Lesson planning and learning design considerations

In the previous step we started to think about your immediate needs for moving to online teaching. We also know the internet is filling up with resources and platforms that you can use with your students. So how do you decide which ones to use? We’re going to guide you through.

Alongside your learner’s needs, consider these guiding questions to help shape your approach;

• What have you been mandated to do by your institution?

  If you have been advised to take your teaching online in a particular way, for example by video conferencing, then you’ll need to find resources on how best to run an online session.

• How much time do you have?

  If your classes need to go online starting next week, this will change your approach compared to having a couple of weeks to prepare materials ahead of time.

• What digital resources do you already have available to reuse?

  Your institution may already have recorded videos and text documents, or can you find Open Education Resources (OER) which have already been created on your topic?

• Does the teaching really have to be synchronous / live?

  Your first reaction might be to host live sessions with learners on web conferencing software, but instead could you head towards asynchronous, which can be more inclusive. Look to prerecord, share resources via your Learning Management System (LMS), a shared online folder or messaging platforms such as email or WhatsApp instead.

• Do any of your students have any accessibility or literacy issues?

  Some of your learners may have disabilities which will affect their ability to access and benefit from online resources. If students speak English as an Additional Language (EAL) they may need extra support.

• Why do you need to do this activity? Is it absolutely necessary to student learning?

  At times like these, you may find that some activities just aren’t crucial to student progress – swap them out.

Explore Learning Designer

A tool to reuse and create lesson plans / learning designs

As we progress through this course we’ll recommend you consider using Learning Designer from University College London (UCL). It requires you to register an account but it is a free and open platform to discover, design and share learning activities or entire lesson plans.

There are instructions on how to get started in the ‘See also’ link below. One of its strengths is you can copy and reuse other people’s designs and the language used is very teacher-friendly. Take a look and see if you can already reuse something by searching or browsing the existing designs under the ‘Browser’ tab.

We’ll all be adding to this over the course – reusing, remixing and creating. We’ll be sharing ours in a new category and under the #FLTeachOnline hashtag – a login is required.