Student Management While Teaching Remotely

Make a Semester Plan

Socially distanced teaching methods require more logistics and benefit greatly from advanced planning. Below are sample planning documents to help you identify strategies and a schedule for your upcoming classes. Use the version that will most closely match your class schedule:

Logistics: By Assignment or By Choice

Social distancing requirements mean fewer students can meet in a classroom or lab, so classroom and lab time may need to be rotated among class members. Some students may have to join remotely for an extended period. Determining who can meet on campus and when presents a logistical challenge.

Teachers may choose to assign students to attend in person on specific days or allow students to sign up for the day they will attend in advance. Either is acceptable.

Highly discouraged is a first-come, first-serve approach where students travel to the classroom before knowing if there will be room for them. 

Logistics: By Assign

Communicating Expectations

Do not make your students wait in uncertainty longer than needed. Once you've made your plan, communicate expectations for your course to students before the semester starts. You cannot use Canvas announcements to communicate with your students before the semester starts, so you will need to email your students outside of Canvas.

CIDI has provided a tool to help you email your students at their preferred email addresses from your email client.

  1. In your Canvas course, click on People.
  2. At the top of the page, click the Email All Students button.
    Buttons at the top of a Canvas course People page including Student Cards, email all students, and download class roster.
  3. Your email client will open with a new message and all of your students' email addresses will appear in the BCC field.
  4. Type your email and hit Send.

Alternatively, you can download your class roster and copy/paste email addresses into the BCC field of your email client. You can also use the downloaded list to email students individually using tools like Microsoft Word mail merge. 

Handling Exceptions

Flexibility is key to a positive learning experience in uncertain times. Make sure you have a plan for handling scheduling exceptions and meeting the needs of students who may need to quarantine or self-isolate at some point during the semester. Be careful not to stigmatize students who face these requirements.