperson/coordinator/director for specific guidance on this timeframe
    • communicating about grading up front can save time answering questions along the way
• Include a schedule when content should be covered in the course and when assessments are due (preferably a one-page document that students can print and keep handy)
• Directions for using publisher materials, special technologies or tools within the course, etc.
• Contact or referral information for SF student services offices (Learning Commons, Counseling and Wellness Center, Disabilities Resource Center, etc)
• A discussion board for general course questions
  • These questions are “public” in the course and all students can see them. This board can help to answer general questions which multiple students have. Do not answer student-specific questions on this board (e.g., grading questions, questions about extensions, etc) since this board is open to the class. Direct students to other methods (Canvas inbox, SF email, etc) to answer more personal questions.
• A discussion board or other activity that allows students to introduce themselves (and meet you)
  • Faculty can set the tone for the course in this discussion or activity. This is a good opportunity for added creativity, so feel free to think of alternate ways for students to introduce themselves. Students can begin to learn who their peers are and who you are as an instructor. If students do not want to share pictures of themselves, they can also choose images that represent who they are instead.
• If possible, a course tour video that shows students how to navigate information and where to go for specific answers

5. Keep up Communication

Students need to know what is going on in the course and reading the course materials may not be enough. There are multiple ways to keep in contact with your students so that they feel connected to you and the course.

• Announcements
  • Send these weekly with up-to-date information and any changes students need to know. These can keep students on track and reduce questions they may have as the course progresses.
  • Make sure to disable replies to the announcements to reduce email traffic
  • These can be done creatively and help maintain momentum in a course
• Canvas inbox
  • The inbox functions as a separate email system within Canvas. You can set your notification preferences to let you know you have a Canvas email. The inbox can be separated by course. Encourage your students to include their course and section number in their emails (or in the subject line of emails) to help you keep everyone sorted
• Contact students if they have not engaged in the course within one week.
  • Let them know you are here for them. Some students mistakenly think online courses are all self-paced and that they have no due dates. Ask students if they are experiencing technical difficulties and direct them to the Help Desk as needed.
• Faculty are expected to be “present” in their online courses (just as they are in regular classrooms).
  • You should enter the course multiple times each week to check on student questions and progress.
• Answering student questions
  • Students may have many questions—especially if they are new to online courses. If a student is confused enough to send you a question, it is a good idea to treat that communication as very important. Try to prioritize these questions whenever you can and answer them as soon as possible. Ideally student questions are answered in 24-48 hours (or at least responded to so that the student knows you are working on getting the answer).
  • Make sure to read students’ questions carefully to answer them in full. No one wants a response with part of an answer that does not help resolve the issue at hand. If students’ questions are unclear, ask for additional specifics.
  • Try to personalize communication so that students feel that you are answering their questions and are treating them as real people.
  • While it’s tempting just to direct students back to the course or textbook, this may not be sufficient to fully answer student questions. If students already had their questions answered within the course or text, they would not have sent any questions to you. Students may need things rephrased or further explained, and they will not be able to move forward in the course until these details are provided. Provide the most complete and detailed answer you can to help these students.

6. Learn the Gradebook

Review this general guide to the gradebook and explore the other information about it in the Canvas Instructor Guide. You may need additional help with the Gradebook, so reach out to canvashelp@sfcollege.edu as needed or contact instructors in your department for peer help.

• You can make grading faster and less complicated by using rubrics and the SpeedGrader in Canvas.

7. Provide Good Feedback

Feedback is essential for student learning and progress. Students need to know what they have done well and where they need to focus their efforts in order to succeed. Craft your feedback carefully and thoughtfully in order to motivate your students to excel.

• Providing transparent directions for assignments and other work can reduce student questions and make learning criteria more explicit. Really knowing why you are learning something and what is expected of you on assignments can help students meet your expectations and course outcomes.
• The feedback you provide should be detailed enough so that students know what has to change in order for them to learn the content and demonstrate mastery of it.
  • Simply saying “good job” is not enough. Tell students where they were successful and where they were not. The rubrics in Canvas allow you to offer feedback in each criteria you create as well as overall feedback.
  • If possible, provide students with examples of good and poor work so they can differentiate between them and establish a clearer idea of what is needed for a successful grade.
  • Providing the rubric up front along with the assignment can let students know how their work will be evaluated and where they can lose points/percentages.

Below is an example to illustrate the differences between less and more complete feedback.

Less complete:

Good job Julio on your assignment! The summary was okay. You need to work on your grammar some more. The paper could have used some additional sources. Grade: B-

More complete:

Additional comments: Good work Julio! Please use the feedback above to work towards an even better grade next time. I think with some additional effort in grammar and APA style, you could easily achieve an A next time. Grade: B-

Based on this example, you should be able to see that providing learning criteria with explicit levels of performance can make a real difference in the feedback you can provide and what students can learn from it. Once you create a rubric like this within Canvas, it is available for every student’s assignment so you will not have to retype it.

8. Get Student Feedback and Suggestions

Every course is a work in progress. Since students are experiencing them for weeks or months, it is a good idea to check in with them to see how the course is going. A general rule is to survey students about their experiences after about 20% of the course has been completed. This will give you time to get course feedback and to make any changes based on it. In assessment, there is a phrase often used called “closing the loop.” This means you ask for feedback and then you make changes based on it within a reasonable amount of time. Asking for feedback and then doing nothing or communicating nothing about it could alienate your students.

Students can also offer other ways of approaching assignments or course work. There are often multiple ways to submit work: text, videos, audio, presentations, etc. Engaging your students in participation is a great way to help them learn. Students (especially adult students) need to know what they are learning is relevant to their life goals (e.g., jobs, advancement, personal growth, etc). No one wants to spend time on “busy work” when they can work on things directly related to what they need or want. Think about this when you choose course content, make assignments, and ask for student feedback.

Additional Considerations

• Consult with your chair, director, and/or coordinator to understand what their expectations are for online instruction in your area.
• Reach out to fellow instructors who already teach online to see what advice and resources they have to share.
• Request additional Canvas sandboxes at any time by emailing canvashelp@sfcollege.edu.
• Submit an ITS Help Desk ticket or call 352-395-5999 if you need a Zoom account or if you may need access to technology/equipment in order to teach.
• Every SF course already has a Canvas shell associated with it. There is no need to request one. Search your Courses or Dashboard on Canvas to find them (use the videos above to see how this is done). These courses are most likely unpublished. This means your students cannot see anything in them until you publish both the course and the modules within them. If you cannot find your courses within Canvas, please contact canvashelp@sfcollege.edu.
• Email CATT for special requests and questions.