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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...
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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 di...
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Top Three Barriers our Students Have

“Accessibility sounds like a lot of work. I would love to design my content following the Universal Design for Learning Framework, but where should I start?” I am glad you asked. I would recommend you start with the plus one approach. Take time to review your current course and collect feedback from your students on what you could do to make your content more accessible. Next, set up a timeline for yourself and try to add one new design aspect to your course material monthly. Do you know the top three barriers access services receive from our students here at ICC?  Audio/video with no captions or transcripts. Using special fonts, highlighting, or color coding to represent emphasis or meaning. PDF’s that are not screen-reader friendly. So, let’s begin by providing you with resources to tackle our top three barriers here at ICC. Captioning is essential for someone who is deaf, but do you realize it benefits many others? Did you know that 85% of student populations are...
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