Online teaching takes on four primary modalities:

• Asynchronous online teaching
• Synchronous online teaching
• Self-paced online teaching
• Hybrid teaching

Asynchronous courses are those that take place within a set time frame (typically the length of a semester, or a winter/summer session) but where students are not expected to all participate in the course at the same time. Asynchronous courses have assignments with defined due-dates, students receive timely feedback on their work, and there are opportunities for students to interact with each other regularly through the course. In these courses, instructors regularly communicate with students. 

Synchronous courses are taught according to the same class block schedule as face-to-face courses, but all class sessions are taught remotely (at UD almost exclusively using zoom). Students may complete out-of-class work just as they would for a face-to-face class, and are expected to log on to all synchronous meetings as part of their course experience.

Self-paced courses allow a student to begin and end a learning experience at any time. There is no fixed timeline for completing work or receiving feedback, and students may work through course materials as fast or as slow as they would like. Self-paced courses rarely have opportunities for students to engage with each other, and often have minimal to no instructor engagement. 

Hybrid courses can come in many varieties– they are simply a combination of any two or more modalities of instruction. One common model is the 3+1 model, where students have 3 days of in-person instruction and 1 “contact hour” worth of work to complete asynchronously. These models give students and faculty more scheduling flexibility than a purely face-to-face course without losing opportunities for students to regularly complete work and get feedback on that work. 

This resource page collects all of CTAL’s current materials related to online teaching. 

Spot On

https://ctal.udel.edu/resources-2/spot-on/

A self-paced Canvas course designed to help you design a successful asynchronous learning environment for your students. 

Discussion Boards

https://ctal.udel.edu/resources-2/discussion-boards/

Suggested practices to make discussion boards more engaging for students.

Alternative Assessment

https://ctal.udel.edu/resources-2/alternative-assessment/ 

Some instructors who convert an in-person course to an online course prefer to move away from exams as their major assessment. This resource outlines that decision making process, and provides resources to do this redesign yourself. 

Instructor Presence

https://ctal.udel.edu/resources-2/instructor-presence/ 

Creating a rapport with your students is an important part of a successful online course design, and you can create opportunity for your students to get to know you even in an asynchronous course.