Page 33 - Campus Technology, March/April 2020

“As much as possible, try to offer experiences that are familiar to the digital citizen. It’s a kind of flexibility that the 21st-century learner takes to quickly.” —Katherine Porter, faculty experience manager; Natalie Murray, VP student experience; and Joann Kozyrev, VP design and development, Western Governors University
“1) Setting up a course shell for faculty is a first priority to give them a space where they can upload material, connect with students and post assignments. The platform should automatically enroll students.
“2) Have faculty start with a few simple
tools — for example, drag and drop a syllabus and content for that week’s activities, set up a discussion area for students to work together on activities.
“3) Add an activity feed that offers a Face- book-like experience on the course homepage where faculty can post activities and have con- versations with students.
“4) As they get comfortable, help faculty with gradebooks, quizzes, or more advanced features to keep students on track for success and en- gaged.” —John Baker, CEO, D2L
“Remind faculty that the most important thing
in the academic process is to continue to keep the spirit of learning and discovery alive in their classrooms, and they have control over this. The first session of a course that has been shifted from face-to-face instruction into virtual instruc- tion may not be perfect as the students and faculty adjust to the new environment, but this is also an opportunity to engage in a learning
process of change management and working through adversity. Additionally, students still crave the knowledge from our valued faculty, and even though these classes may not be in
the physical environment, the words and knowl- edge we share still have power regardless of the avenue we use as long as we make our focus on our students and their learning outcomes. During this time faculty should remember to be both empathetic to the themselves as they are adjust- ing to a change, and as well to extend empathy to students as they are in a transition process together.” —Kelly Herman, vice president, Accessi- bility, Equity & Inclusion; and Marc Booker, associ- ate provost, University of Phoenix
“I would start with Zoom. The software offers
a robust platform to host most online courses, and has a free version that is suitable for most teachers and students.” —Shaan Patel, founder of Prep Expert
“Educators tell us it’s helpful to start the transi- tion to remote teaching with a recognition that classes will be both asynchronous as well as synchronous, and that’s okay. Some of the time, teachers may have the opportunity to connect with their students via videoconferencing and messaging tools, but much of the time, learn- ing will be asynchronous and students will be required to read, watch instructional videos
and study independently. Identifying the easy, go-to technology that helps with both aspects of teaching will help ground teachers and allow them to focus on lesson plans. For instance, a lot of teachers tell us they are using Zoom or Google
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