Tag: course activity schedules

Moving Online – Day 1 at Dusk

Contents

Introduction

It’s good to see you, and to see that you made it to the end of your day. Today has certainly been an experience, hasn’t it?

As you may have guessed, I am located in Michigan. On the COVID19 front, the following are some of the day’s events that caught our attention, and, in their own ways, influence and affect our vision of today and the days ahead:

Again, this listing is not a reflection of opinion, I am not qualified when it comes to public health and policy. It serves only to stand as an objective record of event to help set the context of conversation and consideration.

Today’s Priorities

Today’s priorities are more focused on logistics and organization. As A.A. Milne noted, “Organization is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it’s not all mixed up.” Here are the priority projects that need attention and doing:

  • Review and revise all course schedules
    • Review impact of extended Spring Break dates, and revise schedule to ensure course objectives and content can still be met.
    • Review impact of switching face-to-face classes to online delivery. How quickly can we normalize the schedule and “get back on track”?
  • Review and revise all face-to-face office hours to online format
    • Look to revise my office hours schedule to ensure I maximize my availability, and find ways to be available online.
  • Checking in with department colleagues and supervisor
    • Today was our first web-conference style meeting as a program. Round-robin style, we indicated our progress getting courses ready for Wednesday while also confirming what we knew about the situation, and how we were moving forward.

Reviewing & Revising Course Schedules

Course Schedules are one of the most elaborate documents an instructor can create. We are given learning objectives, course materials, assignments, projects, assessments, and have to find a way to schedule and make all of these learning events happen. The schedule is one of the most critical components of a course. We assume that such a critical course component, which serves as the grounding rock for instructor and student alike. Surely, this must be impervious to almost anything?

I’m learning today that while the Course Schedule is one of the most critical, it is also the most fragile. It is the mechanism that provides an avenue of structure and consistency. It provides balance and even pacing for the delivery of content, and establishes reasonable timelines. Today has been the equivalent of breaking a stained glass window, and creating a new mosaic. It is detail work – and hopefully, it can be sustained for the next 8 weeks.

In terms of work, it was roughly an hour for each of my classes. I’ve been around the block enough to plan some flexible time into my schedules. Review days, open work sessions (where we can all catch up on work), intentional breathers in what are generally heavy workload courses. The unexpected closure at the beginning of the term, and the extension of Spring Break have absorbed these intentional breathers, I’m still at a point where I can meet all course objectives, where we can still complete assignments and activities that fulfill those outcomes, and avoid “doubling-up” on chapters of content. That does operate under the assumption that there are no further interruptions in the second half of the semester.

Review and revise all face-to-face office hours to online format

First and foremost – I believe in the potential and value of instructor office hours. My strategy for the last four semesters has been to bring my office hours to my students. I reserve the hour prior to all of my face-to-face classes as my office hour time, and I set up “camp,” so to speak. I generally have had the ability to use the classroom I teach my class in, so as an added benefit, students who come in for office hours generally can come in, ask questions, get help, or even just sit and work, knowing I’m only a few feet away and can help them get unstuck if needed. Or, if they are battling for parking – if they get there an hour before, they know they have a safe, quiet place they can work in the hour before class (that probably should be a different post).

My office hours are one of the foundations of the learning environment I try to create and maintain for all of my students. I average between 6-8 hours per week in office hours alone – and I do not want to give them up for any reason (however small or big the reason may be). To keep my office hours alive and still facilitate that “open space” where students can come with questions or just to work, my plan is to use web-conferencing software to facilitate. For my face-to-face students, being able to interact with their instructor in real-time was among there top reasons for selecting this deliver mode for their course. And while I have some video recording plans in the immediate future – I want to make sure I am still providing those opportunities to interact live.

Checking in with department colleagues and supervisor

This afternoon we had our first departmental meeting via web-conferencing software since the break of COVID-19. Everyone made it in for the scheduled time, and round-robin style, we each shared our progress moving our in-person classes online. In our updates, we also had the opportunity to cite challenges we could see on the immediate horizon, and shared our concerns for the future.

I’m proud of the department that I serve within. The meeting was scheduled to run for only an hour. We almost ran for two. The faculty in my department led with their efforts and progress, and their concerns for students. We talked about access to resources such as access to the Internet, computer labs, virtual machines, and other digital learning environments. Those discussions included potential gaps, but also, potential solutions. I had recently learned about Comcast’s recent offer of Internet Essentials, and was able to bring that to the table. Many of my colleagues were already aware, but there were a few who didn’t know about the option. The plan is to share that option with other departments who may not be aware that is available.

We spent time talking about the steps we were taking to remain available to students. After tomorrow, many of us will be working remotely, and will be away from our office phones. There was a great discussion to tools to keep that avenue of communication with students open while also maintaining personal privacy using tools such as Google Voice.

We also talked about potential hiccups with existing tools. Many of the classes within our program are adopting the web-conferencing solution Web-Ex to continue meeting with classes live, as well as to record sessions where appropriate. We discovered that there are two forms offered, one embedded with our school’s learning management system, and another that is a free-standing app. The short version of this story: there’s a few bugs with the learning management system, use the free-standing app. And – we received empowerment that in the event of a technical glitch, we can use our academic freedom to use another equivalent backup tool. …We teach technology, and it’s always a good idea to have a backup in-place.

By the end of the meeting, we knew where we stood as individuals and as a department. My colleagues and peers, I remain in awe how committed they remain to their students during these turbulent times. I count my blessings to be in good company – and intend to bring that same level of care to my students.

Towards the end, we had one rather “funny” event with a large and blaring feedback loop. I learned how important it is to a) not use full volume on my headphones, always use headphones and microphone, rather than a speakers and microphone combination, and c) always, always, always mute everyone except the speaker. OW.

Challenges, Fears, & Unknowns

Challenges and Fears – limited student access to online resources

One immediate challenge and fear that we face is limited access to course materials requiring a high speed Internet connection, as well as access to technology such as computers or laptops. While there are currently computer labs available to students, given the latest recommendations by the CDC and the closing of dining rooms in restaurants and coffee shops, our fear is that students who may depend on these venues to complete coursework will face an additional challenge.

At the moment, the computer labs are still open, laptops are still available for checkout. And there are other resources coming forward. Comcast, for example, has begun to promote its Internet Essentials package, which may help with online access. Several ISPs have also begun to provide support by removing data caps. And, looking a little deeper on the Internet Essentials, there is an option for a low cost computer. We’ll see what other resources may come to the surface as time progresses.

Fears – losing the value of instructor office hours

Managing and maintaining instructor office hours is hard, and not for the reasons you may think. Sometimes, when the content is lighter, I don’t see nearly the same number of students. When the topic is heavier, the office hours see more use, which is exactly what I hope for. This topic too, may be worth it’s own post someday in the future, this constant variable of whether students will recognize the value and utilize them can be a point of frustration. But in this transition from in-person to online, I have a fear that office hours will lose their value. My hope is that by being available online, with camera and microphone on and at the ready, I can still shape a stable and supportive learning environment.

Ideas, Innovations, & Opportunities

Innovation and Opportunity – Using web conferencing software as our new learning environment and delivery method. Very early in my career, I worked for a company that was beginning to move into web conferencing tools to facilitate internal meetings as well as external meetings with clients and vendors. I was beyond impressed with the technology itself.

Living in a more remote area of the United States, I saw just how powerful these tools could be, and how they may be able to maintain that social element while discarding geographical barriers. I’ve often thought web-conferencing could do a lot of good in online education at the community college level (having seen it used at the bachelor, master, and doctoral levels). However, I didn’t feel I had the opportunity to explore this – until now. If we are going to keep track of a list of silver lining items to come out of this COVID-19 event, this is at the top of my list. If I can can successfully use web-conferencing to deliver course content, to facilitate another kind of online learning, and still provide the social interaction so many students still crave, it will open a new path for future online classes. We’ll see how this goes.

Opportunity – rather than throwing students a link to our web conferencing solution and simply expecting students to learn it on their own or through trial-by-fire, we’re going to try a different tact. Instead, I’m going to treat Wednesday as the first day of a new semester. I’m going to invest time to scaffold our new learning environment.

While I can’t teach my students everything about the web conferencing software, I am going to cover the basics of how to join, how to link their mic, how to link their headphones, how to desktop share, and even how to share their camera if they are so inclined. I’ll also go over a short list of best practices (here’s looking at the lessons learned from today’s feedback loop), to use the chat window for questions and answers, to share their screens, and reduce background distractions.

I hope beyond hope that students will appreciate the effort, and understand that by taking this step, this hopefully will ease the transition to online classes. Because it has been so long since our last class session, I’ll then use the remaining time to review content from the last session. This should, help students feel comfortable in their new surroundings and confirm their confidence in what they already know, building momentum for what comes next.

The Next Steps

With course schedules modified, our next steps is to prepare and make sure that we are ready to work remotely as needed during the foreseeable future. Day 2 will look at some of these considerations.

This will be my first major blog undertaking, and already, I’m learning a few things in terms of pacing and timing. I think what I will do is make sure my “dawn” posts are short, and my “dusk” posts will be a little more comprehensive.

See you in the morning,
-Brendan