I taught all of my classes in an asynchronous (fully online) format this term.
Based on ideas posted here, I chose the following routine:
Content Delivery: I made videos with my phone and posted them to YouTube for the "lecture" content. I printed copies of activities I wrote, and worked through them in the video, periodicaly asking students to "pause the video and try this". I posted the pdf of the activity sheet on a lesson page in Blackboard (our LMS), followed by the embedded YouTube video I shot and embedded GeoGebra graphs where appropriate. I also updated a list of "recommended textbook problems" for each lesson.
Assessments: Each video lesson was followed by a MyOpenMath "concept check" I wrote (between 5 and 15 questions related to the lesson), and each week had either a quiz (again MyOpenMath), a group assignment (students collaborated to solve more in-depth problems and type solutions up) or an exam (also MyOpenMath, with essay problems). The quizzes and "concept checks" had no time limit, due only at the end of the term.
Exams: The first exam was given with a 2.5-hour time limit. It was given through MyOpenMath and had problems with randomized elements (numbers, variable names, graphs, names of people, etc.). Grades were as I might have expected from a face-to-face course.
The 2nd exam and Final exams were also given with MyOpenMath, with a longer time limit and the use of essay questions. Due to the longer time limit, I caught four students posting some-to-all of the questions to Chegg, and it was easy to tell exactly who posted them because of the randomized elements (e.g. "Mikaela painted a house in 18.5 hours..." vs. "Robert painted a fence in 3.75 hours...").
Meeting Students: I opened Slack workspaces for each class, making it a requirement that students joined. Students really liked it, and I was just a little afraid we would go over the 10,000 messages allowed in the free plan. [We used about 4000 for a class of 30.] I also used Zoom for office hours and meeting students one-on-one for help.
Takeaways:
When surveyed, students were very happy with the videos, online concept checks and the use of Slack. I will continue with YouTube as it is easy to use, it creates a decent first run at captions (which can be edited) and the view-count suggests students made use of them. I will also continue to use MyOpenMath and Slack for assessments and communication, as they provide immediate feedback on work and (at least the perception of) immediate access to the instructor.
With this first experience behind me, I will be changing the way exams are delivered. Students will still use MyOpenMath for exams, with the following restrictions:
- Exams will be taken on Zoom so that I can see what students are writing.
- They will have a shorter time-limit.
- I will require all hand-written work uploaded at the end of the exam.
Unfortunately, giving students too much time on an exam is a window fit for defenestration.
I will also be conducting an exit-interview for each student, via Zoom, in which I want to hear what they know from the course. I will create and publish to them, in advance, a rubric outlining how I will assess them in the interview. The purpose is to get a sense of what basics they actually understand.
[I teach at a community college in the United States.]
