By Stacey M. Johnson, CFT Assistant Director, Vanderbilt
Edited for McNeese Faculty, Dr. Wendi Prater, Director of eLearning, McNeese State University
For anyone trying to move course content online, it can be challenging to translate what they already do well in a face-to-face classroom into an online classroom environment. The most important thing to consider is how to clearly communicate with students about expectations and course requirements.
For labs, studios, and performance-based courses, your hands-on approach to your discipline will undoubtedly require a unique mix of tools. It might be useful to think about what parts of your typical classroom experience are essential in the event you need to move your teaching online. For example, although hands-on work is far preferable, can hands-on work be replaced with carefully filmed demos followed by student reflection? Are there any non-essential activities that can be eliminated or replaced with less ideal, but also useful activities? For example, moving from a live performance to a filmed performance?
McNeese has licenses for Microsoft Teams and BigBlueButton to assist with course activities. These services work especially well for labs, studios, and performance-based courses. Read the article Web Conference, Virtual Meeting, Virtual Classroom Resources to set up your meeting sessions for the semester.
