by Yvonne Braun and Natascha Reich
Creating opportunities for interpersonal connections with and among our students has always been critical for student learning, and it may be even more important during this time of remote instruction. How to foster connection while teaching remotely is a new concern for most instructors across campus. Below are a series of short profiles of faculty and GE instructors from different disciplines highlighting how they are creating opportunities for interpersonal connection this term as well as their one tip or piece of advice for other instructors. As always, not all ideas may work equally well for all courses and disciplinary considerations, but hopefully seeing how colleagues across campus are finding ways to create connection remotely inspires you to find solutions that fit best for you and your students.
For additional ideas, see the blog post on Interpersonal Connection and Remote Peer Learning and this recording of a TEP/UO Online workshop on the same topic.
Name: Sarah Donaldson
Unit: Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences
Spring Course(s): PSY 303: Research Methods
How I’m creating opportunities for interpersonal connection with students, and/or engagement among students: In this course, students have been placed in groups of 3-4 based on a variable of interest (from a dataset we provided). Canvas has a grouping feature so that discussions can take place only within the group. We are asking students to support one another in this Canvas feature, so they can share articles, writing ideas, and obtain feedback.
One piece of advice: Posting one paragraph of their writing for their group, and providing feedback to others in their group are both part of receiving full credit for the assignment. Also, I sent external emails to groups so that they all had each other’s email address if they didn’t want to log in to Canvas every time.
Name: Caitlin Fausey
Unit: Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences
Spring Course: PSY 301: Scientific Thinking
How I’m creating opportunities for interpersonal connection with students, and/or engagement among students: Wednesday Zoom Collaborations! I organize my course into one module-per-week. Each Sunday, I share the following inside the week’s module: a game plan, assigned reading, a few pre-recorded video lessons, and our week’s check-in assignment (due the following Sunday). The final piece of the puzzle is our “Wednesday Zoom Collaboration” (and an offline alternate for students who cannot sign on, for whatever reason, no questions asked). The activity plan for our Wednesday Zoom collaboration is presented as a Canvas Discussion, during the Zoom we alternate among everyone together in the “main room” and then smaller work-together sessions in “breakout rooms”, and then students post the results of their efforts as a reply to the Discussion. As an instructor, I hop among breakout rooms. And students get to learn from each other. In this course, we also maintain a separate “Help a Colleague” Canvas Discussion board — during Week 1, 90% of my (150!) students posted and/or commented on this board so we are now in the habit of really using Discussions.
One piece of advice: I recommend that at the beginning of each small group meeting (e.g., when students go into their breakout rooms), groups start by each person introducing themselves and sharing a ‘fun fact’ that nobody knows about them yet. This sets a norm of everyone talking and it breaks down barriers because people are usually sharing silly tidbits. (You can find more ideas from Caitlin’s course on our “Share Ideas” page.)
Name: Scott Fisher
Unit: Department of Physics, College of Arts and Sciences
Spring Course(s): none – Physics Advising
How I’m creating opportunities for interpersonal connection with students, and/or engagement among students: I am holding open “video drop in” office hours from 1-3 pm each day. Students can make an appointment for a guaranteed meeting, or just drop into my Zoom room for advising. Being available during a block of time lets students engage when they have the time to do so.
One piece of advice: Please stay flexible and willing to listen to the students! They have a different set of worries related to our current situation and they need the support of faculty and staff that can help them with their own particular needs.
Name: Alison Gash
Unit: Department of Political Science, College of Arts and Sciences
Spring Course(s): PS 275: Legal Process and PS 368: Gender in the Law
How I’m creating opportunities for interpersonal connection with students, and/or engagement among students:
For my PS 275 course: (200 students, asynchronous): I created an introductory assignment asking students to respond to specific prompts that invited them to share about themselves and how they are making the quarantine more bearable. Students were split up into “reflection groups” of 10 or 12 students and each member of the group was asked to respond to three of their group members’ posts. My GEs and I have each become the point person for 6 or so reflection groups and are providing comments on the group member postings as well. We have a) learned a lot about the students–in particular that many of them are rediscovering their love of cooking and b) have seen some great dialogue among group members. Students will remain in their reflection groups for the duration of the term and will complete three more assignments where they are asked to blog about an issue and then respond to other posts.For PS 368 (75 students, hybrid): I am pre-recording lectures and then holding 2 1-hour long discussion sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Students watch the lectures ahead of time, which frees up the discussion session to focus more on specific topics and specific readings. I am finding that the hybrid option provides students with ample opportunity to take notes on the lecture and an opportunity to ask questions in discussion. It also has allowed me to go into greater detail about some of the implications of the cases we are discussing (since they have already watched the lectures ahead of time).
For All Students: I am holding a “connecting while quarantined” Zoom meeting every Wednesday evening for current and former students to connect. These virtual get-togethers are informal and are not used as office hours, but rather a place to chat about non course-related issues. During one meeting, four recent UO grads who work in DC joined the meeting and ended up providing some great feedback to my current students who are looking to follow a similar career path. I will DEFINITELY continue to provide these opportunities once the Quarantine has been lifted.
One piece of advice: Providing an ice-breaking moment at the beginning of discussion sections–or a space to engage with students if you have an asynchronous class–is critical for helping students to feel connected and invested–especially now. For instance, in PS 368, we open every class with an option for students to talk about anything COVID-related. We have also made great use of the “virtual background” feature, just to provide some levity and escape. Students with ADHD and Anxiety may be especially challenged by online courses–especially at first. I have created a “FAQ” page in each of my courses for students who are having a difficult time finding information. I have also enlisted the help of students to provide their feedback on syllabus organization/assignment clarity. I have received some really helpful feedback.
Name: Harinder Khalsa
Unit: Department of Romance Languages, College of Arts and Sciences
Spring Course(s): Ital 105: Intensive First Year Italian
How I’m creating opportunities for interpersonal connection with students, and/or engagement among students:My students build intercultural awareness by investigating certain aspects of Italian culture (products and practices) through their Caffé culturale assignments. Starting next week, they will be meeting with different Italian speakers from Italy via Zoom every other week, thanks to the connections we’re able to establish with my intern Leigh Hackney (UO-LTS). This will allow them to interact with native speakers in a real-life situation paying attention to how they use the language and behave in a culturally appropriate way. I will use NCSSFL-ACTFL Intercultural Communication Can-Dos for designing pre-tasks, tasks & assessment. As a post-task they will also do a reflection on this experience which will be part of the metacognitive cycle built into this course.
One piece of advice: Do not be afraid of experimenting and involving your students in the instructional decisions you make by creating opportunities for them to give you feedback and also do a self-assessment & reflection on a regular basis.
Name: Sanan Moradi
Unit: Department of Geography, College of Arts and Sciences
Spring Course(s): Geog 343: Society, Culture, and PlaceHow I’m creating opportunities for interpersonal connection with students, and/or engagement among students:
I connect with students through weekly live lectures and office hours. Every week, at regular class times, I give live online lectures via Zoom. At the same time, I also record the lectures and upload them on Canvas after each lecture. I use Zoom’s small-group discussion rooms to divide up the students into smaller groups and then after we all return to the main room, students share their collective findings as a group. I use regular weekly office hours on Zoom. In addition, students can email me.
One piece of advice: Communicate as soon as possible. And be extra quick with responding emails. Also use the Canvas Announcements effectively.
Name: Jason M. Silveira
Unit: School of Music and Dance
Spring Course(s): MUS 395/695: Oregon Wind Symphony
How I’m creating opportunities for interpersonal connection with students, and/or engagement among students: The Band Department has created a series of performance modules for the students to complete. Students are using SmartMusic, which is a suite of web-based music education tools that support efficient and deliberative practice. With SmartMusic, students record themselves and send me the recordings. I then offer feedback and opportunities for revision. Students are able to perform solos and even large ensemble pieces with professional accompaniment through the app, while the program assesses students’ performance accuracy in real time. Normally a subscription-based app, SmartMusic is available free to our students until June 30, 2020.One piece of advice: Remote instruction is certainly not ideal for a performance-based class like Wind Symphony. However, by remaining flexible and making personal connections with students throughout the term, I’m still trying to connect with them on an intellectual and emotional level. For example, I set aside virtual office hours using Zoom to meet with student in real time two hours a week during class time. I’ve also used the Panopto function on Canvas to create podcast-like videos related to course content.
Name: Doug Wilson, Peter and Molly Powell Distinguished Senior Instructor of MarketingUnit: Lundquist College of Business
Spring Course(s): BA 101: Introduction to Business and two sections of BA 453: Business Strategy & PlanningHow I’m creating opportunities for interpersonal connection with students, and/or engagement among students: I am teaching three classes this term, one planned online class and two that were intended to be traditional. In all cases, I am using Zoom for class-like session and for “Zoom-in Office” hours where they can optionally join at 10:00 on Tuesday and Thursday for as long as they like. I conclude each session with an “important assignment that you must do before we meet next.” Examples of those assignments have included the following:
- Exercise with someone on Facetime or Zoom.
- Think about the three most important people that have influenced your life. Call or Zoom with them and tell them why they made the list.
- Make a list of 5 things that you are thankful for.
- Think of someone that is alone – a friend or family member – and play a Zoom game with them. Yahtzee works well!
- Write a 50-word letter to yourself when you are 10 years older than you are today. What would you tell yourself about the past week?
- Check in with three other people and ask them how they are doing and what can you do to make their day better.
- Tell someone you love that you love them.
One piece of advice: Provide consistency and support throughout the term. If students don’t feel they have these elements, they will not be able to focus and learn.
Have a question about facilitating interpersonal connection in your courses?
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