Teaching | 5 tips for teaching international affairs online

The Zoom classroom view we are now so familiar with (Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash)

On Monday, August 10, ISD hosted a webinar on teaching international affairs in the new reality of online instruction during the coronavirus pandemic. Eric Leonard, a political science professor at Shenandoah University who specializes in teaching international relations in online and hybrid formats, joined ISD director of programs and research, Kelly McFarland, for a webinar to provide his insights.

Eric shared his own experience learning to love online teaching, which has now been a component of all his classes for many years. He also provided numerous tips for instructors preparing for the new semester.

Here are his key takeaways for teaching online:

1. The first week is the most important: Use the entire first week of class to set expectations with your students. Take time to go through the syllabus, but also to outline what you expect from students about the way they will engage in the course. As a preliminary assignment for introductory classes, and with younger students, consider asking everyone to write down the steps they will need to take to succeed in an online setting.
2. Work backwards from your learning objectives: Think first about what outcomes you want from your students. The pedagogical literature refers to this as backward design. As part of this approach, try to create a learner-centred syllabus, which places the student and their needs at the core of the syllabus design. Use a course design review sheet to guide you and to evaluate your syllabus before you send it to students. As Eric explained, these techniques are not limited to online classes, but are best practice for all university-level teaching.
3. Build a community, and build it early: Provide the syllabus to your students as early as you can to make them feel comfortable about the new learning format. Check in with students personally before the class begins to build a relationship with them, and make sure you sustain contact with them through regular office hours and frequent email exchanges. Not only does this create a supportive learning environment, but it also models the kind of engagement you should expect from your students.
4. Assign guided questions to accompany case studies and other readings: In this time of isolated learning away from the classroom, students will need extra support to guide their reading. You may wish to assign the guided questions as a written exercise prior to the synchronous class period, or as part of a discussion board.
5. Use Google Docs to create discussion boards: Synchronous and asynchronous discussion boards allow students to engage with one another in writing, but in a more organic way than on a traditional discussion board. Google Docs offer instructors a way to increase engagement from the entire class. You can also use Zoom polls to increase student engagement in class, and assess learning as the course progresses. While these technological tools are not silver bullets — and it can be tempting to overuse them — they provide an innovative method to help overcome some of the challenges of socially-distanced learning.

All of ISD’s case studies contain guided discussion questions to help instructors get the most out of the library. Explore the library.

As the new semester unfolds, ISD staff will provide further advice on online international affairs teaching, as we all learn to embrace the new reality.

Watch the full webinar with Eric Leonard here. All of ISD’s teaching resources are available on our case studies website.

Check out the other blog posts in this series on our case studies and teaching page.