Linking Learning Asynchronous to Synchronous Friday SoTL Canada Last Friday I took part in the first ever SoTL Canada Roadshow. Approximately 50 educational researchers from colleges and universities across Canada participated in a Zoom call to discuss how Covid-19 has affected their inquiries into teaching and learning. In this musing, I’d like to share with you just how the meeting was conducted, and not what was discussed (that’s another musing). In specific, I’d like to quickly share how we did breakout rooms. The organizers came up with nine different topics for the breakouts. Each question had a different wrinkle on how Covid-19 may or may not have affected our work. These questions were carefully laid out on a google doc that was shared with us through a link in the chat box. The google doc also explained the process and the roles we were to use while working through our discussion. The process was simple: 1) introduce yourselves and your context, 2) assign roles quickly (order of birthdays?), and 3) carry out a focused discussion. The roles were as following:
We had a very productive discussion and it is easy to see why:
High quality learning experiences take thoughtfulness and planning, and this “roadshow” was certainly well-planned. Thursday’s Talking Circle Curiously enough, what I experienced in the SoTL Canada Roadshow very much aligned with what I had been hearing from some our dedicated faculty only the day before. At least three different instructors mentioned that they use the breakout rooms in a very similar way. In the face of Covid-19 and the move to online instruction, they had found ways to make learning focused, personally relevant, engaging, and accountable. This is an encouraging aspect of the Covid-19 lockdown year. From my work with faculty, from my discussions with other faculty developers, and from the data Viola and I are going through, I can see that the pandemic has challenged educators to rethink their planning and practices, their activities and assessments, and their modes and methodologies in a very productive way. We’ve seen a bit of a “leap forward” as many teachers, instructors and professors closely examine not only what they teach, but how they might teach it to ensure engagement and proficiency. Last Thursday, we held another Faculty Talking Circle. This one asked instructors to share their favorite kinds of tools, activities and assignments when connecting asynchronous and synchronous learning. More specifically, we asked:
What follows is a bit of a summary of what I learned from my colleagues. Keeping students engaged and connected throughout the course. According to Thursday’s participants, engagement starts with quality course design. In addition to focusing on content and concepts, think about:
Facilitating Asynchronously
Asynchronous work should not feel disconnected from the rest of the course, like a modern-day iteration of the old “distance learning” that many students had to do for their high school option courses (mailing lessons off to Barrhead to be reviewed and assessed). What Covid-19 has shown us is that there are many different ways to involve students in meaningful inquiry, engage them in asynchronous discussion and collaboration, and build on concepts, skills and understandings highlighted in synchronous lessons. Thursday’s instructors urged us all to:
Facilitating Synchronously While it was always challenging to keep students following during lengthy face-to-face lecture classes, the move to online instruction has compounded this. Instructors shared that, initially, their synchronous classes were either 1) online versions of their old face-to-face PPT lectures, or lengthy and very chatty check-ins with the students that had little educational value. First attempts using breakout rooms were chaotic, staying on top of the chat and students statuses was challenging, and getting students to ask good questions or respond to teacher questions was like pulling teeth. Over time, these same instructors learned to:
Other ideas that emerged from the session:
Thanks to all the instructors who participated in either the morning or afternoon session! We will have another Faculty Talking Circle next week Friday (the 23rd). Not sure what the topic will be. Suggestions?
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Student Survey (a few quick observations)
As part of our research study into the transition to online teaching due to Covid-19, Viola and I sent a survey out to NorQuest students, to see if their experiences align with instructor perception and experience. One week in, we already have 400 student responses! Now properly examining and unpacking such a data set will require a considerable amount of time and focus, but I thought I might share just a few tidbits. The students considered a number of closed and open questions, but the two that were the most interesting were:
Concerning “what works”, the two most frequently mentioned aspects were 1) the ability to watch pre-recorded lectures or recordings of the synchronous classes on their own time and in their own way (25), and 2) the flexibility of online learning so they could plan their own schedules around work, family commitments and other class work (17). Quite a number of students also remarked on how the online experience has saved them time and money with no commute and a flexible schedule (13). Students also wrote that they appreciated instructors who used the tech effectively (“BBU lessons are awesome!”), especially when the instructors use the chat and microphones well, weave in games, breakouts & polls, and maintained regular communication through check-ins, forums and messaging (8). Several students remarked that “Moodle organization has improved” (6), PowerPoints and lectures are more concise (3), and that instructors are giving more clarity about expectations between lessons (3). In addition, there were students who confessed that the online experience has taught them more about tech and that they have become much more self-disciplined (4). The list of what wasn’t working for the students ran a little bit longer. Okay, a fair bit longer. Here are some of the issues that bubbled to the top of the list (so far, I’ve only got through 200 or so of the 400 responses):
Of course, it is early in the data analysis stage, but I thought I might share some of the findings. There seems to be several very different groups of students going through this change: those who are actually thriving in a flexible environment where they can watch recordings and take charge of their learning, those who feel disconnected and long for the in-person connections, and those who are challenged by the technology and demands of online connectivity. Moreover, a great deal depends on who their instructors are and just how engaging they build their asynchronous and synchronous environments. I hope we might address some of these findings in the talking circle on Friday. Learning with and from Faculty…
This past week I had the chance to learn a lot from our faculty. On Friday we held the second Faculty Talking Circle. While the first Talking Circle focused on “Making a Community Online” (Belonging), the second circle dealt with “Learning about Teaching – courtesy of COVID” (Mastery). Eighteen faculty participated in the exchange of teaching ideas, tips and tools. A business instructor said that she builds community in her classes through the use of WhatsApp (instant messaging). Many of our students are already very familiar with this app and creating groups so you can share ideas, remind students of deadline, and just chat has proved invaluable. As one participant remarked: “Email is something that old people use to communicate, if you want to connect with students - you need something instant”. Several other instructors suggested just picking up the phone and calling individual students; the time investment pays off in the relationships built. One nursing instructor shared that she promotes engagement through Mentimeter (an interactive presentation app). She said that Mentimeter was easy to use and was not as competitive in nature as some other programs like Quizlet. Other applications and tech tools shared were Jeopardy Labs, VoiceThread and Loom. If you don’t know what these are or how you might use them, just google them. Or send me an email and I will connect you to a faculty member using them! But a significant part of the conversation just circled back to practices we know to be effective in both face-to-face teaching and online environments. Connections are built and interest sustained when you engage emotions, inject humor, and promote creativity. And the care and attention paid to setting expectations, clarifying roles, giving intermediate and overall deadlines, and ensuring contributions are just as important when putting student into online groups, as when we put students in group in our classrooms. In fact, perhaps even more important. It is easier to “supervise” groups in a classroom than it is to do so online. Joan shared that it is helpful to develop some simple “participant guidelines” for many different online tasks (wikis, forums, breakout groups, group project work, etc.), in order to avoid confusion and promote effective, on-task work. Last week I was also able to participate in Allison Fieldberg’s “Teaching Wheel” presentation for FSCS. Allison used the four main characters from “the Golden Girls” (a sitcom from the 80’s) to explain four different zones of online teaching. While teaching synchronously using Blackboard Ultra, Microsoft Teams, or other presentation programs seems to be “sexy” (like Blanche Devereaux), it can be difficult to get full participation, it can be hard to schedule, and it takes a fair bit of preparation. Alison advocated a more balanced approach so that teaching isn’t just concentrated presentations and Moodle assignments. Students can be supported through layers and levels of activities such as independent readings, online activities, collaborative documents, group chat, asynchronous discussion (forums and blogs), and pre-recorded audio and video. These activities were compared to the other three golden girls (Sophia, Rose and Dorothy), they may not be sexy, but they are golden all the same! Taking the challenge extended by Allison’s presentation (not everything needs to be sexy and synchronous!), and the need to “engage emotions, inject humor, and promote creativity” I decided to make a simple little music video using PPT and saving it as an MP4. The task would allow me to explore how best to share recordings (Dropbox, Google Drive or YouTube) and, at the same time, act on the Culture Q our that team was focusing on for the week (“Work at play and play at work”). The result was “Empty Chairs & Empty Classrooms” my cheesy interpretation of a song from Les Miserables. Here’s the link, https://youtu.be/9IfE_PiPoLs. Let me know what you think! I hope that it brings a wistful smile to your face. By the way, the best way that I found to share a big file like this is through personal YouTube accounts and making sure that students control their links. Other ways can work, but this is simplest. From your friendly neighborhood faculty developer… Last week, I sent out a meeting request to faculty for a Friday morning MSTEAMS meeting; a Faculty Talking Circle on Creating Community Online. It was a bit of an experiment, based upon some suggestions from Bev Suntjens and a couple of others. In the end 43 faculty joined us for an informal sharing session. It was a big group, but somehow we managed to share and compare quite a number of ways that instructors work to make their online environments a little less sterile and a little more connected. People suggested scavenger hunts (LINC students run and find object in their homes), chat cafes (leaving the link open before and after class so students can catch up), breakout rooms, chat board competitions, offline groups (through what’s app or Facebook Messenger), forums and wikis, and a whole host of other ideas. The Faculty Talking Circle was great, and I am thankful for the help of Joan and Sarah, especially when I had to shut my computer down and restart partly through the session. And that’s the reality of online teaching that just keeps coming back. Sometimes the technology works for us and sometimes it throws curve balls and we have to react quickly. Sometimes the WIFI works and sometimes we come across as garbled or as modern day equivalents of Max Headroom (for those of us who remember the 1980’s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt56RMbpq_0). Instructors have shared some of the challenges they faced in the past few weeks: 1) uneven attendance, 2) students who have limited or shared access to computers, 3) students who have financial or familial pressures that trump their schoolwork, 4) students who have little aptitude for technology, and 5) instructors (themselves) who are uncertain and unfamiliar with many of the online learning possibilities. Now, with the semester coming to a close for many of the programs, people are challenged with making sense of the experience and of assessment evidence that calls into question the hallmarks of quality: fairness, reliability, reliability, and rigor. Did my students get a fair deal this term? Can I confidently stand behind my assessment measures? Can I trust that the judgements I make about student progress are sound and reward diligence, understanding and the development of professional judgement? Of course, these are issues we struggle with every term, but the online environments have challenged us to look at assessments in new ways and has further raised concerns about academic integrity, honesty, fairness, and trust. And as I reflected on all of this, this past weekend, I kept coming back to three words: perseverance, resilience and thankfulness. I am constantly amazed at how most of our instructors and students have persevered through the challenges, and in the past week I heard from many who said they were ready to take the “next step”. They were interested in intentionally and pro-actively planning out their online experiences for the coming term, learning about and leveraging the online tools and the teaching strategies that they and their colleagues were discovering. As NorQuesters, we have shown a measure of resilience and determination, and that has served us well. Does that mean that there aren’t those who are struggling with the uncertainties brought about by this new reality? Certainly not! I’ve been hearing that students and staff alike have been accessing many of the supports found in NorQuest for both academic and mental health support. And I wonder how many more are just hunkering down and hiding their anxieties. I hope each of us, as NorQuesters, can keep a “weather-eye” out for colleagues and students who may be showing signs of the strain and stress and to find ways to support these people or help connect them to services that might assist them. But most of all, this weekend I found myself thinking about thankfulness. At this point, Alberta is not experiencing the wave of hospitalizations and ICU admittances that were initially predicted. Our province and our Chief Medical Health Officer (Deena Henshaw) have done an admirable job in limiting the effect of the virus. Having two front-liners in my house (a nurse and an HCA) I am especially thankful for that! And at NorQuest, we have, so far, managed to stay clear of the kinds of outbreaks that are plaguing various institutions and businesses across this province. And, as my week continues, I think I want to continue to focus on that, on thankfulness, and not on the moment-by-moment frustrations and fears brought on by the virus or changing technologies. The Great Hack of 2020… I continue to be amazed at how quickly that we, as a human race, have adapted to the present COVID 19 crisis. We’ve learned many lessons about social distancing, hygiene, and the difference between needs and wants. (You don’t really need that much toilet paper…) In the same vein, we have - as faculty, adapted very quickly in response to the COVID 19 crisis. Within a very short time, instructors have made the adjustment to teaching online. Just how have we done so? Well that’s a question that Viola Manakore and I hope to investigate in the coming weeks and months. And Viola and I are not alone, I know of several others, both inside and outside the college, who have an interest in studying this phenomenon. It is a fascinating and historic time in teaching, this “Great Teaching Hack of 2020”, and it is worth studying. This past weekend I spent time thinking about the factors that made the transition possible (Thanks Clara!). At first look I had to say that the transition could only happen because of 1) the urgency of the situation, 2) the teamwork mentality of instructors and leaders, 3) the professional support through workshops videos and tip sheets, and 4) the fact that NorQuest had IT capacity and timely IT support. But, digging deeper, I would have to say that the heavy lifting in making this transition was really upon the shoulders of our instructors. Our faculty stepped up, and I would suggest that many of you did so on the basis of four factors: Agency, Assurance, Adaptive Capacity and Authenticity. The COVID 19 crisis pushed our college in ways we never even imagined. It was like the perfect storm. In the past couple of years, we had been talking about disruption and innovation, but change comes slowly when things seem to be going just fine. Why change what is already working? At the same time, we have been going through a cultural change at the college, one that advocates for giving our employees more autonomy and the freedom to “work from anywhere”. People leaders were/are being challenged to stop micro-managing, trust their colleagues and empower them. And now COVID 19 forced us all to be innovative, work from anywhere, trust and empower! Whether they were comfortable with it or not, many instructors were given the agency to make changes to their delivery approach, planning and assessments in order to make whatever changes necessary in shifting their delivery. This newfound autonomy allowed you to take on the daunting but exciting challenge of re-thinking your whole approach to teaching. It asked you to use professional judgement, which is extremely empowering. Closely linked to this agency is the need to be intentional and reflective. Our present circumstance forced us all to visualize just how an online environment might be used to generate interest, provide support, build collaboration and conduct assessments. And, as the weeks progress, we will need to be very reflective, asking questions about the efficacy of our online practices. Along with this newfound agency and autonomy, most NorQuest instructors needed to be given some assurance that they could and would get through this transition. Anxiety and self-doubt do not promote professional learning, and instructors who are insecure about their technical and teaching skills, need an ear, some reinforcement, permission to make mistakes, and the courage to ask for support. Those messages had to come from Norma and the leadership team, from the deans, chairs and associates, and from faculty supports like our department, the library, curricula, IT, and the learning/assessment centre. I believe those messages were relayed and reinforced and this helped with the transition. As instructors, you were also forced to tap into your adaptive capacity – the ability to make adjustments minute to minute and second to second. In the classes, workshops and meetings that I was involved with this week there were all too many of those “unplanned for” moments. There were connectivity issues (How can I teach if my WIFI keeps popping in and out?), technical problems (I had students whose microphone sounded like a jackhammer.), unfamiliarity with the environment (One of the apps I was using only allowed 10 participants, I wondered why 5 didn’t show up…), and the overwhelming responsibility of teaching through technology (How do I respond to the chat, upload poll questions, provide insight, work through the presentation, and check if people are actually listening – all at the same time?). I’m guessing that many of you were working through the very same problems and many more. And that you are still working through these issues on a daily basis. But you can, and you will. And finally, I believe that many of you found ways to make your new teaching environment reflect a little of who you are and how you connect. Our teaching is an extension of our person. That’s why I’ve always bristled when educators sling around phrases like “best practice” and “research says”. I know that every classroom comes with its own unique set of circumstances and that there is as much an art to teaching as there is a science to it. That’s why it is important to remain authentic. I know firsthand that our NorQuest faculty is a diverse bunch and that different instructors are successful for very different reasons. While one instructor makes connections through anecdotes and stories, another uses group activities, discussion boards and debates. Some instructors are uproariously funny, while others are “all business”. There are instructors who show their concern for their students through regular email and conversation and others who do so by providing a wealth of resources and support. But, regardless of what type of instructor you are, you have to find a way to live and breathe in this new teaching reality – a way to make your new environment a vibrant, engaging and personable space. From your friendly neighbourhood Faculty Developer.
We are now several weeks into the Great Teaching Transition of 2020, and so far, so good. Last week was the first week of actual online teaching for many instructors. At the beginning of last week instructors I saw you making the move, learning to adapt and adjust. People were learning how to organize their classes and engage their students using technologies that they were only just beginning to understand themselves. It wasn’t easy. But you were all in it together! There was an “All hands on deck!” mentality and a real “Can do!” attitude. And that was cool! I heard countless stories of how individual instructors supported one another, or made adaptations to help students make the transition to online learning. Here’s just a few of the successes I heard. I bet you know of many more:
And in several of the networking meetings I was in last week, I could hear instructors from a variety of programs connecting with each other, trying to build upon the lessons learned in facilitating labs and demos in an online environment. People were reaching out, making their needs known! This crisis has pushed us to find community and to collaborate as we problem solved. But by the end of the week, I could sense that people were spent. Some had the satisfying tiredness of knowing that they were able to accomplish many things, albeit imperfectly, but certainly better than initially expected. Others had the weariness of stress and concern. They realized that the move was almost traumatic, they missed the daily face-to-face interactions with their students and felt that the online environment was a poor substitute for what they had built up prior to the changeover. Most of all, they worried about their students and just how many of them might be coping with the uncertainly that the Covid 19 crisis has put us all into. Well, I hope that all of you have had a chance to re-charge. I hope that the weekend gave you a chance to re-connect with family, experience some kind of fellowship (even if only through technology), and feed your faith. Most of all, I hope you found some down time, when you could put aside Covid, NorQuest and the economy, and simply relax. We will be in this for some time yet. From your friendly neighbourhood Faculty Developer. It’s weird being at home and trying to be of service to the faculty. I already miss the daily interactions with all of you and I sincerely hope that this Covid crisis will come and go quickly. This email is my way of trying to keep and touch and keep you informed. I know that you are probably being bombarded with messages, but hopefully there are some bits of information that you might find useful in this note. First some thoughts on where we are at with Online Learning:
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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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