Developing an Online Seminar to Support Students New to Distance Learning - Fall 2020 - Issue 4

Oct 15, 2026

An elective, fully online seminar was rapidly deployed in Spring 2020 to help UC Davis students transitioning to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The course taught time management and self-care, emphasizing guided discussion, weekly reflective writing, and application-based homework. Student feedback and survey responses indicated reduced stress, more peer-to-peer interaction opportunities, and valuable content. In Fall 2020, the seminar will run again with refined assessment tools and open-access materials.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Methods

Course design and delivery

Assessment approach

Table 1: Seminar topics (Ten-week course)

Preliminary results

| | Ad | vances in Engineering Edu | cation | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | FALL 2020 VOLUME 8 NUMBER 4 Developing an Online Seminar to Support Students New to Distance Learning SUSAN P. GENTRY JULIA M. CHAMBERLAIN COLLEEN E. BRONNER University of California, Davis Davis, CA ABSTRACT To aid students transitioning to distance learning environments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an elective seminar was rapidly deployed to teach professional skills and promote community. The seminar focused on guiding students in their development as self-regulated learners through topics including time management, wellness, and reflecting on their progress. The course was first offered during the Spring 2020 quarter. Student feedback indicated that the seminar reduced student stress, increased opportunities for peer-to-peer interactions, and delivered useful content. In Fall 2020, the course will be offered again with refined course assessment tools; course materials are posted for open access. Key words: distance learning, student development, study behaviors INTRODUCTION The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted teaching and learning worldwide in March 2020. Although online courses are becoming more commonplace in higher education, many college students were unprepared for online instruction for all courses. Students also experienced pandemic-related disruptions in living arrangements, financial resources, and connections to academic and social communities (Brown and Mangan 2020; Brown and Kafka 2020) . At the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), a large public institution, many students were anxious about their academic success for an online-only Spring 2020 quarter and initially expressed concerns about “feeling overwhelmed” and“falling behind on material” during the term. Furthermore, many students lacked the technology or FALL 2020 VOLUME 8 NUMBER 4 1 ADVANCES IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION Developing an Online Seminar to Support Students New to Distance Learning expertise to navigate the distance learning courses developed by their instructors. In response to students’ concerns, we implemented an elective seminar course to teach relevant skills and provide a supportive community for UC Davis students transitioning to distance learning and managing challenges caused by the pandemic. The following question guided our course design: Can a seminar course support students’ time management and holistic wellness while reducing their stress? METHODS When fully online instruction was announced in March 2020, we created a one-unit seminar titled“Strategies for Success in Online Learning.” This elective, ten-week course taught practical skills such as time management and self-care; a full list of topics is given in Table 1. The course emphasized student discussion so that at least 15 minutes of each 50-minute seminar were reserved for guided discussion of the week’s topic. Students were evaluated pass/no pass based on synchronous class participation, weekly reflective writing, and application-based homework (e. g., creating a wellness plan) . The course was rapidly developed since there were only 15 days between the campus announcement of distance learning and the start of the spring quarter. As such, we utilized two course series that were already in use for special topics. Three seminar sections were implemented through the UC Davis First-Year Seminar program, which offers many small topical seminars to promote student engagement. Four additional sections were offered as an engineering departmental “Directed Group | Table 1. List of seminar topics for the ten-week seminar.
Week Seminar Topics
Week 1 Setting course expectations (Supiano 2020) Acknowledging disruptions to learning | | | --- | --- | | Week 2 | Strategies for successful online learning
Making a plan for the quarter | | Week 3 | Time management and making a weekly plan | | Week 4 | Self-care and th

FAQs

Why was the online seminar created for UC Davis students?

It was launched to support students transitioning to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing concerns about feeling overwhelmed, falling behind, and lacking technology or expertise for online coursework.

How was student learning assessed in the seminar?

Students were evaluated pass/no pass based on synchronous class participation, weekly reflective writing, and application-based homework such as creating a wellness plan.

What topics were included in the ten-week seminar?

The seminar covered course expectations, strategies for online learning, time management and weekly planning, self-care and wellness dimensions, reflection, psychological obstacles, remote communication, motivation, exam preparation, and celebrating success.

Oct 15, 2026

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