Tag: #postcard

Keri Colabroy is a Professor of Chemistry and Co-Director of the Biochemistry Program. She was an early pioneer of online learning at Muhlenberg and is well known for her work in Kitchen Chemistry. To hear more from Keri on humanizing “chemistry for all” check out her Golf Cart Pedagogy episode from Fall 2019.

This is our second postcard featuring Keri’s work. As a Digital Fellow, Keri has taught online summer courses for Muhlenberg helping to shape what online education looks like in the liberal arts. Her second postcard is a reflection on how the pandemic has shaped the online experience. You can read the first on teaching chemistry online here.

---

I’ve taught online before, in the summertime, in a non pandemic world. And while collaborative engagement around assignments is certainly an element of my summertime online course, I certainly do not use synchronous time in the same way. In a non-pandemic world, summertime students are maxed out with many obligations, for example many work jobs, and many are taking more than one class. But in this pandemic semester of online teaching and learning, I’ve observed my students craving togetherness. One of them remarked, ” it’s like all the fun has gone out of taking classes, and all we have is homework.” I wanted to use my synchronous time to put back the fun.

If I ever find myself in the situation again, before launching my course, I would take the time to reflect on how important it is to pursue goals and outcomes rather than content and assignments. I still want my classes to enjoy their learning, and not just endure it.  

I still want my classes to enjoy their learning, and not just endure it.

– Keri colabroy

---

Postcards from Camp will be taking a break until the Spring semester. If you would like to contribute to the next series of postcards, please reach out to Jordan Noyes or another member of the Instructional Design team. A big thanks to everyone who has contributed so far!

Troy Dwyer is an acting-styles trainer whose areas of expertise include classical lyric performance (such as Shakespeare), the Absurd (such as Beckett) and contemporary realism (such as the methodologies of Sanford Meisner). Troy is a critical teaching focuses on queer theories and histories of performance as well as on specifically queer performance practices, such as drag performance.

---

When we transitioned to remote learning this past spring, my students were about to present graded Shakespeare monologues. Instead of performing their pieces live in real-time, I asked them to video-record and upload their performances to discussion threads on Canvas. Though I was seeking an organized way for students to provide one another performance feedback, there ended up being a major unexpected benefit to this approach.


For an in-person class, a student would normally have a single shot to execute their performance. However, because my remote students were submitting videos, they had the luxury of recording multiple “takes” in order to submit the recording they liked best. As a result, the final performances the students uploaded were STELLAR.

And as they re-shot and re-shot, they developed increasing fluency with the principles of the assignment – they got increasingly BETTER, all without my direct oversight.

troy dwyer

After the assignment, I learned that almost all of them videoed dozens of takes, and more than a few recorded 40 or 50 takes, or more. The level of engagement with the assignment was extremely high. They were able to analyze and critique their own work immediately by viewing each video take as soon as it was shot, and then re-shoot if they felt they hadn’t nailed particular feats on which they knew they’d be graded. And as they re-shot and re-shot, they developed increasing fluency with the principles of the assignment – they got increasingly BETTER, all without my direct oversight. Several even reached out to one another with the request to review takes, and tell them which they thought was the best, and why. That is, they were having detailed discussions about the course content, splitting hairs, sharing insights, and deepening their understanding – and I didn’t even know any of this was going on until after the assignment had concluded.

The level of self-challenge was much higher than anything I could’ve shepherded on my own, and it sparked wonderfully deep learning.

Bridgett Jackson is a Lecturer in the Theatre & Dance department focusing on voice and speech. She is a speech language pathologist, an accent couch, and a dialect coach. This is her first semester teaching at Muhlenberg College. Her postcard is a reflection on what she wishes she knew, what is going well, and what could be better.

---

The advice I would give myself at the beginning of the semester is, “take it week by week”! I felt so much pressure to put all of my content in Canvas before classes started, and that was unrealistic. It is wonderful to add content to Canvas as the discussions evolve during synchronous classes! During synchronous classes, I take time to check in with my students and find out how they are doing and what is going on with them. In addition, we discuss the readings and assignments they did on their own during the week. Each student has unique ideas and perspectives that are always valuable to everyone. The thing that makes me excited about online learning is the fact that most students participate in class in a comfortable space that allows them to be themselves while they learn and grow. The frustrating thing about online learning is the fact that we don’t have “in person” interactions in a classroom setting, which typically creates a more intimate learning environment.

I felt so much pressure to put all of my content in Canvas before classes started, and that was unrealistic

Bridgett jackson

One of my favorite moments with my students was when they announced the “Fish Project Play Festival” which was showcased on the Zoom platform. Almost every person in my class was in it, and they were so excited to do something creative despite the fact that they could not perform in person for a live audience! When they each shared about their particular projects and characters they were portraying, their faces were so bright and happy! I watched the festival and I was so proud to see them doing something they truly loved. I absolutely love teaching online and I am grateful for this unique experience. 

Keri Colabroy is a Professor of Chemistry and Co-Director of the Biochemistry Program. She was an early pioneer of online learning at Muhlenberg and is well known for her work in Kitchen Chemistry. To hear more from Keri on humanizing “chemistry for all” check out her Golf Cart Pedagogy episode from Fall 2019.

---

I’m still surprised everyday, how much longer teaching and learning seems to take when we are separated like this. During the semester, I’ve really tried to rethink how I use my synchronous time. I didn’t want to use it as a digital version of what I would do in a face-to-face environment. Rather, I wanted to use it as an opportunity to co-create with my class. When we sign on together on Zoom, I want there to be dialogue between myself and students, and between students.  I want us to build something that we can reflect on after our synchronous time is over, in a way that deepens our understanding and furthers our learning and our relationships. In practice, this has manifested itself as breakout room problem solving with synchronous Google docs that record our process, or as collaborative drafting of an outline, and then a paper. 

I want us to build something that we can reflect on after our synchronous time is over, in a way that deepens our understanding and furthers our learning and our relationships

keri colabroy

Finally, in my wildest and craziest incarnation of collaborative co-creation, I staged a “reality show” version of my lab in which remote students tuned in weekly, in teams, to document what was happening, while collaboratively generating a record of the lab and interpreting the data. This “reality show” lab was an unprecedented merger of my individual research with my teaching, and it turned out to be incredibly fun and surprisingly satisfying. I only did it for 7 weeks, but the students were so sad when it was over. 

Holly Cate, Associate Professor in Theater & Dance writes about her experience using Zoom Webinars to host student performances. In person, Holly had done these presentations on a stage that was covered with set pieces under construction for a show. The assignment was a low stakes experiment turned great success.

---

The performances went amazingly smoothly, and all told, between the two sections, almost 100 people were in attendance, which is actually pretty mind-blowing.  There were prospective students there, grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, alumni and of course current Muhlenberg students.  The quote I put in the subject line here came from a parent at the conclusion of the presentations.  Her full statement was:  

“If it weren’t for Zoom, we’d wouldn’t be able to share this special moment with all of you! Boo COVID — YAY Zoom!” 

-Muhlenberg parent

Friday was definitely a moment in which all of us – the actors, their friends and families, and me – felt one of the really strong pluses of being connected via Zoom.  As Lora likes to say, “community is the curriculum”, and the community that came together via those webinars was pretty magical.

HOLLY CATE

How do we build community online? This is the question we get asked most frequently in Camp Design Online. Just like face-to-face classes, there are a number of different ways to create community and bring people together. Zoom, Voicethread, Hypothes.is, Google docs, Slack, and social media are just a few places where many of us have sought out engagement and found community personally and professionally. Why not blogs? Our instructors are doing amazing things with their courses in an incredibly difficult time.

Time is not something many of us have in spades these days, which is why we thought postcards were a great way to promote our community. Postcards are short, sweet and traditionally provide a glimpse into a trip or vacation. This is what we hope to share here: a glimpse into the work of our community in the hopes that it inspires and encourages.

Every Wednesday we will share a “postcard from camp.” They will be short and sweet, focusing on a small piece of online learning. We hope you enjoy this series as much as we have. Reach out to Jordan Noyes if you’d like to be featured in a “postcard from camp.”

---

For more check out our incredible Digital Learning Assistants great series called “Wander Wednesdays.” They tackle a number of important topics regarding online learning. To read their thoughts on building community check out Sarah Bui’s blog post on their website.

We want to highlight all of the great work you have been doing this semester. In the spirit of Camp Design Online we are inviting you to share your “Postcards from Camp.” These can be anything from a short blog post (think 5-7 minute read) to a “postcard” length (approximately 2 tweets or the length of a New York Times tiny love story). The posts will be featured on the Digital Learning blog, but we encourage you to share them on your own websites as well! 

Potential prompts:

• Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give yourself at the start of the semester?
• How are you using your synchronous time to engage with students?
• What makes you excited about online teaching and learning?
• What frustrates you about online teaching and learning?
• Share a favorite story or moment with students.

Feel free to include media as well!

If you are interested, please reach out to Jordan Noyes with any questions or “postcards.”