What elements of virtual teaching would you like to take forward when resuming face-to-face teaching?
- pre-work before live instruction: tutorials (instructors can put them into that week’s folder in BB)
- increased flexibility to do fully-online instruction, then in-person practice/consulting/troubleshooting
I read Flower Darby's article "The Secret Weapon of Good Online Teaching: Discussion Forums" in the August 24, 2020 Chronicle of Higher Education.
It's an excellent article. This quote seemed most relevant to me as a librarian: "Take a concept you’re teaching, and ask students to post about where else they’ve seen or learned about it."
It asks students to connect the concept to what they already know, asks them about themselves, helps students to connect with and learn from each other.
Encourage student to draw upon the visual communication they use other places, too: "invite students to use emoji, GIFs, memes, videos, and the like in their posts."
Online, asynchronous, forums may be more accessible than synchronous verbal/visual discussions in platforms like Zoom, Blackboard Collaborate, etc. They don't require as much internet bandwidth; students can post whenever; students could post a recording made with their phone; text readers are usable; they allow for time to think and reflect.
