Teaching on a Condensed Schedule
Condensed scheduling may be the easiest type of distance learning for you, as the instructor, to implement.
If you teach a class on a condensed schedule, you will teach your students face-to-face in a classroom. The
only difference will be that your course will have fewer (but longer) class meetings. You will still need
to make adjustments to your lesson plans to make those longer meetings work.
Assignments
In your traditional classes, you may be used to lecturing for most of the class period, then stopping for
questions or a discussion before assigning homework and dismissing class. This tried-and-true format works
well for 50 minute or hour-long classes. With a longer class, you may want to change the format. Even the
best students will have difficulty absorbing all the information in a three hour lecture, much less sitting
still for three hours. Rather than waiting until the end of class to give an assignment, break up the time
by lecturing on one topic, discussing that topic, and giving students time to complete a small assignment
before starting the cycle over again with your next topic. At the end of class, you can assign homework
that draws on all the topics covered that day.
Breaks
Both you and your students will want a break after the first few hours in the classroom. You can schedule
a 10-15 minute break half way through the class meeting. Or you can break up the time by switching
activities every 30-60 minutes. You could go from a lecture to question and answer to a small group
discussion to a short assignment to lab work. In this way, your students do not get tired of
sitting still for too long and you do not lose class time to breaks. If you choose the second option, make
sure your students understand that they can leave for a brief restroom/water break as necessary.
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