Higher education institutions need to adapt quickly to the changing face of learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic in order meet the needs of their students. Critical to this is for faculty to re-evaluate their current pedagogy and make the necessary adjustments to ensure their methods of teaching are congruent for all students—whether they are sitting in the classroom or online.
Pedagogy is the method and practice of teaching. What faculty is quickly learning is that their method of teaching in an in-person classroom does not necessarily have the same results in an online environment.
“I have a master's degree in this and many of us to do, but a lot of faculty do not. So if you're a faculty member and you don't have a master's degree in e-learning design or course designer pedagogy be easy on yourself,” said Sophia Strickfaden, MA, eLearning Technologist, Colorado Community Colleges Online (CCCOnline), during “Ask the Experts: Designing Online Classes | Equity-First Instruction | Course Design with Strong Pedagogy” session at REMOTE: The Connected Faculty Summit. “Take it up one notch, maybe two notches per term and then you will have a continuous evolving improvement or enhancement plan ongoing.”
Effective online course design takes tremendous effort. Strickfaden recommends instructors familiar themselves with the basic terms first such as backwards course design and online pedagogy. Today's college professors also need to approach their pedagogy for both synchronous and asynchronous learning environments equally.
Asynchronous vs. Synchronous
“Asynchronous at its very basic core is when you have a developed intentional learning course that is going to follow a certain pass-through Web network based on student accomplishment or time but you're not necessarily meeting at the same time at certain day,” Strickfaden said. “You might have an asynchronous course that's delivered throughout a 16-week semester, but you're never really meeting with your students face-to-face or in real time,” she said.
Synchronous learning is in real-time, explained Strickfaden. This doesn’t have to be in person but can be conducting a lecture or a meeting with your students via webcast, facetime or phone call.
Both are remote learning strategies but have obvious differences and engaging and connecting with students is challenging. Here is where adapting your pedagogy is essential.
“There are a few elements that we always design into our courses at the community college online in Colorado. And that is when discussions have to stimulate a higher level of thinking. We're not looking for specifically a correct response. We are looking for students to demonstrate that they understand the concepts on a level that they can apply it to new situation,” Strickfaden said. “Or tell us what's good or what's bad about a certain journalism article. If you have news articles that you wrap into a discussion prompt, that is a really good way to keep students engaged specially in our current world environment,” she said.
Real Word Examples
Regardless of the subject matter, bringing in real world applications or a global perspective will help place the subject matter in context and be more easily relatable for the students.
“So, what why are we learning about integers or you know this physics equation? Where does that fit into what I will be doing in the future and if it's not truly related to weather going to be doing how do you put it into a context that is really interesting to them,” Strickfaden said. “What in physics is involved in TikTok videos? If it is really relevant to your students, it will definitely engage them,” she said,
This crosses over into lab work as well. Being able to use everyday items that students can find at home or at a local store is sometimes all that is needed to get them engaged and understand the concept being taught.
“That’s how we do lab kits in an online environment. We have lab books and lab step by step videos. So maybe it says in the course you get a box of things that has a washer, some string or it has a list of things that you might have around your house that you can use to do some of these labs. The same thing for biology,” Strickfaden said. “If you need to dissect a heart, maybe there's something that's shrink-wrapped like a lamb's heart that's shipped to you and then you can work one-on-one with your students to walk them through any questions,” she said.
The point is when developing a strong pedagogy, instructors need to be creative and think of ways their students can participate when they don’t always have access to the institution’s equipment.