New Ways of Teaching, New Ways of Learning: Supporting Learning in Online Environments

2020-2021

The COVID-19 pandemic compelled students, faculty, and staff to adopt new and unfamiliar strategies and to revise existing practices to learn, teach, and work multi-modally. In particular, we relied on technology, new and old, to deliver content, engage students, and create rich learning environments.

As we know, most instruction at SFU has continued to be delivered through remote methods since the fall 2020 semester, to create certainty for instructors and students, safety for students and employees who have higher level health risks, and access to learning for students who cannot physically travel to BC at this time.

This seminar series provided faculty with an opportunity to look at our challenges, failures, and successes as we explored new ways of teaching and learning remotely with a focus on providing high quality learning experiences for students. This new program stream supported SFU faculty members' investigation of the strategies they used as they moved their classes online, and changes they implemented to support student success in online learning environments.

Topics included:

• Improving student learning experience in an online environment
• Fostering student and instructor well-being
• Encouraging engagement and meaningful online discussions
• Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Principles
• Better online practices
• Accessibility– “digital red lining” (e.g., having it and when they can use it)
• Time management & 24/7 instructor accessibility
• Online exams
• Academic integrity
• Privacy and confidentiality
• Building relationships and creating community in online environment
• Creating safer environments for students having controversial conversations on controversial topics

Learning outcomes:

• Understanding of the importance of creating conditions that improve student engagement in online learning environments that positively affect student academic success.
• Developing a project proposal to implement and evaluate changes they make to their courses to foster learning and improve the student experience.
• Discover the most effective ways of delivering content to students (video, synchronous vs. asynchronous, flipped classroom approach)
• Share the outcomes of the project by connecting with other faculty members and colleagues within and outside of the SFU community.

Facilitation Team

This series was facilitated by SFU champion faculty members in collaboration with TILT and CEE.