Faculty Talking Circle - Library Last Thursday and Friday, Sarah, Joan and I hosted Faculty Talking Circles on “How might we get the most out of our Library”. The circles were small but rich. I really appreciated many of the points raised by faculty, faculty support, and especially by our guest librarians, Leah Townsend and Sheena Sereda. In the past year, and especially the past six months, the library has made a significant effort to connect with the students, staff and faculty at NorQuest. As Sheena put it: “Some students see us as a first stop, others as a last stop, still others as only and after-thought and then there’s one group that never considers the library or its services.” In the face of this challenge, library staff have:
Have you thought of inviting one of the library staff to your classroom? Do you reach out to them in your course planning and educational research? Did you know that the library block in your Moodle courses can be adapted to suit your students’ needs? For a significant part of the faculty circle we discussed some of the challenges that faculty and library staff still face. Instructors mentioned that students often resort only to Google and don’t know how to conduct reliable searches. While many instructors feel that they are giving the right links and information in their course descriptions, Moodle shells and assignment descriptions, the students still seem to have a phobia about using the databases and can be intimidated any time APA is mentioned. As the discussion continued, we agreed that many of the issues could be addressed through modeling and scaffolding. We often make the assumption that our students have the digital skills and the critical thinking skills to access resources, process them, recognize quality, and properly catalogue. It may not be so. Instructors need to model the use of the library by showing students how to access it and by using it themselves. Taking time in class to walk the students through an assignment and the steps in research, giving them a flow-chart or graphic organizer that might assist a search, and then setting up low-stakes assignments early in the term can build confidence and competence (I do, we do you do!). We also might need to look more closely at the scope and sequence or our course and our program. Are the essential skills of research, data gathering, discernment, organization, presentation and formatting taught early on in our program? Or do we just assume that the students come with those skills? Thank you to all who came to the circle! Our next circle will probably wait until late November/early December. The next three weeks seem to be packed with demands for faculty input!
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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. One Physics Teacher’s Experiment in Teaching A number of years back, when I was in a role very similar to the one I have now, I had the pleasure of working with high school teachers as they integrated changes related to literacy, assessment, inquiry, and differentiated instruction in their coursework. One of the teachers, who taught high school physics in a large urban school, invited me to come and attend his classes to provide feedback. For the purposes of this piece, we will call him “Fred”. Fred had been teaching for 30+ years and he was finding it more and more difficult to deal with the “busy-ness” of teaching. He was considering retirement (he had reached the magic number), but Fred also knew that he loved teaching, and he loved working with teens; he was just getting tired. Many of Fred’s classes were in a combination classroom and lab. On lab days, students were expected to spend the first 20-25 minutes in their desks listening to Fred explain the day’s experiment. Fred was very prepared; he had PPT slides, a two-page handout and a raft of notes to work from. On lab days, the students would often trickle in, in dribs and drabs. The school had a number of athletic teams and interest groups, so students had difficulty getting to their classroom right on time. Such was the case for the two classes that I spent with Fred and his class. Students trickled in, got settled and then waited to be re-oriented to the lesson and to Fred’s expectations. “So this is what is getting to me Jeff,” Fred shared, “I feel like the first 25 minutes of class is nothing but false starts. I start explaining the experiment, then a couple more trickle in and I have to start over. Then, even when they are all here, some students are not really paying attention and they will ask the same question that I had just finished answering for several other students. Meanwhile, other students have already read the whole handout and are asking me questions that most of the class is just not ready for. By the time we move to the back of the classroom (to the lab part), I’m exhausted and feel like I’m going to lose my voice. And once we get started on the experiment, I find out just how many students still didn’t get it!” After a couple of visits, Fred and I sat down together and discussed ways forward. First, we took a close look at what was actually going on:
Next, we asked a key question: “Who is actually doing the work?” Fred had to confess that, in spite of all his good intentions, he was actually the one doing the work. He made the handouts, prepared the notes, and gave the explanations. The students just had to sit back and listen (or not). We decided to put the onus for learning back on to the students! Yes, we would provide them with scaffolding and support, but we were not going to spoon feed any longer. The next lab class, Fred made a point of meeting each student at the door. As they came in, he gave them the two-page handout, a highlighter and a one-page graphic organizer. In a hushed voice, he asked the students to come in quietly and to get down to reading ASAP. Further instructions were written on the board. On the board, Fred had written the following directives:
K - What do we know already? What are the givens for this experiment? What are the conditions? W - What do you want to know? What phenomena are were really investigating? H - How will we go about testing to see what happens under certain conditions? What are the critically important steps in our experiment? L - What did we learn from the experiment? How should that be represented? How can it be replicated? S - What is the significance of what we have discovered? How might it be applied to real world applications? It took only a class or two for the students to catch on to the new routine. Fred no longer had to greet them at the door; the students just came in, picked up the materials (handout, highlighter and graphic organizer) from a front desk, and settled in to work. There were significantly fewer false starts and repeated explanations. When I next met up with Fred, he seemed to have a bit of a spring to his step. “It’s been a life-saver, Jeff! I am so glad we decided to make those changes. The students who are keen can get going as soon as they are ready and those who struggle I can sidle up to and work with quietly as they work through the KWHLS. Wow!” The Need to Step Back and Seek Input
I’ve shared this anecdote, but not because of my part in it. Indeed, Fred was the one who went through the reflective process; he identified an issue, sought a second set of eyes, discussed some of the underlying issues, chose a course of action and then skillfully and persistently put this plan into place. I just asked a few timely questions and shared some strategies that might help (we discussed many more options than the one he chose). The process that Fred and I went through is called: “instructional coaching”. As one of my mentors explained to me years ago, “to coach” in situations like this is not really acting like some kind of athletic coach, trying to get the best out of his athletes. I would feel funny yelling encouragement and guidance during an instructor’s lesson - “Atta go! Wonderful motivational bridge, Now let’s get to the outcomes!” Instead, to coach, means to provide the conveyance (like the old horse drawn coaches) so that instructors can work from one place or teaching challenge (a muddy spot) toward an easier or more efficient path. This “coaching” is done by careful observation and thoughtful feedback and questioning and not through pointed advice or judgement. There really is a bit of an art to it. In the last few years, Joan Wall, Sarah Apedaile and I have all had the chance to provide a bit of coaching to countless “Freds” at NorQuest. It has been great! Instructors have asked us to visit their classrooms (both physical and online) to seek feedback on their practices and routines. I love this part of my job. I get to watch true professionals in action and I get to step into learning environments that are vibrant and intellectually stimulating! In one morning, I can learn how to put in an IV line, balance the books, apply for a job, and formulate an effective thesis statement. If you are interested in having a faculty developer like Joan, Sarah or myself, work with you, just send an email our way. However, you might wait a week or two before doing so though. At the moment, it is a very busy time as many faculty need support facing up to tech challenges in teaching online for the first time (and Sarah is on leave for the next few weeks). You might also line up coaching conversations with a teaching colleague, where you visit each other’s classes and provide feedback. Just remember though, this process is not about evaluation; it is about reflection and growth. Look for someone who will challenge you to see possibilities, not push you towards their own preconceived notion of best practice. This past Friday we had our third Faculty Talking Circle. About 20 instructors joined in on the online conversation in Teams. We’ve been using Martin Brokenleg’s “Circle of Courage” as a thematic organizer for these sessions and so, after having sessions on belonging and mastery, we came to the session on independence. We used the following questions to spark both discussion and reflection:
It was interesting to hear the experiences of colleagues from around the college and learn about their efforts to support and sustain their learners in the face of our current situation. One of our instructors said that her students had entered the program with the expectation of a certain amount of hours of face-to-face instruction, these students did not sign up for a distance or online program; they knew that their success was dependent upon the contact and community of regular classes. So she and her department were endeavoring to provide as much synchronous teaching as possible. She wanted to give each student every chance to succeed. Another of our instructors, this one from corrections, shared that a big part of his job is simply trying to restore some confidence in students that have been told they can’t learn and have been ignored or dismissed every time they asked a challenging question. At this point our corrections instructors do not have online access to their students as the rest of our college does, and the extra time has led to a great deal of reflection and recalibration as they anticipate returning to their classrooms. Overall, it was a very rich discussion with a variety of perspectives. We explored:
What became very clear is that our students need scaffolding and support as they develop confidence and competence in their chosen field of study. Many of our NorQuest students have often had to overcome a number of challenges just to get to college. Our student population has its fair share of: new immigrants, economically disadvantaged, international students, single parents, students with learning challenges, and students returning to school after a long hiatus in the world of work.
And how can we do this? Well, there are a number of ways:
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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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