Sometimes campus commitments, illness, or inclement weather prevent a class from meeting. This guide gives you an opportunity to consider meaningful alternatives that also meet your instructional needs.
At Manhattan University, courses and students are expected to remain in their assigned modality for the entire semester. Any change to the course format, even for one day, requires prior approval from the University Dean, your department chair, and/or Jasper Central. With approval, moving one class session online can help you maintain momentum without missing a beat.
Guiding Principles for Shifting to Online
You designed your course with the expectation of meeting a certain amount of time each week. Suddenly, you’re asked to shift a class to an online format for a session, and not much time to prep. That can feel tricky depending on the subject matter, and may call for a level of online planning you hadn’t considered when building the course. Take a step back and remember: this is just one session. Your goal here is to create new content for the course that would replace the in-person session that is being lost.
These quick tips will help you keep students engaged and on track without reinventing your course.
- Stick to your original learning outcomes: What did you want students to learn or do in this session? Start there.
- Deliver your main content in a new way: Use your original lesson plan to share the same content in a different way, with scaffolds and resources to address commonly asked questions. See the list below for specific ideas depending on your in-person activity type.
- Add measurable opportunities to engage: Assign students a collaborative way to share their own perspective and interact with the class. Include a clear measure of participation or completion to verify participation and provide timely feedback. This helps keep students accountable and moving forward, even without the regular live session.
- Use familiar tools: Moodle, Padlet, EdPuzzle, Google Docs, and Microsoft 365 are free, reliable options already available to you and your students. Sticking with these familiar platforms saves time by avoiding extra setup, though you’re welcome to explore additional tools. For more ideas, visit the Recommended Moodle Tools guide in the MU Knowledge Base.
- Encourage communication: Even without meeting at a scheduled time, students should know how to connect with you. Consider emailing your class by posting an announcement in Moodle and emailing your instructions, holding extra virtual office hours, or inviting students to schedule one-on-one meetings if they need additional support.
Synchronous Alternatives for Common Teaching Scenarios
Our recent article Strategies for Facilitating Engaging Online Synchronous Lectures shares ways to adapt your existing live teaching methods to a virtual classroom when class can’t meet as planned.
Want to run through an online synchronous session or try a new online activity in class? Feel free to reach out to us to brainstorm, test or try something new. We are here to support you.
Asynchronous Alternatives for Common Teaching Scenarios
Use this quick guide to translate your in-person or live class plan into an asynchronous format, without reinventing your content or spending countless hours creating content you may never use again.
Please remember, the shift to online should not be simply directing students to review their already assigned readings and assignments, you should create additional content for an asynchronous session.
Consider each asynchronous alternative below. These are designed to help you meet your learning objectives while keeping the session flexible and accessible for students.
If your plan was... try this instead.
Click on each > scenario below to explore alternative recommendations (asynchronous) for the activity that you originally had planned (synchronous).
Record a short video, post narrated PowerPoint slides, or assign a new targeted reading with guiding questions. Consider using a tool like EdPuzzle to add pauses or questions at key moments. This strategy can transform passive viewing into an interactive learning experience. Available as an activity type within Moodle, EdPuzzle lets you create engaging video assignments that encourage reflection, knowledge checks, and active participation.
Set up a discussion board with clear prompts, due dates and expectations for participation. If the discussion connects to an assigned reading, you might try uploading it as a shared document to Google or Microsoft to encourage collaboration. Available as an activity type within Moodle, consider utilizing Padlet so students can post ideas directly into the text, respond to each other, and build on the conversation asynchronously.
Assign team activities where groups collaborate asynchronously, then share their results. They might work together in a shared document, contribute to a Padlet board, create an infographic (in MS PowerPoint or using a free online tool like Canva) or record a video. Ask each group to share with the whole class, either in a discussion board or during the next live meeting (if applicable), so everyone can benefit from the activity.
Provide guiding prompts or a simple rubric for peer review so students can offer constructive and structured feedback on each other’s work. In Moodle, this can be set up as a peer-assessment activity. View our guide on balancing formative and summative assessments for strategies on how these group activities can serve as meaningful low-stakes practice that prepares students for larger graded assignments.
Turn the activity into a step-by-step roadmap that guides students through the same process they would have practiced in class. You can build it in Moodle using Quiz or Assignment tools, design it in Google Forms, or adapt it with other platforms. The possibilities are endless, with many free and creative edTech tools available to design digital escape rooms, branching scenarios, or puzzle-style challenges that reinforce problem-solving skills.
Post the case along with clear reflection or analysis questions. Ask students to submit individual responses, then add a layer of peer interaction by requiring replies, annotations, or comments on each other’s work. Tools like the Moodle Discussion Forum, the Workshop activity (for peer assessment) or Perusall (for collaborative reading and annotation) can make the exchange collaborative and give students the benefit of learning from multiple perspectives.
Set up a central space where students can post and revisit questions. For example, an FAQ thread in the Moodle Discussion Forum allows students to share non-confidential questions with the whole class. This not only reduces repeat emails but also encourages peer support. You can also offer optional virtual office hours for students who want a more personal follow-up. The goal is to make questions visible, support collaboration, and create a resource students can return to throughout the course.
The goal here is to keep questions visible, promote peer support, and build a resource students can return to throughout the course.
Think of the ideas above as a menu of possibilities, and choose the ones that best fit your learning objectives, comfort level with technology and teaching style.
Planning Checklist
Before finalizing plans for your one-time online session, confirm that it:
- Aligns with your original learning goal
- Takes approximately 60-90 minutes to complete
- Includes at least one measurable participation task
- Uses tools that are already familiar to students
- Has clear instructions and deadlines
Once you’ve finalized your plan, let students know right away. Use Moodle Announcements or email your course list so your students understand the change and know exactly what to expect. Clear planning and communication ensure that even an unexpected change becomes an opportunity to keep students engaged and on track.