Teaching Short: Tech Tips from  a Friendly User – Leonne Beebe

One thing the Covid pivot to online teaching/learning clearly showed me was there are two types of folks: the tech savvy and the friendly users. I quickly found out that I was a friendly user.  All I asked was, “Please show me what tech stuff I need to use and how to use it, and please be available to help me when I don’t know how to correct my mistakes.”

By now, most of us friendly users have figured out how to teach online using our institution’s Learning Management System (LMS) and how to get by with a lot of help from our friends in IT and our Teaching/Learning Centres.

Even though we may have returned to teaching our courses in person, many of our courses have become blended with an online component. In response to my students’ requests, last term, I offered my Fundamental English courses in three different formats: in-person, synchronous online (like Zoom), and asynchronous online (no same-time participation). Although students registered for the same courses, after registration, they could choose their preferred format. This allowed them to become members of our multi-level Fundamental English learning community. This also allowed them to move among formats to best meet in-and out-of-class needs as they arose.

By using my institution’s LMS to store all my courses’ resources, activities, and assignments, I was able to develop and teach the same agenda using the same online resources with both my in-person and online classes. For in-person classes, I used the integrated whiteboard to display my LMS course content.  I invited my students to bring their own laptops to use during their in-person class, so they could learn to find/use the resources and submit their assignments online; this prepared them to be “pivot” ready.

The specific tools that helped my synchronous students participate were the main room for class discussions, the break-out rooms for small group discussions, and the white board for teaching and correcting sentence construction. At the end of each class, we would reflect on what helped us the most.  They particularly enjoyed using the whiteboard because they could spontaneously create and write sentences; then, they could see and participate in the sentence grammar analysis and correction process in class.

With my synchronous students’ permission, I recorded our sessions, which then became available to our learning community: for the asynchronous and/or absent students to learn from and for synchronous and in-person students to review the lessons.  This also allowed me to review the lesson and reteach any confusing content in the next class.

In time, I learned to relax and enjoy my synchronous classes because I invited my students to be my tech assistants. I explained to them that I was a friendly user with severe computer anxiety. They reminded me when I forgot to start or stop the class recordings.   We all laughed together when I locked myself out of the breakout rooms and couldn’t get back in, and when I accidentally erased everything on the white board instead of saving it.

Blending in-person and online learning formats is here to stay, so if you identify as a friendly user, I encourage you to boldly go and become a friendly learner for the benefit of your students.

Teaching Short: Teaching from the Back of the Classroom – Eric Villeneuve

I am a chemistry teacher. This means I am very attached to the whiteboard. From writing chemical structures to solving stoichiometric calculations, and myriads of definitions, I was constantly writing. But I was growing concerned with the set-up of my classrooms: The room was divided between the front, where I spend a lot of time, and the rest where the students were sitting. Furthermore, I was standing and the students were sitting. I was literally looking down on my students. While it was not my intention to do so, we have to be aware of how our postures are being perceived  by the students. I needed to find a way to get closer to my students, without losing my whiteboard.

My solution was to move to a virtual whiteboard on a tablet, and have it projected on the screen. I could then take my tablet, move into the classroom and sit with the students. I made that move in the Fall of 2018, and have not looked back since.

The first thing that struck me is how more attentive the students were from day one. Maybe it was the surprise of seeing the teacher coming to sit with them, but right away, the students were more engaged, and responding when I was asking them questions.  I strongly believe that looking at the students at eye-level is a big part of that.

Then there was clarity. Yes, my handwriting can be difficult to read, but I type fast. So any text I write is more easily understood by the students. I never need to erase, as the size of the board is infinite. All I have to do is move things or resize the view of the board. This is very useful if we need to look back at what we did earlier that day. Also I can save the day’s work and review it at a later date. I can easily insert pictures or videos on my board. I can choose any colour for my backdrop or for my pen, and use these colours to clarify different parts or just to increase interest. And the pens never dry out.

The app I use is called “Explain Everything”. In addition to allowing me to display my whiteboard on any other computer (or screen) , it has the option to have a number of people collaborate on one whiteboard. I have not yet tried this feature with students, but as more and more students are coming to class with tablets, it is something that I believe could be explored.

I am coming on to 35 years of teaching. I started my career believing in the importance of moving around the front of the room and being dynamic, in a way, to be an entertainer.  I have now traded that to staying in one spot (which changes every class), but by being closer to the students, I feel I am a more effective teacher.