色情视频

Welcome to the Course Caf茅. We鈥檝e been waiting for you.

Here at 色情视频, this space has been set up by your instructor for students to gather and be a resource to each other as fall 2020 unfolds. Struggling with a question about course materials? Here鈥檚 another student who knows the answer. Just ask.

Like this imagined course itself, the caf茅 will exist in the virtual realm. And it鈥檚 just one element of a sweeping effort at 色情视频 over the summer to adapt the theory and practice of teaching to more effective and structured online learning.

The Flexible Course Design Summer Institute helped nearly 1,000 faculty enhance their skills and knowledge of teaching in the online environment in ways that may not have been possible in the hurried coaching that followed stay-at-home orders last March.

The three-week sessions by 色情视频鈥檚 Instructional Technology Services (ITS) included a mix of required and elective modules totaling 20 hours and drawing upon partners from across campus.

James Frazee, 色情视频鈥檚 chief academic technology officer and associate vice president for ITS, said the effort 鈥渆xceeded expectations.鈥�

The institute 鈥渆ndeavored to provide participants with strategies and learning technologies to teach in a hybrid or fully online environment,鈥� Frazee said. 鈥淔or 色情视频 faculty new to hybrid-flexible-online teaching, this multi-track program offered customizable experiences to enhance their skills and knowledge.鈥�

If the workshops in March showed faculty what they need to know to drive a car, he said, the summer institute advanced them to the specialized training needed to operate a motorcycle.

It showed the way to a more structured and predictable approach 鈥� how to pick up on the online equivalent of a puzzled expression from a student, for instance.

Reaching out

Experienced online instructors helped faculty members master the technology needed to record lectures and meet other challenges of virtual teaching.

鈥淪tuck at home since March, it has been wonderful to reach out across virtual space to connect with and coach fellow educators, all of whom have student success at the forefront,鈥� said Elizabeth Pollard, a history professor and co-facilitator of the summer institute.

Faculty members also received tips on such matters as how to assess students when every test is essentially open book, promoting student engagement and conducting online labs. One module focused on inclusivity, and how online teaching may need to adapt to those with hearing impairments or financial difficulties, or who need to view course materials on a mobile phone.

鈥淚 went into it feeling completely overwhelmed,鈥� said Eustacia Riley, art history lecturer in the School of Art and Design. 鈥淚 came away feeling much more competent.鈥�

Riley had used videos in her courses in the past but never had a good way of ensuring students actually used them or learned from them. Now she plans to adopt an idea from the institute to keep students engaged through in-video quizzing.

鈥淢y course will definitely be clearer and more accessible for its users,鈥� Riley said.

Frazee said the institute鈥檚 lessons will continue to serve faculty members well even after the COVID-19 crisis passes. 鈥淚鈥檓 confident that faculty will see value in some of these technologies for teaching that would never have even been perceived as a possibility previously,鈥� he said.

Take the virtual meeting space of a Course Caf茅 discussion forum, designed to get students to interact more with each other. A concept explained by a student鈥檚 peer, Frazee said, 鈥渟ometimes resonates more than it does from a faculty member who has been eating, sleeping and breathing this for the past 30 years.鈥�

Instruction clues

Similarly, sophisticated video tools allow faculty to see which parts of a recorded lecture students are rewinding, a 鈥渉eat map鈥� that could indicate where they may need to explain a concept differently.

Some other tidbits from the Summer Institute:

• In many classrooms, 鈥淗ave you read the syllabus?鈥� is a frequent refrain. Now there can be more of a nudge. Before proceeding with the content of a course, instructors may require students to pass a 鈥渟yllabus quiz鈥� to ensure their grasp on what Frazee calls their contract with the instructor.
• Faculty members will have access to on-demand support from ITS staff members via drop-in Zoom sessions, and will be able to schedule more in-depth coaching. 色情视频鈥檚 Faculty Instructional Technology Center, previously a lab in Adams Humanities for faculty to gather, also has been translated into a virtual realm. One size won鈥檛 fit all. The institute emphasized the need for flexibility and variance in approaches to teaching this fall. That Course Caf茅 won鈥檛 show up everywhere.
• Frazee said he expects faculty will continue to lean on each other for support as fall 2020 unrolls. Amid the sadness that students are missing out on much of the usual face-to-face campus experience, he noted, the summer institute recognized that many faculty members are in the same boat and that virtual teaching requires a lot of extra work for them, too. 鈥淚t was by faculty for faculty, and it was designed specifically to build community among these faculty members who are often very isolated from one another,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e wanted to make those connections.鈥�