Revisiting course design and delivery
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The document discusses approaches to virtual teaching and learning amidst challenges presented by the pandemic. It emphasizes the need for collaboration, trauma-informed pedagogy, and the importance of creating a supportive learning environment. Four key conceptual frames are identified to help educators navigate the complexities of digital education and foster meaningful engagement with students.
Revisiting course design and delivery
- 1. Revisiting Course Design and Delivery: Virtual Teaching and Learning Mary E. Hess, PhD Women in Leadership Association of Theological Schools 15 October 2020 https://www.slideshare.net/maryhess1
- 2. I come to you from lands that are Anishinaabe and Dakota, and I reverence the care they have given these lands for more than 15,000 years. I also grieve over the taking of that land through colonization and forced use, and seek to restore and reconcile with these communities.
- 3. we are in the midst of a maelstrom right now, a chaotic whirlwind, and all I want to try and do in the next brief span of time is offer a few lenses through which to think about teaching/ learning via digital tools and then point you to a page of resources
- 4. in the midst of a maelstrom, we often reach for what is familiar; which might mean the dominant and default choice of competition, isolation, and autonomy we can choose instead collaboration, community, and accountability we can teach for justice rather than charity, for solidarity rather than unity, for transformation rather than restoration (Barrett-Fox)
- 5. we know this in our bones, in our very bodies, and now is the time to live into the possibilities we need to be about igniting curiosity in our topics, curating robust and appropriate materials, and giving students support for the practices they need to learn
- 6. four conceptual frames that help • context collapse • authority, authenticity, agency • implications of trauma for teaching/learning • leadership mindtraps and ways out
- 7. we are living in a time of context collapse
- 8. a primary task for us as teachers is to re- contextualize — a challenge that is not helped by the realities we are living within at the moment, as well as the long term shifts that have been taking place since the advent of digital media
- 9. one simple example: will you ask your students to have their zoom windows (or team windows, or hangout windows) unmuted? will you ban or will you invite virtual backgrounds? there are numerous justice implications here
- 10. the three most dynamic and compelling shifts that are happening in the middle of digital media have to do with how we experience authority, how we encounter authenticity, and how we engage agency Hess
- 11. authority build authority don’t assume it
- 12. authenticity know how to draw on experience
- 13. agency find your spaces
- 14. trauma-informed pedagogy • foster safety (and I would add: brave spaces) • nurture trust and transparency • encourage peer support and mutuality • support collaboration by sharing agency • empower voice by identifying and building on strengths • pay attention to cultural, gender, and historical issues • support a sense of purpose InsideHigherEd
- 15. I find it helps to think in terms of what Jennifer Garvey Berger calls “leadership mind traps”
- 16. (115)
- 18. I wish I’d known early on that … • teaching during a pandemic means bringing far more intentional listening to my colleagues, as well as to my students, than I have ever needed to do in the past • I need to check in with students early and often — and intentionally create ways for them to do so with each other in the space of a class (random breakout groups, and specifically curated breakout groups can help with this) • I need to remember to teach for enduring understandings rather than content “coverage” — uncover, discover, recover! • it’s better to curate well, than to reinvent the wheel • small assignments with regular feedback build good learning relationships, and such relationships are essential
- 19. I wish I’d known early on that (cont.)… • not every student enjoys improvisation or flexibility — structure can offer comfort —differentiated instruction is even more important during this pandemic • I need to set good ground rules — for the class overall, for particularly for how I use chat and polls, and that I need to create a team to help (students who serve as chat moderators, a TA or instructional design person, etc.) • zoom fatigue is real, with observable neurological evidence • finding ways to get feedback along the way helps everyone (eg. CIQ from Brookfield) • rubrics are crucial (and a great way to save time)
- 20. a few resources I’ve found useful • “effective teaching is anti-racist teaching” • “building online communities” • “reconsidering deadlines for student work” • “don’t turn into a bot online” • “how the coronavirus pandemic will change our future teaching” • “how teachers can help students get through the semester” • “the new rules of engagement”
- 22. citations: maelstrom image (https://dwilicnu.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/356952-maelstrom.jpg) “future is in the seeds” (https://www.facebook.com/rlmartstudio/photos/ a.383746670304/10162671711905305/?type=3&theater) “authorship learning” (http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/journal/constructionism-reborn/) “connected learning” (http://www.teachthought.com/learning/connected-learning-the- power-of-social-learning-models/) “networked learning model” (http://jarche.com/2016/08/a-network-perspective/ #more-16661) hiroshima conference sign (photo by mary e hess) “make them feel loved” (https://www.facebook.com/photo? fbid=10158709062475148&set=a.10150106279330148)