Learning how to structure a virtual class

Fancy online tools won’t take you far without a solid foundation

My online lecture on Creativity, Innovation, and Critical Thinking has more than 90 students enrolled this semester. Even before COVID-19, I was constantly searching for new ways to keep the class experiential for such a large group of students.

When the university announced last year that the course would be online, I had to revise my way of teaching from the ground up. I started by looking at how online classes on sites like Coursera and Udemy are structured. The common format was to alternate pre-recorded videos and follow-up activities, with some live events thrown into the mix.

Using this structure for my class worked out decently the first year, but it still felt like there was a lack of cohesion. The students showed a lot of engagement on the forums, but they seemed to crave something more. It was common for them to hang around after class, clearly craving the campus atmosphere they had been deprived of due to the pandemic.

When I decided to revise the course this year, I knew I wanted to make the structure more collaborative. This time around, I turned to online video games for inspiration. After all, they’re social, digital, interactive, and engaging. Unfortunately, they also tend…