Post-pandemic teaching practices (UoE Staff) by C Mclaughlin https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv This activity focuses on changes made to teaching and learning as a result of the pandemic. Contributors are external participants of the University of Edinburgh Learning and Teaching Conference 2021. Please note that this virtual wall has been made as a secret instance. Posts will be anonymous. Comments will be associated with your Padlet identity if you are logged in when commenting. Do not post content which is inappropriate, abusive or offensive. Padlet Terms of Service: https://padlet.com/about/terms. en-us 2021-06-07 11:11:00 UTC 2021-06-17 14:37:58 UTC hello@padlet.com Online, even synchronous, teaching, removes much of the human element of communication. Students are much more direct and harsher in online communication. https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1607423778 2021-06-15 12:42:23 UTC https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1607423778 It's much easier for students to lose interest and fall behind in asynchronously delivered courses than traditional synchronous ones; despite some considering that it's up to the students to self-organise, most students prioritise doing things that give them credit and so a nudge to get engaged by assigning a small amount of credit for this engagement will help them keep up, at least in the case of non-honours students who may not correctly grasp what is important and what isn't. https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1607430871 2021-06-15 12:45:44 UTC https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1607430871 Using collaborative tools like padlet- I see how they can give a voice to shier students in large lectures. https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1607439249 2021-06-15 12:49:42 UTC https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1607439249 I set up office hours like before, only that this time they are online. I found that many more students turn up now compared to previous years, with many of them just wanting to listen on the conversation rather than ask questions. https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1607442438 2021-06-15 12:51:10 UTC https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1607442438 Conducting team and student supervision meetings online is easier to schedule and more practical, and I found MS Teams to be an excellent tool for this. https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1607444787 2021-06-15 12:52:15 UTC https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1607444787 I conducted student supervision fully over MS Teams, and this has worked excellently well. The possibility for the student to ask me things on the chat and share files with me in between meetings has been great as it meant we had everything in one place. Furthermore, some students liked to record our synchronous meetings which helped them later. https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1607446722 2021-06-15 12:53:10 UTC https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1607446722 Despite we are coming from the School of Informatics, I think they found this adjustment challenging. Most courses have now become 100% coursework and this needed they had much more work and deadlines during the semester, and so it was difficult to keep up. Moreover, some courses involved team work and some students had difficulties in communicating with their teammate online. Most courses offered some form of credit for engagement, but this again meant additional deadlines for the students. Most of them requested extensions to their coursework deadlines, even if in the end some managed to meet them. Moreover, there were many more special circumstance applications. https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1607450409 2021-06-15 12:54:49 UTC https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1607450409 That digital teaching is not the scary beast I feared it would be, and that it can be as good or better than in-person teaching. https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1611863611 2021-06-17 08:42:44 UTC https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1611863611 https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1612375486 It is really important to make sure that what is expected of students is clear to both me as an academic and to the students. Realistic workloads are even more important in a situation where students are mostly (or wholly) online. I will continue to set clear expectations as we return towards "normality"]]> 2021-06-17 14:28:22 UTC https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1612375486 https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1612379507 Delivery of content through asynchronous means is really helpful as it places the emphasis of our time with the students on interaction and participation rather than just academic driven, predominantly one-way, information flow.]]> 2021-06-17 14:30:14 UTC https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1612379507 https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1612386396 My highest priority for contact time with students has been on interactive activity - discussion/problem solving/clarification/further explanation. For me that's the really important element for supporting student learning.

]]> 2021-06-17 14:33:26 UTC https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1612386396 https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1612389929 Most students chose to engage electronically only. This may be due to timetabling and travel issues, or it may be that they prefer the format which allows them to be more anonymous to their peers. Having clearly defined goals for each week of the course helped students maintain engagement, although across multiple courses there was evidence of excessive student workload. We must remember that online learning, because of the lack of peer interaction, is more challenging and therefore more time consuming (though the benefits of having to wrestle alone with problems may be greater).]]> 2021-06-17 14:34:58 UTC https://padlet.com/celeste_mcl/u91zgd6jlxbldwmv/wish/1612389929