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What Will Weary Faculty Members need Post-Pandemic?

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What Will Weary Faculty Members need Post-Pandemic?

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This article first appeared in a new Chronicle special report, "Reopening Campus: How to Do It Safely and Successfully," which looks at how colleges are planning for a fall semester unlike any other.

At a town-hall meeting earlier this year, as I previewed my university's developing plans for the fall of 2021, I included what I thought was an appropriately nuanced statement. Since we don't know yet what a fall reopening of campus will look like, I told the faculty members assembled on Zoom that we would "likely return to in-person learning while maintaining the contingency to revert back to this year's HyFlex instructional model if conditions warranted."

At least one faculty member did not appreciate the nuance. Among other challenges, she encouraged me to "walk in her shoes" and experience the realities of HyFlex on our campus before continuing with fall planning.

That was not an invitation, but rather a rebuke - and not just of our institution's fall planning but of my claim to be a faculty advocate. The irony of her lobbing this public and pointed critique during the same week that I was writing this essay on how to assist the faculty's post-pandemic adjustment was unknown to her but not lost on me. Her confrontation prompted me to reconsider our approach to fall planning and, more important, my approach to supporting faculty.

I took a step back from the leadership frameworks - focused on crisis communication and organizational capacities - that I had been relying on to inform my thinking. Instead, I recalled the advice of a now-classic leadership book, Stephen R. Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and its adage "to seek first to understand." That's No. 5 on his list, and it requires compassionate listening, which in turn promotes reciprocity and leads to positive problem solving. Empathic listening means giving people your undivided attention, paraphrasing what you hear them saying, and making sure your response conveys that you understand their underlying emotions.

In addition to being a provost, I am also a psychologist. So naturally, I approach leadership challenges from that academic background and professional perspective. When I think about what I've learned in my four years as provost, and from the difficult months of the pandemic, I recognize that professors - like most people - simply want to be understood, acknowledged, and engaged. As senior academic leaders, if we claim to be faculty advocates, we have to attend to those three basic desires as we look for ways to support professors post-pandemic.

Understand. The skill of empathic listening is often described as a dynamic between two people. Campus leaders have occasional opportunities for one-on-one conversations with professors, but it's not possible (especially now) to meet with every faculty member in order to understand their wants and needs for the fall semester. The question then becomes how to put empathic listening to use in meetings with large groups of faculty members.

First, we need to solicit more information from them. During the past year, colleges and universities have focused on improving how we communicate in order to disseminate vast amounts of rapidly evolving information to large numbers of constituents, with different interests, scattered across multiple locations. We've developed dashboards to share weekly - and in some cases daily - changes in virus spread on our campuses. We've altered websites to push out continually updated guidelines for remote instruction, diagnostic testing, quarantine protocol, and travel restrictions. We've issued statement after statement on how we are dealing with the past year's multiple national crises.

Amidst all of those attempts to provide information, we've given less attention to collecting it on our own campuses. Senior academic leaders can gather information about faculty experiences in multiple ways. But in order to get the most useful information, those methods have to be authentic to both the institution and the leader.

For example, at small liberal-arts colleges and moderately sized universities, the town-hall meeting can work well, especially in regions like the Northeast with a long history of such public meetings. But for the town-hall tradition to be authentic, the leader has to be willing to answer any and all questions. Scripted town halls buck tradition and therefore lack credibility.

So gather information in ways the faculty will trust. Academic deans at my university have used variations of the town-hall format - weekly coffee hours and drop-in sessions - to hear from professors. Leaders at large institutions, or those uncomfortable with open forums, may choose to administer surveys or establish electronic suggestion boxes.

Regardless of how we collect the information, when it comes time to make sense of it, we should remove our administrative hats. Humans have a tendency to evaluate what we hear based on our own lived experience. Covey calls that "autobiographical" thinking, used by those who "do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply." During this exceedingly difficult academic year, senior leaders must be willing to put aside our own experiences and curb our impulses to "evaluate, probe, advise or interpret." Instead we need to listen to what faculty members are telling us.

Acknowledge. The next step is to confirm for faculty members that we're hearing what they have to say. Senior leaders can use two classic empathic listening skills - paraphrasing and labeling - to acknowledge faculty voice and sentiment.

Frequently used by counselors and therapists, paraphrasing is a technique whereby a listener restates, in fewer words, the essential meaning of what was said back to a speaker. In counseling contexts, the expression "What I hear you saying ...," often introduces a paraphrase. Paraphrasing is most effective when also accompanied by the labeling of emotions - that is, recognizing the speaker's feelings about what was said. In response, the speaker confirms the identified feeling and is encouraged to elaborate on either the experience or the emotion. Labeling emotions helps the speaker feel not only heard, but also valued.

How would those techniques work in an administrator's weekly coffee hours, monthly town halls, or twice yearly surveys? Use expressions such as "I have heard...," or more powerfully, "You have told me...," to restate faculty experience. Make sure to name the emotions underlying what they have said to you.

As they adjust to a possible reopening of campus, accompanied by continued uncertainty, some faculty members on my campus have expressed feelings of exhaustion, frustration, and despair while others have shared feelings of gratitude, encouragement, and relief.

More broadly, professors are telling us that they are grieving, and asking for time and permission to recognize losses before moving forward. Josh Eyler, director of faculty development at the University of Mississippi, said in a interview that it was important "for colleges to mourn, talk about what was learned, and map out a future that may be different, but still hopeful." Several faculty members at my institution forwarded that interview to me. By doing so, they were sharing their feelings of loss and conveying that, once acknowledged, they can move past the loss with hope.

Engage. Forwarding that article was also a way for faculty members to tell me they want us to plan together for a return to campus this fall. On Covey's famous list of seven habits, right after understanding, comes "synergy" - employing teamwork to solve complex problems that cannot be solved by any one person alone.

If ever a set of complex problems required teamwork in higher education, it's been the ones we've faced lately: the transition to remote learning last spring, the move to HyFlex instruction last fall, and the readjustment to full reopening of campuses this fall. A third way to support faculty members' readjustment to post-pandemic life is to engage them in the solution.

During the past year, the best solutions have emerged when I have leaned into faculty governance or called on faculty expertise to confront a challenge. Our faculty committees worked to deal with issues related to the academic calendar, pass/fail policies, and best practices for hybrid teaching. Math professors helped refine our dashboard metrics. Nursing and public-health professors participated in a newly formed public-health advisory team to make recommendations on issues such as diagnostic testing for all campus employees and behavioral protocols and mitigation strategies for students on the campus. Most recently, faculty members in psychology helped think through how to handle the growing mental-health concerns among students on our campus.

If we senior academic leaders seek first to understand, by soliciting information and responding with empathy, we will be met with the synergies of an engaged faculty who feel acknowledged and supported. From that place, together we can go forward. And I trust that should I forget, if I listen carefully, a faculty member at the next town hall will remind me.

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Advice | What Will Weary Faculty Members Need Post-Pandemic?

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This article first appeared in a new Chronicle special report, "Reopening Campus: How to Do It Safely and Successfully," which looks at how colleges are planning for a fall semester unlike any other. At a town-hall meeting earlier this year, as I previewed my university's developing plans for the fall of 2021, I included what I thought was an appropriately nuanced statement.

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Department of Education ED Covid-19 Handbook 

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Department of Education ED Covid-19 Handbook 

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7 Dos & Don'ts for Post-Pandemic Teaching with Technology

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7 Dos & Don'ts for Post-Pandemic Teaching with Technology

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"Truly my eyes feel pain," said the undergraduate, blinking behind her glasses on Zoom. Part of a February panel of students sharing their views on pandemic teaching, she explained that staring at online slides for several hours a day in class was not only difficult and tedious but physically unpleasant, too. This year more than ever, she added, "I'm really aware of time spent on the computer."

Her comment stood out to me - a veteran of teaching with technology - because I hadn't ever considered that watching too many slide-heavy Zoom lectures could cause physical discomfort. It made me wonder: What else are we, as instructors, unknowingly doing in our virtual classrooms that might cause students physical or psychological distress?

As we look to a post-pandemic future that will undoubtedly include some teaching with technology, let's consider student perspectives on the past year. Here are seven dos and don'ts based on students' comments from that February panel, plus findings from a recent Educause study, " Student Experiences Learning With Technology in the Pandemic." My focus here is on what to do, and not do, this fall if you're still teaching (to some degree) in a virtual environment, but many of the following suggestions can be adapted to a physical classroom, too.

DON'T lecture with slides for an entire Zoom class. Even in a physical classroom, it's hard to stare at slides for an hour, but at least students can also watch the professor and focus on other things at varying distances. Staring at slides on a laptop, as the student panelist made clear, can cause eye strain. To learn more about that and other effects of spending so much time videoconferencing, researchers at Stanford University have created a Zoom Exhaustion & Fatigue Scale (it's named for Zoom but applies to all such platforms). The Stanford research documents the physical irritation we've all experienced in this screen-heavy year, and underscores the importance of mitigating it as we teach in online spaces.

So instead of delivering a lecture the same way you would in person, embrace the alternatives afforded by technology. Consider using flipped learning - that is, recording mini-lecture videos (of five to eight minutes) for students to watch ahead of time, in preparation for group activities in your Zoom class. To ensure broad access, caption the videos and provide a time-stamped transcript, or create a bulleted outline of topics and the times when they're discussed on the video. This is a great approach to use when you resume teaching in person, too.

Does the prospect of recording all those videos seem overwhelming? It doesn't have to be. Start small: Make it a goal for the fall to provide one recorded mini-lecture a week or even one per unit. Making videos gets easier with practice, and remember: They don't have to be polished. Students like to see the real you, anyway.

DO offer more active-learning and discussion exercises in class. I'm not saying you should never lecture in class, via Zoom or in person. Lecture has a perfectly valid place in teaching when you, as the expert, need to explain complicated concepts, model disciplinary thinking and problem solving, or offer analogies to foster those "a-ha" moments. What I am saying: Whether you are teaching in person, online, or in some hybrid format in 2021-22, intersperse brief lecture segments with productive activities.

What can you offer in a Zoom class, in particular, to get students actively working with class concepts?

One quick strategy to break up a lecture: Lead a "waterfall." That is, ask students to answer a question in a few words in the chat box, but tell them to wait to post their responses until you give the signal. The result will be a cascade of original answers that achieves multiple goals. You can check students' understanding, promote active listening and engagement, and give them a break from slides, all at the same time. Similarly quick activities include class polls and two-minute think-pair-share exercises. You could also ask students to annotate a whiteboard or a Zoom slide with drawing and stamping tools.

For a more in-depth activity, consider one a student described on the February panel. In one of her classes, she said, students meet every Friday in the same discussion groups to work through a set of questions on a Google Doc and enter their collective answers. "Because we're in the same group every week," she said, "it really fosters an environment of trust."

DON'T require students to use a tech tool that you don't understand. Another student on the panel described her professors' trying to figure out how to use GPS software - in Zoom via screenshare - while asking students to use the app to complete an assignment. If you want students to use a tech tool, make sure you have a degree of confidence in operating it yourself. Faculty members didn't have much time to acquire that expertise in the abrupt shift to remote classrooms in 2020, but this fall you should be able to explain the basics of the tech you are asking students to use.

Likewise, it's a mistake to assume students are "digital natives" who already know how to use their computers or phones for classwork, and are better with tech than you are. It benefits all students if you take a few minutes of class time to orient them to any tech tool you're using. That holds true for your institution's learning-management system (LMS), too: A short video tour can help students feel situated and ready to learn.

DO keep using anonymous polling. Many instructors started using polling on Zoom early in the pandemic to check in frequently with students about their coursework. Such small-scale opportunities to provide feedback were helpful, the student panelists said, and easier to do online. Simple questions - "What did you think of this reading?" or "What questions do you have about this material?" - are a supportive way to see where students might be confused, and adjust your lesson accordingly.

Anonymous check-ins can take place on Zoom with embedded or external polling tools, such as Poll Everywhere, or by way of a simple survey in Google Forms. You can use polling during a live class or asynchronously to help you prepare for the next class meeting. It's a powerful way to connect with students, demonstrate empathy, amplify students' voices, and promote trust.

DO get students up and about. This might be less of an issue in the fall if students are attending more classes in person. But if you are teaching to any degree online in the fall (or even in person), offer students some opportunity to get up out of their seats.

During the February panel, participants were given a chance to ask questions, so I asked the students about the best experience they'd had in a Zoom class. One student said that, after Covid disrupted campus, she'd been curious how her drawing course would be taught online. Her professor asked students to go outside, draw something they could hear, and come back in 10 minutes. That was her best experience, she said: "going out of Zoom and into reality, and then coming back."

That serves as a good reminder that you don't need to use fancy tech all the time, even in an online course. It's more important to think creatively and be open to new approaches. Another simple technique: Offer students a five-minute break and share a video clip full screen to give everyone a chance to stretch, do " chair yoga," or just walk around the room. You might not offer chair yoga during an in-person class (or maybe you would!), but virtual classrooms require different considerations.

DO provide more asynchronous materials and activities. During the pandemic, my No. 1 tip for faculty members new to teaching with technology was to take more advantage of their campus LMS. So I was especially pleased when the student panelists suggested that faculty members offer more of their teaching asynchronously. "It helps with my schedule," one said.

It also enables you to teach more inclusively. As we've learned in the past year, not every student has equal access to reliable, high-speed internet service. For that and many other reasons, asynchronous engagement offers a more equitable learning experience, since students can watch videos, post discussions, and take quizzes when conditions are best for them. Plus, async requires less internet bandwidth than does interacting in Zoom.

When - not if - your regular teaching routines are disrupted again (weather emergencies, conference travel, illness), you and your students will be better able to adjust quickly if you have a well-developed set of asynchronous activities. Again, if this feels overwhelming, start small: Add one async element to your class this fall. Add another in the spring. Over time, your online class materials will become more robust, and so will your confidence in teaching online.

DO emphasize interaction with and between students. This was a key point of the Educause survey. If you add asynchronous activities, don't sacrifice communication with students. If you teach in Zoom, don't neglect opportunities for students to connect with one another, even on a purely social basis. If there's one thing we've learned during this pandemic, it's the importance of connecting with people. This is true in class, too, especially when all or part of a class takes place away from the campus.

We've just been through the wringer in higher education. The Big Pivot, and our subsequent year mostly online, resulted in hastily adopted approaches, lots of trial and error, and general fatigue. Even so, this summer, try to carve out a little time to reflect on what to keep, and what to lose, when teaching with tech. It will benefit your students and you in the fall.

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Advice | 7 Dos & Don'ts for Post-Pandemic Teaching With Technology

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"Truly my eyes feel pain," said the undergraduate, blinking behind her glasses on Zoom. Part of a February panel of students sharing their views on pandemic teaching, she explained that staring at online slides for several hours a day in class was not only difficult and tedious but physically unpleasant, too.

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Meeting the Moment: Bringing Forward Innovations in In-Person, Blended and Online Learning and Support

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Meeting the Moment: Bringing Forward Innovations in In-Person, Blended and Online Learning and Support

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In a year that feels brutal and undeserved, many educators are exhausted. Some are angry. Others have suffered devastating...

Thursday, April 29, 2021

2:30 - 3:30 PM (Eastern Time)

Host:  Dr. Mark David Milliron

Recording Link

Presentation Slides

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Teaching: After the Pandemic, What Innovations Are Worth Keeping?

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Teaching: After the Pandemic, What Innovations Are Worth Keeping?

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Many professors are eager to teach in person again. But they have also found that some parts of their work with students are more effective online. Who needs to spend time and money trudging to and from campus when you can just open up your laptop and hold office hours, host a guest speaker, or run a tutoring session? Readers also told us about some more-fundamental changes that they felt had made them better teachers, including flexible policies and an emphasis on making connections with and among their students.

Here are some highlights:

Flexibility with due dates and grading. Flexibility and leniency have historically been problematic words in higher education, raising the suspicion that faculty members are "going easy" on students. Yes, many professors did scale back their requirements during the pandemic. But several readers told us that they realized that being flexible, such as with deadlines, is not the same as giving students a pass. Rather, it's a sign of trust that students want to do their best but can't always meet a particular schedule.

Kari Morgan, a teaching associate professor at Kansas State University, wrote in to say that during the pandemic she decided that all late work would earn full credit, a policy she plans to keep.

"The majority of my students (I teach 100s of them) have turned their work in on time, and those that don't are truly grateful for this policy," she said. "I have asked my students if it bothers them that people who are late get the same credit as students on time, and none of them care about the 'fairness' of this policy. I do have some assignments I really DO want to be on time (for example, work I want done before students come to class). In that case, I am going to explain WHY I want the work to be on time, and I may take off points (minimal) for late work.

"Treating students with respect and care builds trust," she continued. "This serves as the foundation for learning. It also allows me to focus on the 'big' issues, and not the nitpicky issues. I mean, really, if I am not going to grade at the strike of midnight, why does it matter if their work is a bit late?"

Taking time to make connections. Several readers told us that they had built time into their classes to simply talk to students, and that the approach had paid off in ways both expected and surprising. Some used prompts to start conversations, or began open-ended discussion to allow students to share what was on their minds. They knew these chats would help build connections within their virtual classrooms. One unanticipated benefit was that it helped them better understand the competing pressures in their students' lives. Combined, these strategies led professors to see the link between engagement and learning.

Clay Shirky, vice provost for educational technologies at New York University, wrote in to say that greater concern for student engagement, check-ins before and at the end of class, and "greater awareness of the vagaries of students' outside lives" are all strategies worth keeping.

"As we start teaching online, the need to think harder about ways of getting the students talking, not just listening, is one of the first things that became apparent in digital instruction," he said. "For me, it initially seemed like I was having to do things online that compensated for the kinds of student engagement I got for free in person, but as I went along, I started to realize that a specific focus on creating student engagement would benefit my in-person courses as well.

"My bet," he continued, "is that the biggest shift from Covid will not be any one tool or technique, but a broadening sense that engagement is not merely something that students 'bring to class,' but is a result of the environment of the class itself, and that environment can be designed to better support or encourage engagement, whether online or off."

Online tutoring and other student-support services. Several readers noted that when you make it easier for people to connect, it turns out more are willing to do so.

Rachel Halverson, chair of the department of modern languages and cultures and a professor of German at the University of Idaho, wrote about her experience.

"For years, we have paid advanced undergraduates to serve as tutors for lower-division language courses," she said. "Very few students availed themselves of this 'free service.' For the tutors themselves, it was essentially being paid to do one's homework. When we pivoted online last March, we moved tutoring to Zoom as well. Tutors reported increased usage. This spring tutors have been willing to offer Zoom tutoring in the evening and/or on weekends, since they can do so from the comfort of their dorm room, apartment, or home. They now report that there is at least one student at every tutoring session. Definitely a keeper!"

Laura Trauth, a history professor at the Community College of Baltimore County, wrote in to say how important this kind of flexibility is for students with a lot of outside obligations.

"Students who work and care for family members," she said, "cannot always come to campus to meet with an adviser or with a librarian, tutor, or writing coach. Having these services available both face to face and virtually will enable more students to use them."

Virtual workshops. It's not just students who like virtual meetings. It turns out faculty members do too. So writes Karyn Sproles, dean of faculty development and director of the U.S. Naval Academy's Center for Teaching and Learning, or CTL.

"We have gotten double or triple the attendance we used to have," she said, "and the workshops have been even more interactive through chat and small groups. I encouraged faculty to use the chat throughout the workshops, and they did. Not only did they answer questions we asked them to respond to in chat, but they asked questions, answered each other's questions, and posted links to resources.

"Having the CTL workshops online," she continued, "has allowed us to support the faculty's pivot to online teaching not only by having topical workshops but also by modeling best practices in online teaching and having them practice those strategies throughout the workshops. When they are using the chat or polls or doing a small group exercise, they experience the effectiveness of these techniques even as they are learning to use them."

Online guest speakers. Professors have discovered how much easier it is to invite guests to class when it's handled remotely. Andrea Bixler, a biology professor at Clarke University, in Iowa, wrote about her experience.

"I know I could have been doing this for years, but I was never forced to, so I never did," she said. "Now I have guest speakers from around the region (and they could be from much farther afield) join my classes to discuss various topics. Likewise, my environmental-studies students can gather remotely with the local Sisters of St. Francis for intergenerational conversations about sustainable solutions and service-learning projects. Although in some ways these meetings might have been more effective in person, they would have been very difficult to schedule, even with the quick commute across our small town. Also, even with everyone burning electricity to power their devices, it's probably less carbon emissions than driving."

What Changes Are Worth Keeping?

You've heard from your peers. Now we would like to hear from you: Which pandemic-inspired teaching changes should colleges keep? Your ideas don't have to be classroom-specific. We're interested in responses about academic support, technology, and curricula, too. Use this form to share your thoughts. Thanks!

ICYMI

Many instructors are covering less content this academic year than before. Maybe that's a good thing for students, writes David Gooblar, in this Chronicle advice piece.

In this post on the Learning Scientists blog, Carolina E. Kuepper-Tetzel explains the benefits she and her co-author found in temporarily withholding grades from students to help them engage more with feedback.

Was your campus one of the many that skipped spring break this year? If so, Jane S. Halonen and Dana S. Dunn provide commiseration and coping strategies in this Chronicle advice piece.

Thanks for reading Teaching. If you have suggestions or ideas, please feel free to email us, at beckie.supiano@chronicle.com or beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com.

-Beth
Learn more about our Teaching newsletter, including how to contact us, at the Teaching newsletter archive page.

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Teaching: After the Pandemic, What Innovations Are Worth Keeping?

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Many professors are eager to teach in person again. But they have also found that some parts of their work with students are more effective online. Who needs to spend time and money trudging to and from campus when you can just open up your laptop and hold office hours, host a guest speaker, or run a tutoring session?

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Teaching: More Pandemic-Driven Innovations Professors Like

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Teaching: More Pandemic-Driven Innovations Professors Like

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Here are a few more of your ideas:

Recorded lectures and classes. This year many, many instructors found themselves recording short lectures for their students to watch before class. Their aim was to spend valuable class time in discussion or on group work, rather than lecturing into the void on Zoom.

As it turns out, those recordings have proved enormously helpful in other ways. Several readers said that their students liked being able to replay lectures, perhaps to review material they'd missed or had trouble understanding the first time around. Similarly, many faculty members recorded class sessions this year, so they could be shared with students who were in isolation or had to miss class for other reasons. The professors suggested that this innovation stick around, too, given that students will continue to have scheduling conflicts after Covid, such as when athletes need to travel for games.

Hybrid teaching and teaching with technology. Technology entered professors' lives in a major way this past year, and it turns out there's a lot to like. Even those who had only a passing familiarity with their learning management systems before the pandemic found themselves mastering tools to better connect with their students.

Some readers reported success with collaborative tools, such as Google Docs or Perusall, that enable students to work together virtually on readings, problems, and projects.

Students learn more effectively when they can see how their classmates write, and how an instructor discusses and corrects that writing, said Mona Eikel-Pohen, an assistant teaching professor of German at Syracuse University. "Collaborating on texts has become easier, too, and making mistakes has become so obvious that students have fewer anxieties to embrace making mistakes as learning opportunities and not as defects."

Others want to continue to hold classes on Zoom when needed, such as when a professor is home with a sick child or the campus is closed because of a snowstorm.

Victoria Thomas, a senior lecturer at Washington University in St. Louis, wrote in to say that she found it valuable to pivot online, both synchronously and asynchronously, around holidays.

"The flow of the course was maintained, but students were not stressed about how to fit in their work with their family obligations or travel schedules," she said. "Travel was cheaper because they did not have to fly at peak times, and everyone was grateful to have their pressures understood. For Thanksgiving, I arranged a team game for those students who were able to Zoom into a synchronous session, and we all had a blast together just enjoying each other's company. We shared a hot drink and a piece of cake, and celebrated together in the comfort of whichever home we were in. Parents and grandparents, extended friends and pets, all became part of our class."

Other faculty members have become fans of discussion boards, which expanded and deepened the conversations among students in their classrooms.

"In face-to-face discussions, even a 'great' session typically involves contributions from just part of the class. Many students who are reluctant to contribute to in-person discussions raised great questions and offered exceptionally thoughtful reflections in the online space of the discussion board," wrote William Kerrigan, a history professor at Muskingum University, who used them in his masked and distanced classroom. "The synchronous discussion board provided a second forum for students to demonstrate engagement with the course material.

"In addition," he continued, "even though all posts were viewable to the whole class, students seemed more willing to ask good questions that they might have feared were 'stupid' and were reluctant to ask in class. The result was I had a much better sense of what students understood and didn't understand in the reading. I often used some of these questions to begin our discussion on the next in-class day."

The themes running through all of these innovations are flexibility and engagement: The more ways in which people can participate in the classroom, contribute to discussions, and share their ideas, readers found, the more learning improves.

More focus on accessible course materials. Many of the stumbling blocks that hampered effective teaching this year existed long before the pandemic. It's just that online learning forced them into the spotlight. One of those pervasive challenges has been the difficulty some students face in getting access to learning materials. As a result, when professors designed their newly online or hybrid courses this past year, they were often asked to use a framework known as the Universal Design for Learning, which takes into account students' diverse learning needs.

Professors found themselves narrating PowerPoint slides, for example, or captioning video lectures and creating transcripts of those lectures for students with hearing or visual impairments. Those principles proved helpful, too, for students with technology challenges, such as limited bandwidth, that prevented them from streaming live lectures. Instead, they were able to read transcripts afterward. All in all, readers said, those strategies offer a valuable and needed approach toward teaching materials.

"For years folks have argued that learning how to record/Zoom/caption/transcribe was too hard for just a few folks, but most of us were able to make it happen when we shifted online in the spring/fall," wrote Molly Metz, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. "Now that so many more people have these skills, it is simply not acceptable to not make more things available. Frankly, I am ashamed I did not make an effort to learn these things sooner. They benefit *everyone*, not just students with registered accommodations, not just practically but emotionally."

Teaching outside. It's not quite as common as the other innovations perhaps, but a number of readers told us they had come to enjoy running their classes outdoors.

"Though the climate in Iowa only allows for seasonal use, the pop-up outdoor classroom we created allowed a range of instructors and groups to meet in person when that wouldn't have otherwise been possible," wrote Jim O'Loughlin, head of the department of languages and literatures at the University of Northern Iowa. "While the occasional class outside was a tradition pre-pandemic, sitting on the ground under a tree always had some limitations. But with socially distanced chairs, a portable TV/computer hookup, and extended Wi-Fi, the outdoor classroom is a place where meaningful work can be done without walls. Next year, the chairs will be closer together, but we'll still use the outdoor classroom."

ICYMI

Beckie takes a deep dive into what it's like when one-on-one learning has to take place online, at a college built around that kind of close mentorship.

James Lang, a Chronicle columnist and English professor at Assumption University, writes about why he stopped grading students on class participation in this advice piece.

Flipped learning can transform teaching after the pandemic, writes Robert Talbert in this EdSurge opinion piece.

Thanks for reading Teaching. If you have suggestions or ideas, please feel free to email us, at beckie.supiano@chronicle.com or beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com.

-Beth
Learn more about our Teaching newsletter, including how to contact us, at the Teaching newsletter archive page.

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Teaching: More Pandemic-Driven Innovations Professors Like

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Here are a few more of your ideas: Recorded lectures and classes. This year many, many instructors found themselves recording short lectures for their students to watch before class. Their aim was to spend valuable class time in discussion or on group work, rather than lecturing into the void on Zoom.

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3,052 College Students on the Good, the Bad and Learning Post-COVID

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3,052 College Students on the Good, the Bad and Learning Post-COVID

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3,052 College Students on the Good, the Bad and Learning Post-COVID

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More than a year has passed under the shadow of COVID-19. While there are bright spots and important lessons for institutions preparing for a return to campus, students remain deeply ambivalent about learning online.

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OSU Center for Teaching and Learning Blended Learning Resources

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OSU Center for Teaching and Learning Blended Learning Resources

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Is it okay to use YouTube videos in your course? What about copyright? I get inquiries like this often. Here I'll share the most common questions from instructors and the answers I provide. Q: Should I be concerned about relying on a link to a YouTube video for essential course content? There are quite a... Continue reading

The post Is it okay to use YouTube videos in your course? appeared first on Ecampus Course Development and Training.

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Is it okay to use YouTube videos in your course? What about copyright? I get inquiries like this often. Here I'll share the most common questions from instructors and the answers I provide. Q: Should I be concerned about relying on a link to a YouTube video for essential course content?

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Course Introduction and Navigation

A clear introduction to the course and logical, student-centered navigation help students find what they need, reducing frustration. These elements help students avoid missing important instructions or assignments.

Essential

Course is structured into intuitive sections (weeks, units, etc.) with all materials for each section housed with that section (as opposed to lengthy menus or a mass collection of files without a discernible organization). Course is organized with student-centered navigation, and it is clear to students how to get started in the course.

All OSU-required syllabus information is present, including instructor's name, OSU email address, contact information, grading policies, and learning outcomes. If applicable, outcomes and special curricular instructions for Bacc Core, WIC, and DPD are included in the syllabus. Course descriptions match the OSU catalog verbatim, and learning outcomes for online and hybrid sections are the same as for the same course in other modalities.

In addition to OSU-required syllabus information, the syllabus for the online or hybrid section addresses information necessary for online students, including how to access technical support, netiquette expectations for the course, how to contact the instructor, and the following statement about instructor response time for questions and assignment feedback:
Response times: Students can expect responses to questions within 24 hours during the work week and graded assignments with feedback within five days. If I need to deviate from this schedule, I will inform the class.

A course schedule with due dates is provided in the syllabus or as a separate document.

Exemplary

An introduction video providing an introduction to the instructor and/or course is available.

Learning Outcomes and Alignment

An OSU course is an OSU course, regardless of the modality in which it is taught. Learning outcomes are the roadmap for the course. Clear, measurable outcomes tell us exactly what should be covered and at which depth. Weekly learning outcomes help students understand how daily coursework relates to course outcomes. The OSU Faculty Senate's Curriculum Council approves course titles, descriptions, and learning outcomes for each course through a rigorous curricular review process. Documentation is recorded in the university's CIM system.

Essential

Online and hybrid courses meet the same course learning outcomes as sections taught in other modalities.

Assessments (assignments, exams, projects, discussions, etc.) are aligned with course outcomes, weekly outcomes, content, and cognitive level.

Exemplary

Learning outcomes are measurable and observable (avoiding ambiguous verbs such as "understand" or "comprehend").

In addition to course level outcomes, weekly or unit-level outcomes are provided.

Assessment and Feedback

Clear expectations help students succeed. Assessments should be aligned with outcomes to ensure that outcomes are being met. Using a 'grade early, grade often' approach helps students monitor progress and know if they are on track for success.

Essential

Assessments (assignments, exams, projects, discussions, etc.) are aligned with course and unit or weekly outcomes in content and cognitive level.

Grading policies are stated clearly (such as listing grading criteria and supplying rubrics).

Exemplary

Assessments are varied, including formative and summative assessments.

Instructional Materials

Materials for online and hybrid classes should be created for the audience of online and hybrid students. Online students feel at a disadvantage when they are merely given recordings of on-campus activities or lectures. Instructional materials should prepare students for assessments. Research shows that using best practices for presenting instructional materials helps students learn more effectively (for example, using active learning strategies, where students perform meaningful actions involving course content and then reflect on learning).

Essential

Instructional materials are in alignment with the course and weekly outcomes.

Instructional materials drawn from other sources have been through a fair use assessment, and copyright permissions have been requested for any items deemed not to fall under fair use guidelines. (Instructional faculty provide source information for non-original content; Ecampus assists with fair use assessment and permissions requests.)

All multimedia is designed and produced for an audience of online and hybrid students (no recordings of in-class materials).

Audio and visual quality must be clear for all multimedia.

Exemplary

Instructional materials are appropriately cited.

Instructional materials appeal to a variety of learning preferences (readings, audio, visual, multimedia, etc.).

Online ecture content is brief and integrated into course learning activities, such as with interactive components, discussion questions, or quiz questions. (Longer lectures should be shortened to less than 20 min. chunks.)

Online lectures are not required; it is fine to use existing materials such as links to open education resources, readings, activities, etc.

Weekly introductions are provided.

Interaction and Engagement

Research shows that active learning opportunities, as well as the three forms of interaction, are effective in online and hybrid classes and for adult students. Response times help create a structure for interaction.

Essential

Learning activities are aligned with course and weekly learning outcomes.

"Three forms of interaction are present, in some form, in the course:

Student/content (such as discussion boards, readings, video, research projects)

Student/instructor (such as discussion boards, response to assignments, inclusion of a Q&A forum the instructor will facilitate)

Student/student (such as discussion boards, group projects, peer-reviewed assignments)"
In hybrid courses, the three forms of interaction are present in both the classroom and online elements of the course. Additionally, the course design integrates classroom and online learning through the ways that classroom and online elements are sequenced and explicitly linked to one another. For instance, a weekly discussion that begins online may be continued in the classroom, or an online reading may be the basis of group problem solving in a subsequent class session.

Exemplary

Opportunities for active learning (meaningful action + reflection) are provided.

In hybrid courses, active learning opportunities are provided both face-to-face and online.

Multimedia has been used to address the course's main concepts, to help students master especially challenging concepts, and to effectively communicate concepts that are best conveyed in multimedia format.

Course Technology

Using educational technology appropriately is an important aspect of designing and facilitating effective online courses. Reliability, security, record keeping requirements, FERPA and accessibility compliance are all important and complex concerns. OSU uses the Canvas learning management system; all Ecampus courses are delivered through Canvas. When external educational technologies are used, integration with Canvas provides improved usability for online and hybrid students. Additionally, providing privacy policies for outside tools helps students understand and manage their privacy in online spaces.

Essential

Appropriate tools are used for their intended purposes (e.g., using the assignment tool for homework rather than having students emailing assignments).

Assignments and student progress are tracked through Canvas. Grades are communicated to students through the Canvas gradebook.

Tools outside of Canvas are used in ways that comply with FERPA regulations.

Link to outside resources are functional.

Student completion of work through tools used outside of Canvas is logged within Canvas.

Exemplary

If outside tools are used, they are integrated into Canvas, when possible, so students have a single point of access.

Privacy policy for any tools used outside of Canvas is provided.

Learner Support

Sometimes students do not realize they have access to learner support services if they are far from campus. Also, access to student services sometimes differs for campus and Ecampus students. Online student fees provide access to Ecampus-specific student services such as TutorMe. Some student services, such as disability access services, are required by law. Providing learner support information within online and hybrid courses ensures that students have ready access to support when they need it.

Essential

Information about learner support is provided, such as the Start Here module in the Ecampus course template, which includes a link to Ecampus Student Services.

Exemplary

Lib guides are embedded in Canvas course shells, when appropriate.

Accessibility

Providing accessible content is required by law. Using a universal design approach during course development is better for students, is more inclusive for diverse learners, and is more efficient than retrofitting a non-accessible course.

Essential

Course content is posted in accessible format (such as a PDF file with document tags, alt-text provided for images, captions or transcripts for narrated lectures, and PowerPoint presentations with sufficient contrast between the background and text).

Canvas pages are structured in an accessible format (such as using heading styles).

Exemplary

Simple font and color schemes are used.

All video content is captioned (not just transcripts).

Academic Integrity

The design of online and hybrid courses can help deter academic integrity violations.

Essential

If proctored online exams are desired, proctoring requirements are established with the testing coordinator and communicated in the syllabus.

For online exams with multiple choice/short answer questions, questions and/or answers are randomized to help guard against academic integrity violations.

Exams delivered without proctoring are available during specific timeframes (e.g., over a 3-day period including one weekend day) and are time-limited to help guard against academic integrity violations.

Question pools are used, or exams are updated each time a course is offered.

Exemplary

Written assessments such as essays and research papers require multiple steps that incorporate peer, tutor and/or instructor feedback (e.g., multiple drafts, or a proposal or outline as a first step before drafting).

Written assessments such as essays and research papers require students to use plagiarism prevention software to self-check work for originality and possible plagiarism (Turnitin).

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A clear introduction to the course and logical, student-centered navigation help students find what they need, reducing frustration. These elements help students avoid missing important instructions or assignments. Essential Course is structured into intuitive sections (weeks, units, etc.)

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Derived from research-based best practices, these principles are intended to supplement the QM Higher Education 6th edition course design rubric and the Ecampus Essentials to guide effective facilitation of online and hybrid courses at Oregon State University. These principles are a tool for faculty development and are not intended as an exhaustive list of online or hybrid instructor competencies or tasks; moreover, other "applied examples" beyond those listed may fulfill the spirit and intent of these principles.

Select resources supporting the Ecampus Online Teaching Principles are listed below, and full citations may be accessed in the Bibliography document.

Stay Current

Encourage Equity

Communicate Clearly and Quickly

Provide Notice

Commit to Timeliness

Be Present

Foster Community

Support Students

Reach Out and Refer

Cultivate Inclusion

For Hybrid Courses Only: Blend Learning

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Derived from research-based best practices, these principles are intended to supplement the QM Higher Education 6th edition course design rubric and the Ecampus Essentials to guide effective facilitation of online and hybrid courses at Oregon State University.