by Yvonne Braun and Natascha Reich
The global pandemic that has driven the need for remote instruction creates or amplifies stresses and challenges during this extraordinary time. Teaching and learning through this crisis requires, more than ever, that we consider practices that demonstrate care for our students’ wellbeing and recognize how the challenges of the moment may affect the student experience and students’ academic progress. The recent survey of students highlighted what students are experiencing during remote instruction, including specific practices that students appreciated or found challenging this term.
As noted last week, the recent survey of faculty instructors was an opportunity to hear what faculty are experiencing during this extraordinary time. One of the major themes in the responses was faculty members’ concerns for students. In fact, nearly half (48%) of all faculty comments focused on students including concern for the quality of the student experience, students’ wellbeing, how to best engage and connect with students in classes, and students’ academic success.
This “Part Two” includes more short profiles of faculty and GE instructors highlighting how they are creating opportunities to demonstrate care for students’ wellbeing and academic success this term, while also helping students build resilience skills or directly teaching about COVID-19. Each instructor also shares one 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 on connecting with students, see this previous spotlight on student engagement, TEP’s blog post on Interpersonal Connection and Remote Peer Learning and this recording of a TEP/UO Online workshop on the same topic.
Name: Melissa Baese-Berk, David M. and Nancy L. Petrone Faculty Scholar
Unit: Department of Linguistics, College of Arts and Sciences
Spring Course(s): LING 201: Language and Power
One Way I’m Adjusting My Course to Demonstrate Care, Enhance Student Learning, or Build Resiliency Skills:
Our class has become an exercise in “Choose Your Own Adventure” with lots of options to demonstrate engagement in and mastery of course content. Rather than a one-size-fits-all option, we’re trying a bunch of different options so that students can have flexibility in how they fulfill requirements.One piece of advice:
I find that frequently checking in with my students (using anonymous surveys through Canvas) about what’s working and what isn’t has really allowed us to settle into a rhythm that I think works for most of us.
Name: Martha Bayless
Unit: Folklore & Public Culture, Department of English, College of Arts and Sciences
Spring Course: FLR 350: Folklore and the BibleOne Way I’m Adjusting My Course to Demonstrate Care, Enhance Student Learning, or Build Resiliency Skills:
I aim to be the low-stress, high-interest course students are taking this term. From teaching online regularly during the summers, I know a lot of students have trouble getting online at prescribed times, don’t always have reliable internet, and are in widely different time zones. So my class is completely asynchronous. When students have all kinds of times they have to show up on Zoom for other classes, I figured mine would be the flexible class, with work they can schedule themselves.I also want to mention one more unusual class-preparation thing I did that might be worth highlighting somewhere. I wanted to give the students a reading from a 15th-century text, but it’s in a non-borrowable book in the library and I couldn’t get at it to scan it. But the 15th-century handwritten manuscript itself is online at the British Library website. So I transcribed the text straight from the 15th-century manuscript and provided it to the students that way. “Necessity is the mother of invention”! And I’m determined that UO students shouldn’t miss out, even in a pandemic.
One piece of advice: Don’t be afraid not to Zoom or to do things live. When students write out their discussions instead of speaking live, they have time to prepare their thoughts, their comments are often amazingly insightful, and even the more reserved folks feel comfortable enough to participate fully.
Name: Mark Blaine and Charlie Butler
Unit: School of Journalism and Communication
Spring Course: J212: Writing for CommunicatorsOne Way I’m Adjusting My Course to Demonstrate Care, Enhance Student Learning, or Build Resiliency Skills:
We are swapping a traditional final writing assignment for a detailed reflection on the writing that they’ve done this term — with emphasis on specific things that they find challenging and things that they are competent in. We’re reinforcing this with a discussion post in Week 9 that identifies two things to work on and one recommendation or tip for other writers in this class as well as structured video conference discussions with GEs about their strengths and weaknesses as shown in writing assignments in class to that point. The goal is to show that we’re here to have a conversation about writing as a community of writers and that everyone is working to get better even when we can’t be together physically.One piece of advice:
Knowing the flow of assignments to students across their classes this term has been valuable information to get from students, GEs and Writing Central coaches this term. That knowledge prompts us to design assignments in the context of the student’s broader user experience this term, and the above retooling of the final writing assignment is a result of that feedback. I wish there was a better way of tracking due dates and other deadlines or academic pressure points across the board so we could design to maximize attention from students.
Name: Sarah Dimakis
Unit: Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences
Spring Course: PSY303: Research MethodsOne Way I’m Adjusting My Course to Demonstrate Care, Enhance Student Learning, or Build Resiliency Skills:
The primary goal of my course (19 students) is to learn how to write a scientific research paper on a topic in social psychology. Students enter the course with a wide range of experience in writing scientifically, and with the topic of social psychology, which poses a challenge in traditional learning settings. It’s important to me that no matter what level a student is currently writing at, no matter the level of their critical thinking skills or psychological knowledge, that I meet them where they are at, and provide individualized feedback to help them improve. In traditional classes, if I give a lecture about the nuance of clear and concise scientific writing, students who are struggling to grasp the psychological concepts in their papers, or who are still working on crafting a compelling argument, will not benefit from precisely editing their work at that time. If I lecture about content, then students who excel in that will disengage because it is a waste of time, and in some instances, patronizing and demotivating, to be lectured on something that you excel in. If I forgo lecturing altogether and roam the room talking to each student individually, there is too much waiting time, and the loud, working environment is difficult to concentrate in for some students. Teaching remotely has afforded me more opportunities to personalize each student’s education. Once a week, I give detailed, timely (within 48 hours), and individualized feedback to each student on their draft. I give feedback on bullet pointed half-formulated discussion post ideas. I give feedback to students who already absorbed their feedback and want more. I set aside five hours per week for individualized student meetings over Zoom. I send optional readings to students one-on-one or in a small group. Personalized attention demonstrates care (that I am personally invested in their education) and ensures that students are working precisely on the skills that will most benefit them.One piece of advice:
Instead of considering how you can translate your usual teaching practices remotely, think of this as an opportunity to use novel technology to enhance student learning. When expectations are dismantled, we are handed the opportunity to rebuild curriculum that is more accessible, student-directed, and personalized. Ask yourself instead -what can I do now that I could not do before?
Name: Joanna Goode, Sommerville Knight Professor
Unit: Education Studies, College of Education
Spring Course: EDST 614: Cultural Context of EducationOne Way I’m Adjusting My Course to Demonstrate Care, Enhance Student Learning, or Build Resiliency Skills:
I have designed my remote learning course this term to allow for a “low floor” in terms of access, a “high ceiling” in terms of possible learning extensions, with “wide walls” in terms of multiple frames that students can select to demonstrate understanding, and “reinforced corners” that provide ongoing support, care, and flexibility to support student success during this unsettling time. I have found that this approach to student learning has allowed for creativity to flourish! This UOTeach course, which enrolls pre-service teachers, encourages students to complete assignments based on our weekly set of Zoom class meetings, readings and Kanopy films, and small group discussions on Canvas. These open-ended assignments invite students to creatively show their knowledge and understanding of class content in a variety of ways – videos, audio, collages, illustrations, photography, as well as text. A few students have written and performed original music, students have recorded remote instruction video lessons for K-12 students, and students have designed images of their future classrooms that infuse principles and approaches from ethnic studies education pedagogy and curriculum. Though this is a large class, students have also benefited from smaller discussion groups in Canvas, in which they have the opportunity to share, reflect, and learn from each other’s unique approaches to the assignment and to their future teaching practices.One piece of advice:
I encourage other instructors to consider instructional design that attends to equitable access as a “floor”, and also allows for students to harness available digital tools to creatively demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and understanding of class learning objectives.
Name: Devin Grammon
Unit: Department of Spanish, College of Arts and Sciences
Spring Course(s): SPAN 322: Introduction to Spanish Linguistics; SPAN 428: Spanish in the United StatesOne Way I’m Adjusting My Course to Demonstrate Care, Enhance Student Learning, or Build Resiliency Skills:
One way that I am adjusting my courses is by reducing the overall number of assignments while making students’ interactions through online discussion boards a central part of their overall assessment. Unlike the classroom, online discussions that unfold over the course of a week allow students ample time and space to reflect on their understanding of assigned texts, contemplate the views expressed by their peers, and make connections between topics presented over the course of the term. I find that these discussion boards also aid with learners’ anxieties around their Spanish language skills so that they can focus more on the ideas that they are conveying rather than how they are conveying them.COVID-19 Teaching:
The global pandemic has led to the proliferation of many new words, especially on social media. In my Introduction to Spanish Linguistics class, I had students read recent news reports about many of these new words in Spanish during a unit on morphology, a branch of linguistics that is concerned with the structure of words. Students used their new skills in analyzing roots and affixes to understand how these novel words were formed, how they can be classified, and how they reflect shared experiences across languages and cultures. To give just one example, the word “covidiota” combines the COVID and the Spanish word for ‘idiot’ to refer either to reckless individuals who ignore public health advice and hoard essential supplies. Connecting abstract academic ideas with our current lived realities has helped students find meaning in studying linguistics at a time of great stress and anxiety.One piece of advice:
Check in with all of your students, and ask what you can do to better support their learning and success in the course. I find that asking this question demonstrates care while also giving students agency to enhance their learning process and develop resiliency skills as they overcome new and challenging obstacles.
Name: Amy Konyn
Unit: Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences
Spring Course: PSY 303: Research MethodsOne Way I’m Adjusting My Course to Demonstrate Care, Enhance Student Learning, or Build Resiliency Skills:
I’ve found that the majority of my students are able to pull course information from the Canvas site and my recorded class sessions. However, some students have more difficulty with the remote presentation, even with all Panopto accessibility features enabled. They are confused at a level that doesn’t occur when I teach this course in person. Weekly homework assignments have really helped to check understanding, and this gives me an opportunity to provide clarifying written feedback individually.One piece of advice:
Students seem particularly hesitant to speak up in class during recorded sessions. To be sure students can ask questions, I encourage students to Canvas message me any questions. I’ve set Canvas messages to push to my phone; and I try to give students a quick reply immediately when they message me. In my class of 18 this has taken less than an hour each week, yet I feel that it has offered not only academic but also emotional security to a few students who are struggling during this time of uncertainty. I have also set up a Google doc with a link in Canvas. Students can use this doc to ask a question or give feedback anonymously, an option some students prefer.
Name: Kate Mills
Unit: Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences
Spring Course: PSY 308: Developmental Psychology
One Way I’m Adjusting My Course to Demonstrate Care, Enhance Student Learning, or Build Resiliency Skills:
I am taking full advantage of teaching developmental psychology from home by incorporating my two children in my pre-recorded lectures. My 9-month old joins in to demonstrate the capacities of infants, and models in my homemade demonstrations of common infant research methods. My 4-year old and I have co-lectured on topics (example lecture on emotions), which provides an entertaining learning experience in addition to illustrating to students the capacities of 4 year olds. Students have expressed how much they enjoy having my children join in the lectures and demonstrate the developmental psychology tasks discussed in this course.One piece of advice:
Shorter, bite-sized lectures that include your face.
Name: Sanjay Srivastava
Unit: Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences
Spring Course: PSY: 301: Scientific ThinkingOne Way I’m Adjusting My Course to Demonstrate Care, Enhance Student Learning, or Build Resiliency Skills:
Students have a lot of chaos in their lives right now. Everybody is getting used to remote learning, and many also have childcare or work responsibilities, health issues, financial stress, and other disruptions and difficulties. One thing I’ve done is simply to say explicitly (in my syllabus, in announcements, in Zoom meetings) that I know students are facing these issues and I want to help. Not all students assume that professors and other authority figures are people they can ask for help, and without an explicit invitation they may not ask when they need it. That is probably especially true for first-generation students and others who don’t know how college works and how to work the system. I have also adopted a philosophy of “structure when it helps, flexibility when it doesn’t.” Regular and predictable deadlines, with clear and repeated communication about them, mean that my class is hopefully one less source of confusion in their lives. But I try to make sure they know that if that’s getting in the way, they can talk to me.One piece of advice:
You know that you care and want to help your students. Don’t assume they do too. Say it conspicuously whenever you get the chance.
Name: Kristin Yarris
Unit: Department of Global (International) Studies, College of Arts and Sciences
Spring Course(s): INTL 410/510: Experiential Learning: Global Health Crisis and INTL 465/565: Global Reproductive HealthOne Way I’m Adjusting My Course to Demonstrate Care, Enhance Student Learning, or Build Resiliency Skills:
INTL 410/510 was set up quickly over spring break, in order to offer a credit-bearing experience for students in the Global Health minor (and Global Studies major) who had lost the opportunity to study abroad or conduct internships due to the coronavirus pandemic. I have about twenty students in the class, the majority of whom needed this field experiential learning course in order to graduate with the GH minor this spring. For GH students, tracing the pandemic, and its global and local instantiations, represents a unique learning opportunity. I am trying to foster the most student-directed course environment that I can, considering that this course is substituting for what otherwise would have been a professional development/experiential learning experience. Students are, for instance, peer-sharing their resumes and mock cover letters, giving each other feedback as if they were applying to a job with a non-profit or international organization. Students are also keeping a field notes “journal,” not necessarily to be shared with me or the class, of ways the pandemic and social distancing are impacting them and their families and communities. Students are examining topics related to the pandemic, such as: cross-national comparisons, racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 in the US, health system responses, the role of the WHO, and public health ethics. For their final projects, I have asked students to work individually or in pairs to examine one or more Country level or US state response to coronavirus. Students are being inventive and imagining sharing their work with broader publics – some students are creating Twitter or Instagram accounts to display their work, others are creating podcasts or blogs, and others are writing policy briefs. A handful of students in the class have applied to share their work at the UG research symposium.One piece of advice:
Students are living through this crisis just as faculty are – taking on additional work and caregiving responsibilities, and struggling with social isolation, uncertainty, and anxiety. I’ve tried to share all the resources for student support that I can using my Canvas page, Announcements function, and referring students to campus and community resources when they share their struggles with me in office hours.I also hold two weekly remote office hours in Teams – this has worked well and been a nice way to get to know the students in my classes and talk with them one-on-one.
Have a question about how you can enhance student learning by considering student wellbeing or building resiliency skills in your courses?
Contact TEP at tep@uoregon.edu or you can use this form and a consultant will be in touch.
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