Skip to main content

Tips for Teaching Online



Teaching and Learning Center

This page has blog posts that will give you simple action steps to build a vibrant community within your online classrooms. I want to encourage you to continue to engage your students and let your students know you are present. Your presence and perseverance matters.


Click on the links below to go directly to that post.



Illinois Central College​
Teaching and Learning Center

TLC Website: icc.edu/tlc

Popular posts from this blog

Finish Well

As the semester ends, it can be bittersweet , and we can feel overwhelmed with the tasks at hand. We must prioritize what we do with our 86,400 seconds each day. I want to encourage you to carve out time to collect feedback from your students and to provide a sense of closure. I suggest providing students an opportunity to say goodbye, to reflect on the semester, and to celebrate their accomplishments. Here are four suggestions on how you can finish well.   1.     Farewell Discussion – Create an optional discussion forum as a place where students can share what they learned from the course with each other, say goodbye, or exchange information with other students within the course. This suggestion is a formal way to create a sense of closure. If you build a community of learners, it is only proper to create a sense of closure at the end of the semester. 2.     Exit Survey – Ask students for feedback on their experiences within your course. Ask questions that address the navigation, org
1 comment
Read more

What is Universal Design for Learning?

Engaging Students in the Learning Process Every course we teach is unique and has a diverse population of students within it. Have you ever thought about how to make the material richer for your students? Students differ in learning styles and abilities. By attempting to offer learning opportunities, engagement, and assessment in multiple formats we can help increase the learning and mastery of all our students.  Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a design framework that guides instructors to plan and provide genuine learning opportunities and support for all students. I would assume that you are already doing this within your classrooms, both face to face and online. You have a project for students to complete, and they are given a choice in how they can show what they have learned. Maybe they write a paper, prepare a PowerPoint, create a wiki, vlog, or blog. UDL is an instructional design framework offering flexibility and adaptability to meet the needs of our divers
Post a Comment
Read more

Building Community is Essential

Building Community Is Essential  As you start to deliver your courses online, I want to encourage you to keep it simple. Pick tools and approaches acclimated to both you and your students. Your students will appreciate it if you rely on technology and routines that are familiar. Introduce new tools only when absolutely necessary. With all the unknowns, your students’ emotional and mental energy may already be drained; therefore, introducing new tools and approaches may leave less energy and attention for learning. Focus on what is necessary for your students to learn to complete the objectives of your course. Recommended tools you can use to deliver and to engage your students in your online classrooms can be found at icc.edu/tlc . Building a community online within your classroom is an opportunity to connect with your students in a new way. Over the past few weeks, the word that keeps coming to my mind is perseverance. Helen Keller wrote, “We can do anything we want to
Post a Comment
Read more