For the most up to date guidance, visit Preparing to Teach in Fall 2021.
The guidance on this page is designed to help Lehigh faculty and instructional staff prepare for fall 2020. It was developed by the CITL in close collaboration with college deans' offices, faculty representatives on the Senate Working Group on Online Learning and Online Curriculum, the Academic Planning Task Force, and the Provost's office.
Course development for fall 2020
All Lehigh instructors are advised to begin planning for fall 2020 with the following assumptions in mind:
- While some students and instructors will be able to meet together in a physical classroom, others will not.
- Over the semester, individual instructors or students might shift from the ‘able to meet in a physical classroom’ group to the ‘not able to do so’ group or vice-versa.
- A significant increase in COVID-19 cases on campus or in the local community would lead to mid-semester changes to how much in-classroom instruction we can do.
- Given social distancing requirements, we will not be able to use our classrooms at their normal capacity.
- Each in-person group gathering increases individual and shared risk.
These assumptions informed the commitment we made to our students in President Simon's June 10th announcement:
The majority of our fall curriculum will be offered in a way that works both for those who are on campus and also for those who are unable to be present in our classrooms. [...] Whatever the mode of delivery, we will not compromise the high-quality education for which Lehigh is rightly known, and we will ensure students who need or want to learn remotely can participate fully in the Lehigh experience and make uninterrupted progress toward their degrees.
And the June guidance from the Provost :
[F]aculty should plan to have their fall courses accessible to remote students throughout the semester. This will accommodate students who cannot attend class in a live setting, as well as faculty who may also not be able to teach in-person for health or personal reasons.
The modifications made to Lehigh's plans in early August do not change these assumptions or commitments.
Given all these factors, Lehigh faculty are adopting the following blended instructional framework:
- All courses will have a robust asynchronous online aspect--including online lecture videos, learning activities, assessments, and forms of feedback--that will serve as the backbone of your course, independently of whether your synchronous instruction takes place in-classroom or online. "Asynchronous" means you are not necessarily online at the same time as your students; instead, you create online course sessions that the students complete during a specified time period, usually within a 24-48 hour window.
- All courses will have interactive synchronous class meetings that build on the work your students did in the asynchronous part and--depending on who is able to physically be in the classroom and which classrooms are available--will take one of the following forms:
- All Zoom
- All In-Classroom
- Some combination of In-Classroom/On-Zoom, where the frequency and type of each class meeting is determined by student availability, classroom capacity, and instructor preference.
- When opting for in-person class meetings, do so only for high-impact learning experiences that truly depend on people being physically together.
The frequency, duration, and relative weight given to each of these elements will be determined by instructors (your answer will depend on your pedagogical preferences, course type, course learning outcomes, etc.), in consultation with department chairs (who will need to develop a range of course offerings knowing that not all instruction can be online and not all instruction can be in-classroom.)
Once this is all determined, there will be three basic course types offered in the fall:
1. Hybrid (open to both On-campus and Remote Students)
Description: The class meets in-classroom at least once a week during its regularly scheduled synchronous class meeting time. This in-classroom instruction is supplemented by significant asynchronous online instruction. For these courses, an equivalent option must be available for remote students--that equivalent option could be either a second section of the course that is taught fully online, a similar course that would enable remote students to progress toward their degree, or an approach that uses an in-classroom hyflex approach (when the synchronous element of instruction is simultaneously in-person and remote). If you are considering a hyflex approach know that this approach can work, but it comes with challenges: We have a limited number of rooms that can accommodate this approach; it can be difficult for faculty, especially in larger classes, as it requires dividing attention between students who are in front of you and students who are remote; and, if not done well, remote student can have a poor experience. If you are interested in learning more about this approach, please review this guidance document and indicate your interest when you are asked by the Registrar or your chair for your instructional preferences for fall. We have a very limited number of rooms capable of supporting hyflex teaching so this cannot be the primary option we use for in-classroom instruction with a remote option.
Some Hybrid classes might not meet in-person for every class meeting. Example: The class has 30 students (=20 on-campus + 10 remote), and is assigned to a room that can seat 12. The instructor creates three groups that meet synchronously every third class period, where every third meeting is with the remote students.
2. On-Campus Only (open only to On-campus Students)
Description: Some courses will be conducted only on-campus. These courses will have at least one on-campus class meeting each week.
For some of these courses, if the class enrollment is larger than the room can accommodate, some class meetings may need to be conducted synchronously online, even though the course is designated as "In-person." Such In-person courses have been designated by the Registrar as "blended"-- a somewhat different meaning than the one used on these pages. For guidance on teaching these courses, please review this guidance document.
3. Fully Remote (open to both On-campus and Remote Students)
Description: All instruction is online, using a combination of asynchronous and synchronous learning approaches. Students can expect a combination of asynchronous online coursework and fully online synchronous meetings. Some remote courses will have designated meeting times for synchronous class meetings; other remote courses will not. No fully remote course will have required on-campus meetings. Note: All courses with more than 50 students will be fully remote in Fall 2020.
In addition, some Fully Remote classes may offer occasional In-person meetings, at the instructor's discretion. In such situations, the majority of teaching and learning is asynchronous online and synchronous online, as described above; however, the instructor may, if they are able to find a suitable location, arrange intermittent on-campus meetings with on-campus students in small groups.
Start by reviewing each of the following sections of the Guidance for Teaching in Fall 2020guidance page for Lehigh instructors.
- Adopt a framework for your course
- Use Course Site as your core online learning platform [video]
- Communicate and connect with students
- Post course materials
- Deliver lectures [video]
- Interact with students through online course activities [video]
- Assess student learning online [video]
In Spring and Summer 2020, CITL offered a series of workshops via Zoom for Lehigh instructors that reviewed the key ideas presented on the pages linked above.
- Familiarize yourself with the range of resources in the LTS Teaching and Learning Searchable Knowledge Base. Again, you may not need them now, but by doing this, you will know where to find them as you progress in your work. The Knowledge Base is searchable so if a question comes up you can return to search for solutions.
- Read the Report and Recommendations from the Faculty Working group on Online Teaching and Online Curriculum
- Use the resources above to continue work designing and developing your courses, setting up your Course Sites, designing and recording course lecture videos, creating engaging online course activities, and planning assignments.
- CITL will help create workshops and faculty learning communities to share ideas and address ongoing challenges.
- Instructors are encouraged to review, as needed, the Guidance for Teaching in Fall 2020 guidance page for Lehigh instructors, revisit the Teaching and Learning Searchable Knowledge Base, submit LTS Help Desk tickets, and attend additional CITL workshops, as needed.
- Instructors are encouraged to engage in peer-to-peer partnerships to discuss course materials and get feedback on lecture recordings, assignments, and strategies for engaging students.
- Use this checklist for a self-guided review of your online or blended course before launch.
- In week four of the semester, the university will organize a centralized early-semester feedback survey to help instructors make informed mid-course corrections, if necessary. Instructors may wish to conduct their own surveys to get more specific feedback from students (sample questions; sample Google form survey.)
- CITL will work with College Deans to offer guidance to department chairs on how to make early-course adjustments for instructors/courses that need additional support.
- Additional fall workshops will be scheduled based on need and interest and will prioritize giving targeted guidance to instructors who need additional, ongoing support.