The purpose of this article is to illustrate an innovative teaching and learning method developed to address the limitations of 'normal' classroom instruction during the unprecedented health crisis of 2020. The course redesign for the digital classroom discussed in this paper details one instructor's journey of adjusting to a new way of teaching, like most other teachers across the globe, with only a moment's notice. With the help of an on-campus teaching and learning center, discussions with colleagues, and previous knowledge of online learning, the instructor delivered an online learning experience for students that proved more efficient and effective than the previous traditional offline course formats. Specifically, the instructor was able to capitalize on the successes of two redesigned projects for the digital classroom and ultimately develop a redesigned curriculum for a Public Speaking course that replaced the pre-COVID-19 course curriculum. The rewritten projects for the Public Speaking course detailed in this article not only met the course's learning goals but allowed students to thrive in a virtual-only environment carefully created to invite engagement and participation at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite being pandemic-driven, this revised class format and accompanying lessons learned for the digital classroom have been adopted across all the instructor's classes. The course updates are a superior method of engaging students and motivating them to prepare more, as evidenced by student feedback and assessments.