Building Our Virtual Classroom How We'll "Build" Our Virtual Classroom

Building with Templates

During Remote Learning this spring, we successfully used weekly templates (mainly via Google Docs) to create a structure for our classes. These were helpful guides for students as they adjusted to a new way of “doing school.” The templates also proved to be useful planning tools for teachers as we adapted to an emergency situation on a week-to-week basis over the final window.

To prepare for (potentially) an entire year of remote or hybrid learning, we will build on this approach to ensure a more consistent student experience across all courses in Canvas and to craft the “feel” of a distinctive St. Mark’s virtual classroom (you’ve likely already experienced the difference as you’ve worked your way through this course). Using common “templates” in Canvas will allow us to do this efficiently and effectively. Templates are pre-formatted, intentionally designed versions of the various elements we use to build our Canvas courses (e.g., Modules, Pages, Assignments, Discussions, etc.). Our custom-designed templates will create a consistent, familiar organizational structure in the virtual learning experience for students and streamline the course creation process for faculty.

Why use Templates?

For Students

Deliberate course design leverages clear, accessible structure and repeated routines to help our students adapt to and find a familiar “rhythm” in hybrid learning. Aside from their short stint in distance learning, many of our students are unfamiliar with the behaviors and expectations in this new way of “coming to class.” Instead of getting lost on the way to Room 160, our students (as we learned this past spring) can get lost in or become frustrated by the new barriers they encounter when learning at a distance. Good online course design can remove these barriers so students are better able to adapt to the “flow” of learning in online and hybrid environments. When less of their cognitive load is needed to navigate their way through Canvas or figure out when something is due or where to turn it in, “more cognitive resources can be applied to the course content and the prescribed learning outcomes for a particular course” (Slagter van Tryon & Bishop, 2009, p. 311). In short, templates help to minimize “friction” that can derail students and maximize their engagement and learning (Joyner, p. 36).

For Faculty

Templates take the heavy lift of instructional design off of your shoulders so you can devote your time and talents to adapting your content and expertise to the hybrid environment. Rather than configuring everything in Canvas from “scratch,” the templates will enable you to draft your content in a Google Doc then paste it into the corresponding spot in the pre-designed template, expediting the build process and making course creation much more user-friendly. Additionally, thoughtful course design fosters a positive sense of teacher presence for students (and their families) who see it as evidence of the care you’ve taken to build something that is accessible and supportive of their learning (Borup et. al, 2014 p. 12). Finally, leveraging templates makes navigating Canvas easier and more intuitive for students, which can increase engagement, persistence in learning, and achievement (i.e., this will hopefully mean less chasing after missing students or student work).

What Will Stay the Same?

We will still use the Canvas module tool to structure our courses across each week
We will continue to thoughtfully scaffold and “chunk out” learning to fit the time allotted for each class each week
- Aim for 5-6 total hours of work per week for Regular and Honors courses and 6-7 total hours of work per week for Advanced (this includes all Zoom sessions, excluding optional faculty "office hours")
We will continue to strive for a good balance of intentionally designed asynchronous and synchronous learning to stay connected with and responsive to our students.

What Will Change?

1. Common Module Structure

We will use module templates to ensure a consistent structure for students both within and across the courses they take. In online learning, a “module” is a structure that organizes the “building blocks” of our content, including all the assignments, experiences, and assessments that make up our Canvas course. The design of our module templates (similar to our weekly plans during Remote Learning) will structure the “cadence” or flow of learning in our classes.

Using common module templates has two primary benefits. First, as this musical term suggests, a weekly cadence provides a repeated, structured rhythm that creates a predictable pattern of learning with clear routines and expectations for students (Joyner, 2019, p. 36). Second, it helps distribute work evenly and pace learning across each week, which is particularly important if we have periods of distance learning or time when we are toggling between remote and on-campus learning. In those circumstances, students cannot rely on this happening organically as it does when we are together in our St. Mark's classrooms, so our module templates are designed to help provide that structure.

Here are the 2 options you may choose from for your course module structure:

Descriptive: Weeks follow a common descriptive cadence with repeated descriptors provided in the pre-made template.
Numbered: Weeks follow a numbered cadence where naming conventions are set by the teacher or course team.

For more details on each option and to see examples click here.

2. Canvas Page Template for Weekly Plans

Rather than using a Google Doc (which is not accessible for some of our international students), we will use a “Week Overview” Canvas Page template to structure and communicate our weekly plans. This page will always come first in your module layout, no matter which module structure you choose from the options above. The Week Overview page template builds-in the following specific “must haves” to create a consistent approach across all courses:

Brief Teacher Overview with a Weekly Video to Frame the Week
Learning Goals/I Can Statements
List of Assignments, Activities, & Assessments With Clear Due Dates/Times
Ways to Connect & Get Tech Help

In response to student feedback, our Week Overview pages need to be created and published (made available) to students in Canvas every Friday by 11:59pm of the preceding week (rather than Sunday night). This will help our students plan and prepare for the week ahead since many of them like to do so over the weekend (and we want to support this great practice of self-regulation!).

3. Use of Additional Canvas Templates

As noted above, to ensure consistency across courses and to cut down on the time it takes for teachers to build hybrid courses, we will use templates for all of the course components in Canvas (e.g., Pages, Discussions, Assignments), including the course homepage. These will have a fill-in-the box area where you’ll just need to drop in the content you’ve created for your course.

We will also provide a few pre-made rubrics in Canvas that you may elect to use or adapt for your course. This should ease the pain of creating your own rubrics while also leveraging the power of common expectations for students across courses (e.g., by using a shared Discussion rubric across multiple classes or disciplines). Specifics and instructions will be shared in the next lesson.

4. Predictable Due Dates & Deadlines

In response to student feedback and research that recommends strategies to help students pace their work and avoid procrastination in distance learning, we will follow a consistent policy that creates a predictable pattern for due dates and deadlines for all classes.

Due dates for any and all work, assignments, and assessments in your classes need to be aligned with the day the class falls on in our color block schedule. For example, if you teach Green, all due dates must fall on days with Green block. There are three options for time deadlines:

By the start of class
By the end of class
By 11:59pm EST on the day class falls in the color schedule.

For example, if Green block meets on M, T, Th, any Green class could have deadlines set to the start of class, the end of class, or 11:59pm on any of those 3 days. The logic of this policy should help students plan their work, create a regular pattern that will help them understand and remember course expectations, and create an even distribution of work across each week.

One final note on due dates: Flexibility will continue to be key next year, especially during periods of remote learning. Therefore, encourage students to be proactive and ask for extensions as needed. When granting an extension, teachers have the power to decide on the due date & time without worrying about these guidelines. It's your "grace period" to give:).

5. Guidelines for Synchronous/Asynchronous Learning

Instead of using specific time-limits to guide the way we plan our live, in-person time (e.g., Zoom sessions, office hours, or on-campus meetings), we will focus on the quality and purposeful design of all learning modalities. We respect your knowledge and understanding of what your students need as you plan & build an intentional balance of synchronous and asynchronous learning into each week. At the same time, we know that most of us are new to hybrid instruction, so we've drawn on guidance from GOA (see the image from their online learning norms below) and other experts to share principles to guide our weekly plans.

Redefine Time.png

As you make your weekly plans, please consider these guidelines to maximize active student learning in a hybrid environment:

Plan for at least 2 “live” teacher-student touchpoints each week (see tips in 1.1, 1.2, 2.3)
“In-real-time” sessions should prioritize active student engagement over lengthy direct instruction (see tips in 2.3)
Asynchronous learning activities & live, in-person sessions need to be explicitly aligned & connected to promote student engagement and deepen learning (see tips in 2.3)
Asynchronous learning should carefully scaffold student independence & agency and provide choice/opportunities for peer-peer connections & collaborative learning (see 1.2 & 2.3)
Avoid using the term “homework,” which doesn’t apply in a hybrid environment or when learning at a distance. Instead, use the principles above to structure independent or peer-peer practice, assignments, or activities for students to complete on their own time/schedule at a pace that enables them to meet the deadlines you set (see the due date policy in 2.1).

Consider balance & student well-being when building your weekly plans, especially in anticipation of periods of remote learning. We will need to consider ways to help our students avoid feeling isolated while also trying to avoid causing Zoom fatigue (see 2.3).

TIP: Remember to connect with advisors, the Academics Office, and our experts in Health Services if you have any concerns about a student.

Action Step

Before moving on to 2.2., decide on which module template you’ll use (either the Descriptive Module Template or the Numbered Module Template) to structure your weekly plans in Canvas.