In preparation, I have collected some feedback from my current 322 course about their experience moving online this term. All in all, their thoughts are very positive indeed, which supports the impression I’ve also gotten from the transition. As I’ve mentioned in the department Zoom meetings, my 322 students really seem to be thriving this term, against considerable odds, and some are delivering truly stellar work despite the sudden shift online. The survey (16 responses so far, of 26 remaining students in the course) is summarized in the “Feedback” document.

My proposed schedule for the summer term is here: “321 Online Schedule.”

Similar to what I did for 322, the 321 course can be largely taught through prerecorded video modules made available for students to go through more or less at their own pace. These would then be combined with weekly live chat and Zoom sessions to generate live discussion and answer questions.

Since we have more time now to prepare, I suggest that we break down the weekly lectures into subtopics, so that there are potentially multiple videos per week. The feedback from 322 suggests that this would be a good move. My proposal for this breakdown is provided below in the “Summer 321 Outline” document, which also presents my proposal for assessment given an online format.

It would be immensely helpful to have a course development assistant to enhance the prerecorded lectures (slide design, A/V quality control, etc), particularly if we see this as the department’s investment in the 321 course for the foreseeable future. This work could easily be accomplished by an intern, which is a possibility you’ve mentioned, though the timing for summer internships might not be ideal for the project given the 29 June starting date for classes. I could also manage a rudimentary version of everything proposed in the outline purely for interim purposes.

In short, I think this is not only doable, but perhaps even preferable to the current model of teaching 321. It demands far more engagement from the student week-to-week while keeping more or less at a constant the instructor’s time spent on contact and assessment. If we designate a graduate assistant to manage online participation credits (for fall/spring especially), the enrollment quota could even go even higher than we’ve had it for this course.