Resources for Online Courses
To help with the preparation of online courses, the AustMS Standing Committee on Mathematics Education has compiled a list of resources useful in preparing online courses. These links include critique of some software that may make it easier for you to prepare material, as well as some practical strategies for planning and running your course, including ideas for assessment, learning activities, and other aspects of online instruction.
We hope that these give you some ideas and reduced some of the burden of preparing this material. If you have additions sites or resources you have found useful please let us know via dmd@maths.uq.edu.au and we will include them.
Pedagogy and a General Framework for Online Learning
American Mathematical Society: Teaching Mathematics Online
This AMS site is a treasure trove of resources. It focusses on “the best” practical strategies and resources for the planning and execution of online courses, with information on assessment, learning activities, and other aspects of online instruction.
State University of New York: Training for online teaching
Recommend by the AMS as a free, self-paced comprehensive training on teaching online.
TEQSA has collated a large number of resources to assist with the production of online courses and associated material, covering a range of topics from getting started to reviewing the student experience, as well as assessment integrity.
General Framework for Online Courses
Stanford Online Resources for Learning During COVID-19
A PDF that provides a guide to how to move in-person courses online. It includes discussions of the benefits of online learning, providing a series of critical steps that facilitate planning, developing, and delivering an online course.
This article by D Quinn, A Albrecht, B Webby and K White contains discipline-specific advice on the development of an online course and includes discussions of online of environments and infrastructure, as well as the importance of staff training. The article advocates targeted action research, investigating a broader range of information and analytics canvassed from academics, students and sessional and administrative staff.
Blog: Addressing in part teaching, learning, and technology
Talbert presents his ideas on "teaching, learning, technology, and faculty work" through a series of short articles. In the first article Talbert remarks that given the initial urgency of transitioning all courses to online delivery, it was necessary to "Keep it as simple as humanly possible and Aim for adequacy, not excellence." However, as we plan for second semester he strongly urges that we "aim for excellence, not adequacy". He advocates starting with the development of a general framework and guidelines, as well as the training of staff. In the second article, Talbert emphasises the need to set clear, measurable learning objective and discusses how to achieve this. In the third article he discusses how to ensure that course assessments and grading systems are aligned with the learning objectives.
Useful Hardware and Software for Online Course Implementation
Transitioning urgently to online classes
A recording of AustMS National Teaching Seminar from Robert Maillardet providing a discussion of useful tools, infrastructure and training for the implementation of online course delivery.
Robert Maillardet & others at Maths & Stats, MelbUni have created an online teaching community in the Canvas LMS to support lecturers and tutors. This resource provides documentation, training videos, a discussion board, recommended hardware & software, and more. While some of it is MelbUni-specific, a lot is generic. You may request access to this material by emailing Robert Maillardet via rjmail@unimelb.edu.au.
iPad pro + Apple pencil + 1 mathematics teacher = ?
A discussion of iPad and associated software by Eddie Woo, including "pros and cons" of the various tools.
Simple to use iPad recordings app, where you open a canvas, write or type and record voice over, with the final product easily exported. Vittle is a straightforward platform avoiding the complications of lots of other comparable apps. A free version, regular version for a small fee and professional version are available through the App Store. The regular version meets most needs but the professional version is needed for writing on imported PDFs and PowerPoint slides.
Explain EDU iPad recoding software
Explain EDU is a recording app that is good for annotating PDFs (including student assignments) which can be imported as separate pages, or even student assignments There is a stand-alone version for a small fee or a subscription version that has cloud storage and live screen sharing. This app can be used for recording lectures, and can even include embedded videos.
Assessment for Online Courses
Online assessment and exams in mathematics & statistics
A. Morphett (MelbUni), M. Robertson-Dean (UNE) and K. Seaton (LatrobeUni) describe options for assessing written mathematics & statistics tasks in a remote learning environment, with particular emphasis on end-of-semester exams. Included are discussions of the pros and cons for some assessment options and a discussion of integrity issues and the associated ethics. “Zoom supervision” of open-book exams, remote proctoring, and the Gradescope system for submission and marking of exams were also discussed.
Gradescope’s platform provides a means for the grading of paper-based assignments and final exams online. This seminar is presented by Gradescope Director Olga Stadie and provides a practical introduction to this software.
Taylor Institute: Alternative online Assessment
List a range of possibilities for alternatives for online student assessment, such as presentations, student-created videos, and online discussions.
