S1E2: Faculty Perspectives on Pandemic Learning
Connecting with students and teaching to the whole student has never been more important than now. As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic hit universities, faculty had to quickly adapt to emergency virtual learning. This episode of What We’re Learning About Learning features a conversation among faculty at Georgetown University who share what worked well in virtual teaching during the pandemic to keep students engaged, motivated and connected.
For some professors like Shelbi Nahwilet Meissner, reimagining previous teaching styles helped keep students engaged through interactive pod-like learning. For professors like Alphoso Saville, keeping the class energetic meant bringing in guest lecturers to break up the monotony of Zoom class. In all of these approaches, professors emphasized the importance of connecting with other students, as many experienced profound loneliness and disorientation during the pandemic.
Writing on faculty responsibility during the pandemic, Roy Schwartzman describes new opportunities that digital tools provide (2020). Digital tools are more primed for students to iterate and compare previous versions of their work. Assessments don’t need to rely on one single outcome, but can take into account the whole process and allow students to reflect on their work. In essence, using digital tools may be a silver lining that deliberately encourages successful long-term learning and empowers students with a growth mindset.
As they surveyed and learned from students about what did and didn’t work during the semester, these professors began to rethink their roles in the classroom as not just instructors, but guides, curators, and support systems. Building community between students is not only possible, but essential to the functioning of the classroom. If ever there was a time for flexibility and responsiveness, it’s now. And we can think of it as an opportunity to learn and grow together.
Bios
Featured in this episode:
- Dr. Daniela Brancaforte, Senior Assistant Dean and Director of Strategic Initiatives & Interdisciplinary Programs in the McDonough School of Business
- Dr. Rhonda Dzakpasu, Associate Professor in the Department of Physics
- Dr. Thomas Kerch, Associate Director of the Tocqueville Forum for Political Understanding and Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Government
- Dr. Shelbi Nahwilet Meissner, Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy
- Dr. Alphonso Saville, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow for American Religion and Slavery in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies
Georgetown resources
- Digital Learning Days Programming
- The Prospect blog
- Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS)
Bibliography
- Schwartzman, R. (2020). Performing pandemic pedagogy. C_ommunication Education_, 69(4), 502–517. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2020.1804602
- Alhawsawi, S., & Jawhar, S. S. (2021). Negotiating pedagogical positions in higher education during COVID-19 pandemic: Teacher’s narratives. Heliyon, 7(6), e07158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07158
- Teruya, J. (2023). Pedagogy in a pandemic: Responsibilisation and agency in the (Re)making of teachers. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 31(1), 185–201. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2021.1898044
- Falk, A. F., & Orbon, K. (2021). Pedagogy of the pandemic: Reflections of mother-scholar-practitioners. In A. Bozkurt (Ed.), Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design (pp. 347–367). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-7275-7.ch018
- Motala, S., & Menon, K. (2022). Pedagogical continuities in teaching and learning during COVID-19: Holding up the bridge. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South, 6(1), 7–32. https://doi.org/10.36615/sotls.v6i1.249