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Community college students are more likely to come from underserved populations and are inclined to feelings of self-doubt in academic settings. When learning online, our students need to know they have an instructor who cares and is there to support them, and that they are part of a vibrant learning community. Effective online teachers mindfully cultivate their presence at the course level and one-on-one with students. These interactions foster a relationship based on trust, which is the foundation of a learning community.
Reflections
Reflections
Where I was.
Where I was.
The first semester I taught online I didn't have a lot in the course to humanize it. I sent a welcome letter and made an introduction video, but everything else about the class lacked humanizing assignments, videos, and other elements.
I knew I had to do more, but I didn't know what or how. Then I took the Humanizing Online Teaching & Learning course, and a whole world of ideas and tools opened up for me.
Where I am.
Where I am.
Now with the knowledge of the importance of humanizing interactions, I'm in the process of filling out all aspects with more touches of humanizing myself and my students.
I use quick, informal videos for announcements and introductions to each module. I use Flipgrid to vary discussions and create performance and feedback space for students. I use Pronto to text announcements, connect with students, and utilize group chat functions to discuss group projects with students. I also use zoom and Pronto's video chat features to give visual and audible access to my office hours.
Where I'm headed.
Where I'm headed.
The biggest humanizing project in my future is adapting a very large group project from my F2F Introduction to Theatre class and making it work in an online environment. It requires the students to take ownership over theory and apply them to practical "on paper" production. I want to utilize conferences on Canvas and get students to engage more on Pronto in order to keep the conversations going.
I'd like to use more video/audio feedback in my classes outside of Flipgrid as well.
Examples
Examples
Staging Demos with my "Teaching Assistant" Dahlia
Staging Demos with my "Teaching Assistant" Dahlia
One of the ways I've humanized my online courses is by inviting my four year old niece, Dahlia, to help me make videos demonstrating different elements of theatre or acting.
They get to enjoy the shenanigans of a four year old; she's hilarious. They also get to see examples of the material we're covering through the experience of a child, which I think helps make learning the material more manageable - if a four year old knows stage directions, you can learn them too!
I also know a lot of my students are taking classes while taking care of their own children, or navigating their online education while sharing that space with younger siblings. I think seeing Dahlia helps them know that we can still learn, engage, and move forward with our education even if we have little ones with us.
#GettyMuseumChallenge
#GettyMuseumChallenge
For my Acting I course, I created an assignment that comes from a social media challenge the Getty Museum started early in the COVID-19 pandemic. The point of the social media challenge is to take a piece of artwork from their digital collection and recreate it with items you find around your house. My example is I made for the students on the home page. I also took my Department Chair's recreation as another example for my students.
The students used this activity to recreate artwork and to think about composition, body language such as posture, movement, and gesture, and emotional depth in facial expressions in a single image. This laid the foundation for this work to grow into active performances. They also got to see each other's recreations and gave each other feedback using the Discussion Board feature on Canvas.
Flipgrid for Acting
Flipgrid for Acting
For my Acting I course, we utilize Flipgrid in order to present rehearsals, performances, and skill demonstrations and practice giving feedback.
This is a low stakes assessment tool compared to F2F classes where students are performing in front of their classmates, or in a zoom session where delays and technology issues can make them more nervous. Using Flipgrid, students can humanize themselves and their classmates, but have more control over what they upload by being able to edit and re-record.
Flipgrid also let's me take a non-collaborative assignment such as learning how to cut a script and turn it into a collaborative assignment. It helps demonstrate that theatre and acting are subjective, and students can work on the same thing in different ways.
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