In a Rush? Last Minute Course Added to Schedule?

By Michelle D. Miller, Professor of Psychological Sciences at Northern Arizona University. 

Edited for McNeese Faculty, Dr. Wendi Prater, Director of eLearning

In a rush? Did you get assigned to teach a last minute course which was added to your schedule?  Don't panic, begin by focusing and going over your course as­signments for the next 2-3 weeks. 

Do students in the course know how to access the course in Moodle?  Within the course, instructors can post a welcome announcement or an updated/status announcement for the class.  The announcement can provide instructions for accessing Moodle and provide an overview of the course assignments due for the first week or two of class.

Has course content been uploaded and added to the course in Moodle so that students can find the instructions and materials that they need? Is it clear how students will be attending class, completing assignments and meeting deadlines? Have any deadlines changed, and are all of those deadlines prominently posted in the course?

Focus on updating the first 2-3 weeks of activities in the course.  Then, once the first few weeks of instructional materials are set up...pause...and take a deep breath....take time to celebrate completing this major milestone. 

Next, review your calendar and schedule time over the next 2-3 weeks to focus on and update the remaining topics and modules in the course.  The resources below may also help.

Move Courses Online Fast

Classroom Management Recommendations

Select an article based on the course type:

Developing Cohort-based Courses with Teacher-Student Interaction (Most McNeese on-campus and online courses are this type)

Designing Self-Paced Independent Study Courses (Ex. Internships, Independent study, some Graduate courses)

Creating Student-Centered Project-Based Courses (Ex. Internships, Independent study, some Graduate courses)