The physical distancing constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic have caused teaching and learning at all levels and in all countries to be reshaped. At Washington University, we will be teaching in variety of new ways in the Fall 2020 semester. This will require instructors to rethink how they teach their courses, incorporating aspects of online learning, and will likely require training in a few different areas. There are many factors that will determine how courses will be taught this fall, including class size, course content and goals, and classroom size and technology.

This set of web pages is designed to help instructors and direct them to the resources they will need in order to have a successful semester in Fall 2020.

Get Ready to Teach Remotely

If you are an instructor, there are some important steps that you will need to take to prepare yourself for teaching in the Fall of 2020. These steps will be detailed in the subsequent pages:

  • Determine the mode of teaching of your class.
  • If you are not teaching fully online, make sure that your course has a fully online plan in case of a campus shut-down resulting from a surge in the pandemic.
  • If your class has an in-class component, be aware of the classroom you are teaching in and know the educational technologies of the classroom.
  • Become familiar with Canvas and make sure you build a course presence within it.
  • Obtain any training you need concerning Canvas, teaching online classes, teaching a combination of in-class and online classes (hybrid), or teaching in-class with an online presence (hyflex).
  • Reevaluate and redesign your course, update your syllabus accordingly, and post it on Canvas.
  • Reevaluate your modes of assessing students; some forms of assessment work better than other. Try to avoid high-stakes closed-book exams wherever possible.
  • Before the semester starts, contact your students via Canvas and/or WebFAC to let them know the details of how teaching and learning will occur in your course.
  • Continue to communicate with students through Canvas and/or WebFAC throughout the semester, particularly if the parameters of your course change. This should include holding online office hours.

The university is tracking COVID-19. Get updates at coronavirus.wustl.edu.