Lisa DeMeyer, Mathematics
The Office of Curriculum and Instructional Support staff have been invaluable at providing support with teaching in our current times. Prior to March 2020, I had no experience with online teaching or learning. I had never even seen the Blackboard shell for an online class and had never used Blackboard in any interactive manner.
In the transition to online classes in March 2020, I relied on a mix of asynchronous videos and activities, limiting my synchronous activities to regular office hours, and one weekly full class meeting via WebEx. I was quite unnerved by the experience of teaching through a screen. I became acutely aware of precisely how much my teaching ability and job satisfaction were reliant on immediate interactions with students. The lack of even superficial interactions, such as seeing facial expressions, was a tremendous loss in communication. To be successful at teaching, I needed more direct interaction with students.
In April of 2020, I emailed the Office of Curriculum and Instructional Support and asked for help with increasing student engagement in our new online format. We had a one-hour meeting, during which my consultant reviewed my Blackboard shell and gave me some quick and highly useful feedback on my course organization and presentation. We then talked about ways to engage students online. During the meeting, they listened to what I was doing, recognized what my goals were, and then gave some simple, direct suggestions on ways to engage students online. The suggestions made were tailored to be in line with the teaching skills I already had, and the suggestions were comfortable and easy for me to implement. Because of this individual’s personal assistance, I was able to get teaching advice that was both relevant and manageable.
As we expanded from all-online in spring 2020 to HyFlex during the current academic year, staff from the Office of Curriculum and Instructional Support has been there whenever I needed input or faced an obstacle. Having them available to troubleshoot as I try new things has been invaluable. Thank you for all you do!