The online space has so much potential for creating engaging and interactive learning experiences for students. If you're planning to convert your in-person course to a hybrid or fully online course, click each tab below to get started with these seven steps.
Seven Steps for Converting Your Course
Step One: Know your learners.
As you plan your course conversion, it’s important to develop a clear picture of the students who will be enrolling in your course. Students are often driven to online programs because it gives them greater flexibility and convenience in terms of when and where they learn.
A few considerations before you get started:
- Clear Organization and Structure: Online students typically place value on independence and self-direction. Providing a clear and organized course structure – with well-defined learning outcomes, a concise syllabus, and a roadmap for what they should expect to learn in each lesson – will help them stay on track and achieve their learning goals.
- Build in Interaction: Since online learners are not socializing and interacting in a traditional classroom, you must be intentional in including interactive opportunities for students in the online environment. This can include incorporating activities like discussion forums, group projects, zoom meetings, peer reviews, online gaming, or virtual simulations to keep students connected.
- Technology proficiency: Some learners may be less comfortable with online technology than others, so it's important to make your course materials user-friendly and accessible to a wide range of technical skill levels. Be sure to provide clear instructions on how to navigate your course and how to use any tools that you require for the completion of activities.
- Opportunities for self-paced learning: Online learners value the ability to learn at their own pace, so be sure to offer opportunities for self-directed learning, such as readings, viewings, interactive knowledge checks, and/or quizzes.
- Have a Communication and Support Plan: Online learners do not have traditional in-person support structures, like libraries or study groups. As such, be sure to provide ample support resources online – like office hours, email support, Zoom study rooms, and discussion forums – to help them stay connected and succeed. Create a schedule for how frequently you plan to check in with students in the online environment.
Step Two: Pick a lesson and review goals.
Review your course content one lesson at a time. Start by identifying your larger course goals and key learning outcomes for each week. Ask yourself:
- What key concepts or skills do students need to master by the end of this course?
- What key concepts or skills do students need to master by the end of this lesson?
Answering these questions up-front will:
- Help you stay on track when converting or developing content, activities, and assessments that align with desired learning outcomes.
- Provide clarity for you and your students regarding expectations for the lesson and online participation requirements for the week.
- Provide clarity for you and your students regarding what students will be learning and what they will be able to do upon completion.
Additional Resources
- Learn more about how to craft meaningful objectives and outcomes.
Step Three: Develop a plan for online delivery.
Next, review your course materials and determine what to adapt to the online environment. Map out a plan for your online delivery of content for each week. Break existing course materials down into logical modules; make sure each module is organized around a major topic and contains relevant objectives, material, and associated activities.
If transitioning to a fully online course, ask yourself:
- How can I use a mix of video, audio, text, and interactive activities to deliver materials online?
- How will I manage and structure my online materials?
- Can I create a pattern for how students will learn that you can carry consistently over to each week?
- How will I translate in-person activities and group work to the online environment?
- What types of activities will ensure student collaboration and interaction?
- What kind of technology and tools will I need to facilitate online learning?
- How will I assess student learning and achievement of lesson outcomes online?
- How will I provide timely and effective support for students?
- How can I provide opportunities for students to reflect on their learning and connect it to real-world applications?
If transitioning to a hybrid course, ask yourself:
- Which content would students benefit most from being online?
- What elements can be adapted to a virtual environment, and what elements cannot?
- Is there evergreen content (that remains the same over time) that should be delivered via video, audio, text, or other visuals?
- Can I build and reinforce online content with in-class activities?
- What content can students engage with online before class to successfully participate in a learning activity during class?
- Can I add self-study activities online, such as discussion questions, knowledge checks, or low-stakes quizzes, that allow students to practice and assess their understanding of the material prior to joining the class?
Using a Design Document can help you map out the learning experience for each week and align activities to larger course outcomes.
Additional Resources
Explore the following guides when planning activities for your course:
Step Four: Adapt or create materials for online delivery.
Once you have a clear idea of the content that you would like students to engage with, consider the appropriate way to deliver that content online. A few options:
Option 1: Convert your online content.
You can repurpose your traditional in-class materials, such as PowerPoint lectures. Consider creating online videos or audio content, such as podcasts, micro lecture videos, demonstration videos, simulations, and more.
Using PowerPoint or Google Slides, you can narrate over presentations. Panopto is an integrated tool in Canvas that can be used to record audio or video presentations.
Option 2: Incorporate content available online.
You can add relevant third-party reading materials to your lesson, such as news articles, academic articles, book excerpts, online case studies, websites, and blogs. Outside of traditional textbook readings, additional reading materials can offer diverse perspectives and help students relate concepts to their everyday lives.
You can also look for open-source educational media to incorporate, such as graphics, infographics, news clips, documentary clips, Ted Talks videos, Khan Academy videos, YouTube clips, and more.
Step Five: Develop your online activities.
Consider what activities students can complete fully online or via Zoom for hybrid classes to deepen their learning and achieve lesson outcomes. This can entail a wide range of problem-solving, discussion, and creative activities. Ask yourself:
- What individual, paired, or small group activities can take place online or via Zoom to help students collaboratively apply what they have learned?
- How might you pair students based on their varying levels of knowledge, perspectives, and backgrounds to maximize learning?
Explore the following articles when starting to develop activities for your course:
- Create Effective Assignments
- Create Effective Discussion Activities
- Create Effective Quizzes and Surveys
Once you have your chosen activities, take some time to plan out the details:
- How will you introduce the activity clearly to students?
- What materials are required to support the activity (e.g., handouts, textbooks, supplies, etc.)?
- How will you guide the learning and provide feedback during the activity?
- How will you assess students (using online rubrics) on the successful completion of the activity?
- Will you allow students to share and reflect on what they have learned?
Step Six: Test your course for launch.
Test your course thoroughly before you launch it. Make sure everything works as it should before you go live. Complete the following steps as you review the course:
Step Seven: Review, revise, and repeat.
Once your course goes live, take some time to review what worked well and what may need modification. Consider feedback provided by students during the process and whether students were able to effectively achieve the outcomes identified for the lesson. Make meaningful revisions based on all the information you have gathered. Once you have made revisions, run the course again and continue to refine your approach.
These six steps should give you a solid starting point for converting your in-person course to a hybrid or fully online course.