Author: eschudel

Alexis is a faculty member in the English Department at Camosun, teaching academic writing to students coming from a wide range of disciplines.  Alexis, like many others in March 2020, was “overwhelmed and unsure if we were just managing through a brief crisis, or if we would be teaching online for some time.  It soon became apparent it would be for longer, but as an educator, and someone who’s really keen on pedagogy, part of me was really excited.”

Alexis told me that a large part of her classes involve discussion, so she was nervous about how that aspect of her courses would work online.  However, she did see the possibility the online tools offered: “when I got on to Collaborate and saw the breakout groups, I was heartened because I thought they would enable me to place students into small groups to do the work they would have done face-to-face. In the end, I think that was one of the more successful aspects of my teaching this term.”  As the term went on, Alexis felt her use of the online tools improved as she got feedback from students.  “It was really important for me to hear student suggestions about what was or wasn’t working, or to receive suggestions for me to try.  I also ask for feedback at the end of each term, and this year, most of the students commented that they liked the synchronous online experience, that they enjoyed being able to connect with their colleagues.”

As you may have guessed, Alexis, like Maureen, opted for a more synchronous model to support her course discussions, rather than the Discussions tool in D2L at all.  “Learning too many tools at once would make you and your students go crazy, so I decided to be intentional in choosing those tools that would best support my course and my students and learn those tools the best I could.” However, she notes: “I’ve heard many stories from colleagues in English about the rich responses they’re getting from these online discussions. It seems to have revolutionized their teaching, and while I didn’t use them this last year, I would like to investigate them and, perhaps, try them out in the future.”

Working out how to run group discussions online was one challenge for Alexis.  Another challenge she faced, which is not only a challenge for online teaching, was flipping her class, trying “to figure out how to separate groups into those that had completed the flipped element, the online reading for example, and those who hadn’t in a way that didn’t shame students for not completing the work in advance.”  In addition, she found that “the online pivot allowed me to dig into how I was handling the diagnostic elements I do in week one, like getting a sample of a student’s writing. There was no good way to do that in the online environment, but I let it go and redesigned the diagnostic so students completed it on their own time. Moving forward I can expand the diagnostic and include richer questions, in addition to adding a self-assessment component.”

And finally, one other challenge Alexis noted is one we all recognize.  “Everything took more time. The time it took to learn the technology, to make new resources, to think through all the elements of my course, and to be intentional in creating a course that would make sense to me.”  And, of course, missing seeing students “grimacing, or raising their eyebrows, or opening their mouth in surprise – you can’t replicate that in this forum, and I really miss those moments.”

When I asked her about what rewards or memorable moments stuck with her, Alexis told me a wonderful story.  She had “brought in a piece from CBC with three panellists discussing removing John A. McDonald’s name from schools.  Students had to read some articles in advance, and come to class prepared to free-write.  Students then worked in groups and came back to report on the most salient points of the group discussions.  But what happened next, I don’t think would have occurred in an in-person class.  A student who seemed rather shy shared a story with everyone, explaining how our exploration of indigenous rights and attention to discriminatory practices made her think about experiences from her own cultural background.  What came to mind for me was some research that suggests students learn more from their peers than they do from their teachers. I feel like the learning that happened in that moment was so profound, and even if I could have told that story, it wouldn’t have had the emotional impact it had coming from that student at that time. That was one of the most memorable experiences for me last year.”

For faculty moving their courses online, Alexis advises “challenge yourself and challenge your students. Keep exploring, because online tools have a lot to offer, so make the space to keep learning without overwhelming yourself.  Look at your course and outcomes, as well as what you know works for students and what you value, and consider how you would replicate that online and focus on those things. In addition, be intentional with what you want to do but be open to advice from others.”

As I mentioned earlier, moving forward, Alexis is interested in exploring asynchronous discussions in D2L.  This would enable students “to have a record of their discussions that they could draw on for future assignments.  My colleague Kelly said she found it wonderful that students were quoting each other in final exam questions. In Discussions, students could be having academic conversations, drawing on each other’s insights and thoughts in an ongoing fashion. That’s what we want for students as producers of academic work, and the discussion forums can give them more space to really tackle questions and engage with their colleagues in a way that they can’t, perhaps, in live sessions.”

“While last year, I think students were hungry for the immediate contact with me and their peers that the synchronous model provided, in the future, I would like to explore blended options, because you’d potentially have the best of both worlds, face-to-face and online, depending on how the course is built.”  I look forward to talking to Alexis more about this soon!

Dave is a Trades instructor teaching Metal Fabrication and Sheet Metal courses at Camosun.  Like many Trades faculty, he had used some of the tools in D2L prior to the pivot to complete online learning in March 2020, but found being completely online a challenge with the hands-on nature of the courses he teaches (as many instructors will relate to).

Dave told me that the transition to online wasn’t too bad for him because he had been using online tools to support his teaching for about 8 years.  What he found challenging, and time consuming, was making videos for demonstrations of various tasks and activities, since students could not come into the classroom for live demonstrations.  “While moving online was easy, the amount of camera work was overwhelming because I had to edit and split and mesh and trim and review the videos for quality.  It was also challenging trying to find quiet times for filming in the shop.  I’d have to film in the morning or later on or a weekend, and if I tried to film during the day, I’d have to ask everybody to be quiet. And that was stressful too because everybody would be watching and listening and waiting for me to finish. But otherwise, everything was pretty good for me moving online.”  In fact, Dave reflected (like other faculty) that “we needed this pandemic to force us to do something a little bit out of our comfort zone.” In addition to creating demonstration videos, Dave pre-recorded all his lessons and made “how-to” videos for all his assignments.  He then was able to use his synchronous classroom time, in Collaborate, to talk to students and answer their questions.

After the initial move to completely-online learning, students were gradually allowed back into the shop for limited contact hours.  “For my next course, for example, I have two weeks of online learning work on the computer, and then I have three weeks in the shop.”  He found blocking like this was much more convenient for students as they didn’t have to travel to the college every day or for long hours.  “It just didn’t make a lot of sense for students to travel for an hour or sometimes two, and pay for parking to do only one or two hours in the shop. I had a lot of students say they appreciated their shop time being blocked together.”

Dave found that the biggest challenge with online learning was students not having laptops or Internet access.  And in addition, even when they had access to computers and Internet, they often couldn’t find a quiet space to work.  “I’ve heard of people using their travel trailer in the driveway as a quiet spot for working on their courses.”

One of the biggest rewards from the past year for Dave was working with the Quizzes tool in D2L.  “We created self-tests of 50 or a 100 questions, for students to review, and we can set them up so students can redo the quizzes, but only those questions they got wrong.”  Dave credits having self-test quizzes available for the higher than expected averages in his classes this last year.  In addition, they had the highest Red Seal average as well.  “It’s not really fair for the person with the best memory to always do the best on the test. What’s important is students are understanding and moving forward.  In addition to being able to do the quizzes over and over again, Dave thinks that another bonus of using the quizzes tool is that students can complete the quizzes when they have time, because they are always open and available.  “Some students wake up at 5:00AM and do all their work by noon. Some students wake up at noon and they’re up till midnight. They perform best when they are ready to perform, so that was a major reward, for them to be able to complete quizzes and assignments at their own convenience.  We’ve heard that a lot from the students: they were really scared of taking an online course, but found it manageable because of the flexibility it offered.”  Dave told me that in the end, 1/3 of the class ended up preferring online learning, 1/3 had no preference and 1/3 preferred the classroom to help them focus on the task at hand.

When I asked him about some of his own takeaways from this past year, Dave said he learned that you really need to understand the various software and online platforms you are going to use, and take the time to set them up right at the beginning for the long term.  In addition, you also need to set students up for success in terms of the technologies and what they can expect.  “Make sure the students are informed coming in, and giving them the chance to experience the technology in advance so they aren’t seeing it for the first time on the first day of class. They need to have a chance to develop some comfort with the tools before they can start studying what they need to know.”

Moving forward, Dave is definitely planning to keep what he created over the past year.  “Having videos will definitely complement what we’re doing in the classroom, so students watch the demonstrations before as well as after for review.”  In addition he will keep the self-test/quizzes both to enhance student learning, and because he has discovered that they also “save me maybe 20 hours per course, which gives me an extra three to four days I can spend with students in the shop.”  Dave also plans on building on what he created, with “more videos, more self-tests, and better content.  And I guess the next thing we’ll do start using the marking rubrics on D2L, so I can have the rubric open and mark their project right there in the shop.”

Even though Dave recognizes that there are still challenges ahead (for example, how to support students with access to technology and the Internet while in the classroom), he says “to go back to the way things were before would just be ludicrous.  It wouldn’t make any sense to throw away everything we’ve developed to go back to paper – that is just not reality in industry right now.”  All I can say is that I am looking forward to seeing where Dave is at in another year!

Maureen, a faculty member in the English Department at Camosun, had not used many online tools, including D2L, to support her teaching in the past.  So for her, the pivot to online was “from zero to hero, because I really was starting with zero!”  Also, initially Maureen “didn’t have a computer, had no printer, no equipment.”  Luckily, Camosun provided her with that infrastructure very quickly, and then she just had to learn to use it all for her teaching.  Maureen also noted how because everyone had to pivot at the same time, students, faculty, administration, “that synchronization of all of our efforts towards one goal made for as smooth a transition as possible for the students.”

As you can imagine, Maureen faced many challenges as she moved her courses online.  She told me her biggest challenges was her fear “that because of my inexperience, it wouldn’t work, that I wouldn’t be able to connect in an interactive, interesting, stimulating, thought-provoking way with my students the way I did face-to-face. Trying to keep that active learning environment alive was one of my biggest fears and challenge as well. Or maybe the challenge was to overcome that fear.”

She overcame her fears, however, by attending workshops and reviewing CELT resources containing “tips and things to watch out for, as well as other things you could do once the basics were in place. Then I was able to consider what I could reach for, to try that next skill. I really liked the building block approach, which got me started and built my confidence.” In addition, Maureen was able to take a step back and look at her course from a student perspective.  “I realized that certain things would have to go, and worked on the clarity and organization, by always looking at things with a student’s point of view.”

Unlike some of her colleagues in English, Maureen decided to teach synchronously with some D2L support.  “The core material was in D2L: PowerPoints with voice-overs, videos, links to readings, as well weekly instructions.  Then I would have one Collaborate session a week which was very helpful. Students who attended those sessions tended to do better: they were more engaged and more connected with the class. I also used Collaborate for my office hour and individual meetings, which was nice because students could load their documents in Collaborate and then we could look at things together.”  Teaching synchronously, however, doesn’t always mean you see your students.  For Maureen, the day when students started turning on their cameras made her feel “like I had overcome the hurdle of connecting with them. You have to overcome that feeling of being so exposed, and for them to trust the classroom space, as well as me and each other, was really encouraging. I felt like we were all together on this adventure, creating it as we went along.”

Maureen told me that she also appreciated being able to meet students when they needed to meet with her, rather than being bound by specific office hours on-campus.  “Even by appointment, meeting times are dependent on when students are on campus, and when I am on campus. Having the online learning environment available adds some flexibility, and makes for much richer meeting opportunities.  We can see each other face to face, I can look at their work and give feedback. So having roving office hours, being able to quickly help students, I really enjoyed that, and I would like to keep that even when we go back to face to face.”

Maureen’s advice for faculty moving courses online? “Sign up for the workshops, and if you have a question for the e-learning team, ask it. When you have a question, even if it’s small, ask it because it will keep coming up. And another thing I found useful is repetition, doing things over and over again. Like learning anything else, practice makes perfect.”

After teaching online this past year, Maureen has learned some new skills to complement her face-to-face teaching.  “I’ve always used course packs, but now I love the flexibility of being able to just make changes when I need to.  Using online content allows you to be ultra-current, and to be responsive to students’ questions using the Discussion forums.  In addition, Maureen has found having students submit their assignments in D2L has allowed her to give feedback in more ways.  “For every assignment I can change it up so that it looks different, to get them thinking about it in a different way. I will definitely keep online assignment and marking as one option for them.”

As we wrapped up our chat, I asked Maureen if she would teach online again, and her answer made me smile “: I found out that I love both: I love face-to-face, but you know what?  Online was pretty fun too, and I would like to get better at it.”

Brenda teaches Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking in the Visual Arts program at Camosun.  I can hear what you’re thinking…drawing, painting, and printmaking online?  What?  Brenda was also a little skeptical when everything pivoted.  “I was very nervous at the prospect of at all, so I guess I had some resistance at the beginning that I had to get over. Then I realized it wasn’t about me having my way – it was about me showing up for the students. So I stopped thinking about myself and started thinking about what they might need and how I could deliver it to them.”

Like most faculty, Brenda was in the middle of teaching last March when everyone was sent home.  Between the shock and scramble to make things work, she says that while she had “space where students could continue to upload work even if they had to complete it at home, it was a very sad ending to the term. We didn’t get to say goodbye or discuss the artworks that they were working on,” something they normally would have done.

While Brenda’s scheduled development plans in the spring did not involve reimagining her fall courses, she was thinking about them.  “I was going to be teaching a drawing class and two printmaking classes in the fall, so I connected with former students asking what they might like to see.  I also connected with colleagues at here at Camosun, as well as with people teaching up island to ask them what they were doing. So we exchanged some ideas and exercises which was really helpful – connecting with people who were in the same kind of situation.”

Because students would be missing in-class demonstrations in the fall, Brenda spent a lot of time making videos of those demos.  However, since she was not the only instructor in her area doing so, finding someone to help her make the videos was a challenge.  In the end, with the help of her son, she made about a dozen videos in her kitchen so students could review the various drawing and printmaking processes on their own time.  Brenda says she had to let go of trying to make the videos perfect.  “It was a struggle at first, but looking back, while I had a sense of embarrassment at the beginning, I became more comfortable over time.”

Brenda’s students were lucky to have some face-to-face studio time blended in with the online teaching, which she told me the students loved.  “They were eager for that connection. While we have protocols dictating how many people we can have in each studio, we have three studios that we can use to split up the students into groups.  That way they get a chance to converse and talk about each other’s works.”

The loss of the normally more intense face-to-face engagement, however, led to other challenges for Brenda.  “One challenge was around understanding the printmaking tools that were new to students. We put together kits, so students had an easel, a lino block, rollers, etc., but because they hadn’t used them before, they asked a lot of questions. I would refer them to the videos, and ask them to come back with more specific questions, but we also had to remember that they were at home, which meant there were other considerations to explain to them.  For example, they needed a place to clean up leftover ink – you don’t want to put it down the kitchen sink, you don’t want to have it on the kitchen table, you don’t want to have it in your roommate’s room. So there were a lot of considerations to keep in mind.”

In addition, Brenda found that some students were reticent to share their work on Collaborate, perhaps due to shyness or fear of being judged.  “There are students that still lurk because I have given them permission to lurk in Collaborate.  They don’t have to say anything, but its good practice for them to at least listen to how we describe artworks we’ve made, and how we get feedback from other students. I know they’re there, but I’m not forcing them to speak up – they’ll do it when they’re ready.”

But at the same time, being online brought some rewards.  Brenda found some amazing new assignment formats.  For example, one she called ‘three things we loved.’   “Maybe you love flowers, or maybe you love cigarette smoking, or maybe you like tea.  Then you draw those three things that you love the most. But you also have to draw them with a background, a middle ground, and a foreground, because that gives us space in the painting so it looks three-dimensional. Then we went on to something called micro, making a large image of something that was really small. For example, if you decided to draw a bee, you enlarged it to a full 20” by 20” piece — a good experiment with how you would use space in a drawing

Then she also had the students complete some short exercises while they were in their Collaborate sessions.  “This would be the first thing we did when we came into Collaborate each week. I gave students prompts and they had ten minutes to draw the image in their sketchbook. Then they would upload their sketch into the Assignments tool where I could see it. They were working in real time, and I thought that was really important that they would get immediate feedback. And they loved it. We did all kinds of prompts, whatever I could come up with, usually the day before class started.”

For the painting classes, she tried something a little different.  “We worked in black and white to avoid the complexity of having to mix colours, and I asked them to find an object in their house and paint it four times over a period of weeks. We were looking for repetition and refinement.  They enjoyed that a lot.”

Moving forward, Brenda is planning to keep some of the things she’s learned and implemented in her classes.  “For their programs, students paint on canvasses, wood, panel, and paper, and put all their work into a big fat cardboard portfolio. Then as the instructor, you have 25 heavy portfolios to mark.  So, moving forward, I would like to see a digital upload of their work instead.  They can photograph their work and upload it to D2L so I can assess it there. This would also allow me to more easily find an individual student’s work at any time, instead of searching through a pile of physical portfolios.  We could also have them include an artist statement with their work, and I can give them feedback for both their work and their statements.”  She will also keep the videos she made over the year.  “I think that’s what’s nice about a blended class, because students get a chance to talk with each other in real time, but they can also review material and think about things in D2L.  It’s the best of both worlds.”

In the end, Brenda told me that while she was nervous at the beginning, and the learning curve was steep, she found the strength to get through it.  “I’m a long-term teacher and I have to remind myself that I have lots of skills, and while sometimes I may think I don’t know how to do something, I can find ways to make it happen.”