Christina Barley

Hi April,

I am teaching a conceptual physics course with mostly asynchronous delivery, but I have live chat sessions during the week with the students so that they can ask questions, get clarification, etc.  I also prepare a few questions or discussion topics in case they don't have much to say!

I have 4 sessions scheduled per week, and each student is required to attend at least one a week.  I have them sign up in the LMS and I limit how many can be in each session so I have more managable groups.

So far has been working out fairly well!  Let me know if you want any more detail.

Christina 

Jason Moss

Hi April,

I design online courses and one of the components I include is a direct engagement strategy. That means I have a component each week where students and instructors will interact in some meaningful way. Some weeks work well with a live Zoom lesson, but others are better suited to discussion board interaction. When I design a live lesson, the focus is on student participation. I do not believe in having an instructor lecture for 45 - 60 mins for online lessons. Why would a student show up for that when they can just watch a video archive. Planning for meaningful student participation is key, something more substantive than asking if there are any questions occasionally. Think workshop.

Best of luck!

Jeanne Green

My courses I currently teach are mandated to be asynchronous by the college (there are other sections of the same course that are synchronous or blended so students have a choice ). So to compensate for the challenging, difficult concepts I hold study sessions and offer different days and times for students as it is optional, but have high attendance and positive feedback.  This also leads to a question and answer session. Students come enter or exit the study session (usually 2 hours) as they wish.