Online and Distance Education Commons^™

Introduction, Travis N. Thurston

Resilient Pedagogy

Introduction for Resilient Pedagogy.

Chapter 4- Advancing An Approach Of Resilient Design For Learning By Designing For Extensibility, Flexibility, And Redundancy, Rebecca M. Quintana, Jacob Fortman, James Devaney

Resilient Pedagogy

The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on educational systems requires actors across those systems to develop adaptive capacity and embed resilient thinking into approaches and frameworks for decision-making and design (DeVaney & Quintana, 2020). Events surrounding the COVID-19 crisis have set off a period of rapid adaptation across the higher-education ecosystem and have necessitated that educators consider new pedagogical approaches and frameworks that are responsive to the changes we are witnessing in our contexts of teaching and learning (Chraa et al., 2020; Donovan, 2020; Moorhouse, 2020; Quintana & Quintana, 2020; Zhu & Liu, 2020).

Chapter 2- Productive Disruptions: Resilient Pedagogies That Advocate For Equity, Beth Buyserie, Rachel Welton Bryson, Rachel Quistberg

Resilient Pedagogy

When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered universities in March 2020, many students and faculty were thrown into shifting uncertainties regarding course delivery and pedagogy. As the pandemic persisted, faculty and students experienced new stressors caused by social isolation, unequal access to technology and resources, economic distress, and many other factors. In addition, the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others in the Black community sparked widespread social unrest that added to and compounded the emotional and material weight of the pandemic. Amid this tumult, higher-education faculty began asking questions about how to move forward with pedagogies resistant to unpredictable and …

Chapter 1- Resilient Pedagogy And Self-Determination: Unlocking Student Engagement In Uncertain Times, Lindsay C. Masland

Resilient Pedagogy

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in spring of 2020, like many educators, I experienced a definite disruption in the structure and plans I had designed for my courses. I was teaching a mix of graduate and undergraduate classes—some with as few as seven students, others with as many as 98, some upper-level skills-based courses, others in the broad general education arena, but all of them designed exclusively for face-to-face delivery. In fact, due to some long-standing institutional prejudices against online instruction, the opportunity to teach in a mode other than face-to-face had never materialized over the 10 years I had …

Chapter 12- Conducting Guided, Virtual Homework Sessions To Support Student Success During Covid Campus Closures, Rebecca Campbell, Kevin Kelly

Resilient Pedagogy

College students have long used community-based practices such as study halls, review sessions, study groups, homework buddies, and the like as academic strategies to support their learning (Hogan, 1999; Madland & Richards, 2019; Thalluri et al., 2014). With increased access to online conferencing capabilities, working in community has been adapted by faculty who have used the technology to participate in virtual write-on-sites, writing retreats and writing sprints. Thus, it is no surprise that both faculty and learning centers saw the potential for creating virtual spaces for students to work together.

Chapter 15- "Things Are Different Now" A Student, Staff, And Faculty Course Design Institute Collaboration, Maggie Debelius, Susannah Mcgowan, Aiyanna Maciel, Clare Reid, Alexa Eason

Resilient Pedagogy

Like other institutions across the world, Georgetown University in Washington, DC switched to remote learning in March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States. Our Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS), which serves as both a center for teaching and learning as well as a center for technology innovation, responded quickly with a series of offerings to prepare and support faculty to teach remotely. Options included a virtual conference on digital pedagogy, a series of cohort-based Course Design Institutes (CDI) throughout the summer where faculty engaged with intertwined principles and best practices from inclusive pedagogy …

Chapter 5- Lessons From Anticipatory Intelligence: Resilient Pedagogy In The Face Of Future Disruptions, Briana D. Bowen

Resilient Pedagogy

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted universities across the globe in unprecedented ways, requiring many teaching faculty to reexamine and transform approaches to pedagogy. As higher-education institutions have grappled with various methods of hybrid and remote delivery in an effort to best preserve student instruction through the pandemic, most have fervently looked ahead for a more satisfying “new normal.” Yet this moment of unease and transformation is one of critical opportunity for universities and their teaching faculty. Educators are seeing in vivid form how an unexpected “threat”—in this case, a global health challenge—can profoundly disrupt pedagogy, and the immense adaptive innovation …

Resilient Pedagogy: A Foreword, Jesse Stommel

Resilient Pedagogy

Foreword for Resilient Pedagogy.

Chapter 3- How Adult Education Can Inform Optimal Online Learning, David S. Noffs, Kristina Wilson

Resilient Pedagogy

David's Story

I first met Krissy Wilson in 2015 when I was asked to design a new graduate course at Northwestern University on learning environment design. Krissy was part of the talented Distance Learning team in the School of Professional Studies. I was a teacher, instructional specialist, and reluctant learning management system administrator at an arts-based city college where I had worked for almost 15 years.

Krissy's Story

I got to know David Noffs first as a faculty member in the Master in Information Design and Strategy program in the School of Professional Studies at Northwestern University. Before he joined …

Chapter 7- Innovative Pedagogies For Promoting University Global Engagement In Times Of Crisis, Steven R. Hawks

Resilient Pedagogy

Even as universities, institutes, and professional associations are renewing their commitment to global engagement and the internationalization of higher-education campuses, there are significant geopolitical and social challenges that are pushing back (van der Wende, 2017). The immediate crisis posed by the global coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has further hampered progress by bringing a number of critical global engagement activities to a sudden halt (Brimmer, 2020). In the midst of these challenges there is an opportunity to consider theory-driven pedagogical innovations that can move the global engagement agenda forward even in times of complexity and crisis.

Chapter 8- Creating Adaptable Courses: A Course Design Approach That Accommodates Flexible Delivery, Kosta Popovic, Eric M. Reyes, Jennifer B. O'Connor, Kay C. Dee, Ella Ingram

Resilient Pedagogy

In early 2020, educators and students around the world endured lapses in quality of educational experiences due to the disruption caused by COVID-19. In return for these lapses, students continued their programs of study within previously established timelines, and educators balanced helping students achieve learning objectives while keeping a manageable workload. Moving forward, students will expect educators and their institutions to deliver high-quality education when disruptions occur, like natural disasters, facilities emergencies, or supply chain disturbances. This expectation will extend to all modes of delivery. We assert that training educators to build adaptable courses that provide them and their students …

Chapter 6- Resilient And Flexible Teaching (Raft): Integrating A Whole-Person Experience Into Online Teaching, Christina Fabrey, Heather Keith

Resilient Pedagogy

When venturing into wild or unknown territory such as a swiftly moving and ever-changing mountain river, a raft may be a necessary tool for basic survival. But what if during the careful navigation of rapid currents around rocks and other obstacles, you discover that your buoyant and flexible tool helps you to float through the fast and turbulent waters in a way that is meaningful, awe-inspiring, and exciting? As COVID-19 first hit our campuses, many of us switched to emergency remote education as a survival raft, just trying to stay afloat long enough to get to the other side of …

Chapter 11- Team-Based Learning Brings Academic Rigor, Collaboration, And Community To Online Learning, Elizabeth Winter, Michele C. Clark, Christopher Burns

Resilient Pedagogy

In early 2020, instructors were faced with a critical and immediate need to move education online in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision to discontinue face-to-face classes as a protection from the COVID-19 virus presented several questions and challenges, including the need to quickly develop online classes without adequate time to consider the effectiveness of different strategies. While online learning provides accessible and safe educational opportunities for students sheltering in place as a protection against the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty may question if online education provides the academic rigor, needed competencies, and student learning outcomes they hoped for in …

Chapter 9- A New Normal In Inclusive, Usable Online Learning Experiences, Christopher Phillips, Jared S. Colton

Resilient Pedagogy

The most obvious consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic in higher education has been more students accessing their classes remotely without having the technology and other resources readily available on their local campuses. Students from underrepresented groups have been disproportionately affected as a result of COVID-19, particularly students of color (Alvarez, 2020) and students with disabilities (Hill, 2020; National Center, 2020). This neglect of underrepresented groups in higher education is not unique to the pandemic, of course, and sadly is nothing new to higher education, but COVID-19 has made this problem more apparent.

Chapter 14- Designing Curriculum Collaboratively: A Practice For Learning Alongside Undergraduate Teaching Assistants During Uncertain Times, Jessica Rivera-Mueller, Kresten Erickson

Resilient Pedagogy

The transition to remote learning during the Spring 2020 semester was abrupt for faculty and students, and it did not allow much time for reflection or purposeful planning, especially as individuals were faced with managing multiple aspects of their lives. Educators had to consider quickly what learning experiences and teaching practices could be preserved or revised, as well as what learning activities could or should be removed. These choices were not easy to make. During this challenging moment, however, we discovered how collaborative partnerships between faculty and undergraduate teaching assistants (UTAs) can contribute to the development of a flexible and …

Chapter 10- Building Online Toolkits To Support The Development Of Academic Skills And Digital Literacies, Jenae Cohn

Resilient Pedagogy

Personal, environmental, and academic factors contribute to student persistence and retention in college environments in varying and, importantly, intersecting ways. As educators determine what supporting student success in a post-COVID-19 world looks like, it is important to consider how these factors become all the more complicated by the new challenges raised with ubiquitous remote or hybridized learning. The global shift to online learning has opened tremendous gaps in experiences that students might have in learning, working, living, and socializing online. Some students may lack access to laptop computers for learning, while others may not have sufficient broadband access to connect …

Chapter 13- Asynchronous Discussions For First-Year Writers And Beyond: Thinking Outside The Ppr (Prompt, Post, Reply) Box, Miriam Moore

Resilient Pedagogy

Asynchronous discussions can challenge even experienced online learners and teachers: forums can become perfunctory hoops for students to jump through, particularly in the common PPR (prompt, post, reply) format, in which students answer a prompt and then reply to one or more other students. As a peer reviewer for online courses, I have seen rich and insightful discussions that engage students and promote learning, as well as forums that scarcely resemble discussions at all. Research on cultivating dialogue in online discussions has targeted primarily upper-division or graduate courses (see Andreson, 2009; Delahunty, 2018; Delahunty et al., 2014; Garrison et al., …

How Padlet Encouraged Student Collaboration And Engagement In My Virtual Classroom, Annie Yon

New Jersey English Journal

With the growth of virtual classes, it is crucial for teachers to integrate strategies and resources that foster student engagement and build a sense of community in an online environment. One way to augment synchronous and asynchronous communication is to implement an online discussion board, which can provide rich opportunities for students to share insights, ask clarifying questions, collaborate, create multimodal projects, and have their voices heard. By incorporating an interactive discussion board, such as Padlet, as part of class resources, teachers can facilitate discourse among students that transcends the physical boundaries of the classroom, create a motivational environment, improve …

Uniting In A Reading Education Course To Support Mental Health Awareness During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Latasha Holt, Teesha Finkbeiner

New Jersey English Journal

This article discusses a unique attempt to support pre-service teachers in a reading course as they grappled with abrupt changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. A partnership raised awareness of mental health impacting pre-service teachers in the present and serving students in the future improving academic success.

Design, Development, Implementation, And Support (Ddis): A Curriculum Supporting Online Doctoral Candidates, Donna Russell

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objectives: The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively describe and justify the case design of an approach for the integration of synchronous virtual meetings to support nontraditional online doctoral candidates. As more nontraditional doctoral students are completing their degree programs virtually through online universities, the nature of their degree progression and the development of critical knowledge and skills differ from traditional on-campus programs.

Method: The case design of an approach to integrating synchronous online interactive meetings to support these learners is identified and justified through references to research in the learning sciences including sociocultural learning, heutagogy, and constructivist instructional …

Pandemic Pivot: Designing A Participatory Simulation To Support Social Distancing And Remote Learning, K. K. Lamberty, Paul Friederichsen, Audrey Le Meur, Joseph Moonan Walbran

Computer Science Publications

Participatory simulations usually aim to bring simulations off screen into a shared physical space with people acting as agents in the simulation. In this paper, we describe considerations and design decisions related to creating a participatory simulation for use in learning settings with restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic where typical classroom interactions were no longer allowed. We describe how our design decisions might help children both “dive in” and “step out” to understand more about pollinators and the prairie in spite of various restrictions on how exactly they can interact with each other. Our simulation, Buzz About, uses …

On Blending Active Student Responding With Synchronous Instruction To Evaluate Response Accuracy, Nicole A. Hollins

Dissertations

As of 2016, approximately 28% of college students in the United States were taking at least one online course (U.S. Department of Education, 2016), and it was projected that the percentage of students enrolled in online courses would continue to increase 33% each year (Pethokoukis, 2002). The COVID-19 pandemic hastened further shifts from in-person to virtual learning for many institutions of higher education. Given this rapid shift to online instruction, it is critical to evaluate the effectiveness of online instructional procedures. Providing multiple opportunities for students to respond to instruction has proven to be an effective procedure across most educational …

Adapting Independent Reading For The Virtual Classroom, Ellen J. Foley

Dissertations

There is no doubt that the 2020-2021 school year was an unprecedented one. Around the world, COVID-19 school closures forced teachers to change their instructional practices with very little time, preparation, or guidance. While frustrating and challenging, experiences from this particular school year provide unique insight into pedagogical adaptations from in-person contexts to virtual ones.

This qualitative, grounded theory study examines the experiences of six secondary English Language Arts (ELA) teachers and their adaptations of independent reading pedagogies for their virtual classrooms during the 2020-2021 COVID-19-impacted school year. Independent reading is a practice that depends on proximal classroom factors including …

Retention Strategies For Online Students: A Systematic Literature Review, Katy Seery, Albert A. Barreda, Stephanie G. Hein, Jokima L. Hiller

Journal of Global Education and Research

The purpose of this paper is to examine online retention research in higher education over a 5-year span (January 2015–March 2019) to further advance research in higher education retention. Through an academic database search, 18 articles were collected from EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, and Research Gate using combinations of the keywords online, retention strategies, and higher education. All articles were analyzed for proposed retention strategies. Retention is a global topic. As such, this study demonstrates the importance of retention and clarifies issues or challenges students encounter, which may cause lower retention rates. The data reviewed suggest the most common retention …

Student Evaluations Of Instructor Email Response Speed As Chronemic Expectancy Violations, Nicholas T. Tatum

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

Instructional communication researchers have begun exploring the effects of instructor email response speed on student evaluations of their instructor. To date, researchers have concluded that faster response times result in more favorable evaluations. To extend this line of research, this experiment explores student evaluations of instructor response speed through the lens of expectancy violations theory, arguing that eliciting positive evaluations is not just about responding quickly, but rather, responding more quickly than students expect. Results indicated that positive violations of instructor email response speed are evaluated more favorably than negative chronemic violations in terms of instructor credibility and relational closeness. …

Refugee Higher Education And Participatory Action Research Methods: Lessons Learned From The Field, Hadas Yanay

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Refugee access to higher education is devastatingly low. Recognizing the complex barriers facing refugee learners, global educational initiatives are innovating flexible learning models which promote blended online and in-person learning modalities. This article describes the implementation of a five month, online-based internship pilot offered to 21 refugee participants in qualitative and quantitative research methods, through a participatory action research (PAR) framework in five different countries -- Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, and Lebanon. The internship is part of the Global Education Movement (GEM), which brings refugees accredited online college degree and career development opportunities. Through direct engagement, observation of the …

Making Online Learning More Satisfying: The Effects Of Online-Learning Self-Efficacy, Social Presence And Content Structure, Jun Rong Nigel Lim, Sonny Rosenthal, Ye Jun Marcius Sim, Zhao-Yi Lim, Kai Rong Oh

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This study examines the effects of instructor presence and online learning self-efficacy on learning satisfaction, and how the effect of social presence may depend on content structure. In this study, undergraduate students in Singapore rated their online learning self-efficacy. Then they rated their learning satisfaction after watching each of four video lectures in a 2 (low versus high instructor presence) × 2 (low versus high content structure) repeated measures experiment. Findings show that learning satisfaction is related to instructor presence and online learning self-efficacy and that the effect of instructor presence is stronger for unstructured than for structured content. This …

Authentic Assessment Framework May 2021 Version, Jen Harvey, Derek Dodd

Reusable Resources

The TU Dublin Authentic Assessment (AA) framework was designed to be used as a general guide.for staff undertaking assessment redesigns as part of a University Initiative under the IMPACT SATLE 1 funding call.

The Framework builds on the work of Gulikers et al, (2006) and Villerarroel et al (2020) and is structured across four dimensions: ‘Realism’, ‘Cognitive challenge’, ‘metacognition’, and ‘feedback processes’.

The resource provides a set of ideas that can be used to build the four dimensions into programme based Authentic Assessment strategies and practices.

Developing Social Work Skills In Online Environments: What Online Msw Graduates Tell Us, Samuel W. Gioia

Dissertations and Theses

Social work education is an academic discipline that prepares students to support individual, family, and community wellbeing, and to advance policies for social equity. Despite the increasing use of online education for social work, many social work faculty believe that online Master of Social Work (MSW) programs do not adequately prepare graduates for direct practice (engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation) with vulnerable populations. Students from an online MSW program at a midsized urban research university were interviewed to learn (a) how well an online MSW prepared these students for direct practice with individuals, families, and communities; and (b) what instructional …

Exploring The Usefulness Of Mindfulness Practices Through Zoom Meetings In Reducing Anxiety And/Or Stress Of Adults With Learning And Developmental Disabilities During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Thatiane Abra

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explored which mindfulness meditations or mindfulness practices could be beneficial in the online sessions, the extent to which adults with learning and developmental disabilities could learn the practices remotely, and how stress and anxiety disorders could be reduced through online mindfulness interventions. Furthermore, it was also necessary to address the online sessions as the only mental health treatment possibility during the Coronavirus pandemic for the clients observed and the benefits and limitations of these interventions. Additionally, the importance of structure and routine for this population, the multi-modal structure of the interventions, and how attunement plays an important role …