It's the end of week 3, and I am keeping up but just barely. Phew, getting everything online is a LOT.
I didn't realize how much students rely on conversations about what's coming up. You can do your best to be clear in assignment descriptions; you can spell out dates and expectations. But in the classroom I say, "So let's check in about Task A, which is coming up." A student will raise her hand and say, "So you want us to do Task B?" "No," I tell her, "do Task A." Someone else says, "Did you mean Task C?" "No," I tell her, "do Task A."
Online, they just turn in Task B and Task C and, heck, Task Q from Planet X, and I am stuck trying to figure out how to respond after the fact. Extension/resubmission, because everybody could use a little extra flexibility here in the middle of the pandemic? Or is it reasonable to say "nope, following written instructions is a life skill I can reasonably expect a college senior to have acquired"?
So far, three weeks in, no one has ever come to virtual office hours. Office hours are always quiet unless it's the week right after I return an exam, but they're rarely totally empty.
If I had the scheduling to do over again I would have asked for some synchronous meeting time for the class that's entirely asynchronous. I don't want to do very many Zoom meetings, but I get all excited about seeing my other students in our synchronous sessions. I haven't yet literally said "Hi you guys hi hi hi I missed you it's good to see you!" but it feels about like that.
Trying to figure out how to balance mercy vs 'them's the rules' is one of my least favorite parts of teaching. I especially can't imagine doing it with zero synchronous time.
Posted by: Melanie Bettinelli | January 31, 2021 at 02:01 PM