Online Teaching & Learning Manifesto

 Soon, I’ll teach a graduate course centered around teaching and learning online. In my roles as an adjunct instructor in higher education and the Director of Distance Learning for a community college, I live and breathe this modality. One of the assignments my students will be asked to do is to create an “Online Teaching and Learning Manifesto” in which they share their current beliefs. I love the reflective nature of this assignment and thought it was the right time to put mine on (digital) paper. In no particular order, here are some of the tenets that shape my beliefs and reflect how I teach graduate courses asynchronously and how I would like to be taught.

Design matters. From user experience (UX) to interaction design (IX/ID), every decision made by an online instructor is important- design is not neutral. Many students (and instructors) have bitter memories of in-person courses being moved online during 2020’s Emergency Remote Learning. Taking an in-person course and moving it online with no change to design or pedagogy is a disservice to the modality and to the students. Online courses should be constructed to help students easily navigate the interface while interacting with classmates, content, and the instructor. Resources and contents should be accessible and easy to locate. An old design adage is that important information should never be more than 3 clicks away. Design matters.

Content knowledge matters. Good teachers never stop learning and are open to learning alongside their students. Using materials that are current and relevant helps students stay engaged and connect course concepts to real-world experiences. I keep a living document throughout the year that contains links, articles, and ideas to implement each time I teach. Updating content, checking links, and being mindful of accessibility every time a course runs should be the norm for all teachers. 

Passion matters. Each semester, I give an anonymous survey to my students asking for feedback on design, pedagogy, and content. Regularly, I receive comments about how well the course is designed and how my passion for technology in education comes through. These are asynchronous courses- yet my passion for my subject matter still comes through to my students. Having a sense of curiosity and wonder, along with continuous learning on my own and with my students, helps them feel connected to the content. Some begin to develop passions of their own.

Multimodal content is important. We live in a world where snackable content and short attention spans are the norm. This isn’t a judgment or an excuse; it’s our reality. To meet our students where they are (and how they learn), we need to provide content that is tactile, visual, auditory, and more. In 2025, this isn’t difficult to do, and we owe it to our students to meet them where they are, not where we are.

Building community is important. I am a strong believer in Participant Pedagogy. I am not the ‘keeper of all knowledge’ for my students. I want to learn with them and from them! I help my students take ownership of their learning by providing a safe space for them to share ideas, express wonderings, and connect with classmates, all while adding their own personal touch. My students blog instead of using our LMS discussion platform. Expressing themselves and responding to classmates in this format makes them feel more connected to each other, as if they are having casual conversations instead of meeting a course requirement.

Communication also builds community. I tell my students to call me 'Nicole' and correct them when they call me something more formal. I communicate reminders and exemplars through weekly, predictable email recaps. I record module overview videos to alert students to our topic, how much time I think it will take, and what I'm looking for. I respond quickly- usually within hours- to student emails. These acts show I care about my students and am here to support their learning- not test there ability to find a Zoom link in my syllabus.

Learner agency is important. In education, there is no such thing as ‘one size fits all!’ This is another reason why multimodal content is so important. Students not only learn in complex, individual ways but should have the ability to demonstrate this learning through multiple avenues. I offer choice in assignments and allow students to tailor work to fit their current or intended career paths.

This isn’t a complete list of my beliefs, and I didn’t arrive here overnight. Throughout my time in education, I’ve had to learn to move away from being the ‘center of attention’ in my courses and acting more in the interest of policy than in individuals. I’m continuing to practice showing more grace and assuming positive intent. 

I’m still a work in progress- and I always hope to be.

P.S. I inserted my manifesto into NotebookLM and asked it to generate two infographics based on my writing. The results are below!

Post Script.

My course is underway, and my students have drafted their manifestos. There was such wonderful insight that I took their beliefs, categorized them, and placed the document in NotebookLM. I asked the program to generate two infographics to visually represent our online class manifesto. See the final products below.