6 Lessons I Learned Teaching Online During a Pandemic



Contributed by: Hannah Nelson

This past spring I served as a co-instructor for a small (<20 students) lower division undergraduate biology course, which is normally taught through traditional face-to-face instruction. However, in the weeks leading up to the course, it became increasingly clear that we would have to transition to online instruction due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 and global quarantine orders. I have served as a teaching assistant several times before, but this was my first experience teaching in an online setting. Like many other instructors, I was wildly unprepared to teach online and faced several challenges. Now that the quarter is over and the dust has settled, I've reflected on what I'm going to take away from this experience:

1      1.    Emergency remote instruction is NOT the same as teaching online. A mantra that repeatedly played in my head throughout this quarter was, "Nobody signed up for this." We had a couple of weeks to prepare for the transition to online, which was not enough time to create a seamless online course. Unsurprisingly, several things went wrong. For example, we taught the first couple classes via Canvas Conferences before we realized that we could see the students but the students couldn't see each other. Rapidly transitioning a course to an online format required asking the students to be flexible and patient with us as instructors. In turn, we had to extend the same flexibility and patience to them. All of the classes were recorded for students who couldn't participate synchronously, hard deadlines became soft suggestions, and some expectations were dropped or lowered. We learned to prioritize simple solutions over mastering new technology or developing the highest quality lesson plans possible. We needed to constantly adapt to the students and make sure we had enough bandwidth left after prepping course materials to interact with and support them.
 
2.      Building community in an online class is difficult, but necessary. Early in the quarter, we held individual five to ten minute check-in meetings with each of our students. One of the biggest concerns they repeatedly brought up was the depressing outlook of taking classes alone at home without peers. Holding classes via Zoom meant that students lacked crucial opportunities to organically form friendships, which are so readily available in a shared physical space. The most successful intervention we used to recreate some of these opportunities was to offer a regular "Zoom Study Hour" before each exam. Our students used this virtual instructor-free space to bond with their classmates and even facilitate their own virtual meetings in addition to our scheduled study hours.
 
3.      Being accessible to students requires consistent reminders. Mid-way through the quarter, one of my most engaged students stopped showing up to class. I followed up with her by email, but didn't get a reply until two weeks later. It turned out she missed two weeks of class and assignments because her computer broke down and her family couldn't afford a new one. This was devastating because if she had contacted me during that time, I would have known to connect her with resources on campus that could have provided her with a new computer for free. Even though I listed my phone number on the syllabus and presented it to students on the first day of class, she didn't call me. Talking to her after the experience, it became clear to both of us how much better things could have turned out for her if I had repeatedly reminded the class of campus resources and my availability via alternative channels.
 
4.      Gather feedback from students early and often. Aside from informal conversations, there were two ways we solicited feedback from students this quarter. First, we ended every lesson with a "muddiest point" activity where students responded to some variant of the prompt, "What was most confusing about the lesson today?" by posting in the Zoom chat. It was really helpful to get real time feedback on what material students were struggling with the most, especially when half of them had their cameras off so we couldn't pick up on non-verbal cues. This activity also helped the students develop some reflection on where they should focus their studying. We also conducted an anonymous mid-quarter survey via Canvas quizzes. Our students suggested that we have some classes were they collectively choose the topic we review and that we call on individuals rather than asking for an answer from anyone in the class (which usually resulted in a long, awkward silence). We immediately implemented both suggestions with great success.
 
5.      Keep course structure and deadlines consistent. In a normal quarter, it can be difficult for students to keep track of all of their assignments and exams. Students are often enrolled in four to five different courses, which can differ dramatically in their deadlines and expectations. This difficulty is only compounded in an online setting. My students this quarter reported having to check a growing list of online platforms (e.g., email, Canvas, Piazza, Discord, Slack, etc.) to keep up with their classes. They found it harder to keep track of deadlines without in-person reminders, (e.g., "Don't forget your essay is due tomorrow"). We found we could decrease this cognitive load on the students, in the absence of an all-encompassing syllabus (since we were modifying the course as we went), by making the deadlines and course structure as consistent as possible. For example, in the beginning of the course our assignments were announced verbally and deadlines were assigned on an ad-hoc basis. After the ensuing student confusion and many missed deadlines, we created more regular assignment due dates and started posting written descriptions and deadlines of all the assignments in a centralized location on Canvas.
 
6.      Some things are actually better online. Although teaching online for the first time was stressful and presented a lot of unique challenges, there were some things that were actually easier online than in person. For example, I never forgot a student's name because Zoom readily displays the names of all participants. I also had more students attend my office hours this quarter than ever before because showing up in a virtual space (where they already attend class) takes less activation energy and is less intimidating than walking to an instructor's office and knocking on the door. I was repeatedly humbled by the determination and resiliency on my students throughout so much uncertainty. They extended me tremendous leniency and were more willing to be vulnerable with me about their personal circumstances. Overall, I feel like I forged stronger connections with some of them, not in spite of, but because of our strange, shared circumstances.

This upcoming fall I'll be teaching the same course again. Based on the way things are headed, it will likely be offered online too. I know I will still make mistakes, but hopefully not the same ones. Given that many universities, exclusive of the pandemic, are heading towards more online instruction, I'm excited for the opportunity to continue to grow and learn in this context. If I've learned anything this quarter, it is the challenges of online teaching are large, but not insurmountable. As they say in show business, "the show must go on!"

Resources:
·         UC Davis's Keep Teaching Website
·         Association of College and University Educator (ACUE) Online Teaching Toolkit
·         Flower Darby's advice guide, “How to Be a Better Online Teacher,” published in The Chronicle of Higher Education

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