Arts , Humanities & Social Science

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020 disrupted our teaching practice unlike anything most of us have ever experienced. As I prepare for the start of the fall academic term, I am forced to recall the sobering lessons learned earlier this year at the outset of the coronavirus. One week from the start of this pandemic before the university March spring break began, my teaching life was dismantled. I was forced to use the one-week hiatus to prepare for 100% online instruction. I spent the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester considering and re-visiting the following questions:

1.         How did learning and teaching change in the classroom? Subsequently, what does it take to teach online?

2.         How might we best use and partner with university IT staff to improve teaching and learning? What are significant variables to consider to transition from face-to-face to online teaching while maintaining academic rigor?

3.         How might we tap students to co-construct the syllabus moving forward? What worked for the students in my university undergraduate classroom?.