Teaching animal behavior online: A primer for the pandemic and beyond

Abstract

Behavior courses face numerous challenges when moving to an online environment, as has been made necessary by the COVID‐19 pandemic. These challenges occur largely because behavior courses, like most organismal biology courses, often stress experiential learning through laboratories that involve live animals, as well as a lecture component that emphasizes formative assessment, discussion, and critical thinking. Although online behavior courses may be remote, they can still be interactive and social, and designed with inclusive pedagogy. Here, we discuss some of the key decisions that instructors should consider, provide recommendations, and point out new opportunities for student learning that stem directly from the move to online instruction. Specific topics include challenges related to generating an inclusive and engaging online learning environment, synchronous versus asynchronous formats, assignments that enhance student learning, testing format and execution, grade schemes, design of laboratory experiences including opportunities for community science, design of synthetic student projects, and workload balance for students and instructors. We designed this primer both for animal behavior instructors who need to quickly transition to online teaching in the midst of a pandemic, and for those facing such transitions in upcoming terms. Much of the manuscript's content should also be of general interest and value to instructors from all areas of organismal biology who are attempting to quickly transition to online teaching.

Teaching behavior online presents both challenges and opportunities. In this comprehensive guide, we offer suggestions for the design and implementation of online behavior courses. For all aspects of these courses, including lectures, discussions and labs, we emphasize a backwards‐design approach and the importance of flexibility, inclusivity, equity, and accessibility. We also offer recommendations for delivery mode, specific course components, and resources for additional support.

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Author background

We are a group of faculty with over 100 years of combined experience teaching animal behavior and behavioral ecology courses at universities in Canada and the United States. Our experience spans public and private institutions, both undergraduate serving and research‐intensive with extensive graduate programs. Our behavioral class sizes range from 10 to 200 students, and most of our courses incorporate laboratory components. Our experience teaching online varies, with two having extensive experience and the rest having only begun teaching in this modality since March 2020, in response to the coronavirus (COVID‐19) pandemic. While we intend for this primer to be useful to anyone preparing to teach online behavior courses, because we are all North American instructors, we may have introduced some biases that partially reduce the relevance for those from other continents.

1.2. Goals

When we started teaching in early 2020, none of us expected our courses would be online within a few months. As instructors of behavior and other organismal courses, we saw the challenges of moving these courses online—courses that typically involve discussion, active student engagement, hands‐on laboratories with live animals, and other components that can be challenging to replicate in the online environment. Now, many are faced with online instruction for an indefinite period of time. Our goal here is twofold: first, to summarize some of the best practices for pivoting to teaching behavioral courses in the midst of a pandemic, based both on the literature and on our collective experiences; and second, to provide a valuable resource for those of you switching to an online modality in the future, whether as a matter of choice or necessitated by the ongoing crisis. As many behavior instructors may have limited experience in online teaching and limited time to read the pedagogical literature, we review some of the basic principles of online course design and implementation. We hope instructors use this primer as a single‐source reference guide for redesigning their behavior courses for remote teaching.

Transitioning to pandemic‐driven virtual teaching is different from the intentional online course design that has traditionally been used in remote learning (Hodges et al., 2020), and it is important to note that we do not intend for instructors to adopt all of our suggestions, as to do so would be prohibitive for anyone. Instead, we encourage instructors to choose where to focus their efforts based on their desired course outcomes, course size, available time, energy, and resources. Instructors facing an emergency return to remote teaching will necessarily employ different strategies than instructors already planning for continuing with online teaching through multiple terms, and we provide discussion and resources useful for both. We identify key questions to consider early in course planning, and identify priorities, challenges, and opportunities that may arise as a consequence of transitioning to remote teaching.

1.3. Embrace the opportunity

We hope instructors will find that much of what they develop for their online courses can be repurposed or reimagined for face‐to‐face classes, leading to lasting modifications that improve content and increase accessibility for students. Reframing this pandemic‐driven change as an opportunity for instructors to refresh themselves on the latest developments in science pedagogy can improve not only online behavioral courses, but future face‐to‐face classes as well (Supiano, 2020). Some opportunities to consider when teaching behavior online include the following.

1.3.1. Sharing of knowledge and resources

Online instruction affords an opportunity to collaborate and learn from our peers across institutions. There are several collaborative resources for behavior instructors to share content, ideas, and questions (see Section 2.1, below). If you use a shared resource, please give credit and notify the content creator so they can build the outreach and teaching portion of their curriculum vitae.

1.3.2. Extending collaborations in teaching and research

This pandemic could be an opportunity for developing innovative, highly distributed Course‐based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). Imagine students collaborating with peers nationally or internationally, all collecting data on the same variables on the same project, and meeting with “labmates” from multiple institutions to discuss the challenges and findings (for example, see squirrel‐net.org). Using this approach, it is possible to collect large amounts of behavioral data while giving students authentic research experiences, including collaborations with a diversity of peers and mentors from across the globe. Instructors also benefit by fostering interactions among colleagues who teach similar courses at different institutions.

1.3.3. Incorporate global guest speakers

Several virtual animal behavior conferences featured pre‐recorded talks, presenting an opportunity for us to share work and incorporate current research into our courses. An online environment also facilitates seamless integration of synchronous discussion or lectures with guest speakers from any location. We particularly encourage instructors to invite guests to visit their course (synchronous or asynchronous) that represent scientists from different racial and cultural backgrounds, people with disabilities, and scientists whose work has historically been excluded from textbooks.

2. EARLY CONSIDERATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

2.1. Sources of support

Our first (and perhaps most important) piece of advice is to seek support, as instructors who have strong support networks are often more successful (e.g., Dohaney et al., 2020). Ask colleagues—especially those with online teaching experience—to provide feedback on course structure, lectures, and assignments. Add them as a student to the online course, so they can provide global feedback (consider reciprocal altruism for this potentially labor‐intensive task). Consult with education technologists for help comparing and learning new software options or tracking down required hardware. Provide students with opportunities to give anonymous feedback about what things are working and what things the instructor might want to change, either immediately or in future versions of the course.

Support specifically for behavior courses is also readily available through several online platforms including the following: Facebook Group—Behaviour and Evolution Teaching Exchange that currently hosts 314 instructors across multiple continents; Slack Workspace —Behav Evol Teaching (behavevolteaching.slack.com) currently with 114 instructors from multiple continents; Google Docs—share behavior course syllabi, tests, examinations, laboratories, assignments, and videos (https://tinyurl.com/behavteach); and where instructors, Ph.D., and postdoctoral students can sign up to give shareable short lectures on a variety of topics (https://tinyurl.com/behav‐lecture). In these informal networks, participants exchange ideas and help bolster each other as challenges arise. It was such an exchange that led to us writing this publication.

2.2. Modes of delivery

A fundamental decision that each instructor must make in conjunction with their institution's requirements, and early in the planning process, is how to deliver the course. As definitions of terms can vary, we use the terms as described in Table 1.

TABLE 1.

Our definitions for modes of delivery used in online instruction

Mode	Definition as used here
Hybrid course	Some instruction occurs face‐to‐face, and some is online
Synchronous course	Course is fully online; instructor and students are online simultaneously, often sharing live video feeds
Asynchronous course	Course is fully online; instructor and students are not online at the same time—lectures are pre‐recorded, and discussions occur via discussion boards or similar format

Courses may not lie fully within one of the above categories; for example, a course may combine asynchronous elements with synchronous sessions, or laboratories may be hybrid or fully face‐to‐face while the rest of the course is online. Here, we outline some general course delivery considerations.

2.2.1. These are not the face‐to‐face classes we are used to

A popular hybrid model is to provide recorded lectures and other online content, and then use face‐to‐face time for discussions or activities. In hybrid courses, we encourage instructors to be strategic in using face‐to‐face time for activities that engage students and promote active learning. Remember that, as pandemic conditions change, hybrid classes may need to move entirely online with minimal notice.

During face‐to‐face activities, pandemic safety measures will have pedagogical consequences. Physical distancing requires either fewer students in the space, or the use of larger spaces that may not have been designed for teaching. Instructors and students alike will need to wear masks and as a result speak louder, possibly necessitating the use of microphones even for small classes, or to ensure adequate recording for students unable to attend in person. Masks also limit non‐verbal communication, which can be important for conveying subtleties of content and giving critical feedback. Hard‐of‐hearing students may especially rely on non‐verbal cues and thus be disadvantaged by masks; clear face masks have been developed and are being utilized in some institutions. The inability to share physical resources is also a concern, as time must be incorporated into the session for cleaning of equipment, and some equipment will not be able to be used. When a class meets face‐to‐face, we suggest asking students to bring a Web‐enabled device so that they can simultaneously view and comment on shared documents while remaining physically distanced, or so they can log into Zoom or a similar resource and watch from a distance as instructors or teaching assistants conduct demonstrations of animals or point out behaviors. These events can be recorded for those who cannot attend, and have the added benefit of being able to be reused.

2.2.2. Synchronous seems better—is it?

Synchronous online instruction feels more familiar to students and to instructors who are new to remote teaching, because it more closely resembles a traditional classroom. Synchronous teaching has strengths in facilitating social connections and providing opportunities for immediate feedback, especially in smaller sections. On the other hand, synchronous classes can have higher technological and Internet access requirements, be harder to access in real time, and be more challenging for students with complicated responsibilities. Recording synchronous sessions is only a partial solution to these equity concerns, as it creates a tiered system in which students who need to rely on recordings have reduced access to interactions and engagement opportunities. Synchronous sessions are also more challenging in large class sections, even when breakout rooms are used; extra care is needed to ensure that participation is not limited to a small subset of students.

2.2.3. Asynchronous also has pros and cons

Course components that are primarily unidirectional (traditional lectures, written assignments) translate easily into an asynchronous format. Pre‐recorded lectures generally have higher audio and video quality than synchronous lectures delivered via live streaming, and while students cannot ask questions “in real time” as they can in a synchronous lecture, they can pause and/or rewind mid‐lecture as needed. With asynchronous instruction, students have flexibility to work around their schedules. Discussion boards and other media provide opportunities for asynchronous interactions. However, we note that the loss of real‐time social connections in a fully asynchronous class can lead to feelings of disconnection and loss of engagement among students (Kebble, 2017).

Thus, there is no ideal mode of delivery. Each of us needs to evaluate the costs and benefits of each mode within the context of our classes (including both learning objectives and section size), our students, our personal lives, and our institution. If the class is fully asynchronous, consider prioritizing approaches and assignments that can foster engagement and interaction. If the class is fully synchronous, we encourage instructors to record synchronous sessions and provide alternative options that allow students to engage in the course if they cannot participate simultaneously. Strategically blending synchronous and asynchronous approaches may allow instructors to maximize the benefits while minimizing the costs of both approaches. For example, in large sections, dividing the class into subgroups that attend different synchronous sessions provides more opportunities for all students to benefit.

2.3. Course design

An instructor's first foray into an online format can be daunting. When moving a course online, many instructors feel overwhelmed by all of the potential tools and techniques. For others, these same features can be a siren song, leading them headlong into waters they—or their students—may not be entirely prepared to navigate. How do instructors take advantage of online tools without making courses overly complicated, and, even more critically, without losing sight of their learning objectives for the class?

2.3.1. Backwards design

The principles of good teaching are independent of format. To adapt a face‐to‐face course to an online or hybrid format, we strongly recommend employing backwards design. Whereas “typical” course design often begins with content—for example, “what textbook chapters do I want to cover?”—backwards design (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005) starts with the desired outcomes: what do you, the instructor, want your students to learn? Think of this in terms of content knowledge, and also in terms of the skills and metacognition you want to foster. Next, consider how you would like students to be able to demonstrate their learning of each of these, and what activities or assignments might foster that learning. Lastly, determine what content is necessary for the students to complete the activities or assignments.

While we all want our students to learn core behavioral concepts, it is likely that our behavior courses differ in specific desired learning outcomes and content. Consider: How does the course fit into the overall curriculum (e.g., student prerequisites and background knowledge, requirements for subsequent classes)? What is the ideal balance of proximate versus ultimate approaches? Do you want to prioritize the history of the field or current “hot topics”? How important is skills development in modeling, observation techniques, interpreting primary literature, or data analysis? Reviewing learning objectives is a practice in prioritization: Based on the instructor's expertise and experience, what is most important for the students in their class?

When transitioning to online, backwards design helps instructors focus on what content is critical (serving high‐priority learning outcomes), and therefore what activities and assignments need to be preserved. We strongly encourage instructors to take this opportunity to simplify, rather than trying to pour the entire face‐to‐face behavior class into an online format. As instructors learn new online tools and techniques, they should evaluate them with the same metric: Is this tool or technique necessary to serve the primary learning objectives?

2.3.2. Modular structure

We strongly recommend incorporating a modular structure, as an online course needs a more regular structure than a face‐to‐face course. The more asynchronous the course, the more canalized the structure should be. If the course is normally like a novel—chapters of various lengths that flow together—think of the transition to online as a process of serializing it. Here again, the prioritized learning outcomes are an excellent start. They can be grouped into related sets based on conceptual connections and/or textbook structure. The inherent properties of learning management systems (LMS, the platform for an online course, such as blackboard, Canvas, Moodle, D2L) can facilitate a modular structure.

Whatever the instructor uses as the basis of the modules, they should ensure that each has clearly stated learning objectives, with a consistent format and pathway for progressing through connected activities, assessment, and related content. It is best if the schedule for the activities and assessment within each module follows a weekly routine (see Section 3, below), larger assignments are thoughtfully scaffolded across weeks, and skills‐related outcomes are distributed across the term. We strongly encourage strategic use of LMS restrictions (sometimes called “access gateways” or “release conditions”) for quizzes, assignments, etc., so students do not start down a path that they are not prepared for.

2.3.3. Grade scheme

We address specific strategies for testing and assessment in more detail below (see Section 7), but in the design phase, it is worth considering what overall grade scheme to use in the class. The online environment is particularly well suited to alternative grade schemes versus the more classic points‐ or percentage‐based calculations (Nilson, 2014). Specifications‐based grading schemes, for example, come in many forms (e.g., mastery‐based, labor‐based, grading contracts), and are well established in composition and mathematics pedagogy (e.g., Inoue, 2019). Specifications grading shares a set of common features: Assignments and activities are accompanied by a set of clear, well‐defined specifications; evaluation of whether student work meets each specification is binary (no partial credit); and a system of thresholds for translating the degree to which the student completes work meeting specifications, sometimes in combination with percentage scores from traditional quizzes or examinations, to final letter grades. In specifications grading, final grades are a direct reflection of student mastery of course learning outcomes (at least to the extent that assignments and assessments reflect these).

Specifications grading can foster a growth mindset, the belief that learning and intelligence is not fixed (Dweck & Yeager, 2019), by providing opportunities for students to be reassessed. The online environment readily allows assignment resubmissions and/or taking a new version of a quiz, as this medium provides inherently greater flexibility in scheduling. Instructors may offer limited or unlimited resubmissions, or use a flexible model via tokens earned for extra credit work. A key benefit of specifications grading is that students are given agency, in that they can see precisely what they need to do to receive their target grade and are rewarded for revisiting and mastering material they struggle with. For the instructor, grading is simpler, takes less time, and is devoid of the angst often associated with assigning partial credit. Indeed, many of the low‐stakes assignments and action‐based laboratory activities (e.g., “collect an hour of focal animal observations” or “create an ethogram of an animal's behavior”) designed for online courses make more sense to grade as meeting or not meeting specifications than by a points or percentage system.

2.3.4. Inclusivity, equitability, flexibility, and accessibility mindset

We encourage instructors to adopt a flexible and inclusive mindset. During the pandemic, we have often heard the adage “We are all in this together,” although a more fitting phrase is “We are all in the same storm, but not in the same boat” (paraphrased from Damian Barr, 2020). The pandemic impacts on students are neither equal nor equitable, based on multiple factors surrounding race, socioeconomic disparities, age, traditional/non‐traditional student status, and whether students are first‐generation. Access to reliable Internet and technology can impact when and how students can engage with their online course. Additionally, students could be spread across multiple time zones. These factors may limit their ability to participate in synchronous sessions. To maximize inclusivity and equity, we encourage instructors to have asynchronous options for all course components. We also encourage instructors to allow for flexibility in due dates, provide alternative assessment options, and promptly respond to emails to help enhance learning and ensure that all students feel a sense of belonging as they juggle these challenges with course demands. While we touch on specific topics related to inclusivity and equity below, for additional recommendations on how to incorporate inclusive teaching practices into online courses, we refer instructors to Box 1 and Harris et al. (2020).

Box 1. Strategies for maximizing inclusivity and equity in behavior courses.

We are currently teaching during a pandemic, a global recession, and an international social movement for racial justice. Distractions are plentiful and multifaceted, impacting student learning, disproportionately so for underrepresented groups (e.g., Zhang et al. 2020). Therefore, it is important that online courses be planned and delivered in a manner that prioritizes accessibility and inclusion. Some strategies to consider are as follows.

A sense of academic belonging: We encourage instructors to actively promote BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) scientists and increase inclusivity, where possible, as a sense of belonging disproportionately affects retention of first‐generation students and underrepresented minorities (Murphy et al. 2020). Lee (2020) provides an excellent starting point for expanding how instructors can highlight diversity in animal behavior (see also #BlackinAnimalBehavior), and scientistspotlights.org compiles excellent resources for an assignment that has students directly interact with stories of animal behaviorists (and other scientists) from non‐traditional backgrounds. Consider also how to discuss the work of scientists who espoused racist, sexist, or otherwise offensive views.

Consider bias in the science, not just the scientists: Review the examples that illustrate key points. Do all of the sexual selection examples feature choosy females and aggressive males? Is sexual behavior solely reproductive and heterosexual in the syllabus? Is parental care a female enterprise, except in so‐called “sex role reversed species”? If time is available, consider updating course content to represent a more modern understanding of these topics and alternative hypotheses from a different theoretical lens (e.g., Monk et al. 2019). Consider also explicitly discussing the history of topics where bias has influenced the field (e.g., “Bateman’s Principle”; Hoquet 2020).

Equity in access: Record synchronous events (notify students that they are being recorded) to ensure access for those who miss class due to technological problems or personal conflicts. Ensure posted documents are in a format that supports optical character recognition so that students can search them and they are available for text‐to‐speech programs. For face‐to‐face events that include hearing‐challenged students, lip reading is impossible if instructors and fellow students wear non‐transparent masks.

Protect privacy: Many countries have legal rules surrounding student privacy. Forcing students to show their faces and post their names may therefore be problematic. This problem is compounded if synchronous discussions are recorded and posted online. Some institutions mandate that student cameras be turned on and real names used; however, many others do not. We encourage instructors to seek local guidance and note that even if the university allows mandating students cameras, some students rightly request that their privacy be maintained when online (Casey 2020). We recommend flexibility for students who are uncomfortable turning on their cameras and honor student use of a pseudonym. We also note that not all devices are capable of using a photograph as a background to maintain privacy. Consider restricting students’ ability to record class meetings on their own, and ensuring that instructor‐created videos are only posted on password‐protected LMS.

3. COURSE‐WIDE RECOMMENDATIONS

While we address specific course components in later sections, there are some considerations that span all aspects of our courses.

3.1. Be consistent, informative, and transparent

Prior to the first class, we encourage instructors to communicate with the students, describing the course format, providing clear information about what students should expect from the course and the instructor, and what the instructor expects from the students. Box 2 outlines specific recommendations. Be consistent in those expectations throughout the course.

Box 2. Content recommendations to communicate during course introductions.

Course structure: What are the modules and what is inside each module? Consider including a chart with weeks as the columns, and rows for different types of assessments, activities, and content, so students can track their progress at a glance.

Engagement and technological support: How the instructor intends to engage students and what the instructor’s minimum technology requirements are? What support is available for students who encounter difficulties?

Expectations: How often the instructor expects students to log in to the LMS. How should students keep current with course news/announcements. How many hours per week should students expect to work on the course. Whether students can review videos multiple times and whether transcripts and closed captioning will be available for videos and discussions. How students should interact with the instructor and what their expectations should be regarding instructor responsiveness. What the instructor expects surrounding proper “netiquette” for discussion boards and chats? How students should ask questions during synchronous events?

Policies: What the instructor’s policies are regarding late‐work penalties, missed synchronous events, illnesses, and whether makeup work is possible?

We also encourage instructors to incorporate a clear, consistent, and uncluttered online structure with regular labels in their LMS. Create a high‐profile “start here” area, with an “overview video” where the instructor walks students through the LMS site to show students where to find the syllabus, modules, schedule, descriptions of assignments, and gradebook, as well as where and how they submit assignments and take tests. Create a routine weekly schedule to help students remember what happens when. Integrate due dates and course events with the LMS calendar or to‐do list features. Use the LMS gradebook and keep it organized and with assignments properly weighted, according to the syllabus. Post weekly videos providing topic overviews and work for the upcoming week, preferably alongside written instructions, are also helpful.

Given this is more detailed information that students often experience in face‐to‐face courses, we encourage the instructor to start with a Syllabus Quiz, so that students are required to listen to the introductory videos and read the syllabus, identify Wi‐Fi/browser issues, and familiarize themselves with the LMS tools they will be using throughout the course (e.g., a quiz portal). If the instructor has a synchronous component, students could work together in groups to answer the quiz questions to enhance peer‐to‐peer learning, help them build team skills, teach them about breakout rooms, and provide an early engagement opportunity.

3.2. Provide opportunities for social interactions

We emphasize that it is important to incorporate opportunities for social engagement into the course as it can lead to increased student success directly (e.g., impromptu peer study groups allow for learning by teaching) and indirectly (enhanced psychological motivation to study, reduced mental health issues). Engagement helps students develop a sense of belonging, a large factor in whether or not students persist in STEM degrees (Good et al., 2012; Findley‐Van Nostrand & Pollenz, 2017; O’Brien et al., 2020). We provide recommendations for fostering social engagement in Box 3.

Box 3. Recommendations for fostering social engagement.

Break the ice: Introductory "icebreakers," where students get to know each other, are important to facilitate social interactions among peers (Tolmie and Boyle 2000). Activities, such as working toward a shared goal, are appropriate and timely. They can take the form of groups working through what it means to have a growth mindset. For example, ask groups to describe the barriers they might face during the term and how they plan to overcome them, as this can help build engagement, camaraderie, and resilience (WOOP methods; Oettingen 2014).

Group work: Group work when the members have not met in person can pose challenges that may be exacerbated in intercultural groups (Kimmel and Volet 2012). While some students prefer to choose their own groups and rate the experience higher than randomly assigned groups (Chapman et al. 2006), self‐chosen groups may be hampered by preexisting social dynamics (Reinties et al. 2013). Breakout rooms facilitated by videoconference software can be used in synchronous classes, even those with large enrollment, to allow small‐group discussions that report back to the entire class. Alternatively, students can meet outside of class; in those cases, consider grouping students by their preferred work times (time of day, day of week, proximity to deadlines) to minimize scheduling conflicts. Offering an option for students with chaotic schedules to work alone allows for more flexibility.

Make collaborative expectations explicit: The remote format of online instruction can reduce camaraderie among students and bring to light other issues of equity. Consider having groups develop their own contract of group expectations and penalties for lack of compliance, and for team members to keep weekly logs in Google collaborative suite (or similar) of how much each person has worked on the project and what they contributed. Both of these approaches can help with accountability and motivation. If the instructor meets with each group, we encourage them to review the logs with them to help with team dynamics. Other ways for students to share how the group is working include asynchronous anonymous surveys or a discussion forum.

Social media: Many students are more likely to engage on social media, so a dedicated social media page, hashtag, or handle for the class can be helpful. This can also lead to students friending each other, posting relevant articles, etc. A few of us have had success using these handles for large classes, but they are more work, as they require monitoring for offensive content.

3.3. Utilize teaching assistants effectively

If the instructor has teaching assistants, preceptors, or graders, now is the time to maximize the use of that source of practical support, which in turn will offer employment opportunities, usually for graduate students, at an especially tenuous time. These assistants can provide key support in the following ways: (a) Assistants can help with creating novel multiple‐choice and short answer questions and complete much of the grading. These are very important components, given that creating questions and grading burden may be substantially higher due to our recommendation that all testing be frequent and "open book" (see Section 7, below). (b) Teaching assistants are an important liaison between the instructor and students because they are sometimes perceived as more accessible and less intimidating than the instructor, and may therefore help students navigate online course content, relay concerns to the instructor (and vice versa), offer valuable learning opportunities in a casual setting, and provide emotional support during a time when student anxiety has increased (Elmer et al., 2020; Odriozola‐González et al., 2020). (c) Assistants can hold small‐group review sessions that enable students to work through study guides, and run student question‐driven review sessions prior to tests. (d) Assistants can join instructors in moving between breakout rooms in synchronous lecture or laboratory sessions, ensuring that students do not have long waits for help when they get stuck. (e) Assistants can help instructors prepare demonstration videos of laboratory and field techniques to share on the LMS.

4. LECTURE RECOMMENDATIONS

Beyond the question of whether to deliver content synchronously or asynchronously, there are several other factors to consider when designing online lectures, each of which may impact comprehension and retention of material, inclusivity, and student and instructor stress levels.

4.1. Maximizing comprehension and retention of material

As higher education suddenly moved to a virtual format in early 2020, instructors and students experienced the difficulties associated with learning solely by watching computer screens. Many students find it a challenge to pay attention, take good notes, and retain course material in the absence of social interaction, which would normally afford opportunities for learning by teaching others, asking quick questions of instructors in the halls, and forming impromptu study groups. Furthermore, both instructors and students experience “Zoom fatigue” (e.g., Blum, 2020), as staring at a screen for prolonged periods can make it difficult to remain engaged with the material. However, strategic use of some of the tools described in Table 4 when preparing online lecture content may ameliorate these problems. Box 4 provides detailed suggestions for ways in which online lectures can be prepared efficiently and effectively.

TABLE 4.

Useful software tools and online resources

Software	Uses
Learning management system (LMS) software	Organizing and delivering content, collecting assignments, providing grades and feedback, and communication (both between students and between students and the instructor). The LMS is the classroom for online courses. Ideally, other tools are either integrated with or can be linked to the LMS.
Remote conferencing software
Big Blue Button, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Blue Jeans, WebEx	Synchronous class meetings; video lecture recording; generating lecture transcripts
Video capture software
Camtasia, OBS Studio, Screencast‐o‐Matic, Kaltura	Record screen and audio feeds, with optional inset webcam recording
VoiceThread	Slide‐by‐slide narration of PowerPoint or PDF slides (by video and/or audio, drawing tools), student commenting; in‐slide quizzes
Collaborative office software
Google Docs, Google Sheets, Office 365	Allows students to share and synchronously edit papers, laboratory notebooks, slides, and spreadsheets on group projects
Software for interactivity
Kahoot!, Poll Everywhere, Quizizz	Mid‐lecture quiz/survey software, similar to “clickers.” Several can also be used asynchronously
Flipgrid	Short videos for presentations or asynchronous discussions
Jamboard, Limnu, Padlet	Interactive post‐it or whiteboard brainstorming activities during online lectures
Hypothes.is, Perusall, Notability, VoiceThread	Social annotation and note‐taking of literature readings or textbook chapters
Behavioral data collection
BORIS, JWatcher	Data collection for behavioral observations, for use in laboratory assignments
Animal diversity Web/Quaardvark	Data source for dry laboratories on comparative behavior and/or phylogenetics
Audacity, Raven	Visualizing and analyzing sound recordings
Community science software
iNaturalist, Seek	Interact with a database that uses machine learning to identify taxa and has curators to validate data. Post photographs and determine IDs on flora and fauna. Advanced users can extract data on distribution maps, behavior, interact with expert curators, etc. Many projects that students can contribute to already listed
eBird	Submit bird species data after observation periods. Can load regionally specific guides to birds that identifies rare and unusual sightings (and potential misidentifications)
Bumble Bee Watch	Bee identification, behavior, and distribution
Taxa identification
Merlin Bird ID (Cornell Lab)	Can ID birds by size, color, behavior, or photograph
Audubon	Can ID birds by size, color, shape, activity, habitat, song, wing shape, and tail shape
Wild Bee ID, Bumble Bee Watch	Can ID bees

Box 4. Suggestions for preparing online lectures.

Lecture duration: Shorter lectures are usually a better option than longer ones. Student attention span for watching lecture videos wanes after approximately 20 minutes (Bauer, Malchow, & Meinel, 2019). Students also strongly prefer shorter online lectures (Velegol, Zappe, & Mahoney, 2015) and thus are more likely to remain engaged by them. Given this, we suggest either producing several short videos or clearly advising students to watch longer videos in stages. Another complication to consider, however, is that when topics include several shorter videos, students are less likely to watch them all; students report greater likelihood of viewing all the lecture videos for a particular module if they perceive them as valuable (Beatty, Merchant, & Albert, 2019). We therefore encourage incorporating active engagement within videos (see Section 4.2, below) to increase the chances that students watch them all. Participation can also be improved by contacting students who have not completed all the lectures in a module (van Oldenbeek, Winkler, Buhl‐Wiggers, & Hardt, 2019).

Should the instructor be in the picture? Seeing the instructor’s face can help personalize the experience but may obscure or distract from slide content. Feel free to mix it up—you do not need to be in every slide, but appearing in some of them can help students feel connected.

Quality control: As anyone who studies vocal behavior knows, it is important to check recordings to confirm volume and clarity. At minimum, listen to the first and last few seconds of each separate recording, as cutoffs are most common at beginning and end. If utilizing automatically generated closed captions or transcripts, the best practice is to check them for errors. While there may be cases where the mistranslations are humorous (e.g., a cloaca = a clue, wake up; cunnilingus in bats = kind of lingers in bats), other cases can be offensive (e.g., brown versus black alleles = brown versus black illegals; polyphyletic group = pedophile ethnic group). Let students know that the transcription is automatically generated, and ask them to inform you of egregious errors that you did not catch (possibly with extra credit rewards). In some platforms, closed captioning cannot be edited, but transcripts can.

Mix modalities: We strongly recommend introducing dynamic visual elements to the lectures, instead of just “talking over slides.” Use highlight or drawing tools to emphasize aspects of the slides (similar to using a pointer in a face‐to‐face class). Consider incorporating short YouTube videos and using a digital whiteboard. The latter can be built into the lecture platform as a separate feature (e.g., Zoom), rapidly toggled to when in PowerPoint “Slide Show” mode, or added as blank slides (e.g., VoiceThread). Alternatively, the instructor can use a tablet or separate Web‐based app (e.g., Limnu, which also allows for separate breakout rooms). Remind students to take especially good notes when you deliver challenging content, and to pause videos when they notice their minds are wandering. In an asynchronous class, we recommend embedding short videos in mixed‐media pages that include written passages, graphics, links to Internet content, PDFs of literature articles, and assignments/activities, all of which can be used to convey information that face‐to‐face classes might normally deliver in a lecture format.

Slide duration and numbers: More slides with less narration on each makes it easier to edit the narration, if necessary. Numbering the slides enables students watching asynchronously to ask questions about particular points when they feel the material is not resonating with them.

Eye to the future: Limit comments related to current events or class schedule (assignment deadlines, etc.) to introductory or concluding videos each week, as it may be useful to reuse some of the lectures in the future.

4.2. Fostering engagement while minimizing stress

Even asynchronous lectures can be active. Scattering opportunities for group discussion and polling questions throughout lectures may help maintain student engagement and focus. Discussion boards, Flipgrid, and social media all can be utilized to encourage social interaction among students in asynchronous settings in response to questions posed by the instructor. Polling and informal quizzing can be readily integrated in small and large synchronous classes alike via apps commonly used in face‐to‐face classes (e.g., Kahoot!, Poll Everywhere) and those provided within videoconferencing platforms (e.g., Zoom and Big Blue Button). You can also use polling questions in asynchronous classes through some of the same apps, or by having students add comments to question slides; VoiceThread and Kaltura Capture allow student comments to remain private, so they can also serve as mid‐lecture quizzes. Many platforms allow for (and track) student comments on lectures, allowing an easy way to give credit for participating. Section 10 provides software recommendations.

5. DISCUSSION RECOMMENDATIONS

Discussion is a key component of most behavior classes, and so considering how to replicate this experience online is important. Discussions can be held synchronously (via video or chat rooms) or asynchronously (via discussion boards, etc.). While many of us are more comfortable with a synchronous approach, some students prefer an asynchronous approach, as it provides time to develop questions and compose thoughtful replies. As a result, some students who said little during early 2020 in face‐to‐face discussions later participated extensively in online asynchronous discussion boards. Our suggestions include the following.

5.1. Discussions of core principles, experiments, or current research

Students can be assigned readings and discussion prompts that are submitted prior to a class discussion, which become low‐stakes assignments amenable to specifications‐based (satisfactory/unsatisfactory) grading. These have the added benefit of helping instructors know students’ prior level of understanding. Consider subdividing students into discussion groups and assigning different prompts to each student. For example, if the topic is to discuss five key questions about a literature article, each student within a group of five could be responsible for presenting an initial answer to one of the questions; other group members could then be tasked with improving the answers. When held on an asynchronous discussion board, we have found it helpful to use the “reply before seeing other posts” option available in many LMS so that students must craft their own responses before seeing and responding to others. An additional tip is to require students to make responses at multiple time points throughout the discussion period, increasing back‐and‐forth conversation. Finally, we encourage instructors to be cognizant of their direct participation in discussions; students should perceive that the instructor is reading their posts, but student participation can be stifled by frequent instructor commentary. A weekly summary post by the instructor that reflects upon interesting student ideas that emerged from various groups, and adds instructor insights, can be an effective and time‐efficient way to recognize student participation and take advantage of teachable moments.

5.2. Journal club

Another fruitful option for discussion is having students take turns leading discussions of primary literature articles. We encourage the instructor to model the first one or two sessions and provide explicit expectations for the discussion leaders. In more advanced classes, leaders may be asked to develop learning goals for the discussion and provide additional content, such as information from background readings. To ensure students are adequately prepared for a lively discussion, consider requiring a preparation assignment prior to class (e.g., critique the article in 100 words or less; create a 2‐min podcast that explains the article to a high schooler; these approaches are amenable to satisfactory/unsatisfactory marking by teaching assistants). Alternatively, provide explicit expectations for discussion participation and alternative means of participation for those uncomfortable speaking up or unable to attend (e.g., write questions/comments in the chat; submit a critique).

5.3. Invited guests

Consider inviting an author of the article to join in on discussions. For asynchronous courses, an author could answer some of the best questions stemming from discussion boards, either via pre‐recorded video, podcast, or text.

5.4. Case studies

Case studies are excellent fodder for online discussions focusing on behavior, as well as the scientific process. The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCST; https://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/) has a wealth of published cases relevant to behavior courses. Many of these are designed to use with periods of small‐group discussion punctuated by new information or prompts provided by the instructor. This can be done synchronously or asynchronously using LMS restrictions to ensure students progress through the assignment in the correct sequence, discussing each step in a threaded discussion board.

6. ASSIGNMENT RECOMMENDATIONS

As a general rule, the benefits of more, low‐stakes assignments exceed those of fewer, high‐stakes assignments. Low‐stakes assignments can maximize student engagement and learning while minimizing stress, because no one assignment contributes a great deal to their final grade. One way to do this is with “pools” of low‐stakes assignments, which are individually small grade contributions, and can be placed into weighted categories of different assignments, quizzes, etc. While larger, higher‐stakes assignments remain important, it is critical that they be highly scaffolded, as students need more guidance than in face‐to‐face courses. The following examples could be viewed along a continuum of low‐ to high‐stakes assignments.

6.1. Self‐evaluation

Provide opportunities for self‐reflection to serve as a type of “ungrading” assignment (Flaherty, 2019). Clear‐cut ways for students to self‐assess their performance and grade themselves can encourage critical thinking about what they can do to improve. For example, ask students to assess their work relative to provided rubrics, or to reflect on their note‐taking skills and approach to studying, or engagement with assignments (e.g., respond to scaled questions about how completely and carefully they completed the assigned readings).

6.2. Short, task‐based assignments

Students can be asked to observe an animal, and then construct an ethogram, develop a list of proximate and ultimate questions, and/or post their informal observations and inferences with prompts like “I noticed…” or “I wonder…” To encourage discussion, students could then be asked to respond to their peers’ work by, for example, proposing alternative questions, hypotheses, or explanations.

6.3. Creativity‐based assignments

While the instructor can ask students to outline key concepts in a chapter or an article, they could also provide options for students to engage with the course content in more creative ways. For example, asking students to write a limerick or haiku about a concept or article and post it to the discussion board (and tweet it to @Science_Poetry) can help students focus on the key takeaways of the concepts without resorting to patchwriting or worrying about “sounding scientific,” and these responses can quickly reveal to the instructor how well the students comprehend the ideas. Another possibility is instructors could provide photographs and ask students to construct a meme for one, illustrating course concepts in a humorous way. Given that memes are something many students relate well to, students often participate enthusiastically and with remarkable creativity and scholarly rigor. Instructors can showcase the best poems and memes in future course offerings and on departmental and institutional social media platforms.

6.4. Abstracts

Writing a strong abstract requires solid understanding of a study's broad context, hypothesis, methods, statistical analyses, conclusions, and implications, and requires good synthesis skills. Thus, an abstract assignment can serve as a relatively low‐stakes way to assess student understanding. For laboratory projects, consider reducing some of the formal laboratory report assignments to only an abstract. For an advanced class, consider requiring a “stats appendix” that demonstrates the statistical approach students used to generate their conclusions. For class activities that require students to read primary literature, provide them an article without the abstract and ask them to write it themselves.

6.5. Peer review

For any writing assignment, incorporating peer review increases student interaction and the ability to learn from their peers. Thoughtfully design rubrics to guide students in their assessment, avoid yes/no responses, and prompt detailed comments. For example, "Propose two specific suggestions for how the author can improve their Methods section." For advanced classes writing manuscript‐style laboratory reports, the instructor can promote authentic practice of professional work by using the reviewer questions for specific behavior journals.

6.6. Primary literature dissections

Require students to find primary literature articles related to current course topics, and post very brief and targeted summaries that deconstruct the article: for example, in <100 words identify the primary question, experimental design, primary results, and conclusion. Conversely, ask students to post one figure from a primary literature article, state what question the authors were asking, the experimental design relevant to that figure only, and how that figure contributes to the overall interpretation. These short assignments can be quickly graded by teaching assistants (if one has them), while providing students with opportunities to explore how interpretations are constructed in science. Students can also be asked to comment on each other's posts, propose alternative interpretations or summarize posted results (see peer review, previous paragraph).

Social annotation of articles is a great way to provide support to novice students who are encountering literature for the first time, and to encourage advanced undergraduates and graduate students to achieve deeper reading and collaborative discussion. Some social annotation software options, such as Perusall, scale well for very large classes thanks to their ability to divide students into small groups, and through effective, automated grading algorithms.

6.7. Student debates

Both synchronous and asynchronous debates are amenable to the online forum, and established debate platforms can help facilitation (e.g., Kialo). Separate meetings can be held for each group to prepare position points and choose a spokesperson for live or recorded opening statements. Follow‐up counterpoints can be contributed by the entire team, with the instructor, teaching assistant, and opposing team asking questions.

6.8. Student presentations

While students can present their work in either synchronous or asynchronous formats, we suggest pre‐recorded presentations that can be viewed and responded to asynchronously via discussion boards. Many applications used in asynchronous lectures (e.g., VoiceThread, Flipgrid) allow for text, audio, and video responses from classmates, furthering opportunities for asynchronous discussion of student work. However, we recognize that there is often camaraderie to be found in synchronous meetings online where student presenters can be asked questions in real time after their pre‐recorded presentations are played by a moderator. Because pre‐recorded presentations can be readily shared, consider working with your institution to communicate student work via social media platforms. Also consider the value of developing assignments targeted for the broader community that may take the form of popular science radio clips (like those at birdnote.org) and vlog posts to be shared with local zoos, conservation organizations, museums, K‐12 classrooms, and more.

6.9. Mock grant proposals

Regardless of class format, mock grant proposals provide opportunities for students to take ownership of their learning and select a topic they are motivated to learn more about. Guidelines for the final product can follow those of student grant programs such as the Animal Behavior Society's graduate student grant or the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Scaffolded development of this assignment could include the following: (a) sharing broad topics of interest; (b) presenting a key “anchor article” foundational to a given student's development of their proposal ideas; (c) annotated bibliographies, (d) recorded “elevator pitch talks” and written drafts; (e) peer‐review discussions; (f) final proposal submissions; and (g) peer‐review panel discussions to determine who gets “funded.” We recommend sprinkling in a few required one‐on‐one conversations between student and instructor, and giving feedback along the way. We have seen these projects help seniors find graduate school mentors. We have also watched students’ eyes grow wide when we show them a recently published article testing the same questions they proposed, illustrating how they have been generating truly novel and significant questions in behavior, making this assignment inspiring and transformational.

6.10. Course wrap activity

Online courses can have a feeling of ending abruptly, so ending with a short reflection assignment can bring a sense of closure. This could take the form of writing a letter of advice to next year's class about how to succeed and what challenges to work through; the instructor can share the best ones with their next class.

7. TESTING AND ASSESSMENT RECOMMENDATIONS

Perhaps no aspect of teaching online triggers as much angst in instructors as the question of how to give tests and examinations. Testing in an online environment is fundamentally different from testing in a classroom. As with other aspects of developing an online course, however, the instructor may find that testing and assessment techniques applied in an online environment become their preferred approach in face‐to‐face classes as well.

With the pivot to online classes in early 2020, many institutions subscribed to online proctoring services to reduce cheating. It is worth considering why students might be tempted to cheat during assessments; reasons include anxiety, the high‐stakes nature of examinations, the preparation “gap,” and peer behavior, which can normalize cheating and instill fear that other students are cheating and “getting ahead” (McCabe et al., 2001). If the instructor wants to try to mimic the in‐class examination experience, they can use one of these online proctoring services (e.g., Respondus). However, these options can add to student expenses, place additional technological constraints on students, raise privacy and equity concerns, and reinforce an adversarial, rather than collaborative, relationship. For these reasons, we discourage lockdown browsers and webcam monitoring during assessment activities. Fortunately, there are many alternative approaches that are well suited for online behavior classes, which we outline below. These approaches, while potentially challenging to implement at first, especially while trying to minimize the grading burden, are also readily applicable to face‐to‐face classes. Some of us have found that we never want to give a “traditional” examination again.

7.1. Lower the stakes

Just as with assignments, the benefits of more, low‐stakes tests exceed those of fewer, high‐stakes tests. Frequent low‐stakes tests (i.e., at least one per topic or module) can maximize student engagement and learning while minimizing stress, because no one test contributes a great deal to the final grade. This strategy helps keep students from falling behind or procrastinating, while providing the instructor with a much more fine‐grained analysis of what students do and do not understand, allowing for a more adaptive approach to teaching. Frequent low‐stakes quizzes reduce student anxiety about the “preparation gap” and also work well with a specifications‐based grading scheme (see Section 2.3, above). Perhaps most importantly, frequent testing is also highly impactful on student learning. Indeed, in a review of active learning methods, frequent quizzing was found to have the most support in effectively improving student learning (DeLozier & Rhodes, 2017).

7.2. Everything is “open book”

Write questions with the explicit expectation that students will (and should) consult their notes or other course resources. Focus on questions at higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy (a continuum of question types: starting at the low level with recalling or explaining facts and basic concepts, moving to applying, analyzing, and drawing connections across ideas, to the highest level of creating new or original work; Bloom (1956)). For example, instructors can ask students to interpret data, explain relationships, design experiments, and solve problems.

7.3. Include a mix of question types

Consider using “multi‐select” (“select all that apply”) questions instead of single‐choice multiple‐choice questions, to allow for partial credit (further lowering the stakes and rewarding partial understanding). Avoid single‐answer multiple choice with combined answer options (e.g., A & B, all of the above except C), as these penalize partial knowledge and reward students with extensive standardized test training. Matching and fill‐in‐blank formats are also useful for higher order questions and can be autograded. Combine multiple‐choice questions with a few short answer questions to help provide additional insight into what students are learning and give them vital practice writing about science.

7.4. Quiz delivery do's and don'ts

Do take advantage of the LMS quiz settings to minimize sharing of quiz information: display one question at a time in random order; randomize selections in multiple‐choice questions; and build question banks so not all students receive the same questions. Do not restrict students’ ability to move backwards in the quiz; taking the quiz is part of the learning process, and it is a good thing when a question helps a student realize an earlier mistake. Do not overly restrict the quiz duration. Students will run into technological problems and may be working in distracted environments. Provide a large time window in which they can take the quiz (e.g., full day), and a quiz duration that is 2–3× longer than normal for a similar length face‐to‐face assessment, as the instructor may have students in different time zones, working full time, or with other responsibilities.

7.5. Collaborative assessments

We almost never operate in isolation as scientists, so aligning assessment practices with professional practices to be more authentic could manifest as collaborative examinations. This could be in the form of short essays or oral examinations. Clear guidelines are needed to establish that part of grade is ensuring participation and equal mastery of learning objectives from all group members, and how the instructor will be assessing the quality of the contributions. Collaborative approaches result in less grading, making it more feasible to incorporate essays and oral examinations into larger classes. One limitation of collaborative assessments is that students may distribute the workload such that no student fulfills all intended learning objectives. A mechanism to prevent this is a 2‐stage structure: Students complete the assessment individually, then retake it in groups; grades are a predetermined ratio of independent and group attempts (typically with a caveat that group grades cannot lower individual grades).

7.6. Exam alternatives

Examinations do not reflect professional practices, and while frequent quizzing enhances learning (DeLozier & Rhodes, 2017), infrequent long examinations are unlikely to promote long‐term retention of material. Thus, consider replacing examinations with alternate options. Reflection statements in response to a general prompt used throughout the class or specific prompts highlighting key principles of each course module can be impactful ways for students to interact with material. Reflective writing requires students to use writing as a natural part of the thinking process, summarize information, and integrate content. As a result, engagement with course material is enhanced, knowledge is personalized and contextualized, and learning is deepened (Chang, 2019; Fuller, 2017; Tewksbury, 1996). Reflection portfolios can be written for the instructor's eyes only or can be peer‐reviewed (Gopen, 2005). We encourage allowing students space in their reflections to comment on their learning process itself, including their engagement level in class, challenges faced.

In lieu of a final examination, consider an alternative assignment focused on a skills development learning goal instead of a content‐based learning goal (see Backwards design). For instance, written analyses of datasets or journal articles are valuable ways to assess the development of key academic skills students have developed through class paper discussions and other course components. If community‐building was a critical course goal, consider allowing these final analyses to be performed collaboratively by student groups.

8. LABORATORY RECOMMENDATIONS

Animal behavior laboratories are often immersive, hands‐on, and require working with live animals. At first glance, adjusting for a face‐to‐face physically distant laboratory experience, let alone a fully online one, may feel somewhere between arduous and impossible. And yet, with careful choices and planning, one can offer meaningful and intellectually rewarding laboratory experiences, including authentic and collaborative research opportunities. Keep in mind that laboratories do not need to be weekly stand‐alone exercises, and students can benefit from multiple‐week and term‐long projects. By carefully scaffolding these projects with multiple small assignments that culminate in a final paper, proposal, poster, or presentation, laboratory time can be used to support student efforts and encourage peer‐to‐peer sharing. For instance, several of us typically teach our face‐to‐face courses with only a few weeks of “standard” laboratory exercises developed to teach basic observation skills, ethogram construction, use of event recorders, and experimental design. The remaining weeks of laboratory are used to support term‐long research projects that could include the following: collaborative studies at local zoos, aquaria or animal shelters, and/or the development of mock grant proposals (Section 6 above). While these laboratories still require careful redesign for the remote format, the structure reduces the total number of “topic‐based” laboratories that need to be reimagined for the remote learning environment. Below we offer some suggestions.

8.1. Physically distanced in‐person laboratories

During the pandemic, laboratory rooms generally need to be at 30%–50% capacity to meet the guidelines for physical distancing (based on room size). As a result, only one third to one half of the typical number of students can be present at any time. A cohort approach is the best because it does not require additional instructors or physical laboratory space; choose the most important laboratories and cycle subsets of students through those laboratories over the course of the term, possibly putting the remainder of the laboratories online. Alternatively, shorten the in‐person time spent in the laboratory room and have cohorts arrive at different times: For example, half of the students arrive for the first 2 hr, clean the laboratory for 15 min, and then the other half arrive for the last 2 hr. In‐person laboratories are made all the more complex by the requirement to wear masks and all the ramifications that result (discussed in Section 2.2, above) apply here. Behavior laboratories that meet outside can allow for more physical distancing and reduced viral transmission rates. Laboratories that focus on observing animals in the field can use this approach effectively. Staggering the times that students come to the field site can reduce contact time, but can be logistically difficult. Thus, easily accessible on‐campus sites should be prioritized when possible, and safely managing travel to off‐campus sites by car or public transportation should be carefully considered.

8.2. Online remote laboratories (synchronous or asynchronous)

When deciding whether a given laboratory activity should be conducted synchronously or asynchronously, consider the structure of the laboratory exercises and the expected amount of student‐to‐student collaboration. Some ideas for remote laboratories include the following.

8.2.1. Fieldwork

Students could do field observations remotely, near their homes. Depending on the student's location, birds, squirrels, insect pollinators, cockroaches, flies, ants, and spiders may be readily available subjects. Students could use community science mobile applications like eBird and iNaturalist to submit checklists of observations (be mindful of data quality), submit short videos of behavior they observe near their homes, or conduct independent research projects. One important consideration for remote fieldwork is that it is hard to ensure student safety, even in local public parks (see Mock, 2020; #BlackBirdersWeek, #BlackInNature). Minority, LGBTQIA2+, and female students alone in the field are vulnerable targets (#MeToo, Flaherty, 2017). To overcome this obstacle, one can suggest observations in a public zoo or private backyards. This may not work for all students, so we recommend a flexible approach that allows students to choose between fieldwork and remote subjects.

8.2.2. Remote subjects

There are many excellent sources of study subjects including live nest cams, zoo livestream feeds, pre‐recorded videos of animals (Table 2), or experimental trials that are video‐recorded by the instructor or colleagues. Additionally, instructors could opt to post video recordings of the same animals that students would have typically viewed in‐person during a laboratory exercise. Students could view these recordings and do much of the same work they would have done in person. Libraries of sound recordings (Table 3) also have great potential for use in remote laboratory exercises, especially when coupled with open‐source audio visualization software (Audacity, etc).

TABLE 2.

Example live webcams and pre‐recorded videos

Live Webcam	URL	Highlights (more on site)
Audubon	https://www.audubon.org/birdcams	Live bird and nest cams
Cornell Labs	https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/explore‐the‐new‐bird‐cams‐website/	Variety of live bird cams from across the United States, Canada, Panama, Caribbean, and New Zealand
Explore	https://explore.org/livecams	Live cams of many wild and captive species from all over the world
Georgia Aquarium	https://www.georgiaaquarium.org/webcam/beluga‐whale‐webcam/	Variety of vertebrates; Beluga, sea lions, alligators, southern sea otter, puffins
Monterey Aquarium	https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live‐cams	Variety of marine organisms; coral reef, jellyfish, sharks, sea otters, kelp forest, open sea cam
San Diego Zoo	https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/live‐cams	Variety of vertebrates: hippo, platypus, baboon, polar bear, apes, tigers, elephants, giraffes, koalas, penguins, burrowing owl, and condor
Smithsonian National Zoo	https://nationalzoo.si.edu/webcams	Variety of mammals: black‐footed ferrets, elephants, panda, cheetah, naked mole rat, lions

TABLE 3.

Example sites to find sound recordings

Taxon	Site
Anurans	https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/frogquiz/; List of Call and Video Files on AmphibiaWeb; Frog Watch | UserGroup
Birds	http://xeno‐canto.org https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/ https://blb.osu.edu/
Cetaceans	https://patternradio.withgoogle.com/
Insects	https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/3559/soundlibrary.html; http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/walker/buzz/
Rodents	https://mousetube.pasteur.fr/

8.2.3. At‐home study subjects

If budget permits, mailing kits to each student's home is also possible: Aphids, bean beetles, ants, and zooplankton are all reasonable possibilities. Students can make observations, construct ethograms, develop and test simple experiments, and present results to peers. However, if the instructor's ability to oversee humane and ecologically appropriate endpoints for these animals is uncertain, we advise against this approach.

8.2.4. Datasets

Datasets can be used effectively to help students test hypotheses, analyze data, and practice graphical construction and interpretation. Such datasets can come from the published literature, community science mobile apps (see Section 10, below), the instructor and colleagues’ personal research, and/or previous class‐based laboratory exercises.

8.2.5. Collaborative studies

Remote students can still collaborate in groups. For example, pairs of students living in different geographic regions can agree to a study plan and then combine observations to make comparisons across populations. Similarly, teams of students can examine nest cam options, conduct basic observations of at‐home study subjects, or review potential datasets. Teams could develop a research question and sampling methodology together, and share data collection and analysis duties. If students work on laboratory projects in groups, time should be provided for the collaborative process.

Given the pandemic, many animal behavior classes worldwide will be conducted online. This unique situation provides opportunity for global collaborations (Section 1.3) on laboratory projects with an explicit geographic component—something that would be difficult for students to explore in a typical face‐to‐face format.

9. OFFICE HOURS RECOMMENDATIONS

Instructor–student interactions, including those that occur outside the classroom and in office hours, are essential for student success, especially in asynchronous formats (Cokley, 2000; Delaney, 2008; Wallace & Wallace, 2001). Unfortunately, many students do not attend office hours due to insecurity about interacting with instructors one‐on‐one, time constraints, or because they are not aware of the benefits (Briody et al., 2019). A remote format for class and/or office hours can further exacerbate low office hour attendance. Thus, a conscientious effort should be made to encourage participation. See Box 5 for specific suggestions.

Box 5. Encouraging participation in online office hours.

What is in a name? Consider reframing “office hours” as “student hours.” Explicitly discuss how this time enables students to interact directly with their instructor and peers. Let students know that they can use this time to improve comprehension of course material and assignment expectations, as well as obtain general mentoring. Encourage attendance even if students do not have specific questions; they can “work independently, together” until questions arise.

Jump start attendance: Consider encouraging attendance within the first two weeks by making student attendance one of the first low‐stakes assignments.

Keep reminding: Frequently intersperse reminders of the times and benefits of student hours during check‐in emails and when lectures, laboratories, and assignments feature challenging content.

Be consistent: Even if attendance is low, remain available at allotted student hour times, turning off video and audio until students arrive.

Be inclusive and flexible: Enable LMS chat rooms so those attending can participate non‐verbally. Allow questions to be posted in advance, review these questions during student hours, and consider posting summaries on the discussion board, so all students can benefit. Let students know that if your scheduled student hours do not work for them, alternative times can be scheduled. Technology suggestions for scheduling group meetings include calendars within the LMS or sites such as Google Calendar and When2meet.

10. RESOURCE AND SOFTWARE RECOMMENDATIONS

An overwhelming variety of software is available that can enhance online instruction, including those that enhance student engagement, allow for data collection, and incorporate community science. We have highlighted many of these in the sections above. As with other course content decisions, let your learning goals drive your selections. We recommend minimizing the number of new tools that your students must learn; focus on a few key tools that will facilitate high‐impact learning and that students will use throughout the semester (i.e., the Triple‐E Framework; Kolb, 2017). This will allow you to provide training and support as students develop proficiency with each tool, which might include helping students secure access to the technology (e.g., loaner devices or through small grants). Furthermore, keeping it simple will keep students focused on exploring animal behavior, not learning course software. We provide a concise list of tools that you can consider, and what you might do with them, in Table 4.

11. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Instructors are both creators and consumers of intellectual property, so both sides should be considered. Most of us assume that we have control over our own behavior course content, as we created it, and creators of a document are normally the first copyright holder. However, intellectual property rights vary widely across jurisdictions and institutions. For example, in many jurisdictions, there is a rule under copyright law that work "made for hire" is actually owned by the employer, unless there is an agreement to the contrary. It is important therefore to find answers to the following questions: Does the instructor maintain the intellectual property rights once the course is posted to the LMS? If the instructor does not, and they deliver their course asynchronously, can the institution reuse the instructor's course materials without them? Can the institution sell the instructor's course materials to other institutions, without the instructor's permission or knowledge? Understanding the rules governing online teaching at the instructor's institution may influence the approach they adopt in course design.

We encourage instructors to conduct a fair‐use (also known as fair dealing) analysis to determine whether permission is required to use material for their class. To do so, determine whether the material lies in the public domain is open access, or whether others hold the copyright. Libraries and campus bookstores are often willing to help with assessing whether material meets the institution's policies, and help obtain permission to use material. Instructors can also take steps to clarify how their intellectual property may be used. For example, one can include statements in the syllabus stating that only the instructor may record class meetings and lectures, and that these will only be posted securely within the LMS for use by enrolled students.

12. CONCLUSION

All teaching is a work in progress; although online teaching may not be our first choice, remember that a growth mindset benefits us and our students alike. Your course is unlikely to be (and does not need to be) perfect on the first day of the class. As we tell our students, you will learn by doing. Be comfortable with that, and make space for your learning as the term progresses. Ask your students for anonymous feedback and discuss how you are responding to their comments. Take advantage of peer teaching expertise both at your institution and via the professional networks that have emerged (see Early Considerations and Recommendations; Seek Support, above). Keep track of common questions that arise on assignments and problems that you discover in the course structure so that you can improve in future classes. While we all hope for a return to face‐to‐face teaching soon, planning for more than one term in which a significant component of coursework is online may be wise.

Hughes M, Bertram SM, Young AM, et al. Teaching animal behavior online: A primer for the pandemic and beyond. Ethology. 2020;127:14–31. 10.1111/eth.13096