In light of the coronavirus outbreak, many seminaries, colleges, and universities have decided to switch from in-person classes to online instruction.

Unless a school is already offering the majority of its courses online, this move will be challenging for faculty, administrators, support staff — and of course students.

Here are some online resources that may be helpful:

1. Prepare to Move Online (in a Hurry). Six tips for making a smooth transition to an online environment from tech expert Nathan Greeno, senior vice president of 2U Inc., a company that helps institutions of higher education thrive in the digital age. 
2. Moving a Face-to-Face Course Online without Losing Student Engagement. An article from Faculty Focus, a higher ed teaching strategy publication. Instructional designers from Penn State World Campus offer advice and lessons about how to move a course online.
3. Online Teaching, Online Learning. A blog series from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning offers practical posts such as Communicating with Students Online, Reading and Viewing Assignments for Online Learning, and Interacting with Online Students: Nuts and Bolts. The Center’s website also offers an extensive listing of resources, one of which is a database of nearly 1,000 syllabi.
4. Training Faculty for Online and Blended Learning. This article in the Summer 2019 issue of In Trust magazine describes how Gateway Seminary prepares its faculty to teach online and includes an excerpt from Gateway’s list of best practices for blended learning, plus a link to the full document.
5. The Association of Theological Schools (ATS) list of Accredited Schools Offering Six or More Courses Online. You may find a peer institution you can contact for advice and encouragement. Each listing is linked to the school’s website.
6. Online Learning at ATS Schools, Part 1 and Part 2. In 2017, Tom Tanner wrote two articles for Colloquy, the ATS online magazine, on the history and then-current state of online teaching in theological schools. Some of his statements are surprising — for example, that online students rate their enthusiasm for learning and the strength of their spiritual life higher than face-to-face learners do.

Do you know of any other resources that should be added to this list? Send them to resources@intrust.org and we will update this blog post from time to time during the next few weeks.