Information for Instructors (page 3)

Open House Party

While this event is dependent on a volunteer willing to take on the task of event organizer, if possible there will be an Open House Party on the 15th scheduled week of our co-op’s 16-week Spring Semester.

Instructors are encouraged to plan for classroom visitors on that day. Some visitors will stay for the entire class, otherwise will drop by for a few minutes to observe.

Classes are also encouraged to create exhibits and displays of class projects for the Fellowship Hall lobby.

There will also be an opportunity for short demonstrations of student skills at a brief Lunchtime Presentation. All instructors are encouraged to attend the Lunchtime Presentation to give a very brief introduction of their upcoming classes. Because the lunch period is only 30 minutes, demonstrations should be kept to 3 minutes in length and introductions should be less than a minute.

Website account

All instructors are required to have a website account. (Instructors who are also parents, guardians, or caregivers of current PHS students may use their family website account.)

Once your course is selected, new instructors will need to create a website account. The signup form is designed for members not instructors:

You will need to complete all required fields
You may delete the entire Children section

An invoice for the standard membership fee will be automatically created when you complete the form. That invoice will be canceled and may be safely ignored. You’ll receive an invoice for your instructor class fee shortly after your course(es) is confirmed.

Co-Instructors and Shared Website Accounts

If you are teaching with a co-instructor(s), you may share a website account. If you wish to create separate website accounts, there is a single $10 annual fee for each additional account (this is a per-account fee, it is not per course and not per semester).

If you choose to share your website account, it may take some fiddling to get your names to display nicely because Homeschool-Life assumes that each account is associated with two adults sharing the same last name. The best option is to use this format:

First adult’s last name: Your business name

First adult’s first name: Your full name (First1 Last1)

Second adult’s last name: [blank]

Second adult’s first name: Your co-instructors full name (First2 Last2)

This will get formatted on various parts of the website as either

“Business Name, First Instructor & Second Instructor” and as

“First Instructor & Second Instructor Business Name.”

If you have three co-instructors sharing an account, use this format:

First adult’s last name: Business Name

First adult’s first name: First1 Last1, First2 Last2

Second adult’s last name: [blank]

Second adult’s first name: First3 Last3

Class Dashboard

Our website provides an online Class Home Page for each course that offers:

Class Forum: A dedicated online discussion forum just for you, the students enrolled in the course, and their parents, guardians, and caregivers.
Email individual students and their parents, guardians, or caregivers.
Email only the parents, guardians, and caregivers of the students enrolled in the course.
Class Assignments: Post and email assignments; attach files of all sorts; link to external websites, videos, and more; students can then submit completed work as file attachments or as links (such as to a Google Doc or Google Drive) and ask questions about the assignment; instructors can answer questions and provide feedback on submitted work
Class Announcements: An area at the top of your Class Homepage for important announcements. Announcements can also be sent via email to students enrolled in the course and their parents, guardians, and caregivers.
Class Resources: Attach a syllabus or link to an online textbook. These are persistent resources that are displayed at the top of your Class Homepage.
Class Media: Post links to online meetings or to pre-recorded videos
Class Attendance Tracking: Optional but useful
more

File formats accepted for attachments include csv, doc, docx, dot, gif, heic, heif, htm, html, jpg, m4a, mp3, mp4, pdf, png, pps, ppt, pptx, pub, rtf, svg, txt, xls, xlsx, yyz, and zip.

In addition to the Class Home Page, the website also offers member-only photo albums and an online co-op calendar. There is also a dedicated Forum for instructors.

COVID-19 and Online Synchronous courses

COVID-19 POLICIES

We plan to continue to offer a mix of in-person and online classes for the time being.

While we have no plans to cease holding in-person classes, instructors should be prepared for an all-online format due to COVID-19 or another health emergency.

All online courses must be synchronous (aka real-time or live) classes that provide students with the opportunity to interact with each other and the instructor.

Technical Requirements for Online Courses

In order to successfully teach an online course, instructors must have:

A reliable and fast Internet connection.
A computer capable of handling the software needed to run an online course.
The technical know-how to effectively run online classes.
The willingness and ability to regularly monitor email-based communications and respond to student queries in a timely manner and an awareness that online courses often require additional electronic communications to be effective.

Video Conferencing Software

In a member survey, members indicated a preference for the Zoom platform, but you will need to invest in the Pro plan to teach weekly 75-minute classes, which currently costs $14.99/month or $149.90/year. Other platforms include Amazon Chime, BlueJeans, Discord, Fuze, Google Meet, GoTo Meeting, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Webex, Zoho Meeting, etc.

Many current PHS instructors are now quite familiar with Zoom and willing to help new instructors get set up and share tips on how to get the most out of the platform. Students who have a preference for Discord have also offered to assist instructors with setting up and learning to use that platform.

At-home physical space requirements for an online course

If classes move online, you’ll need to let students know about any additional needs at home to successfully participate in the course. For example, a crafting course may require substantial tabletop or counter space while a course involving physical movement may require sufficient floor space.

Online classes are held on days other than Fridays

With only 5 minutes between class periods on Fridays, it is difficult for students to choose to take both online and in-person classes on Fridays. For this reason, online classes are scheduled for other days of the week. Because we only have access to our physical space on Fridays, this means it is not possible to transition from online classes to in-person.

Impact of COVID-19 on Enrollment

In order to sustain a full schedule of 25 courses per semester, our co-op needs around 60 member families, and historically our co-op has averaged between 60 to 65 members (with occasional lulls and surges). Unfortunately, COVID-19 has decreased our membership numbers and this has resulted in a higher-than-usual number of course cancellations due to low enrollment. Instructors should be prepared for it to take a year or two for our co-op to rebuild membership numbers.

Recap of Essential Information for Prospective New Instructors

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