Tip: New Semester Round-Up!
Diving into a spring with a collection of first-week activities, planning assessment/grading, and setting up for blended online/in-person learning.
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a chance to really take a break from email, thinking about classes and work, and found time for things which bring you joy. Too, I hope that - if you are teaching this semester - you feel more confident and prepared to tackle the challenges that will surely come this spring. Since many of us will be teaching at least some students online - either because our colleges still have remote classes, or because we anticipate significant absences from students needing to quarantine - I wanted to gather together some resources that might be helpful.
Getting started & first week activities
Icebreakers/warm up activities - even if you don’t typically do this with in-person classes (I don’t), I think there’s value in more deliberately incorporating opportunities for students to connect with their classmates outside of content-focused activities
Time management activity - I think this is the best first day activity, because it really makes students reflect on what they need to do to be successful in balance all their responsibilities, and is a great starting point for one-on-one meetings or group discussion.
Setting the tone for your class - written pre-pandemic, but in-person tips (like using a seating chart to help you remember student names) can easily be adapted for online/hybrid classes.
Engaging syllabus design
Assessment & grading
Alternative assessments - there’s so much more than the standard research paper or final exam
Thinking about authentic assessments and strategies for developing assessment plans that discourage cheating
How to manage your grading workload or adopting a new grading scheme altogether
Using stacked assignments to incentivize completing smaller assignments before tackling larger tasks
Setting up your hybrid/HyFlex course
Hybrid vs. HyFlex - including an example of how to break down a large assignment into sync/async components
Live online (synchronous) class meetings - what’s the ideal length of time? What are some alternatives to lecturing via Zoom?
“ZoomFlex” - how to accommodate some students attending in the classroom and some students attending from home
Tips on making videos and creating microlectures
Collaborating in class - using Google slides and Google docs
Online: engagement in online classes, should we encourage students to use their cameras, and critical thinking groupwork
The end of the pandemic is so much closer than it was just a month ago - in sight, but not here yet. We have, I hope, just one more disrupted semester to push through, and then for summer and certainly next fall we can look forward to being back to normal. Of course, even once we all return to our campuses, it’s hard to imagine that everything will be normal again. Given the challenges our institutions are facing, I think it’s safe to predict that we’re still at the beginning of a lot more disruption to come.
With that in mind, what do you need to know? I would love to hear from you - click on the button below to fill out a short form with your suggestions or questions so that I can plan some future newsletters around requested topics. You can also email TipsforTeachingProfessors@gmail.com.
With all the resources available out there, I’m honored and delighted that you choose to read mine. Best wishes for a safe & happy 2021!
