Remote Teaching: Offering a fully in-person course through a digital environment while maintaining the approach to teaching and design initially established for the course. Remote teaching is about making the smallest amount of change to both course materials and the student experience to make it quickly viable in a digital environment.
- Example: moving an in-person class to zoom using the same or a similar schedule and format, such as lecture.
Online Teaching: Courses developed intentionally for digital learning environments. Online courses are offered primarily through asynchronous approaches, with occasional–often optional–synchronous (live) sessions available. Online teaching happens in courses that have been designed through online learning theories, pedagogies, and practices unique to online environments.
- Example: a course designed, developed, and delivered exclusively through Canvas, with all course materials developed in advance.
Synchronous or Asynchronous? There are two options for instructors to facilitate class sessions remotely:
- Synchronous: Instructors and students gather at the same time and interact in “real time” with a very short or “near-real time” exchange between instructors and students.
- Asynchronous: Instructors prepare course materials for students in advance of students’ access. Students may access the course materials at a time of their choosing and will interact with each over a longer period of time.
You may choose to engage students synchronously or asynchronously depending on your level of comfort, your students’ comfort, and what is best for your course.
You have many tools at your disposal to deliver your class synchronously or asynchronously. While synchronous tools can help you easily replicate what you do in the regular classroom, there might be content or activities that are better left in an asynchronous format, such as readings or discussions. Consider balancing your synchronous and asynchronous strategies as you move forward.
Also keep in mind that many students may not have computers or internet access. Rather, they may be compelled to access your course using their phones. In this case, video content may be inconsistent and choppy and may also carry with it data charges for the student.
