By most accounts, the emergency switch to distance learning and learning in March 2020 was tough on students, faculty, and staff workers. Students’ mental health was undermined, existing inequalities were exacerbated, and many lost their sense of community.
Now, a self-study from Stanford University released today is evidence that despite perceived challenges, college students, faculty, and staff have united in unprecedented ways toward a common goal of continuing education. offers. In the process, we have developed and refined our online teaching practices and course design in ways that better serve our students as a whole. Going forward, some of these digital innovations may be worth preserving and enhancing.
“Whether you’re in an IT or academic technology group, in a school or in an office abroad, the lack of interaction with academics is a problem,” said Matthew Raskoff, Deputy Dean of Stanford University. The common goal was clear to everyone.” Digital education prost.
Improvements in digital teaching and learning in the age of COVID could be lost if universities proceed without due diligence, the study authors argue. Their next step, to be implemented next year, is to identify a new unifying goal to bring them together. That goal, which has yet to be determined, comes after the no-longer-needed goal of providing academic continuity during the emergency switch to distance learning.
“That feeling [of a unifying goal] If you don’t document it, develop support to enhance it, and say, “Wouldn’t you like it back?” “After the pandemic, we need it.”
Self-study is based on interviews with 59 students and faculty and a review of early pandemic artifacts, documenting innovations in online education and highlighting lessons learned. The report also includes questions for the community to ask now, “regardless of how the COVID-19 pandemic changes it.”
Although this study focused on one institution only, other universities may benefit from understanding the lessons learned or using them to motivate self-study. says Rascoff. Below are highlights from some of the reports.
Enhanced virtual community
Student social connections, support networks, and word-of-mouth communication channels were disrupted when the pandemic hit. Juniors and seniors, for example, had little opportunity to share knowledge with newcomers, according to the report. Students did not have the opportunity to chat with the professor in the hallway or participate in her professional networking events.
“The pandemic has been tragic, lonely and frightening, but it has also been a massive faculty bootcamp for digital teaching and learning,” said co-author of the study, Stanford Digital Education: 2021. The office has been launched to help coordinate the university’s digital education efforts and generate new programs.
Instructors worked purposefully to build and maintain connections in the virtual space. He arrived 15 minutes early and some stayed 15 minutes late when hosting a Zoom class to recreate the opportunity for an informal chat. Others planned quick class-wide check-ins during class meetings, asking how students were feeling or what they were doing outside of class.
A faculty member’s Zoom background could reveal a distracting child, pet, or activity that had nothing to do with class. But research also found that these distractions also humanized the instructor.
“traditional [professor-student] Michelle Pacansky-Brock, Digital Innovation Faculty Mentor at the California Community College System and Principal Investigator of a project focused on humanizing online STEM classes, said: Pacansky-Brock says that to humanize online learning, the relationship between professors and students needs to “move from impersonal professionalism to relational authority,” she said. .
When students aren’t sure they belong, their brains are scanning for cues like smiles and warm gestures. For example, an instructor who records a short but incomplete welcome video in a non-office environment, such as outdoors, will show interest in connecting.
“Students click play and feel as if they are talking one-on-one,” Pacansky-Brock says.
Before the pandemic, the Center for Teaching and Learning at Stanford University hosted a little-used Teaching Commons website. The pandemic has prompted a revival of sites offering curated digital resources in learning, teaching and pedagogy.
“Not only was the website created, but there was a cultural shift happening at the institution,” said another co-author, Lisa Anderson, associate director of educational partnerships at Stanford Digital Education. .
The Teaching Commons website “has become this growing ecosystem,” Kenji Ikemoto, an academic technology specialist at Stanford University, told study authors. “Stanford is decentralized and the pandemic has shown that many are willing to work together across departmental boundaries.”
Inclusive and collaborative teaching and course design
The pandemic has exposed longstanding inequalities in higher education and society. Some students struggled to access the technology resources and Internet connectivity they needed for remote learning. A student’s house is also displayed in the background of the zoom. Some people attend classes from quiet, spacious homes, while others come from environments with cramped closets and lots of distractions.
Instructors have developed mechanisms to better understand the student as a whole, including the challenges faced in the virtual environment. For example, at the beginning of class, some invited students to vote on a clickable world map that identified where they were. This allowed students to bring part of their identity into the class, and in some cases to let the instructor know they were attending from a nighttime location.
“Belonging is a basic human need and is necessary before you reach your full potential,” said Pakanski-Brock. “This is as true in the physical classroom as it is online.” Higher education administrators, she said, need to recognize the need to promote online affiliation, especially among underrepresented students. there is.
“To understand how to develop humanized online classes that foster belonging, identity, safety and trust, we need to effectively support faculty and staff,” said Pacansky-Brock.
Still others used surveys to solicit information about students’ technology needs. This provided the real-time information needed to create a comprehensive learning experience. Many faculty also invited students to her regular virtual one-on-one meetings to help build relationships.
Instructors also surveyed students and adjusted remote courses in real time based on student feedback. Some students asked students about learning objectives that helped them know what the course was about. When doing so, some students reported feeling a sense of agency in the course.
“By far the biggest change is that instructors are paying more attention to whether their courses are successful for their students,” Stanford University engineering professor John Mitchell tells the authors. Mitchell pointed out that this habit can lead to permanent change.
Staff across the university also formed partnerships to support comprehensive online education. The Learning Technologies and Spaces team, for example, worked with the Office of Digital Accessibility to develop a more comprehensive process for reviewing and approving technologies widely used in universities.
During this time, by being sincere with students, faculty and staff were sometimes in a position to coordinate difficult conversations. In response, individuals and groups across the university have collaborated to create resources and workshops to provide guidance on navigating conversations about the experience of the pandemic, racial and social justice, and more. .
Lessons Learned and Unanswered Questions
In conducting a self-research, Stanford University finds previously fragmented schools, departments and business units have the potential to strengthen digital education and form partnerships that can address educational disparities. I found out
The relationship between teachers and students has also changed. Students provided technical support to instructors and participated in course design. Faculty have increased their ability to empathize with students’ individual challenges, and adjusted teaching and course design accordingly to be more inclusive.
Some questions researchers are pushing forward are:
- “Under what circumstances should faculty and institutional instructors be able to teach flexibly using teaching modalities such as fully online, hybrid, or flipped classrooms?”
- “Should students be given more alternative forms of assessment options instead of attending class in person?”
- “What should be the role of students in course design?”
This research is intended to serve as a foundation for creating mission-driven digital learning strategies for the coming year.
“Too often, faculty members, leaders, and the public have this unfortunate view of online teaching,” Pakanski Block said. Look at them through and say, ‘Oh, it’s not welcome because it’s online.
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