Using Technology to Connect
I am completing this module as Ontario is slowing opening up following the COVID-19 pandemic. When the pandemic hit, we needed to very quickly move our physical classrooms to the virtual world. The initial part of this move involved ensuring that the course content was available in an electronic format. Quickly, we heard from students that they were feeling isolated and we offered a number of ways to stay “connected”: online sessions with instructors, question sessions, timely emails and announcements. I found this connection was one way “Your instructor is here for you”.
Listening to the students, and responding to the questions, made me realize that the students wanted the ability to connect with their peers and instructors. They wanted to be able to network. They wanted to be able to say “Hey class, I am here”. I could completely empathize with the students, and realized that the precautions in place for COVID-19 would not be lifted anytime soom, and that the impact of this pandemic would be with us for many years. I needed a solution for the students to be able to be recognized and to connect with others in this new virtual world.
Fortunately I am in a field with empathetic professionals. This pandemic encouraged much discussion on this topic, and I was able to connect with professionals both in my faculty and at other Ontario institutions. I reviewed many discussion forums and documents on this learning challenge, and identified the opportunity to exploit our existing online session tool (Bongo) to break out the large class of 30 students into random smaller groups (4-6 students). To implement this, I will create discussion points and sample problems for the students to work on during our sessions. I will pop into the smaller groups and join in the intimate conversations.
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