Image licensed CC-BY-SA 3.0 David Kennard

“Why do you approach this research with such hesitancy? Such timidness?” Such were the words of my 400-level botany professor, Dr. Meese, spoken in a moment of frustration to the whole class in his thick German accent. The Reproductive Biology of Flowers was truly a fascinating course, and I gradually found myself following the lead of Dr. Meese, diving into close-up UV photography of irises scattered around the University of Washington campus, deeply intrigued that those fat furry bumblebees could visualize those attractive runways in ways that eluded my human sight.

These are among the professors I remember when asked to think of an educator who inspired a leap to a new level, someone who broadened my capacity for growth in an area I barely knew existed. Who are the educators who inspired you to new heights?

I think of Dr. Barr and Dr. Meese as “warm demanders” in a sense. Though not warm and fuzzy, they were not without compassion. Had I known what they were doing, I would have realized they were not trying to be rigid and inflexible. In their own way, they were showing compassion while at the same time providing an opportunity for me to engage in productive struggle, a necessary path toward moving from a dependent learner to an independent learner.

Leaning into productive struggle

Michelle Pacansky-Brock defines warm demander pedagogy as a culturally responsive teaching approach that creates opportunities for students to engage in productive struggle through engaging in challenging tasks, and this helps students develop from dependent into independent learners. She goes on to assert that all humans begin as dependent learners, and students who are poor and people of color are less likely to have had the privilege to be challenged in their educational experiences through productive struggle, which means they are more likely to be dependent learners.

Photo by Julia Larson, Pexels

It is precisely the productive struggle I experienced in the aforementioned classes that allowed me to engage and challenge myself, and struggle, but this is not the first step. Warm demander pedagogy and creating those opportunities for “productive struggle” is rooted in a strategy Pacansky-Brock refers to as “care and push.” The foundation for this is the building of trust in the instructor-student relationship. As Pacansky-Brock explains, “once a student knows you care about them and that you believe in them, they lean in. They challenge themselves. That’s when a student can flourish and reach their full intellectual potential.” I’m personally drawn to this image that a student will “lean in” and accept more challenge after gaining trust in the instructor.

Among the key characteristics of warm demander pedagogy is the need to express concern for students, not through passive sympathy, but by demanding a high quality of academic work. One of the main concerns we often have about showing compassion and some flexibility with our students in terms of deadlines, for example, is the fear that our expectations will diminish, that our courses will become less rigorous. Yet one of the pillars of the warm demander approach is that we challenge our students, all students, that we give them the opportunities for productive struggle essential in the path to become independent learners. Denying some students of this challenge denies them an opportunity for growth.

In discussing culturally relevant pedagogy, Gloria Ladson-Billings puts it this way…

Photo by Cottonbro, Pexels

“Culturally relevant teachers envision their students as being filled with possibilities. They imagine that somewhere in the classroom is the next Nobel laureate (a Toni Morrison), the next neurosurgeon (a Benjamin Carson), or the next pioneer for social justice (a Fannie Lou Hamer). The perspective moves the teachers from a position of sympathy (“you poor dear”) to one of informed empathy. This informed empathy requires the teacher to feel with the students rather than feel for them. Feeling with the students builds a sense of solidarity between the teacher and the students but does not excuse students from working hard in pursuit of excellence.” (White Teachers/Diverse Classrooms, p. 31)

The last phrase of that quote is the most revealing for us as educators. Indeed, the key principles of warm demander pedagogy used to develop intellectual abilities in dependent learners through cognitive struggle are perhaps best summarized by Pacansky-Brock in this intricate flow of “care and push.” A warm demander…

• Expresses personal warmth vs. impersonal professionalism
• Prioritizes building rapport and trust
• Clearly communicates high standards and scaffolds learning
• Shows personal regard for students
• Earns the right to demand engagement and effort
• Encourages and celebrates productive struggle

What about rigor?

What does this mean in terms of course rigor? Indeed, showing informed empathy, personal warmth, and compassion should not be equated with lowering our standards or less rigor. The warm demander approach starts with trust, proceeds with building the relationship, and at that point students will more readily engage with the challenge.

Photo by Allan Mas, Pexels

Thinking back to my own situation, what was it about the teaching of my professors, Dr. Barr and Dr. Meese that allowed me, actually inspired me to “lean in,” to accept the challenge, and to do so with passion, not only because a grade was at stake? What inspires you to “lean in?”

In my attempts to apply these strategies to my own teaching, I have not found the perfect balance of compassion, trust, relationship building and flexibility that always leads to student engagement. I think this pathway to engagement and the readiness to lean into productive struggle is highly individualized. A viable approach is to design what we think could be the most effective path toward this goal, but then be keenly aware of where our students are at, focus on trust, relationship building, and engagement, and then be prepared to to make small adjustments along the way.

Our students may not be ready to climb every mountain, but they will be leaning in more often to productive struggle along the path toward becoming independent learners. If there are warm demander strategies that have worked for you, please share!

Acknowledgement

Many of the ideas shared in this are based on the research of Michelle Pacansky-Brock, Faculty Mentor for the California Community Colleges CVC-OEI/@ONE. Michelle’s work focuses largely on humanized online instruction, and you’ll find a link to her full workshop presentation below. (If you can find the time, focus on the first 45 minutes.)

Resources for Further Exploration

• , Michelle Pacansky-Brock, from the series “Fall Into Humanized Online Teaching: A Pathway to Equity, Fall 2021 ()
• , Marcee Harris, The Chalk Blog, Mar 30, 2018.
• Krysti Ryan, Kathryn Boucher, Christine Logel, & Mary Murphy, College Transition Collaborative, (See the final FAQ section Do student centered policies sacrifice rigor?)
• White Teachers/Diverse Classrooms, A Guide to Building Inclusive Schools, Promoting High Expectations, and Eliminating Racism, Chance Lewis and Julie Landsman, editors, 2006.

Image courtesy of Pixabay

I know, just what you need, another professional development opportunity, right? I understand, it’s the end of the year and we’re feeling fried, but take a look. This “mini-conference” is very doable, only 3 hours. It is open to all faculty/staff involved with online or remote learning. Many of you attended in previous years. Registration is free, and there’s a stipend for PT faculty. This is a great time to connect with colleagues across the state as we reflect on the academic year.

OCCDLA Distance Learning Completion Conference
June 4, 9:00 – 12:00

(OCCDLA = Oregon Community College Distance Learning Association)

This entirely online conference will feature:

• A keynote address from Maritez Apigo, Distance Education and OER coordinator and English faculty at Contra Costa College in California, focused on designing engaging asynchronous student-to-student interaction in courses. .
• Two sessions of breakout discussions, including Q&A with Professor Apigo, facilitated discussion about best practices in online engagement, and time to reflect with colleagues from around the state about what we’ve learned (and learned to avoid) in the last year.

All faculty and staff at Oregon community colleges involved with online learning are encouraged to attend, and registration is free. A stipend is available for part-time faculty who attend.

Photo credit pixaby

“I don’t care what you know until I know that you care.”
(from the voice of our students, as quoted by Flower Darby, educator/author)

Students notice a lack of presence. They want to know that instructors are there and that we care about them.

Creating Presence – Workshop

This is a terrific professional development opportunity to explore ways to create presence in your online course. Examine strategies for creating a welcoming, engaging learning environment where students feel a sense of connection to the instructor, other students, and the course. This workshop is recommended for current online instructors interested in taking another step toward mastery of online teaching.

Learning Objective

Photo credit pixaby

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to describe how to create instructor, social, and cognitive presence in online courses.

Format

This Quality Matters workshop is asynchronous, 2 weeks, with 7 hours/week of work expected. There is a completion stipend of $350 for PT faculty. (FT instructors will also be eligible for a stipend for workshops completed during a non-contract period, e.g. summer.)

Other workshops of potential interest to online instructors.

• Increasing Interaction and Engagement (May 3rd, 1 week)
• Creating Presence in your Online Course (May 5th, 2 weeks)
• Using YouTube for Teaching & Learning (May 10th, 1 week)
• Engaging Learners in Online Discussions (May 17th, 1 week)
• Using Instructional Materials & Technology to Promote Learner Engagement (May 20th, 2 weeks)
• Giving Effective Feedback (June 14th, 1 week)
• Improving your Online Course (July 8th, 2 weeks)
• Strategies for Improving Retention (July 12, 1 week)

Workshop Details, Dates & Registration

The workshops are asynchronous, but you’ll need to block out time on your calendar to work on the learning activities. It’s most effective to spread the workload throughout the duration of the workshop. (These are not workshops that you can complete in the final couple of days.)

Workshops must be completed in entirety within the timeframe of the workshop in order for PT instructors to be eligible for a stipend. (FT instructors will also be eligible for a stipend for workshops that are completed during a non-contract period, e.g. summer.)

Any changes or cancellation of workshops must be done in Cornerstone at least 3 days prior to the start date. (How to withdraw)

Additional resources related to creating presence and building community

• , Crystal O. Wong, Oct 14 2020
• , Harriet Swartz, April 2, 2020
• , PCC webinar, May 1, 2020
• , Rob Kelly, Oct 17, 2013

Like most of you, I feel the loss of a physical classroom where I can see my students’ expressions, laugh without a lag, and make adjustments on the fly. Fortunately, I have taught online and hybrid courses for years, and so I am used to creating connections in virtual space. The following are strategies I’ve found effective in creating community during the shift to remote teaching, and I hope they will help you too.

Guiding Principles for Learning in a Crisis

I added these Guiding Principles to my Course Overview and syllabi.  The principles are adapted from documents shared on the Pandemic Pedagogy Facebook group by Brandon Bayne at UNC – Chapel Hill and by Karen Kendrick from Albertus Magnus College.

1. Nobody signed up for this.

• Not for the sickness, not for the social distancing, not for the economic turmoil, not for the sudden end of our collective lives together on campus
• Not for taking fiction as an online class, not for teaching remotely, not for learning from home, not for mastering new technologies, not for varied access to learning materials

2. The humane option is the best option.

• We are going to prioritize supporting each other as humans
• We are going to prioritize simple solutions that make sense for the most
• We are going to prioritize sharing resources and communicating clearly

3. We cannot just do the same thing online as we would in person.

• Some assignments are no longer possible
• Some expectations are no longer reasonable
• Some objectives are no longer valuable

4. We will foster intellectual nourishment, social connection, and personal accommodation.

• Accessible asynchronous content for diverse access, time zones, and contexts
• Regular synchronous discussion to learn together and combat isolation

5. We will remain flexible and adjust to the situation.

• Nobody knows where this is going and what we’ll need to adapt
• Everybody needs support and understanding in this unprecedented moment

Crisis Check-Ins

The foundation of student-centered teaching is knowing your students. At the beginning of the term, I share a range of “crisis check-in” questions, and invite students to respond to those that speak most to them:

1. What has changed in your day-to-day life since COVID-19 (or the wildfires or the widespread racial justice protests) became “a thing”? Which changes have caused the greatest imposition(s)? Which changes have led to the most distress? Which changes, if any, have been pleasantly surprising? Which changes have led to some relief of distress?
2. What are things that bring you joy (e.g. activities, hobbies, experiences)? Why do these things increase your joyfulness?
3. What are you learning about yourself as a result of recent shifts in your life (related to the issues referenced in #1 in particular)? How have you come to learn these things?
4. What is one thing that’s made you feel rooted in the last few days?
5. Talk about one person you’re supporting right now. How are you doing that?
6. What are you learning about your home, local, and global communities? How have you come to learn these things?

I adapted these questions from ones shared with me in a trauma-focused teaching conversation on the FB Pandemic Pedagogy group with Jill deTemple. Some of these questions speak to crisis, and some that spoke to care and resilience.  For more examples, check out the article on the website of community-building organization Essential Partners.

You can share these questions in a range of ways: Class-wide Intro Discussions on D2L, as a Google Doc Survey, or in a private email/assignment to you, the instructor. One thing I would encourage you to do is to give students insight into the results if they are not sharing directly with each other, within FERPA guidelines, of course.

For example, last spring, I created a slideshow that I talked through in class, collecting highlights of responses students shared with me in a survey and then illustrating how my teaching choices sprung from those responses:

       Chart showing level of student interest in meeting outside of class time

           Potential barriers to meeting in Zoom as shared by students

                  Come to our Zoom meeting! (Video optional)

I hope this strategy is useful for you!

Megan Savage, MFA, MA (she/her/hers)
Instructor, Composition & Literature
˿����Ƶ, Sylvania

PCC Humanities and Arts (HARTS) Initiative

One of the things most of us miss from in-person classrooms is connection. Even though it may not feel natural, it is possible to create connection via Zoom. Here are a few strategies for how to do that using the breakout rooms.

Strategy One: Create Student-Centered, Curiosity-Driven Groups

Many of us “feed” off of students’ energy in an in-person classroom, and it can feel deadening when students have their cameras off and we can’t assess their engagement. Here are a few ways to foster engagement with or without video cameras on:

• Let students plan the topics that will be discussed that day in advance, using discussion forums or Google Docs to propose, modify, and shape topic discussions. Then, use those topics to organize breakout rooms.
• Let students choose their group by topic of interest. To help facilitate breaking into groups swiftly, have students change their Zoom name to the topic they want to discuss (HT to Victoria Rau).
• Let web research be part of the assignment, and let students find and integrate videos and other multimodal sources into their discussions. You may find a discussion needs to extend over two Zoom sessions – one session could be about finding resources, and the second session about sharing, analyzing, and discussing key discoveries.
• Use the chat for comments and questions during group presentations – like a “live-blog.” Appoint a student to monitor the chat so you don’t have to do everything yourself.

Strategy Two: Everyone Gets a Job

Image by Free-Photos from Pixaby

Before the class splits into breakout rooms, tell them that their first task is to assign everyone a job. This strategy works particularly well in groups of 3-6. And students don’t need to have their video cameras on to have a job, so it’s a good way to create non-video engagement. Here are some sample jobs:

Facilitator/s

• Makes sure everyone is heard — invites group members who talk a lot to “step back,” and those who talk less to “come forward”
• Connects ideas between group members and raises questions

Time-keeper

• Keeps group on task
• Keeps the group on time

Note-taker/s

• Jots down key points throughout the discussion
• Edits the Google Doc whiteboard with key points to share with the larger class

Presenter/s (or Sharers)

• Reports back to the class
• Two students could hold a Q&A or discussion in front of the rest of the class instead of a single student or group “presentation,” if you’d like to make this less stressful

Strategy Three: The Fishbowl, Where You Model a Discussion

              Image C. Olga Yastremska via 123rf.com

No one knows how to have a Zoom discussion! We are all new at this, and we can’t expect ourselves to be instantly excellent.  Practice together.

Here’s a strategy I use frequently in my face-to-face Creative Writing workshops, and it’s translated effectively to Zoom. Before any of my students break into small groups for their workshop discussions, I have more advanced students (or just volunteers) conduct a small-group discussion with me in front of the whole class. In my classes, I bring in a rough draft writing I wrote so I can model being the author. But you could use this method with any sample discussion topic. Here are the steps:

1. Go over discussion protocols. My creative writing workshop protocols are too lengthy to share here, but here’s an excerpt to give you an idea:
   • Begin with descriptive feedback. Give a “reading” of the piece.
     What did you understand to happen, literally? What themes or concerns did you notice? What emotions or ideas did the piece raise? How would you describe its style or aesthetic? What stayed with you?
   • Transition into positive feedback (“love notes”).
     What can the author feel confident about? What aspects of craft were particularly effective and why? Where did you feel a “thrum” of rightness? Can you try to understand why? What lines or images did you love and why?
   • Slide into questions, constructively critical feedback, “what ifs?”
     What aspects of craft most need revision attention? Why? Ask questions about the aspects of craft we’ve discussed (ex. Where could place be better used to evoke character and emotion?). Answer any of the “questions to ask yourself while writing fiction,” etc. Discuss aspects that feel underdeveloped and places you want more scene (rather than summary) and detail. Remember that a useful way into critical feedback is to raise “what ifs” — “What if the piece started on page 2?” “What if the story took place in a different setting?” “What if the piece were told from a different perspective?” How would the story change?
2. Get volunteers to be a discussion group, preferably talkative students or ones with experience. Invite one of those students to be the “facilitator” or model facilitation yourself.
3. Hold a mini-discussion with the rest of the class watching. I usually take at least fifteen minutes for this, but you could easily go shorter or longer, depending on your topic.
4. Debrief about how it went! Focus on the protocols and process, not just what was said in the discussion. The idea is to get students to learn how to have effective dialogue/discourse, not just how to say smart things. I usually hear from folks with different roles in concentric circles:
   • What did the folks watching the discussion from the outside notice?
   • What did that feel like from the inside, to the folks participating in the discussion?
   • What did it feel like to you, the instructor (or facilitator)?
5. After students have their own breakout room discussions without you, make time to check in about how that went.  Ask them what they want to keep and what they want to toss: What worked that you can build on? What didn’t that you can improve on?

I hope these strategies are useful for you! Even if it takes you a while to figure out if and how to use them…

Megan Savage, MFA, MA (she/her/hers)
Instructor, Composition & Literature
˿����Ƶ, Sylvania
PCC Humanities and Arts (HARTS) Initiative

VoiceThread is an excellent tool for humanizing your course discussions. It allows you and your students to build visual and audio elements directly into the discussions. It can be empowering for students to be able to add their own voice in this way, perhaps along with their own images or media they have found that represents their view. It can be used in a wide variety of subject areas, e.g. from interaction among students learning a language to giving individual feedback to a guitar student trying a new finger picking pattern.

You already have access to VoiceThread directly within D2L Brightspace. As with text discussions, it is an asynchronous tool. You and your students can create, upload, and share slide presentations, documents, images, audio, and video. Replies are made through audio, video, text, or phone. You can also keep a VoiceThread private to use it as an individual assignment/assessment. As for accessibility, VoiceThread works with screen readers, and the threads can be captioned. You can also use an iPad or tablet in connection with VoiceThread.

What does the research show?

Among the leading researchers in this area is Michelle Pacansky-Brock (Ed.D.), California Community College system. Here are some of her findings about voice discussions in a 2 year study. (Pacansky-Brock, 2014. Most data collected in one class per semester for four semesters, n=59)

• Make students nervous (78%)
• Reduce anxiety in students in just 3 weeks (from 78% to 12%)
• Voice discussions improve the sense of being part of a group (91%)
• Are preferred over text comments (66%)
• Contribute to a perceived improvement in students’ communication skills (87%)
• Increases retention of information (89%)
• Improves students’ ability to reach learning objectives (89%)
• Using voice discussion supports diverse learning needs.
• Most online students (85%) do not speak in their classes.
• Most online students (81%) want voice discussions to be used in more classes.

Examples of VoiceThread use at PCC

Some of your colleagues are already using this tool. Here’s what a few of them have to say…

Greg Kaminski, Reading
I used VoiceThread with my hybrid RD 115 class. Students uploaded images and posted comments in connection with the prologue of the novel There There, by Tommy Orange. The addition of visual and audio elements engaged students at a higher level and brought additional clarity regarding the various people and events mentioned in the prologue.

Debra Lippoldt, FN 221, Personal and Social Frameworks of Nutrition and Healthy Aging
The final project of FN 221 is a synthesis capstone called “Big Idea”. Students draw upon their exploration throughout the course to tackle one aspect of health and aging to develop an approach to solve their specific issue. In addition to submitting a paper, they create a “Show & Tell” exhibit that is shared with all via VoiceThread. They create a one-page exhibit such as a brochure, poster, flyer, photo or even video that describes the elements of their project. Students spend the final week of the course reviewing and responding to classmates ‘Show & Tell” as an alternative to a typical discussion assignment.

Most students share very positive responses to the use of VoiceThread. Since it is a new technology that at first seems intimidating, thanks to student input, I began using VoiceThread for the Introduction discussion assignment so students learn the technology well in advance of using it for the end of the term project. For the introduction, students post a photo that represents an aspect of aging to them, and then record their audio introduction responding to several questions. Students say that it is a great way to get a more personal introduction.

Sarah Bentley, Spanish
Each week I post a ~30second video of myself talking about the current pandemic situation, using the grammar that we’re studying that week, and end with a question or prompt for students. As part of their weekly homework, they post a video of themselves responding to my prompt. I encourage them to post replies to one another too.

I like the video capability. Seeing one another’s faces makes the communication feel more authentic, despite the asynchronous aspect. I like that I have multiple options for responding to students’ video posts: private text reply, public video response, only audio response, etc. I also like that it’s seamlessly embedded in D2L.

Libardo Mitchell, Spanish
Since we are teaching mostly asynchronously, this is a very helpful tool. I have been using it to post oral assignments and evaluations for my students.  Activities range from watching my recorded lessons, to posting audio and video assignments.    

Besides one on one communication with my students via Zoom, VoiceThread has been the most reliable way for me to hear students actually use the language. Initially I started using it once per week, but as time has progressed, I have decided to post 3 or 4 activities per week. I noticed that students prepare and pay more attention to listening and speaking content because they know they will be expected to produce and apply the language in the VoiceThread assignments and evaluations.

Lara Mendicino, ESOL
I have used Voicethread in ESOL reading classes as a reading response option. I have also uploaded slides with critical thinking questions about a lecture or reading, and students have responded with audio or video—commenting on each other’s posts and creating an audio discussion board. It’s also been useful for pronunciation practice and oral presentations from students.

Students who prefer oral over written communication appreciate being given assignments centered around speaking and listening with the option to include visual aids. It’s easy to get students onto Voicethread, and using it is intuitive.

How to learn more

Training through VoiceThread

The workshops listed below are free and led by VoiceThread’s instructional designer and online educator George Haines. These are generally rather fast-paced and offer an excellent overview of VoiceThread. I highly recommend these workshops first, followed by more hands-on training through PCC. Some are still upcoming.

• Humanize Your Online Course with VoiceThread
  This is an excellent overview, and here’s the (Start at 2 minutes 30 seconds into the recording.) 
• VoiceThread Basics 1 – Upload, Comment, and Share
  Tuesday, May 26 at 10:00am PT –
• Using VoiceThread in D2L Brightspace
  Tuesday, June 30 at 10:00am PT –

Tutorials

VoiceThread tutorials are available directly within VoiceThread and also on .

Training & tutorials through PCC

I will be offering VoiceThread training just prior to the start of summer term, so look for an announcement, or check the workshop schedule. Also take a look at our own VoiceThread guides.

If you have additional questions about VoiceThread, please contact me or one of our Instructional Support Specialists.

Resources

Pacansky-Brock, M. (2014). Learning out loud: Increasing voluntary voice comments in online classes. In Lowenthal, P., York, C., & Richardson, J. (Eds.), Online learning: Common misconceptions, benefits, and challenges. Nova Science.

Pacansky-Brock, M (2013). How to Humanize Your Online Class with VoiceThread. Smashwords.

Why hybrid? (Paul Wheatcraft)

There are a number of good reasons why a hybrid format can be the best option for a student.

• A hybrid class typically only meets once a week which reduces the number of times that a student has to travel to campus. It also gives more time flexibility since half of the course time can be completed on the student’s own schedule. These aspects are especially beneficial to working students or students with families.
• Students today are very adept with digital technology e.g. Facebook, YouTube, FaceTime. Incorporating these types of digital technology into a hybrid course will encourage better engagement with today’s students.
• It provides the best of both formats: face-face meetings with the instructor for real-time engagement and online flexibility for adapting to students’ schedules.

Finally, a hybrid format allows for more efficient use of classroom space. This means that more classes and students can be served without having to add new facilities. This helps keep costs down which can slow the rise of tuition.

How to transition an existing course to a hybrid

Design concept attribution: Eric Salahub, Front Range CC

So how do you convert an existing face-face or existing online course into a hybrid format? It does take a little work but it is not all that complicated.

Start by examining all the current course activities (e.g. lecture, discussions, written assignments, tests,…) from the perspective “Does this activity work best in an online environment or face-face?”

Next look at the amount of time a student would spend on the face-face or online activities. The ratio of time for a typical hybrid is 50/50. (Some course material may require a different ratio). If your initial assessment does not yield a 50/50 ratio, you should evaluate the activities and perhaps replace one or more. This is actually a healthy exercise because it causes you to reflect on why you included a particular activity in your course.

The key principle when creating a hybrid course is intentionality and planned integration of the course components. Activities that are online should be online because that is the best format for them. Likewise face-face activities should be limited to those that really require / benefit from a classroom setting. From my personal experience, I found that moving the lectures online (recorded videos) meant that I had more face-face time to explore the more difficult / challenging aspects of the course.

Current state of hybrids at PCC (Greg Kaminski)

With the help of various entities, the hybrid faculty work group took significant steps during the past couple of years to improve support of hybrid instruction at PCC. Their report after the initial year included a set of 35 recommendations, about half of which were addressed during the second year. One crucial sustainable achievement was in student awareness – communicating hybrids to students through a new set of course modality icons. You have certainly seen these icons in the schedule.

Another page addresses the question “Are hybrids right for me?” This is an attempt to clarify expectations to students regarding hybrid courses.

The hybrid work group also identified a strong need for hybrid course design training for faculty. Last year, in connection with a President’s Fund award, a team of hybrid faculty mentors designed a hybrid course template along with a half-day workshop on hybrid course design. The hybrid mentor program has ended, but many of the resources are still available. For example, anyone designing or updating a hybrid course has access to the special template designed for hybrids in Brightspace. It’s also possible to import just the introductory modules of the template, which include the hybrid syllabus template and course schedule templates designed for hybrids.

Please visit the Hybrid design resources page for key hybrid resources, including access to the hybrid template in Brightspace, planning tools and video clips from our workshop, advice from the hybrid faculty mentor team, tech support resources, and a number of excellent external resources. If you are interested in the official reports of hybrid work group and the administrative response, you’ll find them on our Hybrid courses page.

Beyond these resources, the current state of supporting hybrid courses is in a holding pattern. The administration is aware of the need, and I expect this topic to be addressed at some point, but I don’t know when. Perhaps it will be integrated into the reorg planning. I am happy to answer questions and provide guidance, even facilitate a workshop for a department or division, so feel free to contact me. We also have D2L Brightspace training provided by our ITS team.

Lessons learned

Be on the lookout for a follow-up blog post from the hybrid faculty mentor team about lessons learned and key strategies for designing and teaching hybrid courses!

Copyright:

Tired of reading the same tedious responses to your discussion topics? Do your students tire of following the same formula, resulting in the same types of message posts? Are the replies shallow, lacking in substance? In the recent The Teaching Professor article “,” Kristin Kowal and Laurie Berry offer five unique ideas for creating a fresh approach to getting students engaged in the topic at hand.

Add images of examples

Encourage a creative spark by promoting the addition of images with student discussion posts. Images can speak volumes in exemplifying ideas. They can potentially let one’s personality shine through, and can grab attention in ways that are impossible for paragraphs of text. Images are great for building connections and bringing meaning to concepts expressed through text.

External discussion and reflection

Students are asked to have a half-hour live discussion with someone outside of the class and then post a reflection to the online discussion. The difficult part about this one is that it requires a comfortable level of background knowledge on the part of the student in order to engage someone in such a discussion. In many cases it would require the student to explain a concept or background knowledge as part of the conversation, which is an excellent approach to building meaning, internalizing a concept or forming an opinion. I can imagine a number of subject areas where this would be a useful activity, especially where there are opportunities for critical thinking.

Debate

Copyright: Corina Rosu, 123rf images

Students choose a viewpoint on a particular topic and articulates an argument to support that viewpoint. They receive responses in the form of an opposing viewpoint, and then write up a rebuttal. Presenting one’s opinion with a well-crafted argument is an important skill to have. As a follow up to this, other students could comment on which direction their opinion shifted (as opposed to which opinion they agree with) due to the arguments presented. A twist on this would be to conduct this through an anonymous poll, e.g. using Kahoot or Poll Everywhere.

Role play

A bit of a twist on the debate post, students are assigned a viewpoint on a topic, or perhaps they are asked to support the opposite viewpoint from what they supported in the debate. They do some research to support a post from this new perspective. Students review the various perspectives and write a reflection based on the various perspectives. This activity is particularly useful in that it creates safe opportunities for students to view issues from different perspectives.

Copyright: Bruno Passigatti 123rf images

On a related note, a similar activity I enjoyed using with an upper level ESL course was to have students enter our “virtual party room” in the role of one of the characters in a novel we were reading, roles secretly assigned by me ahead of time. After some discussion “in character,” students tried to identify the characters represented, a bit of a masquerade party. It was a hoot!

Fishbowl

publicdomainpictures.net

This method allows learning to take place through observing the discussions of others engaged in discussion, and they can be asked to reflect on their observation in a separate topic area. Students switch roles for the next discussion assignment, thereby giving everyone a chance to be in the fishbowl. It strikes me that this technique could be used in connection with the Debate method described above.

Read more in The Teaching Professor…

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