Online Teaching Handbook

Downloadable PDF Version

I. How to Build UBlearns Content
II. How to Record and Stream Your Lecture
III. Training Courses and Online Communities
IV. “Dos & Don’ts”
V. Online Resource for Course Design
VI. Reading List

Congratulations! You have been assigned to teach an online course. You have TA’ed in the past and might have lectured a traditional course before, but teaching online is a new challenge. How do you build UBlearns content? How do you speak to the camera? How can you build a good teacher-student relationship with students that you might never see in person?

According to the Online Learning Consortium, the enrollment for online courses in the US has increased consistently for the last thirteen years and has grown to 5.8 million. Over 25% of students in higher education have enrolled in at least one online course. At UB during the 2017 academic year, 791 course sections were offered either online or as online-classroom hybrids. The UB Department of History is focusing on assigning more online teaching positions for their Summer and Winter Sessions. For example, for the Winter 2019 Session, all three courses will be offered online.

This handbook will help you create an online course by providing basic but crucial information for designing UBlearns content, for conducting the course, and for encouraging student engagement. The guide is divided into six parts, and each section will ease you into the sometimes complicated process of online course management by using a step-by-step approach. In addition, it will help you access support networks for online teaching and suggest useful resources.

This handbook was created by Shuko Tamao in Summer 2018 as a part of the AHA Career Diversity Implementation Grants. Many thanks to Martha Greatrix and Robin Sullivan at the Center for Educational Innovation, Professor Patrick McDevitt at the Department of History, Dylan Ruediger at the AHA, and the AHA Career Diversity cohorts for their guidance and input.