Gateway leading the region in remote instruction
Published on Sep 23, 2020
Like all higher education institutions, Gateway Community & Technical College had to quickly pivot their learning style to online instruction in March 2020 due to COVID-19. After that swift transition, Gateway was dedicated to making the summer and fall semester learning experiences as close to in-person as possible for students through interactive live stream courses.
Gateway’s interactive live stream courses give students the opportunity to have an in-person classroom experience from the comfort of their homes. Students log on at their scheduled class time to view the class live. They can work in small groups, raise their hand, and ask questions during lectures.
“We wanted to make sure our instructors were prepared to utilize this technology,” said Dr. Teri VonHandorf, provost and vice president, Academic Affairs at Gateway. “We offered multiple professional development trainings through our Teaching & Learning Center (TLC) and eLearning Department.”
Training opportunities were made available to Gateway’s faculty through out the summer and are still available as needed.
“Since July, I’ve been able to personally help more than 120 faculty members strengthen their online teaching ability,” said Dr. Kerri McKenna, director, Teaching & Learning Center. “The TLC and eLearning departments were able to help all of Gateway’s faculty start our semester on the right foot.”
Gateway’s TLC is even offering professional development to other colleges within the Kentucky Community & Technical College System (KCTCS) and has shared trainings with the Greater Cincinnati Collegiate Consortium (GC3).
Gateway’s preparation for interactive live stream courses is paying off. After the first day of class, one student commented, in an anonymous survey, “It has only been one day, and this is the best college class I have taken so far.”
Gateway’s partners are taking notice as well. A secondary English teacher at the IGNITE INSTITUTE said this about the first day of class, “I thought today went fantastic! [The instructor was] open, approachable, encouraging, and engaging.”
“We know these are trying times for everyone,” said Dr. Fernando Figueroa, Gateway President. “Our goal when we implemented our live stream classes was to offer the greatest amount of normalcy to our students as safely as possible.”
With the unknows surrounding the future and COVID-19, Gateway has made the decision to offer many classes in a live stream format in the Spring 2021 semester.
While Gateway was able to move many classes including all lecture type classes to the new format, some classes simply can’t be offered full online. For those classes unable to be offered online, Gateway offers in-person, or a combination of online and in-person components.
To find out more about Gateway’s live stream courses or to sign up for classes, go to gateway.kctcs.edu/class-format.
