Classroom Management

Remem­ber that you are already an instruc­tor: you can apply every­thing that you know about the in-class­room set­ting to this dig­i­tal plat­form.  You’re facil­i­tat­ing learn­ing in a new envi­ron­ment which needs to be com­fort­able for stu­dents.  Rec­og­nize that this might be new for them as well as for you.

In the face-to-face class­room, an instruc­tor strives to cre­ate a com­fort­able learn­ing envi­ron­ment. While doing so online might demand different—or additional—skills, it is equal­ly impor­tant.

“Own your mes­sage and deliv­er it authen­ti­cal­ly”, says one sea­soned instruc­tor in the dig­i­tal realm. Here are some tips for man­ag­ing stu­dents and activ­i­ty in dig­i­tal learn­ing envi­ron­ment.

Best Practices in Classroom Management (Toronto Metropolitan University)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CFOIgSJyBfuZrVCBjPdZVYhuOwTZTL3GVdeHfV4V_wY/edit#heading=h.ooump3e1ak67

• Nice guide in Google Docs you can down­load with good top­ics in class­room mgmt.

Classroom Management (Durham College, Ontario)

https://durhamcollege.ca/ctl/teaching/classroom-management/

• Good mate­ri­als under Addi­tion­al Resources near mid­dle of page
• Real­ly good Sit­u­a­tions, Sce­nar­ios and Strate­gies near end of page

Classroom Management Tips (University of Alberta, Alberta)

https://www.ualberta.ca/en/centre-for-teaching-and-learning/teaching-support/classroom-management-engagement.html

• Many of the links on this page lead to excel­lent pod­casts, blogs and oth­er super resources

Classroom Management (University of Connecticut)

https://cetl.uconn.edu/resources/teaching-your-course/classroom-management/

• Nice out­line of all the facets of class­room man­age­ment

Classroom Management (Cambrian College, Ontario)

https://teaching.cambriancollege.ca/classroom-strategies/

• Clean and sim­ple ideas

Managing Group Work

• Man­ag­ing Diverse Groups Online: PDF Ver­sion
• How Dimen­sions of Cul­ture Influ­ence Teach­ing and Work­ing in Groups — PDF Ver­sion
• Tips for Design­ing and Assess­ing Mul­ti­cul­tur­al Group Work — PDF Ver­sion

Managing Classes

Set expec­ta­tions: In the first few class­es or com­mu­ni­ca­tions, spend time review­ing how the teach­ing and learn­ing will hap­pen. Set­ting clear ground rules and expec­ta­tions cre­ate shared under­stand­ing and avoid prob­lems that might arise lat­er. Involv­ing stu­dents in the devel­op­ment of expec­ta­tions is a good way to get them on-board and under­stand what mat­ters to them.

• If you are new to dig­i­tal learn­ing, tell your stu­dents. Where­as you are an expert in the sub­ject, it’s ok to admit you don’t know every­thing!
• Go through the course out­line care­ful­ly. Answer ques­tions. Ensure every­one under­stands.
• Talk about how you will deliv­er the con­tent, and what the stu­dents can expect in terms of com­mu­ni­ca­tion.
• Set office hours.
• Talk about ‘Dig­i­tal Cit­i­zen­ship’ (the norms of appro­pri­ate, respon­si­ble behav­iour with regard to use of tech­nol­o­gy) and stu­dents’ rights and respon­si­bil­i­ties [link] (see sep­a­rate info. Sheet).
• Explore the tech­nol­o­gy with the stu­dents. Is it work­ing for every­one? What should they do if the tech­nol­o­gy isn’t work­ing prop­er­ly?

Com­mu­ni­cate clear­ly & fre­quent­ly: Imple­ment ear­ly and reg­u­lar check ups to see how your stu­dents are doing.

Build com­mu­ni­ty: Build com­mu­ni­ty. Stu­dents won’t inter­act if they don’t know each oth­er. Think of this step as proac­tive class­room man­age­ment. Build com­mu­ni­ty right from the get-go and encour­age it through­out the course.

• Engag­ing with stu­dents, rather than just pre­sent­ing infor­ma­tion, can help. Encour­age learn­ers to ask ques­tions and solic­it par­tic­i­pa­tion through fre­quent engagement—ask poll ques­tions or ask learn­ers to type a response in chat.
• Find ways for par­tic­i­pants to learn about each oth­er, to learn about you, and to find com­mon­al­i­ties in their expe­ri­ences

Be Flex­i­ble: Focus on the learn­ing. Dead­lines are impor­tant, but there are sit­u­a­tions where we can use our judge­ment and offer some flex­i­bil­i­ty.