Implementing Best Practices from the Mastering Online Teaching (MOT) Course to Enhance Student Engagement during COVID‐19 and Beyond

Abstract

COVID‐19 has and continues to impact every aspect of our lives. In particular, academic institutions have been and continue to be plagued with the uncertainty of how COVID‐19 will impact higher education. In the spring of 2020 all institutions were faced with the reality that remote learning would take place until the end of semester. During the fall semester of 2020 some institutions moved forward with face to face learning. However, they were quickly forced to return to remote learning as the case positivity rate increased. Higher education has offered online and distance education for decades. COVID‐19 has now forced all institutions to pivot and offer the majority if not all classes online in a distance learning environment. During this pivot my university instituted The Mastering Online Teaching Course (MOT). The main goal was to introduce instructors new to teaching hybrid or full online courses the basics and best practices for online teaching during the pandemic. The course was a four week self‐paced course that consisted of four learning modules. The objectives of the course were to 1) create a deconstructed syllabus, 2) incorporate backward design, alignment, and Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) principles into online course design and delivery, 3) develop an assessment strategy that includes formative assessment, peer feedback, and authentic summative assessment, 4) create a variety of assessments in the learning management system, 5) curate and develop accessible content, all of which aligns to learner‐centered outcomes and assessments, 6) add content to the learning management system and organize it so that everything is easy for students to navigate, 7) connect assessments to the gradebook, 8) implement strategies to foster a supportive online learning community and to 9) schedule announcements and set up intelligent agents to keep students organized, up‐to‐date, and on track. During the fall of 2020 several of the objectives from the MOT were incorporated into the Determinants of Health course. This is a required course for all public health majors. The main focus of the course is to describe the major biological and physiological processes that cause ill‐health, with special focus on inflammation, infection, degeneration, neoplasm, and metabolic dysfunction. In particular, a deconstructed syllabus was created and several assessments were developed for the course per the objectives of the MOT. Moreover, a TILT assignment was developed using the Health is a Human Right Exhibit. End of the semester evaluations revealed the incorporated strategies were well received by the students. In conclusion, these are best practice strategies that are being used in a post‐COVID‐19 teaching environment to ensure students remain engaging in a remote learning environment.