Learning Remotely for Teaching Remotely: Webinars for Supporting Faculty Navigating Teaching Online
By Lisa Endersby and Natasha May
In higher education, it seems like the only constant is change. This has become especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic, where a rapid shift to remote learning has required us to relearn or reconsider how we teach in the online environment. As a way to offer support, we reached out to our eLearning champions in our community - instructors and colleagues who have either recently explored new strategies for online teaching or who have been immersed in this type of work for many terms. We weren’t surprised by their generous response. Several of these colleagues are a part of the eLearning Community of Practice, formed last Fall by Dr. Linda Carozza. Conversations about eLearning are also occurring in our new TC Going Remote community of practice in Microsoft Teams. Everyone is welcome to join!
Our early webinars, facilitated by Dr. Steve Gennaro and Dr. Linda Carozza, offered a window into the messy process of adapting our courses and our teaching to the online environment. Both facilitators offered valuable insights into, for example, exploring the merits of synchronous and asynchronous teaching (the short answer, it seems, is it depends!) and that it is okay to fail. We learn best by doing, trying something out. Some adventures will be successful, and others won't, and that's okay. We continuously refine our teaching and that's true online too. Professor Cameron Graham, in a discussion of engaging students in a remote classroom, reminded us of both the value of encouraging students to take a more active role in their own engagement and supporting the engagement of their peers. Maybe the most valuable reminder was the, perhaps overlooked, importance of being kind to ourselves and each other in these difficult, perhaps even bizarre times.
Later sessions included a lesson in using Instagram and short videos (facilitated by Professor Michael Longford) and leveraging the examples and tools in the SmART toolbox (facilitated by Dr. Iris Epstein) to help students create videos and share feedback on these filmed demonstrations of learning. The potential limitations of teaching remotely (e.g. not being able to engage with students face to face) may be mitigated by the creative use of media and social media to provide students with a variety of options for communicating with each other and demonstrating their learning. In addition to promoting principles of universal design for learning, these strategies and tools can show us the world, and our subjects, through the eyes of our students. The examples shared during these sessions were fascinating windows into how our students might navigate our courses and how they might view or interpret the topics we teach.
Professor Gary Spraakman shared his varied experience with online and remote teaching. We learned about the various technologies available, and when he used each of these platforms. For example, voiceover PowerPoints work well for asynchronous knowledge exchange. Zoom was requested by students to complete the originally face-to-face class at the end of the Winter term, and was very much appreciated. Zoom allowed the class to continue relatively similarly to the face-to-face environment. Through all of the webinars, we have learned that it is important to find ways to connect with students individually. This can happen in a large Zoom class where students are given opportunities to participate and speak. Using time before class starts on Zoom to connect with your students informally, and reach out to those that you haven’t had a chance to connect with is valuable. This can also be done asynchronously, through individual comments on discussion forum posts, or through feedback on assignments. In these examples, the instructor becomes more of a coach, supporting the students as they need in the online platforms. We also heard from Professor Michael Boni on how he adapted oral and practical exams using Zoom for the first time, after running them almost exclusively in person. Replicating conditions where students can demonstrate the development of psychomotor skills sounds particularly challenging, which was mitigated by, in part, providing students with instructions and lowering the weight of the exam to help students feel prepared and less anxious. The exam questions also needed to be modified knowing that not every student had a friend or family member living with them who could serve as a participant as they demonstrated their skills. As with much of our remote or online pedagogy, this was yet another example of the need to be flexible and adaptable to make creative use of the resources we and our students have available. The breakout rooms available in Zoom were also used to be an approximation of the multiple, physical rooms where students were asked to describe, demonstrate, and discuss performing different skills to assess both their skill development and the general knowledge they gained in anatomy and physiology that informs these descriptions (similar to gaining insight into how an athlete performs by being guided through how they might visualize their performance just before a race or game). Testing their ability to cognitively describe how they would approach a particular test or procedure, as Boni mentioned, can help instructors determine how students might actually demonstrate these skills and offer opportunities for feedback and additional skill development throughout the program.
The webinars we have had the pleasure of facilitating tend to have something very important in common. While our topics for discussion have ranged from a broad overview of tips for teaching remotely to more specific strategies for engaging students and assessing their learning using diverse forms of media, it is the community that has grown and been strengthened through these discussions that has been most valuable. Teaching remotely can evoke similar challenges to working and living remotely, where we are often disconnected from our colleagues, family, and friends even when we feel nearly inundated with invitations to connect via Zoom and email. These webinars have helped us learn, but have also invited us to live and reaffirm the values embedded in the teaching and learning community we rely on even more during these times. We have really enjoyed the opportunity to connect, share, discuss, question, and offer support with and through our faculty colleagues who have so generously given their time and energy to this series.
We are continuing to schedule and facilitate additional webinars in this series. More details and links to register are available on our Teaching Commons website. If you have questions, or if you are interested in facilitating a session, please contact Lisa Endersby, Educational Developer (lendersb@yorku.ca) or Natasha May, Educational Developer, Educational Developer (maynat@yorku.ca).
Webinar recordings and additional resources, along with other teaching remotely supports, can be found on the Going Remote website.
About the Authors
Lisa Endersby serves as an Educational Developer in the Teaching Commons as the liaison developer for the Faculty of Health, the Schulich School of Business, and the Libraries. Her portfolio includes supporting all facets of experiential education pedagogy alongside facilitating opportunities for reflective professional development through observation, reading, and peer mentorship. Currently pursuing her PhD in Educational Studies, her research explores professional development within communities of practice, examining the impact of social learning on the negotiation of a professional identity for student affairs and higher educational professionals. Her professional and academic background also includes experience in career services, student leadership development, and supporting the first year student transition.
Natasha May is an Educational Developer in the Teaching Commons. Her portfolio includes curriculum development at the program and course level, student transition and retention, as well as support for teaching assistants. She is also a member of the leadership team for the York Capstone Network. Her educational development philosophy is to take a practitioner approach and so she values opportunities to teach in her discipline, mathematics, and uses experience to guide the support she offers. She is grateful to be the liaison for the School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design, Osgoode Hall Law School, and the Faculty of Graduate Studies. Being part of these communities is truly a privilege.