How to Create a Basic Online Course

Course Introduction

A General Online Teaching strategy

There are lots of ways to build a remotely taught course. Some of you may have your own experience with teaching online. If that's the case then you should continue doing what you are comfortable with and what has worked for you in the past.

Some of you may not have ever taught online. If you find yourself asking "Where do I even Start?" then some of the suggestions in this course may help.

There are some basic elements that you can put in place with relatively little effort that will get you well on your way to a successful online course. Following the suggestion on this page and throughout this course will maximize the potential for you and your students to have a good experience with your class and eliminate most of the pitfalls we know can happen when teaching and learning online . 

The 5 Parts of a Basic Online Course

There are 5 fundamental elements of getting your course up and running at the University of utah. 

They are:

  1. Activate and publish your course
  2. Develop a student communication strategy (announcements, lectures and office hours)
  3. Define what your students will do (readings, assignments and projects)
  4. Create simple online assessments (quizzes & exams)
  5. Provide feedback on student work

Let's look at each of these parts in more detail. 

1. Activate and Publish your Course. 

  • Every course that is created in Canvas starts out as a empty "course shell" that needs to be activated and published. Activating your course, loads the students that have registered for your course into the course shell.
  • The next step will be load content into it. This can be done by either creating content from scratch or by  importing content from a previously taught online course. 
  • The last step is to publish your course. This will make your course visible to your students so be sure you are ready for them to see what your content before publishing. 

The steps for activating and publishing your course are covered here.

2. Develop a student communication strategy

We know that communicating with your students is at the heart of Learning. In this situation, some of the most critical forms of communication are:

  1. Announcements of important class information and procedures
  2. Lecture content and subject matter expertise.
  3. Answering individuals or small group questions (office hours).

In regard to individual or small group conversations, using Zoom or other online conferencing tools is recommended. This allows you to share your screen, answers questions in real time, and/or chat back and forth. 
Email and other electronic means of communication are also encouraged.

All of these strategies are covered in greater detail here

3. Define what your students will do (Assignments)

You have all already spent many hours developing engaging and interesting class assignments and activities. Some of these will be easier to convert to an online delivery that others. We cover how to create a Canvas assignment here, but if you need ideas with how to effectively translate your assignments using Canvas, please use classhelp@utah.edu to submit a ticket to TLT and an Instructional Designer will schedule a consultation appointment to help you.   

4. Create simple online Assessments (Quizzes & Exams)

Quizzes and Exams are some of the most critical components of any course. Consider ways that you can simplify this is whatever way possible without compromising the outcomes of your course. Exam options, how to create a quiz in Canvas, remote proctoring services and some suggested resources are all available here

5. Provide feedback on student work

After you receive submissions from your students, spending sufficient time to give them written or recorded feedback is the last step in reinforcement of good learning. Grading Assignments and Exams are both covered in steps 3 and 4 above. 

A Note About Facilitating Live Events (Webinars and Video meetings)

Having a synchronous lecture through a webinar tool is common, and tools to facilitate this are plentiful, but be sensitive that not all students have the bandwidth or devices for synchronous live interactions. If you absolutely must do this we recommend using the Zoom or ConexED services connected within Canvas that are properly licensed and supported by the University for student interactions. This topic is covered here.

Depending on the size of your class, live video sessions can potentially be the most complicated way to conduct class online. Universities and Industries around the world are converting many more of their activities to online delivery and this is putting a tremendous burden on the resources and servers of companies that host and sponsor these tools. You might experience service interruptions.

In addition, students also may be unfamiliar with how to login and how to enable their audio and camera. The smaller the number of students in your class the lower the risk of experiencing  these challenges. 

Ultimately, we recommend pre-recording lectures your lectures through Kaltura Capture and then posting them to your course via Canvas Announcements, Discussions or a Canvas Page. Live sessions can be reserved for shorter, smaller group question and response interactions.