Today, 23 members of the UMass Law faculty gathered (virtually) together for over an to explore ways that we might best utilize various tools in accomplishing the goal to move the remainder of the semester to remote teaching/learning. The honest truth is that this will be a learning experience for us all—and that is a good thing! We easily forget what it feels like to struggle to learn new things, to develop new skills, or engage in new methods. Hopefully, this will make us more empathetic and better teachers.
I only enrolled in one on-line course as a student; I took an on-line undergraduate philosophy course over a summer term. This was in the early days of online teaching, and so admittedly, my experiences then probably don’t relate too well to what my students will be experiencing today. And if I’m being honest, I probably didn’t take it as seriously as I should have…… (but who’s here to judge?).
In the spirit of being for good ideas, no matter where they come from, I invite whoever may stumble across this blog to share their own experiences of on-line learning. What did you like? What did you hate? How can I make this experience positive and valuable to you?
In the midst of this storm, I have great confidence and believe that we can learn to do it, too!
Hi Professor Rice,
Thank you for setting up the blog, it’s a creative way to try and supplement this now all online and distant learning model with something a bit more personal.
I’ve never taken an online class. For me, an essential part of the learning process is being in the classroom, and engaging with classmates and the professor.
To be honest, I’m fairly worried about having online online interactions for the rest of the semester. I feel it is inherently harder to retain knowledge in an online setting compared to in a classroom.
However, I am confident you will find ways to keep class interesting and, even in zoom classrooms, to get everyone’s brain firing.
Looking forward to the rest of the semester, a return to the (Somewhat) normalcy of school, and hoping everyone stays safe from this bug!
-Sam