Virtual Tips: Rethinking Teaching
By Tomeka Wilcher
As we move into a new academic year, let's take time to reflect on lessons learned. Teaching through a pandemic and social protests has motivated many of us to rethink our teaching. Looking through this new lens, let us consider the following as we move forward:
Choice: Students' presence and engagement translate differently in an online environment. Online, worlds collide. What was once separate and at times purposefully hidden has been placed front and center. But some students are uncomfortable with letting anyone into their personal space. We should consider this reality when students have their cameras off. We do not know their circumstances; therefore, we should think about giving students a choice about whether to have their cameras on. We cannot gauge students' presence or engagement by the status of their cameras. However, we can gauge their presence and engagement by how they are performing on assignments and activities during class, their collaboration efforts, and their oral and written responses during and after class.
Keep It Simple: Although we have been exposed to many educational technology tools and best practices, we must use what we are comfortable with. If we try to use every tool and every best practice, we will soon become overwhelmed. Therefore, we should start with what we know and gradually add a new tool or strategy to our repertoire.
Mini Lessons/Lectures: Want to keep students engaged? Create mini-lessons or lectures where active learning activities are present throughout. This will keep students focused because they have to "do" something with the material and play an active role in their learning. We can create small checks for understanding, reflective moments, or small group sharing opportunities. When we chunk our lessons/lectures and include active learning strategies, students are no longer playing a passive role in the classroom. They are actively transferring their knowledge and making connections.
Make It Authentic: Students learn from authentic people and experiences. As we think about assignments or projects, we should include learning experiences that are relevant and realistic.
Community Building: Students are successful when we build community within a virtual or traditional classroom. How can we do this? By including opportunities for students to get to know more about us. By recording an introductory video that reveals pieces of our lives and journey. By incorporating short stories about ourselves that connect to what is being taught. By bonding with students as we provide feedback on their group projects.
Name Stories: Another way to build community is to recognize students' names. Researchers tell us that when students are asked to comment on discussion posts, they often pick the names of fellow students that sound the most common. That means anyone not born in the United States or anyone with an ethnic or less common name might not hear from the other students in the class. An easy exercise early in the semester is to ask students to tell each other their name story. Ask how they got their name and how it is pronounced or if they want to be called by a nickname. This exercise helps students overcome implicit bias in confronting names and will show that you value each individual student.
Practice Self-care: We work hard to make sure our students have what they need, but we often neglect ourselves. We need to surround ourselves with a personal and professional community that will support, celebrate, motivate, and challenge us. We need to take breaks, exercise, eat well, and practice safety precautions. We need to set boundaries so that students and colleagues know when we are available and when we are not.
As we continue to rethink teaching, we must keep in mind that teaching goes beyond the concepts and skills being taught. We must remember that we never know what students are experiencing or feeling and vice versa. As the semester moves along, we can continue to provide opportunities for students to check in. We can send an email or make an announcement showing our support. We can poll students periodically to gain insight on how they are doing. We can create a space online or reflective opportunities where students can reveal their innermost thoughts for their eyes only. We can create short moments during instruction where we briefly have students step away from the material and just breathe, listen to a feel-good song or have a moment of comic relief. It is within these small moments that we humanize instruction and strengthen student learning and teacher-student relationships.
