by Sarah Kegley, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

When Covid-19 shut universities down, many of us who work as ITA professionals had to quickly turn face-to-face courses as well as orientations into remotely-deliverable components.

Thanks to the patience, tenacity, and boundless goodwill of several ITA professionals, every Thursday at 4 p.m. CST you could find anywhere from eight to 18 ITA professionals taking part in the ITA Working Group on Zoom, comparing notes, sharing stories, and practicing new strategies for pandemic-era ITA training.

In early May, Kim Kenyon hosted and organized a virtual meeting for ITA professionals to discuss changes for orientations for incoming students. Initially proposed as a one-time event, when Liz Timmons threw out a question about continuing to meet for support, many of us responded with urgency: “Yes—please.” It was clear that we needed our village.

What at first felt like a series of shared fumbles through our strange new world soon turned into oohs and ahhs and the collective snapping (clapping) of fingers in response to creative solutions and ideas. While initially scheduled as a bi-weekly event, it transformed into a weekly meeting group for us to collaborate, share resources, and talk with someone about our challenges.

While volunteers usually led each Thursday session, the rest of us could be seen on the other side of our screens, madly scribbling notes, posing questions, and more often than not, laughing, as the weekly hour together flew by.

The group’s collective energy not only kept us moving steadily forward in the face of disruption, it also served as inspiration, and we soon moved from planning orientations to comparing ideas for fall course design, all while having fun with new technologies.

Each week, a Google doc, ITA Working Group resources, was updated with resources, suggestions, and even discussion highlights for those who could not attend (thanks, Sarah Emory!)

Some of the summer presentations were unanimous favorites. Everyone seemed to appreciate the Padlet (http://padlet.com), an online bulletin board with versatile forms of display. Liz Timmons experimented first on us before using it for her orientation; it was a hit! See our introductory bulletin board here: ITA Working Group Introductory Bulletin Board LT

Another hit was Haley Dolosic’s presentation, “Creating Quality Video Lectures.” Using simple, specific tips, she reminded us to “let go of perfect to create something good.” Phew!

And as the summer went on, we participated in online games, drawing words from Scattergories, or using our phones as game controllers to play Skribblio https://skribbl.io/, an online version of Pictionary.

A recent message from Belinda Braunstein, a repeat-volunteer leader, says it best, “Those Thursday meetings with you all were the high point of my week over the summer – the only Zoom meetings that inspired me instead of wearing me out.”

As we wrapped up our summer group, Liz Timmons, who offered us her Zoom room each week, and always opened the session with a smile, said, “When all is said and done, Covid gave me a wonderful opportunity to rethink and update my orientation. Well honestly, Covid forced me to redo things. It was my wonderful ITA colleagues who did the rest.”

I was able to attend many, but not all, of the weekly sessions. Therefore, several volunteers may have been left out of this summary, but we appreciate you all! The ITA Working Group plans to continue this fall, meeting every other Thursday. Join us!