Wow. one whole year. That's how long it's been since this whole Covid warped reality has been with us. Remember the first time you had to line up outside the Safeway store and then, when you got in there were arrows on the floor and empty shelves where there should have been toilet paper and canned goods? Remember going out on an errand in the middle of the day to find the streets deserted? I thought that we might go through a short lockdown of working from home for a few months but eventually we would be back at the college together - hopefully by September. But it hasn't turned out that way. And there are so many things I miss:
These informal interactions, would often lead to powerful conversations and important insights. They also gave us an opportunity to “switch off” if we needed to. Covid-19 has really complicated the role of the Faculty Developer. This year, like everyone else, your Faculty Developers have been pushed in ways we never imagined. Our roles have changed, we’ve had to learn quite a number of new technologies, and we’ve had to find new ways to reach out and connect with the instructors we serve. It has been an intense, anxiety-inducing, exhausting, and surprising year. For our Faculty Development team, the intensity ratcheted up almost right away. Overnight, our instructors were suddenly thrust into situations and roles they weren’t quite prepared for. And It was our responsibility to support them. As Faculty Developers, it meant shifting to more of an “emergency services” role. Oh, we weren’t dealing with life and death medical emergencies but there were emergencies all the same. Joan and Maryna were constantly dealing with Moodle and BBCU emergencies. Instructors were struggling with the new online environment and their requests for support needed to have immediate responses. It was “all hands on deck” as training sessions and resources were quickly developed. Moodle Help was swamped with emails. And while instructors wrestled with the technology and isolation, they also struggled with self-confidence and the fear that their face-to-face persona and classroom interactions would not transfer very well to the new environment. Sarah and I also learned, very quickly, how to be of service to faculty who were trying to be engaging and compassionate in this online reality – without burning themselves out. As a team, our Faculty Developers were extremely busy, but also somewhat energized. It was a time when our roles were stretched to the limit. We were an “essential service”. That felt good. But, as instructional coaches, we also experienced – both first and secondhand – the real frustrations of our colleagues and students, and we often felt powerless to change things. And that was hard. Then came the growing anxiety, when we, like everyone else, realized that this wasn’t just a short-term event. Just how were the lockdowns affecting our NorQuest students? Would our enrollments fritter away to nothing? What would this mean for the future of many NQ programs? How would the isolation, uncertainty, shrinking budgets, and pandemic pressures affect the instructors and the teams that we work with? How was it affecting our close colleagues? Like many other departments, our team shrunk in size as seconded people were sent back to their departments. For the past couple of months, it has just been the Joan and Jeff show. For my part, I found it much harder to get a full night’s sleep. My head was swimming with all of the questions above and many more. How could I continue to support faculty, when it was so hard to reach them? Like many of you, I started to put in longer and longer days. Having no commute, I could now start work at seven and I was often online from that point right till supper hour. And the breaks were few and far between. Nobody came by my desk and suggested going for a walk to Second Cup or catching a bite at the Commodore. In an attempt to reach more instructors, our faculty development team shifted our approach. We had to find new ways to connect with our instructors and promote collaborative reflection. These ways included the Monday Morning Musings, one-on-one meetings with new instructors, Marvelous Moodle Minutes, Faculty Talking Circles, and, more recently, the Faculty Community of Practice and the Learning Teams. At the same time, we each found ourselves on quite a number of committees and working teams, and we began to look at projects that might better support faculty by bringing resources and supports under one umbrella. And that was exhausting. The days began to seem like one long video meeting - as one meeting ended the next would begin. Only after work hours ended, would I have to do the “heavy lifting”, when I could plan, write and think without the interruption of emails, Teams chat, or Teams meetings. That’s why I took the last week off. It was an attempt at a “circuit breaker”. Let’s see if I can establish some healthier routines! Find a better work/life balance. Practice what I preach… But for all the stresses and disappointments, there have been some bright moments. We’ve learned how to more effectively teach in synchronous online environments and structuring assessments in ways that students need to apply and understand rather than simply choose or remember. We've also learned many things about setting up our Moodle courses so that they're more interactive and less of a repository of readings and assignments. Hopefully many of these learnings will not be lost when we go back to doing something closer to face-to-face learning. NorQuesters have also found many ways to connect with each other even though we are not on campus in the same numbers. NorQuest Esports, faculty socials and trivia nights, Unscripted presentations, fellowship meetings, informal department “check-ins”, and learning teams are just a few of those ways. And hope is on the horizon. Like many Albertan seniors, my mom and my in-laws have had their first vaccine shots and that gives me a bit of comfort. In my very first email / blog I wrote about the challenges ahead and one line that resonated with more than a few people was "Just Breathe". I think that we need to keep coming back to that. This pandemic has asked us to learn patience, to be perseverant and not to be panicked or paranoid. I’m just thankful for our community at NorQuest. We’ve really had to draw on each other this past year, and that’s also not such a bad thing. Let's see what the next year brings.
1 Comment
Bring Your Whole Self… Last Thursday and Friday, Sarah Apedaile hosted two faculty talking circles on “Learning Environments that Enhance Student Wellbeing”. The intention was to elicit ideas and strategies from NorQuest instructional staff so that we could learn from each other. Both circles were very rich in discussion and specifics and while the first seemed to focus on actions that you might do immediately, the other spent more time on proactively building a course and environment that creates a safe space. One of my favorite quotes came from an instructor on the first day, he said (and this is my paraphrase because I could not remember word for word), “Instructors need to bring their whole, authentic selves to the classroom (online or in person). This may mean sharing your own successes, missteps and failures as you have travelled through your educational journey.” Now I know this instructor, and I know that he isn’t saying that a teacher should dominate the classroom with personal anecdotes and ego-centric lessons. What he was getting at is the importance of being real, being vulnerable, and being approachable. On the weekend, I kept coming back to this thought, and I compared it to when I began teaching. In my first few placements, I came across many seasoned educators who were very willing to share their life lessons in teaching with me. Some of the most frequent messages I heard were:
Their advice was something more like an antiperspirant commercial: “Never let them see you sweat!” I remember feeling quite uncomfortable in “faking it”. I knew I had much to learn about time management, subject area content, lesson design, and relationship building and that I would make more than my share of mistakes. That said I quickly found that frequent apologizing was not the way to go. The teacher still needs to be the teacher. Just how does an educator, often given courses and materials that they have not mastered themselves, come across as “confidently human”? How do they effectively lead their students with passion, assurance and a good dose of humility? It is something that I continue to work on. One thing is for certain, in the past couple of decades the role of the educator has changed. We can longer be “experts”, the explosion of information and access has broken our shaky hold as the sole purveyors of truth! Moreover, while in many different countries the position is highly esteemed and one would never think of challenging their instructor, in North America we have learned to be less directive and more collegial, especially at the college level. We want open discussions in our classroom, where students are comfortable asking the hard questions and where we can be real in our responses and concerns. Nonetheless, as instructors we still have responsibilities that require some distancing. Ultimately, we are gatekeepers, for programs and professions. We also have high expectations, for our students and for ourselves. Moreover, as many of us have learned, there is a big difference between being friendly with our students and being friends with them. Sometimes our students can get a little too comfortable and then feel shocked or offended when we have to deliver news they don’t want to hear. So it can be very challenging for instructors to navigate and negotiate their role with each student group. Complicating all of this is the current and ongoing requirement to do most of our relationship building online. The Covid crisis has presented challenges, created distances, and generated feelings of isolation and anxiety. Our students, and many of us, need the subtle interactions and affirmations that came so easily to our in-person classes. As the instructor I quoted earlier also said, “Sometimes if you see students as students you might be missing the point in terms of supporting them. You have to see students as regular and normal human beings who go through ups and downs like all of us... and therefore, even if they are obligated to study or learn, you have to support them as much as you can to help them deal with their other challenges which are not classroom based.” Just as we bring our whole selves to class, our students should feel comfortable bringing their whole selves too. Covid has pushed this further, many of us now face listening and counseling challenges, we need to be available and “confidently human” as we deal with the new online environment and the continuing strain of pandemic and economic uncertainty. Thankfully, many of the participants in the talking circle had suggestions that might just help us in adapting to this environment, providing the support needed to our students, and finding ways to create a safe learning community. I’ve grouped and listed the thoughts of your colleagues below: Suggestions for daily or one-on-one interactions
Suggestions related to lesson design
Suggestions regarding course design
For many of our students, their studies have given them something to dive into, perhaps even as an escape from the rising Covid numbers, the imminent specter of a lockdown, and the isolation brought on by our “new normal”. Our job is to encourage, engage, support, guide and assess with an eye to the whole student. More information on ways to support students in the online environment can be found here: https://campusmentalhealth.ca/toolkits/faculty/how-to-recognize-when-a-student-may-need-support/in-the-virtual-classroom/ https://tatp.utoronto.ca/teaching-toolkit/teaching-with-technology-teaching-online/supporting-students-online Pandemic Pressures! “I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay, small acts of kindness and love.” –J.R.R. Tolkien This weekend I found myself reflecting on some very difficult things:
I found it a bit wearying. It did not help that what we are experiencing on a global scale, we are also experiencing in a more immediate way; on a NorQuest scale.
As instructional staff, we are under a lot of daily pressure. Pressure to engage and support our students at the same levels as pre-pandemic. Pressure to ensure that our students will gain the knowledge, skills and professional judgements that will ensure their success in their careers. Pressure to work from anywhere, with less opportunity to collaborate, less opportunity to commiserate. Pressure to be a “team player”, to keep working on a positive culture and to look forward to the future of teaching and learning. If you are anything like me, you’ve probably been sighing more frequently lately, and you may also fervently long for when things were a little simpler, like say, a year ago? Oh, this pressure has not necessarily been put upon us by the college itself or by our deans, chairs and managers. The NQ leadership messaging from the outset has been encouraging and full of grace. In fact, much of the pressure comes from ourselves. Most instructors at NorQuest College are “wired for service”; we desperately want what is best for our students and we often sacrifice hours and hours trying to meet their needs. We are also acutely aware of our own shortcomings as educators, as “tech facilitators”, and as care providers.
No matter the source, the pressure is there. The isolation and the steady stream of negative news does not help. This past week there were numerous articles and TV features about stressed-out teachers. My frequent interactions with faculty also bore this out. Instructors told me that:
Yikes! When I listened to all of this, I realized that I was struggling with many of the same pressures. So I asked many of these same instructors for coping strategies. How did they continue to keep their heads above water and find satisfaction in their work? Here are just a few suggestions:
These strategies, suggested by our colleagues, can be quite helpful. However, just like dieting, knowing the plan and actually sticking to it are two different things. (Guilty as charged!) It might be worthwhile to find an “accountability partner”, a friend or a colleague who can “check in” to chastise us when our self-care actions do not actually align with our intentions. One last suggestion given – and this is my favorite – reach out and start a conversation with someone new or someone you have not talked to in a while. There is a tendency for all of us to get a bit myopic, seeing the world only through our own field of vision. One of our colleagues shared that, when she feels weighted down with planning, decisions and problem solving, she seeks out conversation. Just talking to a student or a colleague from a different faculty can help us see that there is a bigger world out there. Our work is just our work. Other people have very different stressors and satisfactions, and listening to them can give us new perspectives. Opening up your heart and mind to the world of someone else can be extremely beneficial, to them and to you! After this reflection and inquiry, I know that I have some work to do on establishing a healthy work/life balance. Perhaps you do too. I am looking forward to this week’s Faculty Talking Circle with Sarah Apedaile and Sherry Greenbank. I hope you have time to join us. That’s all for this week, Jeff |
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
March 2024
Categories
All
|