Volume 1: Reimagining Remote Teaching, Issue 10
Volume 10 of ReImagining Remote Teaching is brought to you by the following: fellow Gateway Faculty! This edition will focus on many of bits of wisdom which have been shared with me during coaching sessions, digital cafes, or consultations throughout the past week of classes! So, sit back, enjoy learning from your peers, and figure out what you want to share with us next week!
Remember – the faculty who works together creates an amazing collegiate experience for our students!
Michelle Deely
Some of our students call into our classes. When they call in, this poses challenges for them. One challenge is they might not be able to access all materials in the course while they are on the phone. Another is that students using the dial-in option are not able to be moved into small groups.
Michelle has worked diligently to overcome these challenges for her students. She has adapted her teaching by providing her students with all discussion activities via announcements / email at least 5 days before the class takes place. This helps with those students who call in or get bumped off then call in. I run the class a little more like a meeting with documents given ahead of time. It also helps those students with disabilities.
She puts the estimated amount of time we will cover each aspect in class, so students know how much time to work in groups.
She also allows those students who call in to work in groups in the main room. If it is just one student who is using the dial-in feature, she moves other students into the main room to work as a small group. The emailed document helps the student who is unable to see the screen stay on track. Below is a sample document she shares with her students!
Chapter 14 Critical Thinking Activities
- What are the ways that visual aids can benefit a presentation? Harm a presentation? (Ten minutes in groups)
- Consider how you might use visual aids to explain each of the following: (Ten minutes
in groups)
- How to stretch before and after exercise.
- The proportion of the electorate that votes in major national elections in the United States, France, Germany, England, and Japan, respectively.
- Where to obtain information about student loans.
- The wing patterns of various species of butterflies.
- The decrease in the amount of money spent by public schools on arts education since 2005.
- How to play the ukulele.
- The basic equipment and techniques of rock climbing.
- What are some tips you can provide a novice speaker on using visual aids? What works and what does not work well? Why? (Ten minutes in groups)
- Watch the shared speeches using visual aids. Were the visuals effective? Handled properly? (Five minutes in groups after each video)
Eileen Walter
Students love playing Kahoot, an interactive game which allows them to show some competition while also proving their mastery of content. However, in our online classrooms, juggling a second software package at the same time can be cumbersome.
To solve the problem, Eileen did some investigation with the polling feature in Collaborate. Using the Multiple-Choice option, she makes 4 answer choices: A, B, C, and D.
Then, in her daily Ppt, she asks her students questions with the four choices on the slides. Students can quickly engage without a lot of typing on her end, and the students are sharing positive feedback with her!
When she received formative feedback from her students, one of the most commented on activities she does is her Kahoot-style polls! Her students really enjoy them!
Frannie Bennett & Sharon Down
Through multiple conversations, Frannie and Sharon have added a twist to the collaborative documents! They have also added a “chalk-talk” feel to them! In an effort to mimic the silent and highly interactive discussion, they have created the following protocol for whole-class discussion. This protocol works in 4 rounds, and it is recommended you set a minimum number of “comments” students are expected to make during each round.
To start, you will create a collaborative document (see volume 8). This document should have a single, open-ended question you want to focus your discussion on. You will then share this document with the group.
Round 1: Students will answer the question to the best of their ability on the document. Remind students to put their initials after the final period of their answer. A standard minimum requirement for this round is 1 answer per person.
Round 2: Under “insert” at the top of the page, students can find access to using comments. This round requires students to read the comments of their peers and make comments / ask questions to either other. Again, remind students to use their initials after they finish their comment. A standard minimum requirement for their comments is 3 per person.
Round 3: For this round, students are to combine ideas and questions to make more sophisticated statements about the content. However, before students do this, they need to change their font. They can change the style, font color, or font formatting (bold, italics, underline). A standard minimum requirement for this round is 1 per person.
Round 4: Students will add additional comments to pull together as many ideas as possible with the content. A standard minimum requirement for their comments is 2 per person.
The depth of your question and their overall understanding of the content will help determine if you need all 4 rounds for this activity. It will also help determine the length of time needed for the assignment. But, a general rule of thumb is 2-3 minutes a round. This activity can be used to find out what students THINK they know about a topic at the beginning of a unit, the middle of a unit to evaluate student understanding and content mastery, or the end of a unit as a review before a summative assessment.
If you try this activity out, let us know how it went!
Faculty Formative Feedback
At least 6 faculty members have let me know they had their students use the faculty formative feedback template (Volume 9) this week in class – and they received great responses! While several of the faculty were very nervous to ask their students to evaluate how class is going, they are thankful they did!
They have found out they are doing better than they think they are – even though they are staring into a camera light while teaching. They have found out their students feel valued and appreciated. And one student even said: I give you this A because you asked us this question. You really care about what we have to say.
If you haven’t asked your students to provide you with feedback – DO IT. Send it out the same week we do Starfish this semester – and let our students know Gateway Community and Technical College faculty are different than the others. We care about their needs and try to modify our delivery to best meet their learning outcomes.
