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| A computer keyboard. By Sergi Cabrera via Unsplash. |
This month has been a cavalcade of new experiences; with the challenges of new remote pedagogies have come new opportunities to engage with pedagogy. My work for the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning on the UIUC has been particularly eventful and eclectic, and so I thought it might be useful to readers to talk a bit about what doing this work has looked like for me-- particularly if you're interested in doing this kind of work yourself! This isn't everything I've done-- there's some behind-the-scenes research elements as well-- but it does give a few of the highlights.
I began the month observing virtual lessons on Zoom. I regularly visited the classrooms of graduate instructors before the pandemic, sitting through a lesson and debriefing with them afterward on their teaching goals and approaches. These observations and participants' written reflections on them are a critical part of their applications for several different CITL teaching certificates. With the deadline for this year's crop of applications fast approaching, many applicants still needed an observation on the books, and opted to have real or mock sections observed via Zoom. It was great to see these teachers adapt, using the technologies available in ways that gave me great examples of how to make active learning and community building in a class more possible in these odd times. Mid-month, observations dried up as the deadline for certificate application approached. I then had the surprisingly enjoyable task of reviewing some of these applications, ensuring all requirements had been completed and commenting on the essays and teaching statements that graduate instructors had submitted as part of their applications.
I also led the last IFLEX TA Gathering for the year, a meeting designed for graduate students interested in active learning and active learning classrooms to have a place to share ideas, build connections, and learn about helpful resources. April's meeting was our first virtual event, and although there were no snacks like we usually have, we still managed to tackle the shift to remote teaching and add a few more slides to our IFLEX TA resource deck. We have been gathering the ideas and resources discussed each month so that they can be available to those who are unable to attend every meeting as well as revisitable by those who were there.
Finally, I had the pleasure of contributing a mini-book review (with great and helpful edits by Ava Wolf) to the CITL newsletter, on Teaching for Learning: 101 Intentionally Designed Educational Activities to Put Students on the Path to Success. (Incidentally, if you're part of the UIUC community and have any interest in doing a similar sort of review for a book or article on pedagogy, drop me a line and I'll get you in touch).
I would be remiss not to note the more challenging parts of the month, but doing this work has made the chaos of it all seem a bit more bearable.
How is your digital research, teaching, working, and socializing going? Let me know if you'd like!
NB: I hope you are all doing well in this stressful time. If any of you self-quarantining find yourself with more time at home than usual on your hands, want to share any of your struggles and triumphs of pivoting to remote education, or have questions or topics you'd like me to address, I'd love to feature your guest posts and/or answer your questions.
