Planning first steps

Planning and preparation to move course to remote instruction.

As we transition from in classroom instruction to remote (online) approaches in efforts to minimize transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic, this site will be a guide to remote teaching.

The site has information about how you can decide what to do with your course based on your level of comfort with technology and the type of class you teach.  It also has information about the types of technologies available on campus. Before making any plans about potential course changes, you should check current communication from USask and make a plan for how you’ll talk with your students about the changes.

Check current policies and expectations

  • Get details regularly about USask’s coronavirus response. View current updates
  • Check with your college or department about their expectations for classes

Consider realistic goals for teaching remotely

Now that we will be teaching remotely, you will want to review the things that you still intended to do for feasibility. You’ll want to:

  • Review course schedule to determine what is essential given the circumstances and timing
  • Review syllabus to identify changes
    • You can make reasonable changes to your planned assessment and instruction to allow for completion remotely
  • Where possible, pick tools and approaches familiar to you and your students

Make a plan to communicate with your students

Students are likely to have questions about what is happening with each of their courses if USask classes need to transition to a more remote structure during the term.  Make a plan now for how you will:

  • Contact each student in your class (Blackboard is a great tool for this)
  • Clearly explain what is changing in the instruction and/or assessment before the change happens
  • Hold remote office hours and be reachable by students with questions
  • Support students with AES designations.  Keep in mind that:
    • Students with disabilities will still require academic accommodations in an online environment. For some students with disabilities, the inability to access campus spaces and resources may actually increase the impact their disability has on their academic performance. Some students with disabilities may not have access to assistive technologies at home that they would normally access on campus.
    • For more information about how to best provide reasonable accommodations and meet the duty to accommodate please see the Access and Equity Services webpage.

Additional thoughts on keeping your plans simple: https://words.usask.ca/gmcte/2020/03/13/its-okay-to-keep-it-simple/