This workshop will be held on Friday, October 30, 2020.
What are the considerations to take your class online? What are the first steps to take if you have a GAA/UAA to help? Come hear (or share) what worked and what surprised. This session will explore ways to move lectures, discussions and assessment online through examples and discussion.
Post Event Summary:
Brainstorm on Online Teaching:
Items of note:
- Strengths
- Increased accessibility (especially introverted students)
- Office hours better attended
- Weaknesses
- Overwhelming
- Disconnecting
- Requires more self-discipline/motivation
- Opportunities
- High profile guests / working with new people previously impossible
- Student-student exercises
- Threats
- Activities require much more thought and can be challenging
- Zoom fatigue
- Inequities with access to devices/wifi
The Students’ Perspective:
UBC AMS surveyed over 7,000 students on impact of COVID-19 on students in June 2020 with a response rate of 13%. The survey covered a wide range of areas, including safety and wellness, and online learning. Majority of the students perceived COVID-19 had an overall negative impact on students’ mental health. Some main findings related to online learning are:
- Some students (~ 30%) were comfortable with using online learning resources rather than physical textbooks;
- Supplemental resources for course materials (i.e. articles, journals, practice questions, and textbooks) help students to engage and understand course materials in an independent learning setting;
- A little under half of students found courses taught via online platform to be more content heavy and fast paced; and
- Some students (23%) don’t have the necessary technology to complete their courses online;
A view into the student perspective through the social media platform Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ubc (Note: this is not validated and proportionally represented sample.)
How to approach course design?
One approach:
Comments:
- Not enough time
- Needing to prioritize/triage concerns
- Often ‘steps’ are all conducted in parallel
- Depending on the course, it may be better to switch the order (i.e. course delivery prior to assessments)
On Learning Objectives:
- Great place to start
- What about ‘hidden’ Learning Objectives
- For example
- On being a ‘better’ human
- Promoting self-awareness
- Promoting metacognition
- Develop a community of inquiry
- Foster global perspectives, diversity, and collaborative learning
- Reflection
- These are embarrassing to share with students
- ‘Hidden’ learning objectives are not necessarily mandatory outcomes
- Is it helpful to outright disclose them? Will it provide deeper reflection?
- For example
- Some people start each lecture with “why this session is important” to provide context.
- Students in mid course feedback commented that they love how applicable the course is to real life
- Start with Why – How great leaders inspire action | Simon Sinek Ted Talk
Working with GAA / UAA / TA :
Comments:
- Hard to delegate
- Having TA’s makes you have to plan earlier and faster