Christie Martin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, University of South
Carolina
How did you redesign your teaching and learning environment
during the coronavirus pandemic?
The pandemic
hit mid-spring semester of 2020 and the impact of a swift change to a virtual
environment was felt differently by educators. For me, it was felt differently
between my classes. At that time, I was teaching a 6th-grade
mathematics class at a small private school where the students did not have a
school-provided computer. I was also teaching two undergraduate courses and one
master's level course. The four classes each provided their challenges to make
a quick adjustment. It is also important to note that having two children, one
in third grade, and the other in Pre-K being sent home as well, created new
teaching responsibilities at home.
For the 6th
grade class, I was using a platform known as Edmodo to share announcements and
assignments. I used that platform to send out Zoom links to start providing
synchronous mathematics classes each day. Most of my students joined our video
sessions, but some were not joining. I was reaching out to parents, sending out
emails, but the zoom sessions were unable to reach the level of engagement that
in-person class provided.
One of the
undergraduate courses and the graduate course were already online courses;
however, these courses were focused on inquiry in the elementary classroom and
action research, respectively. This required the main assessments to be revised
to accommodate the lack of access to classrooms. For the graduate course, I
created an option for students to combine the parts they completed for their
study with an evaluation plan and predicted outcomes to align with a grant
proposal format. The inquiry project in the undergraduate class was revised and
allowed students, that did not gather data in time, to make plans based on
predictions. I hosted more synchronous meetings to support my students, this
was well received. The students in these courses were accustomed to the course
being online and this made the transition smoother.
The online
undergraduate course was the same course as the in-person undergraduate class.
The revision for the inquiry project was the same and virtual meetings were
planned to replace the in-person meetings. Although the adjustments were the
same, the in-person students found the transition more challenging.
The experience
of teaching 6th grade, supporting my own children at home, and
revising my spring courses was a bumpy road. I reflected deeply on this
experience as I began the process for the fall semester. I was teaching the
graduate course again and I felt confident in the assignment revision and that
planning optional virtual meetings would support the students as it did in the
spring. The new course was a mathematics methods course for teachers. This is
usually taught on-site with the undergraduates working with an individual
elementary student each week and getting to see instruction in action followed
by a debrief of these experiences with our class. I knew I would need to
provide video case studies to ensure students were able to observe classroom
instruction and study student responses. I wanted our 2-hour classes to be
interactive, I planned break-out groups using interactive whiteboards, Padlet,
and Google slides. In addition, I created a group presentation assignment that
handed the reigns off to a small group to provide a 15–20-minute presentation
of our new module to start off the class meeting. In this assignment, the group
closed with an activity. I organized the
class into two-week modules that created a set schedule of due dates with two
assignments due for each module. I also worked with Pearson to use the virtual
features of our text. It was a total revamping of the course and I continue to
reflect on these revisions. There were successes and challenges in each
experience.
Share your challenges and celebrations with teaching during
the coronavirus pandemic.
There were several challenges to making this transition. The phrase “spread too thin” comes to mind. When I moved my in-person class to the online platform I focused on being very well organized, ensuring information was accessible in multiple places, and making the actual page engaging. These focal points were also important for the lesson presentations I planned for our zoom meetings. Trying to create the level of support that students feel when they see you in person for hours each week to an online format is a challenge. The time spent in front of screens increased for my own work and supporting my daughters in their schooling. There was this foggy fatigue that would set in and there was little we could do to decompress. The loss of contact, social activities, the news of cases and deaths added this cloud over the day for all of us. But we made it a point to find joy every day.
There were many celebrations, from small moments of a class going smoothly without any technology issues and when class online provided the connected feeling of in-person learning that you were striving to achieve. It was the sigh of relief from students that knew you were with them through this difficult time and truly wanted to support their success with empathy and kindness. When you are amid this work you have doubts about how effective your best-laid plans are and course evaluation time is a somewhat moment of truth. One of my greatest celebrations was reading this comment “Of all the courses I have taken at USC over the past 3 1/2 years, this was by far the most organized, clear, and concise course I've ever had. Further, it made the virtual experience so much easier because Dr. M was always on the ball with due dates, gave clear expectations of assignments with rubrics that demonstrated those expectations, and every assignment was used for learning; nothing felt like "busy work." I am extremely appreciative for Dr. M's scheduling as well as her flexibility on assignments. It is evident that she cares about her students and their success. I would argue that Dr. M is one of the best professors at this university and I would highly recommend her to anyone enrolling in EDEL XXX in the future. This comment brought me to tears. When I conducted a peer review for a colleague, and I asked her what her goals were we both joked “Stay alive.” Even though we said this in jest, this was a real concern that impacted your decisions daily. I feel incredibly hopeful about the future because we were able to rise to this challenge. Our family enjoys our time together, my girls have done well in school, and our pets are ecstatic. It is hard to predict how the pandemic will impact our work and school environments moving forward, but at this point, I feel confident we will find a road to success.
