This past week Viola Mankore and I were reviewing the data from our instructor surveys and interviews and we came across a sentiment voiced by more than one instructor. These instructors were frustrated with teaching in an online synchronous environment (BBCU, Zoom, Teams) and were especially frustrated by students who didn’t want to turn on their cameras. “How do you know if they are paying attention if you can’t see their face?”. In my role, I mainly work with instructors and other NorQuest personnel, so I hadn’t really given it much thought. So, I asked Viola if she had the same concern as those instructors. Viola has taught large classes in the nursing program and has moved between F2F and online instruction many times. For Viola, cameras on or cameras off is not something to be concerned about. She prefers to focus on whether or not the students are actually learning. As Viola was quick to point out, there are many other ways to find out if the students are following and understanding (chat, online games, polls, posting apps like Padlet or Jamboard, exit slips, surveys, one-on-one conversations, etc.). Expecting/demanding students to turn on their cameras just might be one way to damage classroom community rather than enhance it. Some of our students could see it as a needless invasion of their privacy. They didn’t sign up to be put on display, they signed up to learn, and perhaps they learn best when the camera is off. There are many reasons why a student might be reluctant to turn on their camera:
Ultimately, Viola asserted, we have to ask ourselves: “What is the educational purpose for turning on the camera?” There may be situations when it may be important to have a camera on. For instance, a business instructor might plan an activity where students take part in mock interviews. How the students present themselves on camera is an important consideration. However, such an assignment or lesson would be pre-planned. Students would know ahead of time and they would dress appropriately, choose the best location to partake in the interviews (Wi-Fi, ambient noise and backdrop considerations), and ask roommates to find an alternative space to work while they do the activity. None the less, I can still relate to those instructors who are frustrated by the no cameras and no microphone student “participants”. Often, when I run sessions or partake in meetings, I find myself wondering if I actually know the person behind the icon or initials at the bottom of the screen, especially if their name is unfamiliar! As one instructor shared, “I’ve taught them [the students] for several months, but I still wouldn’t be able to pick out many of my students if their photos were placed in a police blotter!" Some instructors told me that they have coped with this issue of student facelessness by making short welcome introductory videos themselves and then asking students to do the same and thereby introduce themselves to the group through text, pictures and/or videos. Having students write a short introduction and post an accompanying picture on a Padlet page or collecting short video introductions through an app like Flipgrid allows the students to control just when and how they share of themselves. If they want to make a recording in their messy bedroom wearing PJs, it is up to them. But some might choose to find a different venue and use a different approach. And some might choose not do the introductions for reasons we may not understand but we must respect. Several related readings on this topic of camera use can be found in the links provided below. The first is a blog post from Celia Ann Evans, the Associate Director of Engineering Learning Initiatives at Cornell. Celia unpacks some research that her colleagues did on the issue of camera use. The researchers concluded that it is best not to demand students put on their cameras for many of the reasons that Viola and I identified. If it is a major concern for the instructor, perhaps the instructor should be explicit about why camera use is encouraged (not expected) and reinforce the pedagogical value of this type of connection. Instructors might also use games, humour and even memes to encourage camera use, and show students how to upload profile pictures and backgrounds so they might guard their privacy while still having a presence in the online classroom. The second link is to an article from Karen Costa (a Faculty Developer) and her answer on this question of requiring students to keep their camera on is very clear: “The short answer is no, absolutely not, because requiring students to be on camera is contrary to everything we know about universal design for learning, about inclusive and trauma-aware teaching practices, and about making effective use of the affordances of online learning.” Karen suggests a number of ways we can connect with students, with or without cameras. Links: Lights! Camera!…Cameras? Navigating the Complex Issue of Visual Connection in Zoom - Celia Ann Evans https://englearning.engineering.cornell.edu/2021/04/19/lights-camera-cameras-navigating-the-complex-issue-of-visual-connection-in-zoom/ Cameras Be Damned – Karen Costa https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cameras-damned-karen-costa/
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In the past few weeks I have been reflecting on teacher leadership, and more specifically, the roles of team lead, associate chair and chair. While the role might seem appealing to many, it strikes me that anyone considering taking on one of these roles might first need to do a bit of soul searching. Teacher leaders that I have worked with over the years have all shared how difficult the transition could be. One day they were just another colleague, sharing a laugh in the faculty lunch area and the next day they have “gone over to the dark side” and “become one of them”. Their motives, decisions, work habits and leadership style became fair game to be questioned by others, and they felt like they lived in a bit of a fish bowl. That is not to say that these people didn’t enjoy being in this leadership position, they just had to learn that actually working in the position was a little different from observing it as another instructor. Teacher leaders are called upon to provide real and timely leadership in three different ways; they need to provide professional, administrative and instructional leadership. Depending on the size of the department and the duties assigned, this can mean: advocating for students and faculty, balancing budgets, mapping out the scope and sequence of a program, assigning course loads, scheduling classes, problem solving, and dealing with challenging personalities. On top of all these tasks, teacher leaders must be change agents, advocating for quality practice, encouraging professional reflection, and pressing for improved student learning and achievement. Complicating all of this is the fact that roles like team lead or associate chair are usually term appointments and often come with a considerable teaching load in addition to leadership responsibilities. People in these roles have said that they feel caught between two worlds; they aren’t really in the overall leadership team and stream, but they are no longer in the community of instructors. Stepping into such leadership is not easy; the work cannot be done half-heartedly. So why would one bother to take on such a role? So why take on teacher leadership?Teacher leaders have a single guiding purpose - to build capacity in others. They use their talents to influence, shape, support, and catalyze change that results in increased student achievement. Their actions reveal their fundamental belief that they more they build capacity in others, the more they contribute to sustaining long-term, deep transformation that allows others to address today’s challenges and to be prepared for facing those that arise tomorrow. (Killion, 2011, p. 11) I love this quote from Joellen Killion. Although it refers more to those who take on teacher leadership roles in the K-12 system, I think it captures the essence of why instructors consider taking on academic leadership roles like team lead, project lead, associate chair, or chair. For the most part, people take on these roles because they want to make a difference, a difference for the students and for the staff that they have come to know so well. In addition to the need to make a difference for students and colleagues, those looking to move into leadership roles may also be enticed to do so for any combination of six different factors:
Who should take on such a role? From my experience, there is no one profile of the ideal candidate for an academic leadership position. I have seen very different types become very successful leaders. Some of these people saw an associate chair position as a stepping stone in their career; they had their sights on institutional leadership (Look out Carolyn, here I come!). Others were almost reluctant leaders. They hated to leave their classrooms and the students who gave them energy, but they also felt an obligation to the program, to their colleagues and to the students, to take on a leadership role that might ensure the viability of the program. Regardless of how or why each stepped into the role, all of these new leaders needed to develop a new set of skills. Working with students in an online or face-to-face environment is much different from working with colleagues who are masters in their own domain. A teacher leader’s greatest challenge is in building trust, gaining credibility, and establishing purposeful, productive relationships. These leaders are sometimes faced with apathetic, reluctant or resistant colleagues. Often, they are “caught in the middle”, having to roll out unpopular or demanding decisions or initiatives that they might have previously had questions about. This delicate challenge means that they must instead use credibility and kinship as practicing instructors to gently lead–through encouragement, support and even courageous conversations. As such, effective leadership involves constant negotiation and it requires tremendous flexibility, tact and perseverance. What are the keys to success? Some of the important leadership actions or processes that prospective teacher leaders might ask themselves about before making the leap have to do with:
Several years ago, I asked successful “teacher leaders” to share their strategies for creating positive working relationships with their colleagues. They suggested that life will go easier if you:
References: Killion, J. (2011). A bold move forward: consortium outlines new standards for teacher leaders. Journal of Staff Development, 32 (3), 10-12. Kuntz, J. (2015). Exploring the Experience of AISI Instructional Teacher Leaders. (Doctoral Thesis) University of Alberta. Department of Secondary Education. Accessed online at: https://era.library.ualberta.ca/downloads/41687m37h (Permanent link) Early conceptions of mentorship When I was younger, I had a very narrow view of mentorship. I think this view was rooted in my knowledge of literature and popular culture. Mentors were sages, who dripped with wisdom while they led you to discover inner truths about your purpose in life and how to fulfill the role you were predestined for. In my mind, mentors were individuals like Merlin was to young Wart (future King Arthur), or Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi were to Luke. I didn’t really think I had mentors, and I certainly never thought that I would be in a position to mentor anyone. This conception of mentoring started to change once I became a teacher (38 years ago!). I needed mentorship! As a young educator, far from family (3000 kms) and what I considered to be home, I struggled in isolation with the demands of teaching, and with providing instruction and guidance to teens. In my first week of teaching I had one student tell me that “My dad says I don’t really have to listen to you; you’re only a kid!” (To be fair, I was pretty young looking and only 21.). I also had a parent tell me: “If my kid steps out of line, just cuff him across the back of the head. You have my permission. It’s the only thing that seems to work.” This was not something I was going to do. Complicating matters even more, I was the new English and French teacher. There were those in the small community who viewed the young teacher from the big city university with suspicion: “Just what outlandish ideas and viewpoints will he be telling our kids? And who really needs French anyways?” At first, I thought that my principal, John, would be the best mentor. He was a skilled educator and he was taking his Master’s in Educational Leadership while he provided direction to our small school. However, very soon I learned that I could not be totally open and vulnerable with John. While he had his role as educational leader on our campus, he was also responsible for assessing his cadre of teachers. And every time I came to him with my challenges in classroom management, he could not help but make “mental notes” about my struggles, which somehow ended up on my teacher evaluations. As well, his notion of discipline (leaning towards intimidation and the threat of corporal punishment) did not mesh with my desire to create a learning climate based upon engagement rather than compliance. It was hard to navigate, especially when I was uncertain in my own approach and the culture of the school was out of synch from my own experience. Soon I learned to come to John only with my deeper, philosophical questions about the whys and wherefores in teaching and chose not to discuss classroom dynamics with him. John liked to “hold forth”; he had much to share in terms of effective planning and assessment. I’d sit in his office and take in his wisdom, while he pondered pedagogy, puffing on his pipe. (Yes, back then they did smoke in the schools!) I learned a lot from John. As for mentorship about classroom routines, rules and relationships, I went to another colleague, Jake. Jake taught Science and Math, and he was easy to talk to. He was not prescriptive but self-deprecating and collaborative. Jake had taught off and on, taking some years off to work as a bricklayer to make some “real money” (Christian schools didn’t pay very well…) before jumping back into the profession he loved. Jake had had his struggles with classroom management and could relate to many of the challenges I was going through. He was/is a gentle, kind soul, and sometimes the students could take advantage of that. Jake’s wife was also a teacher, and they would invite the young guy to their house for dinner and conversation. It was a great place to visit, to play games with their kids and feel comfortable and listened to. At that time, I could only hope that someday I might pass on the same kind of mentorship that I received from both John and Jake. Mentorship in its many forms Fast forward 38 years! Last week Miranda Hui and I attended a virtual conference on mentorship hosted by the Taylor Institute (the University of Calgary). As Faculty Developers, we were looking at the possibility of starting some kind of cross-faculty, interdisciplinary, mentorship program at NorQuest. What could we learn from other post-secondary institutions? How might a program be structured or supported? How could the program be encouraged and yet voluntary, allowing participants to make a match based upon need, personality and perspective? What kinds of activities and conversations might mentor and mentee engage in? How might such an endeavor help our faculty and ultimately, our students? And privately–we wondered–could effective mentorship ever be organized? Or does mentorship happen organically, when professionals find “kindred spirits” or go searching for “critical friends” so they can grow in practice and pedagogy? I’m not sure that we found answers to all our questions, but we did make a lot of great contacts and we discovered some wonderful resources to share with our faculty and guide whatever plan we might come with. Some of the things that we learned or further affirmed at the conference are that:
Anyways, that’s the thought. Now I need to check with my mentors, to see what they think! Reference Barrette-Ng, N., Nowell, L., Anderson, S.J., Arcellana-Panlilio, M., Brown, B., Chalhoub, S., Clancy, T.L., Desjardine, P., Dorland, A.M., Dyjur, P., Mueller, K., Reid, L., Squance, R., Towers, J., & Wilcox, G. (2019). The Mentorship Guide for Teaching and Learning. Calgary, AB: Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning Guide Series. Let's get started...Several years ago, when I was teaching face to face, I would very often start class with a “Do Now”. This meant that, after attending to classroom set-up and after connecting with the early bird students who wanted to chat, I’d share a PowerPoint slide that would ask students to consider a quote, answer a question or solve a problem. The expectation was that they were to roll up their sleeves and get to work doing a bit of heavy thinking—thinking that would springboard us into the overall theme for the day’s lesson. I’ll give you an example. Here’s a Do Now from a lesson just after the students had finished reading/viewing A Streetcar Named Desire: Do Now: censorship and values! When this play was originally written and performed it was quite controversial. When the play was adapted for film, there were some significant changes (Consider the article posted in Moodle.). How do you feel about the way in which Streetcar deals with social issues like promiscuity, spousal abuse, homosexuality, and mental health? Would the play be as controversial (and relevant) if it opened on Broadway today? Take five to ten minutes to quietly write your response in your journal and then be prepared to share your observations with an elbow partner. The students dove into the topic. They were motivated; a number had confessed that the play had made them uneasy and even angry. Obviously, it was a huge topic—not one that could be properly addressed in five minutes. In fact, as I remember, I ended up letting them chew on these questions for a half an hour or longer (writing and discussing in pairs), before I brought them back and started our collective discussion. And it was exactly these individual student feelings that I was looking to leverage as we began to tackle some of the major themes in Tennessee Williams's play. Starting the lesson off with these big questions, and asking students to reflect and discuss—before we explored the questions together—provided students with an opportunity to voice their perspective, become more invested, and take an active role in the lessons that followed. Obviously not every lesson or topic will evoke the same kind of emotional response as the one above, but it is important to try and hook our students-to create an “anticipatory set”—and Do Nows certainly help with this. Over the years I have seen instructors ask students to:
In each case, the instructors used the Do Now for a variety of reasons:
Yes but, online?Some instructors have told me that they can no longer teach in this way. They’ve said that the kinds of activities they previously did (like Do Nows), just don’t transfer into an online environment. They feel like all they can do now is talk at the students and hope that they are listening. But I’m not sure I would agree. It’s just a matter of leveraging some of the tools afforded to us and learning to frame and scaffold meaningful online reflection and discussion. For instance, if we look at the example above from A Streetcar Named Desire or any of the other ideas I shared, I could see the same kinds of prompt and activity being used:
Now I know that some instructors would say that they can’t afford to give up this much class time for such an activity. Perhaps. But our job is not to simply regurgitate the curricula and cover all the concepts. Our job is to: 1) engage the students, 2) compel them to get invested in the topics, 3) see themselves as future professionals in their field, and 4) create educational opportunities that allow them to react, respond and employ critical judgement. Besides, not every Do Now has to be as involving as the one I shared on Streetcar. Most Do Nows can be done in 10 to 15 minutes – pricking interest, soliciting feedback and sharing a few perspectives. Do Nows might also provide a bit of spark for those who are looking to break up 2-3 hour online synchronous classes and make these classes interactive and “value added” rather than passive and draining (a synchronous lecture that might be watched later at 1.5 times speed). |
AuthorJeff Kuntz Ph.D. ImagesExcept where indicated, images used in the blog posts are personal photos, images from NorQuest College or images from Pixabay. Pixabay is a vibrant community of creatives, sharing copyright free images, videos and music. https://pixabay.com/ Archives
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