Course Management.
Why is it harder and more time-consuming to manage an online course?
Something that doesn’t get enough attention in online teaching, and probably teaching in general, is the unglamorous topic of course management. When you attend teaching workshops, learning theories and course outcomes and assessment occupy everyone’s attention, with little time left over for the mundane and practical issues surrounding the day-to-day running of courses. But if we take time to consider these issues, we’ll spare ourselves a number of headaches, especially those that come on when we look at our work week and realize that WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO DO ALL THE THINGS! Good course management gives instructors greater control over their time so that they can concentrate on helping learners learn.
Photo by Alexandre Lion on Unsplash
Fully online courses, or any course that has a large learning technology component, will immediately feel more management heavy. The housekeeping component just occupies more space in our heads and on our calendars. Pourquoi? This has to do with the fact that the learning activity takes place largely within a software application, be it the learning management system or some other app. This requires more setting up and managing than saying to students “go home and write an essay”; now we have to say “go home and write an essay, put it in the LMS dropbox in such-and-such a format,” after which we instructors go in, decide how to view in the essay (in the app? printed off? downloaded to a third-party app?). After reading it we have to put it back in the dropbox and figure out how to provide1 comments (in the text of the essay? as a recorded comment?). That’s a lot of little finicky things that require our attention.
Related to the learning technology is the learning curve for the technology itself. The learning curve is not just about time; it’s a function of time, effort, and frustration (when the learning isn’t going the way you want it to). This can be an issue for instructors who worry about about adding to their workload, but it is also an issue for students; if the technology in the course isn’t extremely user friendly, learners get annoyed, and they let the instructors know about their annoyance.
Many instructors also report that they get a lot more email from students. The email is usually about housekeeping things (when is X due? Where do I find the dropbox?) and for people who tend to get way too much email, it just adds to the stress. What we forget is that we get these questions in face-to-face teaching, but we get them as part of the usual give and take in the classroom, usually towards the end of class or as we’re trying to get ourselves organized before class starts. That can be annoying, too, but it seems to be less annoying than the emails, or perhaps it’s simply less unexpected.
So how can course management help us deal with the workload and flatten the email curve? Here are some suggested strategies. They may not be perfect, they may cause other problems related to time and course organization, but they may still be of some help:
one way of flattening the email curve is making sure all instructions associated with the course are as straightforward and accessible as possible. Clear and visible instructions make a big difference. But be forewarned: you can have instructions in 96 point typescript with flashing neon colours, and some students will still miss them and email you a question. It’s human nature not to see what’s right in front of you.
another way of flattening the email curve by incorporating flexible deadlines. One of the best things I ever introduced into my online courses was the dual deadline policy. Students get a regular deadline and a no-excuses-necessary extension. They don’t have to email you and ask for an extension; it’s automatic. Most students will submit by the extension, which is okay by me - I control the dates for both and can schedule them taking my own obligations in account. After I started using this policy, emails about extensions evaporated into thin air.
providing consistent deadlines for assignments helps eliminate “when is X due?” emails. In my courses, I only provide dates for deadlines; the students are made aware that they have until 11:59 pm to submit, i.e.they can submit anytime on the day the assignment is due.
providing a Q+A forum so that students can ask questions and other students can crowd source the answers. Especially useful for housekeeping kinds of questions.
set up a bookings app (e.g. Microsoft Bookings or Calendly) - it eliminates the back and forth of arranging appointments. (To wit, this classic Robert Mankoff cartoon in the New Yorker.)
For Fall Term 2020 this blog will be exploring issues informing education during a pandemic. It is appearing as part of a graduate seminar on online teaching and learning. You can read more about the seminar or see the other posts.
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