The best tools for teaching online don’t replicate the classroom experience

When we can’t teach in person, our first thought is often to try to replicate the classroom experience online. Our thoughts turn to synchronous video conferencing to replace classroom lectures. But if our definition of best contains the concepts of inclusivity and accessibility, then live videoconferencing is not the best option for us, or for our students. One of the undisputed advantages of online learning is the flexibility it affords all of us. It’s time to start shifting our thinking to take advantage of that flexibility so that we can create the best learning experience we can for our students, and take some pressure off ourselves as well. Please check out Videoconferencing Alternatives: How Low-Bandwidth Teaching Will Save Us All by Daniel Stanford of DePaul University’s CTL for some great insights on shifting our thinking, and “choosing the right tools for the right reasons.”