Make your course resilient by selecting teaching tools and strategies that match your planned methods and activities. Learn how to select the right technologies (high and low tech options) that will meet your lessons' objectives and ensure that students are knowledgeable and prepared to succeed.

1. Weatherproofing your Course
Background Photo by Michael Browning on Unsplash

2. What we'll cover
• Making your course "resilient."
• Selecting tools and strategies that match your
planned methods and activities
• Ensuring (in advance) that everyone is
knowledgeable about and prepared to use the
tools
• Selecting technologies that will meet your
lessons' objectives.
• Planning "just-in-case" activities.

3. Resilience Checklist
• Syllabus contains expectations and instructions
in case of class cancellations.
• Establish how you will inform students and
provide instructions in case of disruption
• Establish methods for access to course
materials, collecting assignments, and
communicating grades and feedback if your
class is not able to meet face-to-face.

4. Resilience Checklist
• Identify technologies that you will use in your
course
• Can students access these from home?
• What if they lose connectivity?
• Ensure that you and your students practice
using any tools that you will use when face-to-face
class meetings cannot be held.
• e.g. if you're using Zoom, connect to a meeting in class in
advance so everyone can test it out and ask questions!

5. Resilience Checklist
• Plan strategies to modify different types of activities to
meet the same objectives if your class is unable to meet
face-to-face.
• e.g. if you had a discussion planned, move the discussion to
a Moodle forum
• Identify and plan one or more "just in case" activities or
assignments that you can use if a face-to-face class
meeting is cancelled on short notice and planned
activities cannot be modified.
• e.g. record a video and ask for a video reply from each
student

6. Need ideas for
activities?
Click the
snowflake!

7. Tools and Technologies
Low(er) Tech options include:
• Pre-assembled handouts, notes, worksheets, or other paper
instructions for learning activities, i.e. "Blizzard Bags" issued
to the student in advance of a weather event
• Telephone (conference call or 1-to-1)
Higher tech options include:
• Moodle forums
• Videoconferencing (using Zoom within Moodle)
• Shared OneDrive documents
• Screen capture or video (Kaltura)

8. Technology
Matrix
Click the snowflake
to choose a tool!

9. Designing a Just-in-Case
Lesson Plan
A just-in-case lesson is a lesson that you prepare ahead of time to be
used in place of the regularly planned course activities in case of
emergency, such as an unexpected cancellation of a face-to-face class
meeting
Checklist for Just-in-Case Activities:
• The learning activity meets at least one course learning objective
• The activity is “evergreen”
• The activity could fit almost anywhere in the semester
• The activity includes a large out-of-class component
• The activity is not dependent on face-to-face interaction • Could it be used for multiple classes?
• Skill-based?
• Engaging?
• Straightforward to complete
(minimizing confusion and frustration)?

10. Designing a Just-in-Case
Lesson Plan
• Select a content or skill area that is relevant to the
course and supports course learning objectives, but
is not tied to a particular point in the sequence of
the course. (See examples of “Non-content” on
next slide)
• Identify a learning objective for the activity that is
aligned with one or more course objectives.
• Plan a self-contained activity or activities that
meets the learning objective and supports students
in developing skills in the selected area.

11. Examples of
“Non-content”
Content Areas
• Communication skills
• Rhetorical skills: an ability to persuade others
• Collaborative skills: an ability to work with others
• Technological skills
• Graphic skills: tables, graphs, etc.
• Mathematical/statistical skills
• Research skills: abilities to read about and understand (and
maybe conduct) particular kinds of research (surveys,
ethnographies, textual analysis)
• Analytical skills: abilities to analyze certain kinds of
documents and/or situations (medical, nutritional,
psychological diagnoses; historical analyses)
• Critical thinking skills: ability to think independently and
maturely
• Problem-solving skills
• Cognitive skills: meta-cognition, reflection, self-reflection,
self-motivation
• Creativity: inventiveness
• Professional dispositions
• Ethical skills
• Team-building Skills
• Information literacy

12. Need help?
Contact helpdesk@plymouth.edu
603-535-2929