Online teaching: an instructor’s guide for dealing with digital, diverse classrooms

What is this course about?

After completing the “Online teaching: an instructor’s guide for dealing with digital, diverse classrooms” produced by Kiron Open Higher Education in cooperation with TH Lübeck, you will be equipped with the necessary introductory skills to plan, prepare, and hold online courses with diverse groups, with an emphasis on live instruction. You will receive an introduction to the fundamentals of online teaching and challenges to e-learning from the perspective of blended learning professionals at Kiron Open Higher Education. Upon completion of the course, students will be awarded a certificate in online teaching as well as digital badges per unit.

What do you learn in this course?

After completing this course, you will be able to:

outline key concepts and basic definitions for teaching online
describe potential benefits and challenges in e-learning and teaching
develop strategies to deal with some of the barriers of online learning
apply strategies to actively engage students
be aware of some cultural prejudices
deal with a high amount of diversity in the classroom
deal with the most recent/popular educational technology
assess the possibilities that educational technology offers for learning.

How is the course structured?

Welcome and Organization (December 24^th, 2019)
Teaching Online (December 31^st, 2019)
Learning Online (January 7^th, 2020)
I don't judge, do I? (January 14^th, 2020)
Technology (January 21^st, 2020)

Who leads you through the course?

Sophia Burton

Sophia Burton is a migration, media, and online learning specialist based in Berlin, Germany. She is a Cofounder and Executive Board Member at Migration Matters e.V. where she produces educational videos on migration topics and currently leads the "Media and Migration in Europe" project at Mediendienst Integration. Previously, Sophia spent 2.5 years developing blended learning initiatives at Kiron Open Higher Education and worked as a research assistant at Migration Policy Institute. Sophia received a Masters in International Education Policy at Harvard University and a Bachelors in American Studies and German at University of Maryland.

Manuela Verduci

Manuela Verduci is a digital education and blended learning expert based in Berlin, Germany. She has 7+ years of experience in the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) sector, having started her career by helping build one of the biggest MOOC Platforms in Europe, providing more than 1 million students with access to higher education. While there, she was a consultant for European partner universities on digital strategy and supported them through conception and production of their MOOCs. She currently works as an instructional designer at Kiron Open Higher Education and as a lecturer at CODE University. Manuela holds a Masters degree in Philosophy from the University of Florence and Free University of Berlin.