So, I take a semester off and everything goes off the rails??? I was on bank leave in Spring 2020, and it pained me to watch what you all had to go through as you shifted to remote instruction. That goes for faculty and students. I love a challenge and wish I had been there in the trenches with you.
This semester I am back, teaching 3 sections of Statistics with Support. All are being taught asynchronously. I am fortunate to have all of my classes the same, because it helps to consolidate my tasks and allows me to be more effective. I think that one of the best things we can do if we find ourselves in the same spot for Spring 2021 is to try rearranging schedules to allow more instructors to focus all of their efforts on one course.
*Note – Italicized text below are questions for myself to consider before next semester.

Starting Slow

I decided to start slowly, covering only one section in the main course during the first week. I figured this would be a good way to allow students to become comfortable with the tools we are using without also having to worry about all the content at the same time. I am using 2 MyLab sites – Interactive Statistics for the main course and Pearson’s Corequisite Support Modules for the support course. I am also using two Canvas sites – one for each course.

I am using the Canvas sites for students to upload worksheets for the support course and activities for the main course. I could probably have done it all within the same site, but I thought it would be best to keep them distinct. This is one decision that I will have to look back on next semester.

• On Day 1 I got the students to register in MyLab for the main course and make a post to an “Introduce Yourself” discussion board.
  
• On Day 2 I got students to register in MyLab for the support course, and complete a Growth Mindset assignment. (Short video followed by a prompt about the advantage of a growth mindset over a fixed mindset)
  
• On Day 3 I showed students how to do the Objective assignments in the MyLab support course. These are a combination of short concept videos, short example videos, and problems for students to do.
  I also showed them where to find the Core Skills Worksheets which they download, complete, and upload to Canvas. These worksheets have a quick refresher on a prerequisite skill, a worked out example, and 5 exercises to do.
  This week we focused on decimal place values, comparing decimals, and rounding decimals.
  
• On Day 4 I walked them through the structure of the Interactive Assignments in the main course.
  I also showed them the first Weekly Activity, which they download and turn in through Canvas.
  The Weekly Activities are activities that I would use in my face-to-face classes to help students develop a fuller understanding. My thought was that if they are good to use in person, they should be good for my remote students as well.

I had all of the Week 1 assignments posted and open on the first day of class. One thing to think about for next semester is whether I should just open them up on the day we talk about them. Some students tried to move ahead and got a little confused, which is exactly what I was hoping to avoid. I should say that many students were able to move forward without an issue – I prerecorded videos (with CC and transcripts) for students whose schedule did not match up with the Zoom schedule.

I have all assignments due on the second Monday of the class. So far, so good. Most have already completed all of the assignments, but I will have a better idea after the deadline expires tonight.
I may consider putting the deadlines earlier, and stagger them, to encourage all students to get involved sooner.

Week 2

During the second week we will pick up the speed with the material – 4 sections in the main course (finishing Chapter 1), 2 activities in the main course, introducing StatCrunch, 4 prerequisite skills in the support course (converting fractions, decimals, and percentages).

We are also forming groups for the activities. I asked for up to 30 students to volunteer as group leaders on a discussion board, and then the remaining students will join these groups through a discussion board post.

I had considered forming the groups myself, but I wanted to give them a chance to do this on their own. For next semester I’d like to find a more efficient way to do this.

I’ll try to blog regularly about what I am doing, and how it is going. I have been a little disappointed by the messages we are hearing about the quality of remote learning. I understand that many people feel that in-person learning is better for students than remote learning, but the tone I am hearing from many is that remote learning is substandard. I just do not agree with that. It does take a lot of effort by the instructor and by the students, and there are many logistical challenges, but a quality remote class and be just as effective as a quality in-person class. So, I will try to share how things are going and hopefully back up my hypothesis.