The Covid-19 outbreak has provided a unique opportunity for business schools to test their readiness for online teaching. In these dynamic times, a good online pedagogy provides much-needed flexibility to the students while not compromising on their skill development. This is why forward-looking global business schools have been using online mode for some time. Hence, it is no surprise that these institutions have intelligently invested in proprietary online engaged learning and virtual classroom technologies
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Given that virtual teaching is part of the blended learning offered by top institutions, the professors should be conscious that online teaching is not “panic teaching”. Like all other pedagogies, online sessions need to be carefully crafted. It should not be merely replicating face-to-face lectures in front of a webcam. The ultimate objective is that students get the same learning experience as they would in a conventional classroom. Here are some points that can help instructors during the online transition.

• Make an assessment of the technology that is available. This should be both for the instructors and the students. This is critical to design the activities for the class and would avoid bottlenecks later. As students will be joining from multiple locations, they may not have access to similar bandwidth. If that is the case, try limiting high definition content in the lecture. The schools that already have dedicated technologies in place have a clear advantage here.
• Explain the class agenda at the beginning of the session and highlight the learning objectives. Also, specify how the students would communicate and participate in the discussion. This is particularly important for large class sizes to ensure that students get an equal chance of participation. Some platforms offer break out rooms for discussions so consider that if your course necessitates a lot of class participation.
• Engaging students in an online session is very challenging. Hence, attempt to blend your session with multiple activities. Instead of only using slides, try bringing in videos, reflection activities, games, polls, simulations, etc. If this is a quantitative subject, think of using a whiteboard platform with a graphic tablet to demonstrate like you would in a normal classroom.
• Online teaching is an optimal way to promote peer learning. You can split students into virtual groups and stimulate students using Socratic questioning. This method requires designing questions in a way that would actively and engage students and lead them to a learning outcome. This creates a conducive environment that ensures students’ learnings compared to a conventional lecture where they are parroting content with less or no conceptual retention.
• The assessment of online courses is not similar to that of the conventional classroom. Therefore, instructors need to be very conscious of this and design their assessments accordingly. These should be centered around testing critical thinking, peer learning, problem-solving and skill development. It cannot be a holus-bolus replica of conventional evaluation and having a three hours written exam is completely regurgitative.
• The follow-up and out of classroom assistance is very critical for online courses. The instructors should have virtual office hours to assist students that are struggling either due to the medium of teaching or the content. This could also minimize the psychological impact of camera learning where students feel more isolated and distant. It could also help in homogenizing the student’s access to the instructor and no one will feel that they have lesser access compared to their peers.