How has teaching changed during the COVID-19 pandemic?

This pandemic has changed many things in terms of teaching: who we are as teachers, the classroom itself as well as the students. As we all know, in response to the pandemic, schools at all levels needed an immediate shift toward online education, which can be both an opportunity and a challenge. Let’s explore some of those wins and woes.

As a Learning Designer for the University at Buffalo, Office of Curriculum, Assessment and Teaching Transformation (CATT), part of my job is to assist faculty with best practices for teaching. I along with the amazing Dr. Jessica Kruger, Clinical Assistant Professor from the School of Public Health and Health Professions are the creators of a grassroots community of practice here at UB called Teaching and Learning Community of Knowledge (UBTaLCK). The group brings together individuals with similar roles and responsibilities to share ideas and best teaching practices and strategies. Between the classes I teach faculty and the UBTaLCK community. I have regular opportunities to interact with our elite talent. Listening to the faulty share classroom experiences, both in terms of opportunities and challenges, we work together to learn, grow, and explore the field of education.

One challenge we continue to face as educators, especially during a pandemic, is the need to adapt to new situations, while understanding the changing policies and rules at one’s institution. An opportunity that arose from this adaptation was the launch of UB’s Teach Anywhere website. Several offices throughout UB worked together to compile resources for better teaching. Support to teach remotely, in a Hybrid approach (incorporating both in person and remote academic participation) and teaching in a HyFlex mode (participating with the course in person or remotely) can be explored throughout the Teach Anywhere web pages.  As the pandemic continues to evolve, we as educators need to be ready and adaptable to various types of teaching. Faculty can find helpful strategies to promote continuation of course work on CATT’s Maintaining Instructional Continuity website.

As the pandemic continues to develop, and let’s face it, winter in Buffalo, NY can cause unplanned disruptions, consistent communication needs to happen. At the institution level, encourage your students to sign up for UB’s Alert System to receive immediate notices of all campus emergencies or cancellations. Confusion and misinformation are just as contagious among the general public, and, for us, keeping up to date on clear communication is always helpful. At the course level, keep and maintain a clear communication policy with your students. Of course, include the policy in your syllabus. Share with students the process, procedures, and expectations for completing coursework if an in-person class session is disrupted. Syllabus guidelines can be found on CATT’s Syllabus webpage.

An opportunity and challenge that may have emerged from the pandemic is exploring a new teaching method. As we know, March 2020 brought the quick switch to online or remote education. While teaching remotely, you likely recorded your lectures or portions of your classes and shared them with your students. As uncomfortable and challenging as that may have been in the beginning likely became easier and easier with each video recording. You may have discovered providing your students with video recordings allotted for extra time to take a deeper dive into content, allowing for deeper learning. As we are emerging from the pandemic and classes switched back to in-person learning, this could be your opportunity to continue the teaching method by flipping your classroom. Flipping the classroom is a pedagogy-first teaching approach in which course materials are introduced outside of class, usually in the form of a video and in-class time is for inquiry, application, and assessment in order to better meet the needs of individual learners. The individual learning occurs prior to the class session.

If this pandemic has taught us anything, it is we need to be adaptable, keep the lines of communication open in all aspects of our lives and always try to find the opportunity in life’s challenges.  Stepping outside your comfort zone and challenging yourself to try something new may bring opportunities. Keep positive thoughts emerging as we navigate through these extraordinary times. You got this!