Organizing Your Course Prep Efforts

It's Course Prep season! If you're not familiar with Course Prep season, it's the time in between semesters that educators use to rest, recover and prepare for the upcoming semester. I know that many educators may have already begun their semester, but you can still course prep even if you've already started the semester. In this blog post, I'll share my process for prepping for the semester... the right way!

When I prep for the semester, I follow a 5 day process that has been very successful for me. Below, I outline the tasks I work on each day. In addition to this daily focus, I make use of several checklists and templates that make it easier for me to accomplish my tasks and not miss any steps. You can learn more about these checklists and templates below.

Day 1

One day 1, I focus on getting all the documents I will need. This includes information related to the course, course text, syllabus, etc. Tasks on this day also include making a plan for the week of course prep.

Day 2

One day 2, I focus on prepping my course Syllabus. This includes either creating the Syllabus from scratch or updating it accordingly. This can be quite time consuming but is very important. This is the one item that most students are anxious to receive so it should be a priority when prepping.

Day 3

One day 3, I focus on on-boarding and welcoming students. This revolves around creating a welcome message and a Welcome-Start Here Module in my Learning. Welcoming students is very important and should also be a priority when prepping for the upcoming semester.

Day 4

One day 4, I focus on laying out my course in my Learning Management System (LMS) in an organized way. Organizing your course is one of the ways you can help your students be successful and is important in the course prep process.

Day 5

One fifth and final day, I focus on enhancing my course activities using a formula that has helped me create engaging and innovative online activities. Keeping online students engaged is not always easy, but it's worth the time and effort that might be involved in preparing them.

I have packaged all the resources that I use in my Course Prep together in one resource called The Course Prep Toolkit. This Course Prep Toolkit was created specifically for online College Educators and is the only program of its kind that provides a step-by-step guide to preparing for your upcoming semester.

The Course Prep Toolkit is a 5 day implementation program that is designed to help you have the most productive semester ever including all the checklists and guides I have used to be successful semester after semester.

If you'd like to learn more about the comprehensive system I use to prep for my courses each semester, click here for more information on The Course Prep Toolkit!

What about you? Do you follow a system when your prep for the upcoming semester? Share your thoughts, experiences and ideas in The Online Educator Facebook Group