The semester may not have started yet, but there’s plenty you can do to prepare for your upcoming course. Here’s some things you may want to know and do before the first day.
Online Instructor Faculty Development
All new online faculty teaching for the College of IST are required to complete the online teaching course available from World Campus Faculty Development. Seasoned online faculty are encouraged to go through the program as well. It is quick, free, easy, and well worth your time.
Get to Know the Course
IST’s World Campus courses all have master course templates from which your section will be copied. This means you don’t have to put the content or assignments into the course yourself! If it’s your first time teaching the course, though, you’ll want to go through everything ahead of time to make sure you understand what’s being covered and how it all fits together. You should also look up the course materials on the teaching.ist.psu.edu site to get a more detailed look at what the course should cover.
It’s a good idea to meet with the course’s instructional designer and/or other instructors who know the course before the start of the semester. They will be able to explain how the course is supposed to run and get you access to a copy of the course to preview. If you’re not sure who the instructional designer for your course is, check out our Course Support page.
What Can I Change/Not Change?
We ask that instructors make very few, if any, changes to content the first time they teach a course. We do, however, welcome your feedback. If you spot mistakes or areas that could be improved, let your instructional designer know. Be aware that not all suggestions can be implemented in the course, but they will be considered by the instructional designer and course author.
After you’ve taught it once, you’ll have a better idea of how things work for you, but it is still important to preserve core components of the course to ensure consistency across sections and semesters. To ensure consistency, 80% of course content must remain unchanged from the master course template. Instructors may change up to 20% of the content, so long as all the course learning objectives established by the course committee are being satisfied. Please be sure to consult with your instructional designer regarding desired changes and additions.
Canvas Course Publishing and Instructor Introduction
Students can see the course materials after they are published in Canvas. If you have not published your IST WC course by the first day of class, then Learning Design will do that for you. To publish your course in Canvas, click on the Home page, then go to the upper right corner and click on Publish. Students can decide to drop the course during the first week of class. During the first few days, students have the opportunity to assess the course workload in case they have reservations about being able to complete the work. We ask that instructors send out a welcome announcement as soon as possible. This can be written in advance and scheduled via the Announcement tool.
Talk to Your Instructional Designer
Instructional designers are familiar with your course and the steps you should take to successfully teach it. If you have a question and you’re not sure who to ask, your instructional designer can probably point you in the right direction. Contact them at LD@ist.psu.edu.