I've had about half a dozen emails from students so far today, mostly just checking in to make sure they understand what is expected of them for the work this week. One shared a concern for a grandparent who is ill--not COVID-19, but a broken hip and related complications. I've had a couple of colleagues check in to see how I'm doing, which was really nice and thoughtful of them. (Last week was a crazy busy week for me, helping many folks figure out new skills and strategies for engaging with their students from a distance. Don't get me wrong; it was a good week...but I crashed on Friday night and rested well over the weekend.)
As much as I'm working on helping my students keep learning--and my colleagues too--I recognize that am learning things throughout this process as well. Here are three things I've learned already:
- I learned a new tech tool last week. I had heard of Microsoft Teams before, but had never used it myself until this past week. I'm enjoying getting to know how it works! It seems like a pretty slick way to roll multiple messaging systems together into one tool. I'm using it for asynchronous, text-based Q&A for several of my courses that have shifted to distance learning. I'm also using it for video chats with classes. Speaking of that...
- I learned (or perhaps "reaffirmed" is a better word) just how much students need social connections. I've decided that I'm not going to do live online lectures for this distance learning adventure. But I am planning to do online office hours during our regularly scheduled class meeting times. Today we had our first office hours for one of my courses, and 10 of the 29 students joined in. No agenda, and we actually didn't really talk about much of anything class-related. But it was so, so good to be able to see and hear each other. And speaking of that...
- I am learning just how connected I am to my students and colleagues. I love to teach online--in fact, half of my teaching load this term is online courses for our Master of Education program. But my face-to-face classes? I didn't realize HOW much I was missing my students already. I'm a self-described introvert (although many folks are surprised to hear that, because I'm generally good in front of a crowd.) But being an introvert is more about where I get my energy, rather than a dislike of being with other people. Generally I would say that I need to be away from people to recharge. But I'm learning that I am probably more of an "ambivert" rather than a true introvert. I need some social connection!
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| Image by Sergey Golkin via unsplash.com |
I think that while we are on this emergency distance learning adventure it's going to be even MORE important for me to keep in touch with people. I am going to spend more time FaceTiming friends and family. I'm definitely going to be having more Teams conferences with my students. My small group from church had our first online meeting last night, and it was amazing to be able to share, and chat, and laugh with those friends as well. And while I'm certainly going to spend plenty of time with my wife and kids while we're all house-bound together, I'm also going to set more intentional boundaries about when I'm on my laptop & phone, so I can be more present with them in an intentional way.
Human connections are key for not just surviving, but for thriving. I think we all need to prioritize keeping in contact with the people we care about, even if the physical distance has increased.
How are you connecting with others? How are you prioritizing human relationships, even in your technology-mediated connections?
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* I was previously calling this "pivoting online"--which I have seen others calling it on Twitter, etc.--but I think "emergency distance learning" is a more honest way of naming what we're doing, because this is NOT what online learning typically looks like. Deliberately designing a course to be offered online simply looks different than this quick switch to offering courses in an online format. (That's just be being an EdTech know-it-all though.)
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