Getting Started with Online Teaching

This list of best practices is a great starting point for building community-centered online or hybrid courses that encourage engagement and accessibility. For a step-by-step approach to building an online course, the TLC has created an Online/Hybrid teaching checklist.

If you are new to teaching at Emily Carr altogether, you will also find useful information from the Academic Affairs office in this section. Visit our Staff + Faculty hub for more useful links.

Tips for managing your cohort

Before the course goes live: Check that all the students who are registered in your course (see your class list on MyEC) matches those listed in your ‘Participants” list on Moodle. If students are not listed, they will not be able to access your course.

Managing the Add/Drop period: To make it obvious that students have entered your Moodle course, ask them to make themselves known through an “introductions forum” by a specified time. Specify that this info will be used to gauge their attendance for the add/drop period. An introduction forum is also a good way for students to see who else is in their class and to build a sense of community in the online learning space.

Problems and Troubleshooting

At the top of your Moodle page, provide a “problems and troubleshooting” forum for students to raise issues and problems. Make sure this forum is set up as “forced” so that everyone receives these messages through their email as well. This helps identify common problems and centralizes communication so that you don’t have to respond to each individual query.

If you are new to online teaching or are looking for fresh ideas, the resources below offer some ideas about how to create successful and engaging online learning environments:

8 Lessons Learned from Teaching Online This 4-minute video quickly and succinctly outlines some of the key considerations when teaching online

Culture Shock: Teaching Online in a Pinch
 This links to a self-paced online module that you can do in about 4 hours to help you determine how to transition an existing course to an online format.

Finally, the book Small Teaching Online (2019) by Flower Darby and James Lang is available as an ebook through Emily Carr’s Library.

There are also several resources on LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com) that are free for Emily Carr faculty to access. You will need to log in to LinkedIn Learning through the ECU Library before clicking any of the links below.

Learning to Teach Online

Teaching with Technology

Teaching Technical Skills Through Video


Teaching Online: Synchronous Classes