by TEP’s Jason Schreiner
Building classroom community in a remote teaching and learning context can be successful using many of the same principles and strategies for regular, in-person classes.
A first key step is to introduce yourself and help students get to know each other. You can model engagement by uploading a photo and short bio to a Canvas Discussion post and inviting students to do the same. A variation is to upload an image of something important to you or representative of an interest you have, with a short description, and then having students do the same. The idea is to initiate engagement and provide a way for the class to get to know each other. In larger classes, you can have students do introductions of this kind as part of sections or labs, or you can randomly assign students to smaller groups of any size using the Canvas Groups feature. This helps a larger class feel smaller. Such smaller groups can also form the basis for group projects, peer review and resource sharing (see below).
Maintaining relationships and moving classroom community forward in a remote learning context requires regular, clear communication. Make a communication plan and let students know how it will work, including how the weekly schedule of communication will work and the various ways they can reach you with questions and how long they can expect to wait for a reply. Moreover, you can continue to personalize things by providing regular announcements and overviews, which can be done through Canvas email or announcements, or via videos. Such communication can include a preview of the week’s learning goals, expectations, activities, and assignments.
Establish clear expectations for student engagement is also important. This means being up front about requirements for participation and contributions, including ground rules for discussion, group work guidelines, quantity and quality of contributions, formats for submissions, deadlines, and so forth. In addition, indicate alternatives for those who may have difficulty accessing the tools being used, such as internet access or particular software platforms. Suggested general guidelines for remote participation can be found here.
Encourage interaction among students through regular exchanges such as synchronous meetings using tools like Canvas Conferences, Canvas Chat, or Zoom, among others. These can help facilitate small group interactions or whole class discussions. Other forms of interaction include use of Canvas Discussion to engage in asynchronous discussions, the Canvas Group feature for projects or peer reviews, or shared document tools such as UO OneDrive for group assignments or resource sharing. You can be creative and establish multiple spaces of interaction, including discussions, group study, group project work, a running FAQ, and so forth.
Additional insights can be found at:
Inclusion, Equity, and Access While Teaching Remotely
https://cte.rice.edu/blogarchive/2020/3/13/inclusion-equity-and-access-while-teaching-remotely
Humanizing Online Teaching
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Umj2HpNZcscye2REOZPTONfKMjevC-qBsB5NneJ-HF0/preview
Recent Comments