Teaching Online

First Time Teaching Online

Before teaching in the UNH online programs, it is required that instructors complete the Fundamentals of Online Instruction (FOI), a three-module online course offered by the Instructional Design and Development team at UNH Academic Technology. The course is designed to introduce faculty to the best practices of designing and teaching online courses. FOI is strongly recommended for faculty who teaches other online courses at UNH.  Check the Professional Development Opportunities  to learn more about FOI course.

myCourses by Canvas is the Learning Management System (LMS) used at UNH. Get started with an introductory session or schedule some time with a myCourses trainer by calling 603-862-4242 or refer to the Academic Technology Training calendar to find a time works for you.

Course Design and Development

Developing an online course is time-consuming especially when you are new to the process.  We recommend that you work with your Instructional Designer to complete the Online Course Syllabus and Online Course Workbook.  The Online Course Workbook helps you outline the learning objectives, course materials, and assessments. The following Online Course Development Timeline helps you plan your course development so that your online course is ready for delivery on time.

Online Course Development Timeline
Week 1
  1. Make initial contact with an Instructional Designer.
  2. Confirm course shell in myCourses. 
Week 2-3

Schedule first meeting with your Instructional Designer to complete the following items:

  1. Online Course Syllabus.
  2. Learning Objectives for each module.
  3. Use the Online Course Workbook to design module content – plan the reading materials, videos, activities and assessments for each module before the actual course development. We also provided an example workbook for your reference.
Week 4-12

Course Development Phrase:

  1. Chunk content.
  2. Create Welcome video and Icebreaker forum.
  3. Create lesson content.
  4. Build weekly interactions.
  5. Create assignments.
  6. Develop assessments.
  7. Develop grading scheme and supporting rubrics.
Week 13

Work with your Instructional Designer to review your course. Finalize the content before course starts. Online courses are automatically published TWO weeks before the semester starts!

Important Notes

How many hours will it take to design and develop an online course? It depends. For example, the preparation and production time for a 15-minute video includes planning, rehearsing, recording and some editing so actual time needed for this 15-minute video will be anything from 1 hour to several hours. Transferring a face-to-face course into an online course is not simply uploading videos in your online course. Typically, lecture time is reduced in favor of other active learning strategies. Video lectures tend to be short, and focused on singular concepts. It takes hours or even days to chunk the content into modules, plan for assessment activities and rubrics before you start developing the course content. Working with an Instructional Designer will save time in the long run. 

 To ensure success, we encourage faculty to make an initial contact with IDD at least four months before the online course starts.

Quality Assurance Consultation and Course Reviews

Work with an Instructional Designer for help ensuring that your course aligns with best practices and accessibility standards. Instructional Designers can thoroughly review your course and consult with you on a revision plan. Our Instructional Designers are all certified online course reviewers.

Help Available for Online Course Development

In addition to the IDD team, there are other resources available at The University of New Hampshire to help you with online course development:

  • Academic Technology Training: schedule an one-on-one training with our LMS trainer or attend a training session that fits your schedule.
  • Media and Collaboration: to incorporate rich media or use synchronous web classroom tools in your online course, you can contact Media and Collaboration for help.
  • myCourses Support and Technical Help for Instructors: technical support is available three ways:

    • Online Support is available through the ‘Help’ link in the bottom left corner of myCourses. From this menu, instructors are provided with the following three options:

      • Search the Canvas Guides: This links you to the guides provided by Canvas which include step by step instructions and videos on how to use the system. These guides are very thorough and easy to search and it is always recommended you look here before contacting support.

      • Chat with Canvas Support: The chat function is also available 24/7 and allows for real-time assistance with myCourses questions or issues. This is the recommended method to request assistance within myCourses.

      • UNH IT Knowledge Base: This links to UNH help documentation specific to myCourses, as well as, support documentation from other academic departments.

    • Phone Support is available by calling the UNH IT Service Desk at 603-862-4242.  After hours calls can be routed to Canvas support staff.
    • In Person Support is available for instructors on the Durham campus at the ATSC on the main floor of Dimond Library.
  • UNH Libraries: UNH libraries provide journal articles, books and media that can be used in online courses.