L&S Readiness Criteria for Pandemic Remote Instruction

Below are five L&S criteria for distance-delivered instruction. Resources for each criterion are included.

edited 2021-01-19 for broader applicability to post-pandemic online and hybrid instruction.

Readiness Criteria

1. The amount of time a student spends learning (lectures, discussion, reading, assignments, studying, etc.) is parallel and equivalent to an in-person class of the same number of credit hours.

Online and hybrid instruction can be enriching and engaging. The credit hour definition helps ensure students receive a full educational experience without demanding more or less effort than is required.

Resources & Suggestions:

Consider sample language for syllabi from the office of the Provost.
Complete a credit hour worksheet to define a high-level course plan.
Practice compassion with course workload (Note: this resource was developed for COVID-19 remote teaching).

2. Students are supported in adapting to the structure, schedule expectations, and technologies used in the remote course.

Supporting students requires thorough communication with students about how their course is set up, what they have to do, and how the course is run administratively.

Resources & Suggestions:

Import and customize the course orientation template via Canvas Commons. Use these instructions for first-time access to Canvas Commons.
Complete a "Course rhythm" chart to define activity sequence and pacing.

3. The remote course is designed to include regular and substantive interaction between student/instructor and student/student.

Substantive interaction is engaging students in teaching, learning and assessment through at least two of the following: direct instruction, providing feedback on student work, providing information about course content, facilitating discussion of course content, or other substantive interaction. Regular interaction is predictable and scheduled interaction with students consistent with the course length (usually at least weekly but more often in a course of short duration). Regular and substantive student-instructor interaction, as defined by the US Department of Education (Within 34 C.F.R. §600.2), is always a requirement of UW-Madison for-credit learning activities. Find more information including examples of regular and substantive instruction.

Resources & Suggestions:

Define mechanisms for students to ask questions synchronously, asynchronously or both.
For classes with discussion sections, establish expectations and create venues for synchronous and/or asynchronous dialogue.
Make explicit in the syllabus how this course meets the regular and substantive student-instructor interaction requirement.
Create predictable and scheduled interactions with students.

4. Lectures and course materials are comparable and appropriately adapted for remote teaching.

UW-Madison courses offer content that is multi-faceted and varied. A simple list of readings or lecture slides, for example, with no interactions is not a fully-realized UW experience.

Resources & Suggestions:

Prepare strategies for development lectures and course materials.

5. Methods for remote assessment, grading, and feedback are planned and clearly outlined for students.

Resources & Suggestions:

Consider these strategies for distance assessment strategies that promote academic integrity