Natalia Dolgova, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA Heather Weger, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC, USA |
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Natalia Dolgova
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Heather Weger
| Top Three Teaching Tips from Heather Weger
- Do you feel overwhelmed by all the advice and
strategies for teaching effectively in the online environment? Instead of trying to do everything that is possible,
choose two to four rituals that you want to use. This not only respects
your own need to be practical about planning your classroom lessons, but
if used repeatedly, students will become familiar with the ritual and
transition more smoothly as the semester progresses. For example, I plan
to use Polleverywhere,
breakout rooms (in Zoom),
and Google
Docs. I’ll demonstrate each of these technologies with
low-stake activities so learners can become familiar with the mechanics
of the technology, and then reuse these platforms throughout the term
with both low- and high-stakes activities.
- Will your students do “think-pair-share”
activities in an online environment? If you often ask
students to complete an activity individually (i.e., “think”) before
comparing (i.e., “pair”) and reporting to the whole class (i.e.,
“share”), I advise students not only to
mute themselves, but also to turn off their
video feed during the allotted individual work time. This approach
accommodates both quicker finishers (who can take a quick break with any
leftover time) and slower finishers (who can work at their own pace
without feeling like their classmates are watching them). This tip is a
practical way of balancing the individual differences of students with
your own limited time to continually be planning backup tasks. After
doing this routine a few times, students learn what to expect, and the
transitions between individual and “pair/group/whole class” work moves
more smoothly.
- Are you prerecording any lectures for
asynchronous learning? Lectures may be perceived as
boring in the online learning environment, based on my experience both
as faculty leading and as a student participating in online sessions. To
create more space for dialogue in class, I recommend flipping as much
of the lecture content as you can. However, limit the length of
recordings to about 10-minute videos (TechSmith, 2020). You can, of
course, create a series of videos for a particular learning module. So
that your learners can actively process the information they hear in the
lectures, be sure to include lots of formative quizzes (Oranburg
& Tamasy, 2020). I recommend that you use a term such as
“checkpoints,” to reduce student anxiety, compared to terms like
“quizzes” or “tests.” If possible, you can even include subtitles or a
transcript with your recording to help learners who struggle with
listening comprehension.
Five Resources for Online and Hybrid Teaching
1. A series of blog posts from Cambridge University Press on moving instruction online:
Beyond these blog posts, the Cambridge University Press website
offers a wide range of EFL/ESL resources for teachers and students.
2. Two useful blog posts from Oxford University Press:
3. A wide range of resources
for moving your classroom online from Harvard Business
Publishing. (This resource may be particularly useful for our readers in
higher ed contexts.)
4. This article from Chronicle of Higher
Education offers a number of valuable considerations and tips
for teachers who view themselves as introverts: “Remote
Teaching While Introverted.”
5. A useful overview and discussion of essential elements that
should make your instructional videosmaximally effective and engaging:
“What
Matters in Video Right Now: 2020 Edition.”
We hope you can take advantage of some of these tips and resources as you begin the new academic year!
References
Oranburg, S., & Tamasy, D. (2020). Corporations hybrid: A COVID case study on innovation in
business law pedagogy. Duquesne University School of Law
Research Paper (No. 2020-03).
http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3593027
TechSmith. (2020). What matters in video right now: 2020
edition. https://www.techsmith.com/blog/what-matters-in-video-right-now/
Natalia Dolgova and Heather Weger are coeditors
of AL Forum, the TESOL International Association
Applied Linguistics Interest Section newsletter. |
