Page Overview

This page seeks to guide instructors through the specific details they should know about their course in order to facilitate learning most effectively. Bringing to the forefront course details, editing guidelines, and classroom management strategies is the focus of what’s being communicated on this page.

About This Guide

Purpose of This Guide

🚩🚩 Add an introduction or explanation for this guide. For example, when a course is designed by a lead faculty, it is essential that all instructors teaching the course are aware of the design framework and teaching philosophy. Additionally, the new instructor may not know what needs to be changed, updated, and personalized within the course. While the syllabus can offer a lot of information, there is a lot of information about the course that is not laid out there. Another situation is when a course is co-taught by multiple instructors, and without a specific guide, it is difficult to teach the class in the same way. This guide seeks to address situations like this and provide guidance.

How to Develop a Guide (Remove)

This page includes a variety of headings to help you get started with creating a How to Teach This Course Guide. Feel free to add or remove headings as necessary. Be sure to highlight any particular insights about the course design, teaching methods, policies, and specific changes that you would like instructors to make. While you design your course, also take notes of important things you would want to say to anyone who might teach it in the future. Include any relevant program policies (if applicable) that are essential to remember at the course level. 🚩🚩

Editing Permissions

🚩🚩 Outline how much freedom the instructor can have in making changes or influencing the course. For guidance on editing in Canvas, review how to edit with the Rich Content Editor. 🚩🚩

Getting Help

🚩🚩 Include information on who to contact for help or further information about the course. Suggested contacts include the Instructional Designer for questions regarding the layout and purpose of assignments, lead faculty for questions regarding content choices, and OU IT for technical questions about Canvas. Let instructors know that they can schedule one-on-one consultations with campus experts on Canvas and other OU instructional technologies. Additionally, refer instructors to 24/7 Canvas Help. 🚩🚩

Faculty Orientation Resources

🚩🚩 Review the OU Online Faculty Orientation course for information on administrative processes and faculty support, technology how-to's (Canvas, Outlook, Zoom, Kaltura MyMedia, etc.), and teaching online. 🚩🚩

Course Overview

Program Fit

🚩🚩 How does this course fit into the context of the larger program? I.e., is there any additional information that instructors need to know beyond what is told to students on this topic? 🚩🚩

About Your Learners

🚩🚩 What level of knowledge are students expected to have coming into the course? 🚩🚩

Key Things to Know

🚩🚩 What are the highest priorities for an instructor to know about this course? Examples may include information about the culminating experience (such as a capstone, portfolio, or comprehensive exam) and/or any course-spanning tasks. 🚩🚩

Lessons Learned

🚩🚩 If applicable and this course has been taught before, include a brief section on any lessons from teaching. For example, students tend to struggle with X assignment, or students need a lot of feedback on Y topic. 🚩🚩

Course Assessments

🚩🚩 lf applicable (i.e., does not fit into another heading on this page): include any context about course assessments that instructors may need to know about. 🚩🚩

Technology Requirements

🚩🚩 Are you using any unique technologies in your course? If so, please provide links and/or instructions on how the instructor can get set up with that, where they can get support, etc. 🚩🚩

Review & Edit

General Editing Guidelines

Set due dates - Follow established patterns. Courses with assignments and graded discussions should have predictable patterns. For example, setting assignments to be due 11:59 p.m. (Central) on Sunday nights.
Minor changes only while the course is running. Although you can edit your courses, please do not make any significant changes at this time. The courses have already been through a thorough quality assurance process and significant changes to a live course may confuse students. For example, do not change the point values or weighted percentages of assignments on the syllabus while the course is running.
Stay consistent. Predictability helps students understand their courses. For example, if you add a new resource, always add it to the RESOURCES page as well.
Accessibility is baked in. Among the many stages of the quality assurance process was ensuring course materials are accessible to students—from captioning videos to using best practices for hyperlinks and beyond. Too many changes often lead to inaccessible content.

Course Information

🚩🚩 Include some guidance on what to edit for basic course information. For example:

Review the course Syllabus.
Add instructor information, bio, and contact information to the Syllabus page.
- How do I edit the Syllabus in a course?
- How do I use the Syllabus as an instructor?
Set up your Canvas user profile.
If applicable, add Live Session day, time, and link to the Syllabus page. 🚩🚩

Modules

🚩🚩 Include some information about what to review in the Modules and course content. For example:

Review the course content, especially the first two modules, to ensure that they make sense to you. If you have any questions, concerns, or changes that you would like to make, contact [name] at [contact info].
Check the exams, study guides, and other materials to be sure they are appropriate. Edit as needed.
If applicable, add Live Session day, time, and link to module Live Session pages.
Update course due dates, and if applicable, the course schedule. For more information, see:
- How do I bulk update due dates and availability dates as an instructor?
- What is the difference between assignment due dates and availability dates?
Check that everything is visible to students, except things that are purposefully hidden based on the design of the course or specific circumstances. 🚩🚩

Publish Course - Final Step

Once you have reviewed your course and completed the above steps, you are ready to publish the course. Please complete this final step no later than the Friday before the semester starts. For more information, see How do I publish a course?

Class Management

Instructor Workload

🚩🚩 Outline any specifics about the expected workload while teaching this course. For example, consider creating a suggested weekly schedule or estimated number of hours per activity. 🚩🚩

Instructor Communication

🚩🚩 Outline any specifics about expected communication while teaching this course. For example:

Check OU email daily, Monday - Friday.
Follow the communication guidelines stated in the syllabus, including weekend communication. If there is a reason you'll be unavailable for a short period of time, communicate this to the students in advance and post your availability in the course announcements.
Use OU email for all administrative communication. For outgoing student correspondence, use the Canvas inbox. 🚩🚩

Instructor Engagement

🚩🚩 Add guidance on regular and substantive interaction requirements. For example:

Incorporate opportunities for regular and substantive interaction (RSI) as required by the US Department of Education requirements for Digital Learning (34 C.F.R. § 600.2) and the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Policy and Procedures 3.17 Distance Education/Traditional Off-Campus Courses/Programs. For interactions to be considered RSI, they must be instructor-initiated, regular, scheduled, predictable, and substantive. You are recommended to:

Plan your student contact schedule, including announcements, Live Sessions, etc.
Engage your students early with a welcome video or announcement to orient students to the course before the start date. See How do I add an announcement in a course?
Add your personal touch. This might be a perspective on the week’s topic, a personal anecdote, tips and tricks, or something else.
Participate in discussion boards with feedback, responses, and/or supporting resources
Present some kind of holistic summary of discussion threads with major themes/key takeaways (send as an announcement). 🚩🚩

Grading

🚩🚩 Include the most important items for an instructor to know about this course. Such as:

Review the "Assignments" section of the course to familiarize yourself with the assignment structure, settings, and how they are grouped for grading.
Review and/or tweak the rubrics regarding requirements for course assessments.
Prepare the instructor for upcoming student needs. For example, does a certain assignment need to be graded before another one is due? Do students tend to struggle with a specific part of a given assignment?
Use Canvas for student submission of assignments. No assignments should be accepted via email.
Use Canvas to provide feedback and comments. Feedback should be specific and highlight items that the student did well, as well as opportunities for improvement. Identify areas in which you have seen improvements from previous weeks.
Post grades in Canvas within 7 days of assignment due dates. Never send grades by email. 🚩🚩