Planning Ahead

We Are Here For You

Not sure where to begin?  Watch this video created by Lauren Goodman, Dean of Teaching and Learning Innovation, about Adapting (Quickly) to Remote Teaching and Learning [Video – 14:09]:

Please carefully consider what might work for you and your students. We also are wiser in the collective than we are individually. Departments or divisions might want to do some collaborative planning. Faculty and staff in the Division of Teaching and Learning Innovation, as well as your Academic Deans will serve as resources for faculty planning for this kind of continuity of instruction.

Get Ready

Going online in this short period of time can feel overwhelming. You don’t have to replicate exactly what you had planned to do in the classroom using Moodle. In fact, it is impossible at this speed to make an exact (and perfect) replica of your class as it exists now. Thinking about what you really need students to know and how they can show it can make the transition easier.

Here are some ways to think about your course so that you get the most out of what online can offer in the short time you have to put things together.

  1. Take a look at your learning outcomes/course objectives.

  2. Determine which ones you have not yet had students encounter and meet.

  3. Examine those to determine which are the most critical to successful completion of your class.

    1. Are there ones that you would like to have students meet, but aren’t critical to understanding the most important parts of the course or success in subsequent sources? These can be skipped for now.
    2. Are there ones that you would normally do now, but are complicated and could be managed later?

  4. Take a look at the material you assign and assessments you currently use and drop anything that doesn’t directly lead to these. 

  5. Using  your list of the most critical outcomes, think about how students could demonstrate those outcomes. 

    1. Assessment:
      1. Could you have them do a problem set or assignment rather than a test? Here is a series of questions that you can ask yourself to figure out what you need to test and what can be managed in other ways. While there are ways to do proctored tests, regular proctoring services are overwhelmed right now. You can do a Zoom meeting that you proctor is one, but there you may be able to manage it with a timed Moodle quiz and a problem set.
      2. Could they come out of a forum discussion on a complex question they chew over as a group. You can break a larger class into smaller groups to do this.
      3. For things like definitions that you might test in a closed-book test, you could ask them to write the definition in their own words and come up with a unique example to explain it as an assignment.
    2. Getting Them Information:
      1. Can you replace some of your lecture materials with online resources? There are abundant lectures (some good, some really bad) available on YouTube. A quick Google for YouTube, course title, and course topic will let you know what is there.
      2. There are also lots of free written resources for basic information posted by other faculty. A quick search for course title, course topic, and site:edu (the site: is critical to restricting to educational sites).
      3. Does your textbook offer resources that students can access for free?
      4. Think carefully about how much synchronous time you need. This will be the hardest thing for students to access since it requires speakers and possibly microphones and video cameras. If you need synchronous time, can you do a very short meeting using video? Could you do it via online chat?

Remember through all of this that you aren’t trying to reach perfection. This process is complicated by many things, not the least of which is the speed with which you have to make this transition. So, allow yourself to focus on the critical aspects and do the best you can. Make sure you reach out to the team as well. We are more than happy to help you work through this process.

For assistance considering ways of modifying course content and assessments for alternate modes of delivery, contact Stacy Evans (sevans@berkshirecc.edu), Faculty Lead for the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, or Lauren Goodman (lgoodman@berkshirecc.edu), Dean of Teaching and Learning Innovation.

Use Moodle

Every course section has a Moodle course shell, and we recommend that all college-related information is transmitted via Moodle or official BCC email. The tools available in Moodle can be used for the following purposes:

  • taking attendance
  • synchronous communication (hosting a lecture in real-time)
  • asynchronous communication
  • sharing files (narrated PPTs, videos)
  • assessing student learning (quizzes, exams, essays)
  • security for assessments (plagiarism and academic honesty)
  • Click here for an overview of BCC’s Moodle pages

For self-service Moodle training, self-enroll in the Moodle Basics and Advanced Usage of Moodle training courses.

Visit the Faculty Moodle Lounge for a collection of BCC Moodle How-To’s and FAQ’s.

Faculty questions concerning Moodle can be addressed to moodlehelp@berkshirecc.edu. In the event of campus closure, this email will be continuously monitored and faculty can expect to receive a timely response to all inquiries.

Share a Syllabus Statement

A possible statement added to the course syllabus may include:

In the event of disruption of normal classroom or clinical activities due to inclement weather, health issues or other unexpected occurrences, the format for this course may be modified to enable completion of the course. In that event, you will be given an addendum to this syllabus that will supersede this version.