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1/ A few things I learned from higher ed zoom teaching, which I was quite skeptical of, but turned out better than I expected. This is an offering and not a prescription. And I'm certainly not an expert in online teaching.
1.5 . Context is grad classes at HGSE. One class was 25; the other 60, taught in 3 sections of 20, one of which was taught by @sarahmfine. Topics were deeper learning and strategic approaches to school reform.
2. The basics of teaching are the same. Building the right kind of community is the first and most important task. Students should do most of the cognitive work. Relationships matter. Meaningful tasks are critical.
3. Community building is quite possible in the online space, especially when students are stuck at home. I used a ritual called "Good and News" each week to briefly hear something good or new since we last saw each other. Works for groups of up to 25.
4. Google slides were an effective medium. Allowed us to do everything on one platform. Often put students into small groups and had them do something on a slide. Was actually easier to gallery walk then in person.
5. We broke up my larger class into several smaller (16-24) sections, which both allowed us to meet at different times of day, and allowed for deeper discussions.
6. Going online allowed me to collaborate with @sarahmfine who taught one section of the deeper learning class. East Coast and West Coast. University and practice. Could not have done this in person and it was a huge benefit.
7. Zoom now enables people to choose their own breakout rooms, which is good for open space and other exercises where students choose what they want to discuss. Make sure everyone has the most recent version of zoom.
8. Constructivist listening dyads and other forms of deep listening actually work really well over zoom, b/c unlike in a classroom, it is really just the two of you there.
9. I tried to arrive early and just have normal conversation with students before class started. Sports, music, politics, classes, family, whatever was on the minds of whomever was there. One of my tfs, @abigailorrick should be a talk show host, she is so good at this.
10. My teaching fellows did co-constructed spotify playlists for sections. I never got organized enough to do this in the main class, but I did rotate student djs during breaks.
11. I closed my deeper learning class with students presenting to panels of experts, as always. Actually had a higher sign-up rate for the experts b/c it is easier over zoom.
12. We used miro for design activities. It works well, but you need to make sure you invite people in advance and have them play around with it before class.
13. Students said that a major highlight was student constructed study groups, which met before class to discuss the readings. They said they treated it like a book club, moving between the readings and a glass of wine and their lives. Would strongly encourage students to do this
14. I preferred not to "present" slides and instead just paste the google slides but leave the zoom in gallery view so we could all see each other. There are tradeoffs, I prefer to foreground building our community and background what is on the slides, then vice versa.
15. The chat was a huge asset. It allowed us to see what people were thinking in real time. I'm trying to figure out what an equivalent might look like when returning to in person teaching. Especially good for quieter students.
16. At the same time, it was better to foreground discussion and use the chat as the complementary vehicle. Asking people to "talk, or if you want put it in the chat" is a recipe for getting nothing. Asking people to talk, and then letting the chat parallel process, is great.
17. This is a particular luxury of my institution, but I loved talking with students from all over the world about the same issues. It was amazing and made me want to do more of it.
18. Occasionally break the 4th wall. About 3 classes in, someone said, this feels very artificial. I picked up my computer and walked around my house, showed my 7 year old curled up on the couch, and it all felt much realer after that.
19. Would love to hear what others are learning!
