Tips for Teaching in the Distance Learning Environment:

Interaction with students at distance site
Refrain from calling them by the site, ("Hello Firelands"). Calling each student by their creates an atmosphere of open discussion, which can be lost when utilizing this technology. When you walk into the classroom, put your mic on right away. The chatter and small talk shared with students at the local site should not exclude the students at the distance site just because they are physically in the in the same room.

Preparing materials for class
Keep in mind that students at the distance site will be viewing you on a TV monitor or a large screen projector. When using PowerPoint or overheads, use a font size of at least 24 points and try to stick with sans-serif fonts, such as arial or helvetica. No chalkboard are availalbe in these classrooms, we use a variation of the overhead projector called an Elmo, (copystand, or document camera) as your blackboard. Plain paper in the landscape page format (11 x 8.5) is used instead of transparencies.

Handouts, tests, exams
You must plan ahead for handouts, test, exams, or other reading material for the students at the distance site. If you are teaching to Firelands, there is a campus courier between Firelands and main campus that runs a number of times through out the week. If a test is planned for a Tuesday, be sure it is ready for the courier the Thursday before.

Some Distance Learning sites have a fax machine for last minute handouts, however not all sites have a fax machine. If there is a graduate student or proctor that travels to the remote site as part of the class, he or she can courier assignments. A Blackboard site is great for distributing handouts or for making notes available after lecture. Also, sending email, listproc, or attachments to students or remote site coordinator can help with distribution.

The courier and email attachments can be used for students to turn in assignments and return graded assignments back to the students (Microsoft Word has a function that allows you toadd comments electronically to a students paper).

Do not pass back tests or papers to one site and not the other. It is not fair for one site to get grades back while the other does not.

Attire
Because cameras and lighting can affect your appearance, keep these tips in mind. Stick with solid color clothes; complex patterns can hinder the video transfer in compressed video. We use wireless microphones, having a button down shirt or a shirt or jacket with lapels, or a tie will make it easy to attach a mic to your clothing.

Visits to remote campuses
We suggest that you visit the remote site. Meeting with these students and seeing their view, can be very helpful. This visit will give you a better understanding of their view of your teaching and a chance for you to meet your Distance Learning students one-on-one. Perhaps teaching from the remote site will give your students at the local site a different perspective as well.