Course Timing

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Should you have online meetings?

One major decision is whether you will have your students meet at specific times in a schedule (synchronous) or have them log into the class and complete the activities when it is convenient for their schedule (asynchronous).

Many instructors have success with blending synchronous and asynchronous as they figure out their own online style and how the course material presents online. For example, consider having a regularly scheduled meeting for the students who can meet and record the session for other students to review when they have time. This is particularly helpful if you have students in different time zones.

Resources on Asynchronous Versus Synchronous

• Tips to Ace Content Chunking in E-Learning Design
  • Tips for both styles of course presentations
• Synchronous vs. Asynchronous
  • Tools for both types of courses
• Remote Teaching: When and How to Use Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Methods
  • Ideas for how to choose asynchronous or synchronous learning in your online classroom

Attention Spans

We all have very short attention spans, particularly when we are worried about other things. Students are going to have a difficult time watching a 1-2-hour video or a lengthy page of online course reading. Try to break up course resources into smaller 10-minute bits if possible. Resources regarding how you can break up your course videos and presentations are given in the PowerPoint section of this website. Additionally, if you are interested in adding polling in your class this website has a separate section on polling.

Helpful Strategies and Resources:

• A long video can be broken up with polling questions or pausing the video to ask the student to think about a key topic in the presentation.
• A long reading can be broken up to ask students to discuss a topic on a discussion board or answer a quiz question.
• Chunking material in small sections can help the learning experience feel less daunting
  • What Research Tells Us About Chunking Content
  • Tips to Ace Content Chunking in E-Learning Design
• Similarly, you might want to consider using "micro learning"
  • What is Microlearning: A Complete Guide for Beginners 
  • Learning in Bursts: Microlearning with Social Media
  • 5 Killer Microlearning Examples for Employee Training