Teaching during the Pandemic

Education/Research
#1

For everyone out there who has been teaching remotely for these last few weeks, you might enjoy this recent piece in Places Journal on the challenges, and occasional small joys, of the sudden shift to Zoom University. I know a lot of the sentiments resonated with me.
https://placesjournal.org/article/field-notes-on-pandemic-teaching-1

We’re all doing our best and I’m so thankful for my students’ hard work and good attitudes. But, I certainly can’t wait for the semester to wrap up and to have some time to process and adjust. I think we’re in this one for the long haul. It has certainly been easier to get guest speakers to join the class without having to manage the logistics of in-person lectures. But, our ability to collaboratively build models has really taken a hit.

In the long term, once we’ve all found some breathing room, I hope this does have some effect on bringing more folks around to the idea of curating digital content and sharing curriculum, syllabi, lectures, models and other learning materials freely in an open-source manner between colleagues, schools and the broader building community.

I’d love to hear how it’s going for all of you this semester.

Best,
Stephanie

Lecturer // University of Pennsylvania School of Design
Principal // KieranTimberlake

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#2

Thanks Stephanie! I was just reading this interesting article and will check out Places.

Teaching online is definitely different. Some aspects I like-curating great content already developed and developing my own for future/expanded use… but it feels like I’m trying to hold a fire hose. I also feel responsibility to be a key social engagement space for the students providing structure and support -Both challenging them to challenge themselves in learning and providing the support/flexibility to address the challenging situations we all find ourselves in.

I’m definitely with you on sharing teaching models. I’m setting up paths to convert lectures into YouTube videos to share plus exploring how I could open up Canvas sites for view by non-students…Let’s keep this conversation going.

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