Teaching Remotely

As you begin to teach your course remotely, consider what you already do in your course. You will not be able to recreate your classroom, so don't expect that you can. However, think about your priorities and ways to meet your learning objectives online.

Communicate with students.

One of the most important things you can do when teaching remotely is stay in close contact with you students. Clearly communicate any changes you make to your syllabus, policies, assignments, due dates, etc. They too are stressed by the disruption. Make your expectations clear and transparent.

Classlist Tool Quick Reference Guide (pdf)

Announcements Tool Quick Reference Guide (pdf)

Create an Announcement (video)

Use Replace Strings for Personalization (video)

Classlist - Contact Learners (video)

Email FAQ

Distribute course materials and readings

One of the most important things you can do for students to ensure course continuity is to post course material on Brightspace.

Content Tool Quick Reference (pdf)

Content FAQ

Deliver lectures

There are a number of ways you can deliver lectures remotely, either synchronously or asynchronously.

Brightspace Virtual Classrooms Knowledge Base

Zoom Help Center

Tips and Tricks for Educators Using Zoom for Virtual Meetings (pdf)

Run lab activities

Although not all labs can be conducted remotely, there are some alternatives you can consider.

Virtual laboratories in teaching and learning science

Foster collaboration among students

Discussions Tool Quick Reference Guide (pdf)

Create and Manage Discussion Forums

Discussions FAQ

Collect assignments

Another basic function you will want to be able to do is to collect student work. Collecting it in Brightspace is much more efficient than having student email assignments to you individually.

Assignments Tool Quick Reference Guide (pdf)

Assignments FAQ

Give quizzes

Depending on your content, you might want to give quizzes within Brightspace. There are a number of ways you can minimize cheating on online quizzes, but one of the best ways is to use open-book quizzes.

Quizzes Tool Quick Reference Guide (pdf)

Quizzes Resource

Creating Quizzes

Quiz FAQs

Post grades

Students will want to know their grades, so it is recommended that you set up your grades in Brightspace. In fact, this is a great thing to do for your face-to-face classes as well!

Grades Tool Quick Reference Guide (pdf)

Understanding the Grades Tool (video)

Grades FAQ

The information on this page has been developed, in part, by adapting material, with permission, from the Indiana University [1] website. The “Keep Teaching” content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License by the Trustees of Indiana University.