Online teaching & transitioning to in-person teaching

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.

COVID-19 7

Today, May 11, I learned that:

1. I could create audio for PowerPoint slides
2. How to do it. 

I added audio for the Ad & PR 115 Evaluating info presentation and sent it to the professor for Blackboard. Then I added the file to the Subject Guide.

May 12:
From the music students’ questions so far, it doesn’t seem as if they are using the handout in conjunction with the subject guide. I asked the prof to remind them that the handout gives step-by-step guidance in finding resources to get them started. I feel really frustrated - why bother, when they won't use the tools I've created and made available?

One colleague suggested: "Many of them are learning to learn online right now, so there will undoubtedly be some growing pains and additional reminders as they do! Reframing: This is a fabulous opportunity for them to make initial contact with you, and for you to support their independent learning!"

Another reminded me to put the handout on the homepage for the Subject Guide. Thought I had, but I hadn't, so I did!


I’ll respond kindly to the students and will send them the handout when I set up appointments.

COVID-19 6

What have I been learning to do differently to support online learning?

• Did a literature search and revised library subject guides to include more instruction and to reduce “cognitive load” with better design; modified my guide profile to include COVID-19 special information
• Revised handouts to be more specific as online learning objects
• I have used PowerPoint for conference presentations, but thought that for the online spring courses, I would use PowerPoint as a jumping off point to create videos. So far, no instructional videos, but the PowerPoint supplements the other items
• Created a 18-second Panopto video to introduce myself to students; also learned how to incorporate a quiz into the video
• Learned how to create Blackboard Course Rooms for specified office hours
• Learned to use Zoom
• Learned to use the Lib Apps virtual chat module
• I got a sanctioned institutional account, learned to sign into Google Hangout and to create Google Meetings, and moved items from my private Google Drive to my new institutional account for security and privacy 
• Read the article by Wagner, Travis L., and Archie Crowley. (2020). “Why are bathrooms inclusive if the stacks exclude? Systemic exclusion of trans and gender nonconforming persons in post-Trump academic librarianship.” Reference Services Review (48), 159-181. https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/0090-7324/vol/48/iss/1 Although I had already included many of the recommended practices, I revised the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resources guide to be even more welcoming, as there have been more articles about LGBTQIA people feeling especially isolated during COVID-19