Learn more about teaching and learning online with these UBC resources.
Guides for getting started with online teaching
These guides cover key principles and considerations for structuring and setting up an online course.
- Guiding Principles for Online Course Adaptations (Fall 2020): provides guidance and suggestions for designing and teaching courses online, developed by working groups of faculty and students. Explore six high-level guiding principles for online teaching, accompanied by implications for instructors. You can also download the full Guiding Principles document (PDF, 60 pages) for more detail.
- Online Course Set-Up Recommendations (PDF, 5 pages): a checklist for creating inclusive learning environments in Canvas, incorporating Web Accessibility Guidelines (WAG), Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and student well-being practices. A shorter overview (PDF, 1 page) is also available.
Supporting students
Remote learning presents a unique set of challenges to students. These resources will help you better understand the current student experience and support your students.
- “Don’t Panic” guide (PDF, 5 pages): a useful list of questions you may get from students, answers that will help them, and where to point them for further support.
- Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Online Teaching: Where to Begin? (PDF, 3 pages): this guide is a starting point for ensuring that transitioning to online teaching is accessible to all your students. Explore further in Cultivating an Inclusive Climate in Online Classrooms (or download as a PDF), and the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion in Teaching and Learning course in Canvas.
- Teaching Strategies for Varying Bandwidth (PDF, 4 pages): internet speed can significantly affect how students are able to interact with course meetings and materials. This guide, compiled from UBC and external sources, offers suggestions for designing courses to support equitable access.
- Student voices on remote education in the COVID-19 era: Recommendations for fall based on student self-reported data: This paper makes recommendations for remote teaching based on anonymous UBC student survey data collected in April 2020. For just the highlights, take a look at the Survey Results infographic (PDF, 3 pages)
- Student experience of online learning: Recommendations for faculty: hear directly from UBC students in this summary of recommendations for making online teaching more welcoming, inclusive and effective. These suggestions are based on feedback from over 2,500 UBC Canvas users over summer 2020.
Support for specific areas
Additional strategies and considerations to assist you in with developing or transitioning specific parts of your course.
- Syllabus:
- Approaches to Addressing Academic Integrity in the Syllabus: conversations on academic integrity don’t need to be punitive — in fact, they may be more effective when they’re not. This live Google doc offers resources and example approaches from UBC faculty. A supportive approach to academic integrity is also addressed in the Academic Integrity Faculty Resources hosted on the Chapman Learning Commons.
- Writing a (Mindful) Learner-Centred and Inclusive Syllabus: watch the recording and review the slides from this OTP workshop, which explores the characteristics and benefits of a mindful, learner-centered, inclusive syllabus, including considerations for the online environment.
- Assessments:
- Reimagining Assessments: this wiki page is an open resource for instructors moving to online assessments, and includes general considerations as well as strategies and ideas for assessments across a range of disciplines.
- Materials:
- Copyright Considerations for Transitioning your Courses Online: a primer on ensuring content and course materials comply with copyright, compiled by the UBC Copyright Office.
- OER Accessibility Toolkit: while focussed on Open Educational Resources, this toolkit breaks down accessibility considerations that will apply to any online course resources.
- UBC Media Makers: video can be a highly effective way of presenting information. Get started with creating your own media projects with these step-by-step guides.
Further resource guides/reading
There are many more resources available to support your online teaching. If you’re looking for something more specific, take a look through these lists.
- Online Teaching Program Workshop Resource Wiki: the Online Teaching Program includes a wide array of supporting workshops. Find recordings, slides and other resources shared by workshop facilitators.
- 2020 TA Institute Resources: the TA Institute is a workshop series to support UBC’s community of teaching assistants. Find resources from the 2020 workshops, which focussed on supporting TAs navigate the transition to online teaching and learning.
