Congratulations on surviving the 2020 mass migration to emergency remote teaching! Now that the dust has settled and final grades are submitted, it’s a good time to reflect on the past term and consider what lessons you might want to take with you moving forward.
Here are four simple, yet powerful questions to help you in this reflection process.
What did you learn about yourself as an instructor?
The shift to remote teaching may have caused you to re-examine your teaching goals, expectations and practices. Maybe something you previously thought was important doesn’t seem so important now, or maybe the experience reinforced and strengthened certain aspects of your teaching philosophy. Perhaps you surprised yourself with your ability to solve a problem, overcome an obstacle or learn something new.
What new learnings about yourself do you want to acknowledge, celebrate or explore?
What did you learn about your students?
The new online format may have allowed you to see your students in a new light. Maybe you were able to get a clearer picture of their lives outside of the classroom, or maybe you got a better view of what your students need to be successful in your course. Maybe you heard from students you hadn’t heard from before or engaged with them in a new way.
Moving forward, how can you use the new insights you have about your students?
What new thing(s) did you incorporate in your emergency remote teaching that you want to keep as part of your teaching practice?
To enable your course to continue online, you may have had to draw upon new teaching tools and strategies. Maybe you learned how to use a new technology, such as Collaborate Ultra, Zoom, Gradescope, Canvas Quizzes or Kaltura. Maybe you had to adopt a different type of assessment strategy, modify an assignment to make it work online, or present a concept in a new way.
What did you find worked well that you want to continue doing in your future teaching?
Who supported you along the way?
You probably didn’t go through this process alone. Maybe you benefited from teaching or technology guides or workshops that were quickly produced by people in CTLT or Skylight. Perhaps a colleague, faculty support person, family member or friend provided you with invaluable support during this time or helped you through a difficult situation.
Who are you grateful for and how can you show your gratitude?
While it might seem impossible to imagine, your emergency remote teaching experience will soon be a distant and fuzzy memory, so it is important to capture these learnings now while they are still fresh in your mind. I hope these four questions will help you solidify these learnings so that you can carry them forward, regardless of what teaching will look like in the future.
What are your answers to these questions? Are there any other questions that you think might be good to ask as part of the reflection process? Please share them in the comments below or send me an email. I’d love to hear them!