I have been teaching online at PVAMU [Prairie View A&M University] since 2009, but this past semester really pushed my limits as an educator because I had to think about new ways to engage students, be flexible with my assignments, and be far more transparent about my expectations of students. Near the end of the semester, I became worried about how my students were dealing with the switch to digital learning.

My colleagues and I decided to have a town hall meeting with the seniors enrolled in our capstone seminar where we asked for feedback on what worked well, what did not work well, and what they needed going forward. The students were candid in their responses but very appreciative of the opportunity to provide feedback.

Overwhelmingly, students wanted more engagement with their faculty members. They feared that they would not get the same level of attention if the online trend continued and wanted to make sure we knew that they valued their interactions with us. Many told stories about how they felt alone when they were no longer in a face-to-face class and felt that their education was lacking. In general, the feedback from the students focused on three key areas of need – the need for instructors to be more present in the classroom, the need for more engaging content, and the need for continued mentorship and relationship building.

As educators, we will need to help our students adapt to these new challenges and provide a great educational environment for learning.  Regardless of the mode of delivery, good teaching is still good teaching.  PVAMU faculty have a well-deserved reputation for being there for their students and nurturing them in many ways beyond traditional academic instruction.

Here are a few tips and best practices for continuing and expanding that reputation in the COVID-19 environment.

  1. Be present in class.

Teaching presence incorporates everything from how one communicates with students to how the graphics of a course are designed. Being “present” in the class shows students that they matter and that you value their success.

  • Weekly Email: One of the ways that I connect with students is a weekly email or video that explains what they are expected to do that week. I try to provide clear expectations, introduce the reading assignments, and specific due dates. I also try to reassure and comfort them in this extraordinary time.
  • Virtual Office Hours: Another way that I show presence is setting up virtual office hours or tutorials via Zoom. I also use a program called Calendy that allows students to sign up for a 30-minute meeting with me directly. These meetings are automatically added to your Outlook or Gmail calendar. The free version of the application is very easy to set up and very intuitive. It took maybe 10 minutes to set up and integrate into my Outlook.
  • Group Me/Remind: A time like this is not meant for REDUCING contact with students but increasing contact with students—they need the reassurance. Consider adding a group chat program like Remind or GroupMe to allow students to contact you directly for answers to quick questions. Both applications allow you to set up “quiet times” so that students are not contacting you all night. These types of applications help you to avoid giving out your personal cell phone number to students.
  • Timely Feedback: Make sure that you provide more detailed feedback to students. This simple step signals to the students that you value the work they produce and take them seriously. Showing students respect goes a long way in getting their “buy-in.”
  1. Provide engaging content.

Having content online is a little harder because students are going to have to be responsible for more of their own learning. Best practices in online learning suggest that you use mixed media to engage multiple learning styles, but providing good content is a bit more than that.

  • Weekly Assignments: Students need to be engaged in the content every single week. Instructors should think about developing low stakes or self-grading assignments to keep students engaged with the material before an exam or major project and balance their grading workload. It is important to provide a mixture of “enrichment” activities for practice and graded assignments for mastery. Publishers like Norton often have pre-made assignments and study quizzes that can be imported into a Learning Management System (LMS) like Canvas or Blackboard.
  • Multimedia: YouTube, Khan Academy, Crash Course, or even PBS have great learning resources to augment textbooks. Often people have produced high-quality free content that you can borrow for your class. You can produce your own videos with a cell phone and a tripod or record small lectures using Zoom.
  • Universal Design: Where possible, make sure that videos are captioned to support the needs of diverse learners. When I make my own videos, I upload them onto the YouTube platform because it offers simple closed captioning and transcripts.
  • Build on Student Creativity: The best way to engage students is to ask them to produce something with the information you are giving them. This year, I am going to have students produce a podcast to explain important issues.
  1. Build relationships with your students.

One of the most rewarding aspects of being an educator is the ability to mentor students and build lasting relationships. The late Rita Pierson, an educator for over 40 years, once highlighted the value of relationships in a popular TED Talk – “the tough ones (students) show up for a reason. It’s the connection. It’s the relationships.” Students come to our institutions in search of these relationships and mentoring. We are the professionals they hope to be. There are some simple ways to develop relationships in online environments.

  • Let Students Know the “Real You”: Share a bit about your personal life in a biography area of your course. If you like sports, share that. If you have animals, share that. During the spring, we took about 10 minutes at the end of the class for everyone to show off their pets during the Zoom meeting. By the end of the class, everyone was smiling and seemed to feel closer as a class. But please note, while it is good to let students know more about you, do not force them to share if they do not want to. Some of our students may not want to turn on the video camera during a Zoom meeting or talk about their home life because it may not be a positive experience. Let them open up when they feel comfortable.
  • Connect with Students using Simple Things: I often use the introductory assignment in my online class to have students share their favorite piece of music. Students are often surprised at what I share, but it is always a great way to break the ice.
  • Send a Personal Note: At least once in the semester, send the students a personalized email or letter. In your communication, highlight any “wins,” “successes,” or areas of growth that they made had during the semester. This is a very small thing, but it means a lot to students that you are taking the time to single them out personally.
  • Be Kind and Give the Benefit of the Doubt: During this year, we have all experienced loss, trauma, and other difficulties. While consistent deadlines and expectations are helpful and should be upheld, instructors should be prepared to consider more flexibility on due dates. If given a chance to show a student some kindness, instructors should err on the side of giving a student an opportunity to be successful.
  • Give Reasonable Due Dates: I have found that Sunday or Monday evenings are the best due dates. Our classrooms have changed. The traditional schedule of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. may no longer work with today’s students. If most of their classes are online, they may decide to work during the day, take care of young siblings or children, or have other responsibilities that they are juggling. By showing that you realize that their life has changed and respect their challenges, students will appreciate what you bring to the course a lot more.
  • Provide Opportunities to Deal with Important Issues: While our students are incredibly resilient beings, they are managing a great deal of trauma. Not only are they coping with the pandemic, they are also dealing with issues of systemic racism, uncertain politics, and a weak economy. Often in face-to-face classes, it is easy to provide a little time for students to vent frustrations before moving on to questions of course content because the conversations happen naturally. There are two easy ways to provide a space for students to discuss issues: optional Zoom meetings and open forum assignments through the LMS. In the fall, I plan on having a few drop-in meetings each week for students to come in to talk about anything they need to or ask questions. I also plan to create a “Weekly Topics” forum to allow students to chat about issues of the day. While we are usually trained to stay neutral on certain topics in the classroom, it is OK to let the students know that you are struggling with the same issues as well.

    Nathan K. Mitchell, Ph.D.

    Nathan K. Mitchell, Ph.D.

To say that the coming year will be a challenge is an understatement.  While it will be challenging, it will also bring new and exciting ways to integrate technology and creativity into our practice as educators.  Plan ahead; Think through how to incorporate some of these principles into your course. Start small; try to integrate one or two new things into your practice this semester to see what works.

Nathan K. Mitchell, Ph.D., is an associate professor of political science in Prairie View A&M University’s Marvin D. and June Samuel Brailsford College of Arts and Sciences.