Learning Technology's Response to the Coronavirus

By now, you've heard about the Coronavirus and learned that Emporia State University will be moving all face to face classes to remote access classes starting Monday, March 23rd (for more information, go to ESU's Coronavirus information page). But if you're a faculty member, what does this mean for you?

What if I've never taught online?

Don't panic! Learning Technologies and ESU IT is here to help. We've established a university-wide continuity website that is your one-stop shop for information on how to move your courses online. Here you'll find top tips for this process, some strategies you can use to help you migrate, tutorials on how to use different technologies, contact info for LT staff, contact info for someone in your department who knows how to teach online, and a schedule of upcoming F2F and online trainings being offered by Learning Technologies. 

Focus on quality...but not too much

While we all want our classes to be amazing and utilize best practices and be engaging for students, in situations where you have to change modalities quickly, the emphasis needs to be on getting the material online and usable for students, rather than building out a fully online course. Stop and think about the tools that you're using, your comfort-level with them, your students comfort-level with them, and the amount of time you all have available to put toward learning new technology. There's a lot of great tech out there (trust us, we know!) but don't get so bogged down in trying out new things that you overlook simple solutions. 

Keep communicating with your students!

Any trepidation you may feel about teaching online rather than face-to-face is probably also being experienced by your students. Combine this with stressors from having to relocate mid-semester, lack of access to technology or broadband internet service, illness, food shortages, employment issues, social isolation, and general upheaval and students will be on the edges of their seats...and not necessarily in a good way. 

Keep up a steady flow of communication with your students via email, web-conferencing, chat, text, phone calls, etc. and let them know what's going on in your course. This is especially important if due dates, course requirements or expectations, or course content changes.

Reach out to us

There's lots of ways to keep in touch with Learning Technologies who will be working tirelessly to make this period as painless as possible. Keep up with changes via our LinkedIn page or follow us on Twitter (@esulearningtech) to get our newest updates.

And remember to wash your hands!