Read on Twitter
Let's talk remote pedagogy! I'll use this thread to share some ideas and resources for professors--especially law professors--teaching online this fall. (It's going to be a long thread, and I'll keep it running all summer.) /1
As I understand it, to get a variance from ABA Standard 306, law schools will have to describe how they will achieve the following in remote classes: faculty/student engagement, student/student engagement, and formative assessments that ensure students meet learning outcomes. /2
So I'll use those same categories to present ideas. First up: fostering faculty/student engagement. In the old reality, professors were lucky enough to be in the same room with our students before or after class, or see them in the hallways, encouraging informal conversations. /3
Those opportunities aren't available this yr, but it's even more important than usual to foster connection with your students. Remember: this year, if they need you, they're going to have to *seek you out* instead of just popping into your office/catching you in the hall. /4
Professors should at least be accessible and welcoming in the online world. In my own teaching, I strive also be warm, authentic, and, when appropriate, vulnerable. This contact starts before the first class. I have two main ideas for before-class contact. /5
First, consider your syllabus. Make sure it's inviting, accessible, and student-friendly. Review both the tone and the physical appearance of your syllabus. One option is the kind of learner-focused, visually appealing document described by @esherowski: http://lawteaching.org/2018/08/08/change-your-syllabus-change-your-life/ /6
Another option is a liquid syllabus--basically a simple website: accessible by students without having to log in to an LMS, visually appealing, divided into various sections, and mobile-friendly. Here's a great blog post about it from @brocansky: https://brocansky.com/2020/06/humanizing-pre-course-contact-with-a-liquid-syllabus.html /7
You'll see that part of the liquid syllabus is a short intro video from the professor. This video can be really helpful in humanizing the professor for the students and giving her a voice and a presence. And I encourage you to make that presence authentically yours. /8
While I initially bemoaned my lack of video editing skills, I've read a lot this summer abt how informal videos have a better chance of reaching students (my addition: especially apprehensive 1Ls whose trust you want to earn) than slickly produced alterantives. /9
Then, you need to get to know your students. I like to send my students a short questionnaire to be completed before the first clas (you could do this by email or you could collect responses in Google forms, Qualtrics, etc). /10
Ask Qs that will help you get to know your students and signal that you care deeply about them without inadvertently stigmatizing them. And ask questions that will help you teach and counsel them more effectively. (Happy to share ideas on a spin-off thread.) /11
The surveys are only for me, but I also want students to get to know each other. Though the following suggestion also falls into the category of fostering student/student interaction, I also plan to have my students submit a short (under two minute) introduction on Flipgrid. /12
Flipgrid is easy and the videos can be recorded v easilyon a phone. Posting the intros on Flipgrid will let me and all their fellow students watch their introductions and hear how the students pronounce their names. /13
I actually also recommend this as a supplement to any i-person classes that may be going on, because it would let everyone see their classmates without masks (assuming mask requirements will be a part of in-person classes). /14
Fostering student/faculty engagement once class starts: if you can, open the Zoom classroom early and get online to greet students as they come in. This will let you have the kinds of informal conversations you'd normally have while waiting for class to begin. /15
Related: stay "after class" by staying in the Zoom for 10-15 minutes after the end of the session. Students will appreciate the opportunity to ask questions and immediately follow up on course content without having to make an appointment. Remember: you want to make it easy. /16
In class: think *now* about your expectations for student participation in class. How do you want that to look? Asking for/waiting for volunteers in the Zoom setting is sometimes harder, and there are a lot of opinions about cold-calling without warning in a Zoom world. /17
Though I haven't done this during in-person classes, I'm planning to have "on-call" groups in some fashion this year, of course allowing any student to opt out in advance. Of course, I will also accept volunteers. /18
During class, use anonymous polling software (there are many options) to test students' substantive knowledge. And for classes that are small enough, you can use exercises+ breakout rooms and have a chance to pop into many of them to check students' comprehension. /19
Think through *now* how you plan to share info visually as well as orally to engage students. Use screen sharing (+best practices for PPT), a virtual or physical white board (LMK if you want to discuss options), and videos (make sure you know to do that effectively in Zoom). /20
If you plan to lecture for any portion of a synchronous class, think first about whether that material could be delivered more effectively asynchronously via a recorded lecture (so students can watch at their leisure and pause/rewind). That can count for instructional time. /21
If not--which may be the case with some lectures--make sure you keep the lecture short and that you remember to pause--meaningfully--for questions, which are often harder to interject over Zoom. /22
Consider replacing some scheduled class sessions with one-on-one or small group conferences to increase faculty/student engagement. (In my 1L writing class, I have 6 of these in lieu of class per semester. In my upper-level writing class, I have 4.) /23
But those conferences should have an agenda or work to go over. This is a great time to integrate formative assessments! (I have lots of ideas, but we'll talk about those another day; this is getting super long.) /24
Where feasible, have students communicate with you directly throughout the course of the semseter. Could be short emails/Google form submissions posing questions about the material, identifying concepts that surprised them, reflection papers, hypos, practice exams, etc. /25
This semester, it could be especially important to just ask students to check in about how they're doing. They can answer simply -- "I'm fine"-- but those who need it might take it as an invitation to reach our for more support. /26
Other ways to increase prof/student engagement: holding optional virtual happy hours/coffee breaks/brown-bag lunches, being willing to hold evening/weekend office hours for those with caregiving obligations, discussion board platforms (also helps student/student interaction) /27
That's it for now! Because, uh, by tweet 28 we're firmly in "shoulda been a blog post" land. I'll pick back up soon and restart the thread w/strategies for ways to increase student/student engagement in remote classes & then some more abt formative assessments in a remote world.
Let's talk about in-class first, where Zoom breakout rooms will likely be the go-to tool (more on how to use them effectively later). But before we do that, allow me to perhaps broaden your concept of "in-class" time. /29
Many experiential classes use a workshop model: a flipped classroom w/students spending most of class doing exercises, writing, simulations, etc. This often involves small group work. W/advance preparation & clear instructions, you could shift some of this work out of class. /30
Want students to spend 30 minutes on an exercise? Assign groups & provide exercises in advance and ask students to set up a time to meet, complete the exercise, and report their results to you in some fashion (Google form/doc, email, etc.) Then start class 30 minutes later. /31
Alternatively, you could replace a whole class every few weeks with a variety of asynchronous content that involves group work + reporting out, allowing for some additional flexibility in when you hold class. I found many students to appreciate that flexibility. /32
So, breakout rooms! How to use them effectively? First, as we (hopefully) all know, sending students to breakout rooms with a generic directive to "discuss" is . . . not great. /33
At the very least, provide specific discussion Qs, clear expectations about the end result, and a mechanism for reporting. And if you ask for a "scribe," think about setting up a system where it's not the same ppl as always tasked w/taking notes (you can guess who they are) /34
Variations include (1) setting up questions as a think-pair-share w/breakout rooms; or (2) asking students to themselves write challenging questions based on the material and then, in breakout rooms, work together to answer each others' questions.("Stump your partner.") /35
But there are many ways besides small group discussion to use breakout rooms, depending on the material. They're basically a proxy for any group work you could (or should) do in class, with screensharing & collaborative, real-time drafting in Google docs to fill the gaps. /36
Activities include: creating a "concept map" of the doctrine you're covering; completing hypotheticals/problem sets; simulation activities (arguments, negotiations, client pitches); debates with presassigned roles (only appropriate for certain subjects, obviously). . . . /37
Multiple-choice quizzes where they have to justify the right answer; collaborative research, writing, synthesis, editing, or revision exercises; peer feedback on student work; critiquing a sample document or practice exam answer; other problem-solving activities. /38
Here's a great resource from UNC's Center for Faculty Excellence about ways to increase in-classroom collaboration, but many can be translated to Zoom using Google docs or slides, virtual white boards, etc. https://cfe.unc.edu/files/2019/02/FLSI-Active-Learning-One-Pager.pdf /39
For many of these exercises, it's important to give very clear instructions (including potentially time estimates for a multi-part exercise) if you're sending students to breakout rooms, where it's harder (though obviously possible) for students to ask questions. /40
(Relatedly, make sure you give students clear instructions ahead of time about how to use breakout rooms generally. I have some sample language you can copy-and-paste or adapt in the document I shared below.) /41 https://twitter.com/RachelGurvich/status/1275431181140582401?s=20
For peer review, I'm excited to try out Eli Review to facilitate complex and iterative peer reviews in my upper-level writing class this year. More information, including recordings of Zoom demos, is in this post from @rhetoricked: https://www.rhetoricked.com/2020/05/26/eli-review-demo/ /42
Finally, you can foster student/student interaction outside of class though discussion boards on your school's LMS or a Wordpress site, video discussion boards (w VoiceThread or a similar program) and, depending on your class, other group chat options (Slack, GroupMe, Teams) /43
And that's a wrap for tonight! Tomorrow I'll cover ways to incorporate formative assessments and deliver formative feedback in remote courses. Please share additional ideas here! /44
