Welcome, this is a co-authored and rapidly evolving resource. Thank you to those who are helping! Send me a note if you have resources to share too and/or if you’ve found this resource helpful.You may find it faster to send me items to add (link above) - people are having trouble editing due to traffic volume.
Contributors include: Jacqueline Wernimont (Dartmouth, USA), Cathy N. Davidson (CUNY Grad Center, USA)
A general word on what it means to prep to go to online teaching right now
- Jacque Wernimont, Dartmouth College
For the time being, I sincerely think it is worth treating this as unusual - an emergency response, rather than expecting yourself to spin up a well-developed online course. As many people have noted, it takes training, resources, and technology (with support) to do this as a regular practice. I used to work at ASU where departments had studios for developing web-ready content and there was a suite of people whose job it was to help. This is not that scenario. Consider what Rebecca Barrett-Fox suggests as ways to help our students prioritize their health (Do a Bad Job)
It is useful to talk to your students about the new expectations - including making room for insufficient technical infrastructure, anxiety, and illness in students/family. Ground yourself in the course goals/outcomes you already wrote and then think about what kinds of engagement can reasonably meet some or all of those goals. As Anne Balsamo recently noted, this is emergency management not well-developed online teaching
If you know what platform you and your students will be using, please take some time and talk with everyone about minimum operating requirements for those tools. Have students upload anything they may need before they need it.
Asynchronicity is your friend here - think about what *must* be done as a collective (if anything) and what can be done using blog posts, discussion boards, and other tools that are likely already a part of your existing course management system. For reasons of student safety and FERPA, I’d encourage using tools that are already a part of your university system for this kind of asynchronous communication. If you already use public media, then by all means continue, but I don’t encourage people to require students to publicly perform on the internet.
A word on proprietary systems - I dislike them and I’m not into feeding the disaster capitalism machine. THAT SAID - this is an urgent response. You can use other tools if you have the capacity. If you have little time (as is likely the case here) it may be easier to roll activities onto your existing CMS. A number of people are thinking about using good old email and teleconference. What I do not suggest is that you upload all of your intellectual content onto the CMS -- so recording all lectures, discussions, etc. Depending on your contract, that may become someone else’s intellectual property. You can live stream synchronous events (twitch, for example) rather than record or you can serve the recordings in other locations (like in a private YouTube channel).
A word on under-resourced institutions and students (Cathy N. Davidson’s comments)--
For those who teach at institutions such as CUNY, the problems of “everyone going online overnight” increase exponentially since a large percentage of our students do not have full access to bandwidth at home; many have only cell phones at home to the Internet and use local outlets such as Starbucks or the local library for connection. All of these are stressed now to the breaking point. More to the point, even without a crisis, at underfunded public institutions the IT staff and technology are often inadequate to even basic needs, let alone to a crisis. Similarly, the Teaching and Learning Centers are already at maximum capacity. Today, I heard from a student who asked to be excused from class because she runs a small TLC and her team has to help over 1000 faculty members go online tomorrow.
The TLC at the Graduate Center CUNY has pulled together an extraordinary list of documents that are crucial at CUNY but might also be useful for others teaching in situations of financial duress and under-investment. “Considerations for Instructional Continuity” offers practical advice for anyone on what to do first, what to think about, what to consider, and then offers a variety of resources, some of which are only for those at CUNY and others which can be used anywhere.
Additionally, HASTAC will continue to be as responsive as possible so any HASTAC network member can try to set up a Group for their courses. However, since we are mostly volunteers doing other jobs, we warn in advance that new registrants (profs setting up a Group for their class and students registering so they can post) may take a few days. Nonetheless, we will continue to post resources and scan our archives for helpful posts that might contribute to making this experience less of a disaster than it might be.
One final word: in addition to health issues, hearts are breaking everywhere. Conference and events planners who have worked months and months to put on a successful event are having to cancel, face bankruptcy as they return registration fees, and are often dealing with stressed and angry people who want attention now. Remember our colleagues--faculty, staff--students-- are not prepared for this. No one is. Have sympathy. Ask how you can contribute. And think about kindness is especially necessary in a time of crisis.
Thank you everyone, and thank you Jacque for getting us started on this great resource!--Cathy
Resources to help you and students understand COVID-19
Information resources
Assignments on COVID
Coronavirus Information Literacy (Josh Wells, via Danya Glabau)
Assignment on Campus Closure: Have students read one of the following (very similar) items about how avoiding large gatherings helps to reduce infection rates. Present it in a way that fits your class and have students reflect on how their move online is a responsible one.
Barclay, Eliza. “How Canceled Events and Self-Quarantines Save Lives, in One Chart.” Vox, 10 Mar. 2020, https://www.vox.com/2020/3/10/21171481/coronavirus-us-cases-quarantine-cancellation
Wiles, Siouxsie. “The Three Phases of Covid-19 – and How We Can Make It Manageable.” The Spinoff, 9 Mar. 2020, https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/09-03-2020/the-three-phases-of-covid-19-and-how-we-can-make-it-manageable/
Resources for Teaching Online
Questions to ask students as you’re getting ready to move online
Questions to ask students about online course feasibility (Danya Glabau)
Tools to help students navigate online learning
Sources of ongoing/in-development teaching resources:
Hannah Alpret-Adams’ #CovidCampus
Sarah Laiola’s Google Sheet collecting tweets, threads, and other resources for teaching online (updated multiple times a day and invite comments for adding content)
General practical advice for teaching online by a long-time online prof
Collected Resources on Digital Tools and Uses
Resources developed for this moment
Aimi Hamraie’s Mapping Access: Accessible Teaching in the Time of COVID or her excellent thread on accessibility within content management systems (like Blackboard etc)
A curation of tweets, links and tips for teaching online with care in mind, thinking beyond the technical
Torrie Trust’s slide deck: Teaching Remotely in Times of Need
NYU Shanghai’s “Digital Toolkit” - developed especially for the rapid deployment of online teaching. Includes resources for grading, discussions, webinars for particular tools, and lessons learned from colleagues in China.
Humanities Commons Bringing Your Course Online
Amanda Henrich’s A Crash Course for Switching to Online (SLAC oriented)
Jenae Cohn’s and Beth Seltzer’s (evolving) collection of resources for teaching effectively during times of disruption (Stanford focus, mentioned: Canvas, Zoom)
Remote Academia 2020 Resources
Resources for Dance-based Pedagogy Online (via Jessica Rajko)
Inside Higher Ed’s Running a COVID-19 Necessitated Online Meeting
Harvard Remote Teaching https://teachremotely.harvard.edu/get-started
Stacey Margarita’s Putting Our Language Courses Online
More General Discussions/Tutorials for Online Teaching
Accessibility and Design (many thanks to Brian M. Watson for the copy)
http://colorsafe.co (This is for colorblindness but oh man it also helps EVERYONE see and understand better. Here's a site where you can pick a color and get a palette of colors)
Please remember to caption IMAGES on slideshows. It takes a little extra time, but consider making a caption for your slideshow images. (in Word, Wordpress,Canvas,Blackboard)
Tools and Tips
Shawn Day’s Using Slack for Online Engagement
On Hybrid Classes and Digital Projects (includes sample syllabi for hybrid classes and digital projects)
The Online Writing Instruction Community: http://www.owicommunity.org (includes Sample syllabi, Web tools, OWI Research, and more. Via Casey McArdle)
Using Google Docs in the Classroom by Stephanie Hedge (can work for online too!)
ASU’s Brief Guide to Making Videos from Home or Office
Creating Videos and Posting to YouTube and then Canvas (references asu’s YouTube in particular but you can use for your own private channel as well)
Personal, Accessible, Responsive, Strategic: Resources and Strategies for Online Writing Instructors. WAC Clearinghouse, 2019. By Jessie Borgman and Casey McArdle (https://wac.colostate.edu/books/practice/pars) - A free open source book that helps instructors move their classes online using the PARS approach
For Conferences and Events
PressEd, a twitter-only conference
Assignments that you might consider
(via Maria Cecire)
Shiao-Chuan Kung, “Sharing, Collecting, Discussing — All Possible with Padlet,” Academic Center for Excellence in Research and Teaching, 12 June 2019.
During the Coronavirus Emergency (and until end of July), we are making 2 of our simulations for teaching Economics, available for free. Students can either hit the demo button (the 'restricted' mention will be removed this weekend), or instructors can send an email at nicolas@lud.io to have access to an administration interface (this will be automated a bit later).
Assignments on COVID
Coronavirus Information Literacy (Josh Wells, via Danya Glabau)
Assignment on Campus Closure: Have students read one of the following (very similar) items about how avoiding large gatherings helps to reduce infection rates. Present it in a way that fits your class and have students reflect on how their move online is a responsible one.
Barclay, Eliza. “How Canceled Events and Self-Quarantines Save Lives, in One Chart.” Vox, 10 Mar. 2020, https://www.vox.com/2020/3/10/21171481/coronavirus-us-cases-quarantine-cancellation
Wiles, Siouxsie. “The Three Phases of Covid-19 – and How We Can Make It Manageable.” The Spinoff, 9 Mar. 2020, https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/09-03-2020/the-three-phases-of-covid-19-and-how-we-can-make-it-manageable/
Existing repositories of expertise on online-teaching
Using non-proprietary tools for online teaching*
https://switching.software/ - “Ethical, easy-to-use and privacy-conscious alternatives to well-known software” (via @goingpostale)
https://getsharex.com/ - recording/sharing of screen(Open Source/OS) via Brian M. Watson
Jidsi Video Conferencing - allows a range of devices and both a self- and web-hosted version. Via Erin Glass.
https://opensource.com/tags/education - portal for searching for OS software by
discipline via Brian M Watson
https://alternativeto.net/ (OS) site that allows you to search for particular tools based on your operating system - via Steve Wagstaff
For the fastest registration please use an .edu email account. If you do not have an .edu email, then please send us a message via "contact support" on the http://feedback.hastac.org/knowledgebase [feedback.hastac.org] HASTAC page.
Presentio -- Proprietary but recommended via comment: It's great for narrating slides to create lectures
*Elana Zeide reminds us that tools made for general use may not have sufficient privacy protections for students.
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On using HASTAC Groups (Cathy Davidson)
If you are registered as a HASTAC member, you can begin to create a Group for your class right now. If you are not a member, you can fill out the registration form and we will work hard to approve your registration as soon as possible. (Approval is needed to prevent spammers, as much as possible, and to protect our community and keep it a constructive, positive space.)
For the basics of how to create a Group, go to:
- Membership is free but requires registration and approval (typically this takes 2-3 business days; we will try to speed this up).
- For the fastest registration please use an .edu email account. If you do not have an .edu email, then please send us a message via "contact support" on the http://feedback.hastac.org/knowledgebase [feedback.hastac.org] HASTAC page.
- If you wish to use a pseudonym for your posts, you will have that option when you register. You won’t be able to change later.
- There are many reasons to post using your own name on HASTAC, including translating your work to a larger public audience for the public good; having a respectable digital citation for your resume (for some, this will be a first academic publication and a real bonus for your resume); being part of a larger user community, etc.
- The reasons to post using a pseudonym include: your comfort with online identity; your concern that future employers might be concerned about your political/social ideas; an array of personal issues that prompt anonymity for security issues.
- We will discuss this in class but you are responsible for thinking through the issues and your own comfort level online when you register.
- HASTAC is known as the “ethical Facebook” because it never misuses or sells user data.
- It’s a DRUPAL-powered (ie. community created) site. You need to add tags to your post and you need to make sure to check whether you want your post private to our Group or seen by the public and you have to designate which Group you wish to post to.
- HASTAC is a dynamic social network to which any HASTAC member can post, as long as their post stays roughly within topic, is not commercial, and is never insulting to other members. (NB: If you see commercial ads on the site, let us know. Hackers--human not bot--are paid to put commercial content on well-trafficked sites and we are in a constant battle to take these down when we see them.)
For an example of an evolving class that uses HASTAC groups, you can visit our "Introduction to Engaged Teaching and Transformative Learning in the Humanities and Social Sciences Group" :