This week we discussed the changes we've made to our courses in response to COVID that are so good we're planning to keep them permanently.
- The Smithsonian’s Transcription project was a great indirect and asynchronous option for students, but the students have had such a good experience on these projects, it's a keeper. The students are enjoying being a part of history and are reflecting about being part of history making today with connections between Freedmen’s Bureau documents and the BLM movement.
- Inviting community organization staff to join the class virtually as guest speakers or panelists has been a great addition to Pam Presser’s course. Having the staff join the classroom to join in the discussion of course content is a meaningful counterpoint to students coming to their space.
- Communications and participation in meetings with community partners has been better than ever now that everyone is more comfortable with Zoom and Webex. GWTeach had 100% participation at their welcome event for the DC Public School teachers who mentor their students.
- Using online tools to facilitate more student engagement between classes are a great new area we’ve all learned a lot about. Sujin Choi recommended https://perusall.com which works like a social e-reader, in which students can read your posted articles with their own highlights, notes, and comments shared in one space. This allows students to discuss each others' thoughts on the reading prior to coming to class.
- Shifting peer feedback sessions from in-class discussions (hard to navigate virtually) to written feedback via google docs resulted in higher quality feedback. The community partners are also able to give feedback this way, all in the same document.
- Sujin also recommends NearPod which is like an interactive powerpoint platform, with polls and questions imbedded in the slides themselves. These tools are great for immediate feedback from students whether they are in-person or not.
- Several noted that DC Public Schools fingerprinting and background check process is easier/smoother than ever now.
Key advice for faculty just starting planning for spring semester is thinking about what is possible virtually that wouldn’t have been before. Not just re-creating what we used to do, but thinking about what we CAN do now that wasn’t possible before.
