Teaching with Social Distancing

If you are planning to teach a face-to-face or hybrid course, here are some questions to consider:

• In what ways can you make the most of in-person class sessions? How might you pair highly impactful in-person activities with robust use of online approaches to content delivery and student engagement? 
• In what ways can you plan for online approaches to:
  • student engagement with content (texts, learning objects, videos, instructor mini-lectures, etc?)
  • student engagement with peers (collaboration using GoogleDocs, Zoom breakout rooms)
  • student engagement with the instructor (one-on-one or small-group appointments, drop-in and scheduled "student hours")?
• How might the in-person activities you are planning be delivered either as an asynchronous alternative or synchronously via Zoom? 
• Considering the types of assessments you are planning, would in-person or online approaches be preferable? What methods will you use to engage in discussions? Will you ask students to raise their hands before speaking? 
• Are there low tech ways of engaging students in an in-person discussion? Perhaps using colored or numbered response sheets that you provide or that students bring to class? See also: Classroom Response Systems.
• If you are planning for students to work in small groups or move about the classroom space, have you visited the classroom and planned ahead of time how best to use the space? 
• How can you avoid having students share supplies such as whiteboard markers or other materials? 
• Will you be requiring students to use technology and if so, have you communicated clearly in your syllabus and course site that devices will be needed? 
• Lastly, hybrid instruction can be the most challenging to design. In what ways will you help students understand the expectations and clearly see the connections between the in-person and online components of the course? 

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to answering these questions. If you are looking for feedback and ideas, do not hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected].

See also: Face Coverings Toolkit - policies, practices, resources, and sample syllabus language on this Office of the Provost page

Active Learning Strategies

• Active Learning in Hybrid and Physically Distanced Classrooms, Vanderbilt University - a new guide from the inimitable Derek Bruff
• Can Active Learning Co-Exist With Physically Distanced Classrooms? Inside Higher Ed, May 27, 2020 - multiple answers to this question are accompanied by specific suggestions 
• Making Online Learning Active, Inside Higher Ed, July 6, 2020 - a list of approaches to engage students with content and their peers
• Four Strategies for Facilitating Group Activities in Remote and Hybrid/Blended Classes, Oregon State University blog post with an infographic of note 

Staggered Hybrid Planning Approaches

The following are specific ideas share by GV faculty planning their courses in a staggered hybrid format: 

• For a two days/week course, Group A will attend on Tuesday and Group B will attend on Thursday. A GoogleDoc sent out to students the week before classes begin will allow students to self-select into Groups A/B. Those who have not responded 48 hours before class will get randomly assigned. The final group assignments will be sent to all students. 
• For a four days/week course, Group A attends Monday/Thursday and Group B attends Wednesday/Friday for mini-lectures and problem-solving sessions. Using a flipped learning approach, online, asynchronous work (readings, videos) is completed before each in-person session.
• All assessments online, with weekly summative quizzes instead of exams, so that class time can focus on discussion, clarifications on areas that students are having difficulty with, and student group work
• In-person group work facilitated by GoogleDocs, slides, Jamboard so that students can collaborate electronically 
• Robert Talbert is blogging about the process of building his mathematics courses