1 00:00:04,650 --> 00:00:06,690 - And we wanted to create a balance 2 00:00:06,690 --> 00:00:08,820 between listening and telling. 3 00:00:08,820 --> 00:00:11,440 So this morning's session is a fusion, if you will, 4 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:13,310 of listening to stories, 5 00:00:13,310 --> 00:00:15,800 reflecting on your teaching experience 6 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:17,700 and sharing insights that emerged 7 00:00:17,700 --> 00:00:19,523 from (audio cuts out) process. 8 00:00:20,477 --> 00:00:22,400 And we hope that we can do that in one hour. 9 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:26,470 So with this in mind, here's our roadmap. 10 00:00:26,470 --> 00:00:29,179 For the first 30 minutes or so, 11 00:00:29,179 --> 00:00:32,160 we'll listen to the stories of our CTL faculty associates, 12 00:00:32,160 --> 00:00:34,770 Laura Almstead from Plant Biology, 13 00:00:34,770 --> 00:00:36,920 Nutrition and Food Sciences 14 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:40,300 Liz Adams, Communication Sciences and Disorders, 15 00:00:40,300 --> 00:00:43,780 Lizzy Pope, Nutrition and Food Sciences, 16 00:00:43,780 --> 00:00:46,650 Allison Anacker, Psychological Science, 17 00:00:46,650 --> 00:00:50,890 and Kelly Hamshaw Community Development and Economics. 18 00:00:50,890 --> 00:00:53,230 And then after we listen to stories, 19 00:00:53,230 --> 00:00:55,920 we're gonna walk you through the same process 20 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:59,433 that our faculty associates used to write their stories. 21 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:02,460 As we have limited time together, 22 00:01:02,460 --> 00:01:04,583 it's going to be an abbreviated process. 23 00:01:05,419 --> 00:01:07,560 And we realize that there's probably not enough time 24 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:11,960 to craft your story in as much detail as you may like. 25 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:14,870 Our hope is that you'll be able to return 26 00:01:14,870 --> 00:01:17,440 to reflecting on and writing about 27 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:19,630 your Fall 2020 experience 28 00:01:19,630 --> 00:01:21,693 when your schedule is more spacious. 29 00:01:23,070 --> 00:01:25,300 We also realized that questions may emerge 30 00:01:25,300 --> 00:01:27,720 when listening to faculty stories. 31 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:29,820 We encourage you to write them down, 32 00:01:29,820 --> 00:01:32,290 but know that we will not be addressing questions 33 00:01:32,290 --> 00:01:36,870 until the very end, after you've had time to write. 34 00:01:36,870 --> 00:01:38,240 And if there's not time 35 00:01:39,118 --> 00:01:40,380 to address your question this morning, 36 00:01:40,380 --> 00:01:43,300 I know that Laura and Liz and Lizzy 37 00:01:43,300 --> 00:01:47,210 and Allison and Kelly are happy to address questions 38 00:01:47,210 --> 00:01:49,660 via email or set up a time to consult with you 39 00:01:49,660 --> 00:01:50,783 during winter break. 40 00:01:51,670 --> 00:01:53,903 So with that in mind, 41 00:01:54,970 --> 00:01:57,423 let our storytelling begin. 42 00:01:59,398 --> 00:02:00,231 Like any good story, I'm going to start it 43 00:02:00,231 --> 00:02:04,750 with once upon a time, five pensive faculty associates 44 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:11,520 pondered how they could frame their experience 45 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:15,970 about teaching this fall using one of the words you see 46 00:02:17,850 --> 00:02:19,400 on this slide as a focal point. 47 00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:23,300 And then after they chose their word. 48 00:02:23,300 --> 00:02:26,910 And you can see that the words that they chose are in bold, 49 00:02:26,910 --> 00:02:28,083 they brainstormed. 50 00:02:29,581 --> 00:02:31,082 I'm sorry, I have a little, 51 00:02:31,082 --> 00:02:32,605 I have trigger finger this morning. 52 00:02:32,605 --> 00:02:37,220 They brainstormed and all related words to their, 53 00:02:37,220 --> 00:02:40,560 that one focal word that they chose. 54 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:42,123 And from those brainstormings, 55 00:02:43,396 --> 00:02:44,638 I might've made up that word, I'm not sure, 56 00:02:44,638 --> 00:02:46,633 they wrote sentences and phrases 57 00:02:46,633 --> 00:02:47,740 and that their writing was not necessarily 58 00:02:47,740 --> 00:02:49,980 in any linear order, 59 00:02:49,980 --> 00:02:51,550 but what they were trying to do 60 00:02:51,550 --> 00:02:55,020 was to further describe their most salient experiences 61 00:02:55,020 --> 00:02:56,430 of the semester, 62 00:02:56,430 --> 00:02:59,763 but all back related to that one framing word. 63 00:03:00,640 --> 00:03:02,300 And finally, even though the story 64 00:03:02,300 --> 00:03:03,990 may not have been fully developed, 65 00:03:03,990 --> 00:03:06,370 they wrote a title for their story. 66 00:03:06,370 --> 00:03:08,770 So that's the process that we're gonna go through 67 00:03:08,770 --> 00:03:10,120 at the end of this session. 68 00:03:11,913 --> 00:03:14,270 And now we have the pleasure of listening to these stories, 69 00:03:14,270 --> 00:03:15,923 beginning with Laura Almstead. 70 00:03:20,054 --> 00:03:22,589 - And I passed off the baton to Laura. 71 00:03:22,589 --> 00:03:23,998 - Passed the baton. 72 00:03:23,998 --> 00:03:25,560 Hopefully I will do this. 73 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:26,393 I think I got the, 74 00:03:31,635 --> 00:03:35,717 let me know if I'm doing this correctly in the, there. 75 00:03:40,991 --> 00:03:43,703 Can you all share my screen or see my screen? 76 00:03:45,687 --> 00:03:47,406 - Yes. - Yeah. 77 00:03:47,406 --> 00:03:48,923 - Okay, so you can see my screen. 78 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:50,633 - Yes. 79 00:03:51,540 --> 00:03:53,123 - Wonderful, okay. 80 00:03:54,807 --> 00:03:56,090 So the title of my story is 81 00:03:56,090 --> 00:04:00,387 "Puns and Lollipops Work, but not in the Morning Classes." 82 00:04:05,245 --> 00:04:08,267 So Wendy, tell me if I'm doing this correctly. 83 00:04:11,660 --> 00:04:15,923 - Wendy, it looks like Laura's not spotlighted. 84 00:04:20,590 --> 00:04:21,423 There you go. 85 00:04:22,851 --> 00:04:27,273 - Okay, so for me, I will preface my story by saying for me, 86 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:30,480 one of the parts of writing my story 87 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:34,570 was actually scripting it out as a written narrative. 88 00:04:34,570 --> 00:04:36,923 And I found that a very centering process. 89 00:04:38,089 --> 00:04:39,639 So I'm going to read it to you. 90 00:04:41,827 --> 00:04:44,580 (Audio blurs) has surprised me in many ways. 91 00:04:44,580 --> 00:04:48,110 Never would I have thought that by the last day of class, 92 00:04:48,110 --> 00:04:50,600 I'd feel such a strong connection to students 93 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:55,200 in my nearly 200-person, remote Intro Bio class 94 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:56,780 and feel like I was still struggling 95 00:04:56,780 --> 00:05:00,660 to pull my sub 50-person, mixed biochemistry class 96 00:05:00,660 --> 00:05:02,520 out of their shell. 97 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:04,340 My story is one of contrasts, 98 00:05:04,340 --> 00:05:07,040 and there are two main things I hope my story conveys. 99 00:05:07,950 --> 00:05:11,270 First while teaching remotely presents lots of challenges, 100 00:05:11,270 --> 00:05:15,250 it also offers new opportunities to connect with students. 101 00:05:15,250 --> 00:05:18,820 And second to remember that connecting is a two-way street. 102 00:05:18,820 --> 00:05:21,683 It requires students to respond when you reach out. 103 00:05:23,031 --> 00:05:24,790 Though you should never stop trying to pull them in, 104 00:05:24,790 --> 00:05:27,970 don't blame yourself if it doesn't work perfectly. 105 00:05:27,970 --> 00:05:30,330 It's that last part I'm still grappling with. 106 00:05:30,330 --> 00:05:33,123 So in many ways, this story is a reminder to myself. 107 00:05:33,980 --> 00:05:35,900 To tell my story, I'll describe the beginning 108 00:05:35,900 --> 00:05:40,200 of two typical classes, one Biochem, and one Intro Bio, 109 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:42,950 that are compilations of things that actually happened. 110 00:05:44,350 --> 00:05:49,010 My Biochem class met Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 9:40 AM. 111 00:05:49,010 --> 00:05:50,840 As I said, it was a mixed class. 112 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:53,510 On any given day, there are about 17 students 113 00:05:53,510 --> 00:05:54,933 that could come in person. 114 00:05:56,288 --> 00:05:58,370 I arrived in the classroom around 9:20 a.m., 115 00:05:58,370 --> 00:05:59,923 set up, and waited. 116 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:05,380 Around 9:36 the first person logged onto Teams. 117 00:06:05,380 --> 00:06:07,290 And I said, "Hi, how are you?" 118 00:06:07,290 --> 00:06:10,360 They said, "Fine," and asked how I was doing. 119 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,470 At about the same time, one person walked into the classroom 120 00:06:13,470 --> 00:06:14,533 and said hello. 121 00:06:15,572 --> 00:06:17,923 They cleaned off their seat and got out their notebook. 122 00:06:18,851 --> 00:06:20,550 More people joined on Teams, (audio blurs) 123 00:06:20,550 --> 00:06:22,630 responding to my greeting. 124 00:06:22,630 --> 00:06:25,113 Then it was 9:40 and time to start class. 125 00:06:26,525 --> 00:06:27,358 No one seemed interested 126 00:06:27,358 --> 00:06:29,460 in answering the trivia question I'd posted, 127 00:06:29,460 --> 00:06:31,750 though I did finally get one person to respond 128 00:06:31,750 --> 00:06:33,840 in the chat on Teams. 129 00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:36,260 A second person walked in the room 130 00:06:36,260 --> 00:06:39,780 as I finished up my announcements and reminders. 131 00:06:39,780 --> 00:06:43,020 During class, I managed to drag answers out of a few people 132 00:06:43,020 --> 00:06:45,050 to the questions I posed. 133 00:06:45,050 --> 00:06:46,723 No one asked any questions. 134 00:06:47,588 --> 00:06:50,380 To give you some additional perspective, 135 00:06:50,380 --> 00:06:53,553 there were a couple days when no one showed up in person. 136 00:06:54,470 --> 00:06:56,200 Talk about creepy. 137 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:59,300 And a couple days where some topics sparked a conversation 138 00:06:59,300 --> 00:07:01,984 between me, the person in the room, 139 00:07:01,984 --> 00:07:04,634 and a couple of people on Teams, but those were rare. 140 00:07:05,730 --> 00:07:09,382 Now fast forward to about 12:50 p.m. 141 00:07:09,382 --> 00:07:10,610 on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday. 142 00:07:10,610 --> 00:07:13,590 I'm at home having driven back from UVM. 143 00:07:13,590 --> 00:07:16,580 I log onto Teams and get set up for class. 144 00:07:16,580 --> 00:07:19,760 People start logging in a little before one. 145 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:24,147 One person says, "So, I hear you make lollipops. 146 00:07:24,147 --> 00:07:25,217 "How do I get some?" 147 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:28,590 Side note, I told the students in both my classes 148 00:07:28,590 --> 00:07:30,540 a bit about me on the first day, 149 00:07:30,540 --> 00:07:33,550 including the fact that I make caramel sauce and lollipops 150 00:07:33,550 --> 00:07:36,490 in the summer for the Common Roots Farm Stand. 151 00:07:36,490 --> 00:07:39,260 I tell them to email me and we'll figure it out. 152 00:07:39,260 --> 00:07:40,930 Someone else asks a question 153 00:07:40,930 --> 00:07:43,700 related to what we talked about last class. 154 00:07:43,700 --> 00:07:46,200 I'm starting to run out of time for the pun of the day, 155 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:48,610 so I quickly type it in the chat. 156 00:07:48,610 --> 00:07:51,800 Why don't cats like online shopping? 157 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:54,810 They prefer a catalog. 158 00:07:54,810 --> 00:07:58,200 Someone puts a clip of a cat reading a book in the chat. 159 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:02,130 Another counters with why do cats like online classes? 160 00:08:02,130 --> 00:08:04,840 They get to play with a mouse all day, 161 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:08,460 A GIF of a cat and a computer mouse pops up. 162 00:08:08,460 --> 00:08:11,270 Someone comments that GIFs are a great way to communicate 163 00:08:11,270 --> 00:08:13,170 in online classes. 164 00:08:13,170 --> 00:08:15,970 I and a handful of students get into a conversation 165 00:08:15,970 --> 00:08:18,910 about the pros and cons of remote classes, 166 00:08:18,910 --> 00:08:22,200 me speaking and them typing in the chat. 167 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:26,090 I tell them about my filling the glass half full exercise, 168 00:08:26,090 --> 00:08:27,420 which they like. 169 00:08:27,420 --> 00:08:31,970 Whoops, it's 1:11 p.m. and past time to start class. 170 00:08:31,970 --> 00:08:34,080 During class, I ask a question, 171 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:36,995 the first couple answers pop up in the chat 172 00:08:36,995 --> 00:08:37,920 before I finish reading it. 173 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:39,330 Team freezes for a moment 174 00:08:39,330 --> 00:08:42,720 as 20 plus people respond all at once. 175 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:45,850 Later someone asks a question about the endangered status 176 00:08:45,850 --> 00:08:47,280 of the Catamount. 177 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:49,890 I don't know the answer, but a few students do. 178 00:08:49,890 --> 00:08:53,400 They pipe up in the chat, one pasting a link to an article 179 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:55,063 as I move on with class. 180 00:08:56,750 --> 00:08:59,260 Without having seen most of their faces, 181 00:08:59,260 --> 00:09:01,440 I feel like I know my Bio One students 182 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:04,710 so much better than if we were in a classroom. 183 00:09:04,710 --> 00:09:07,110 Instead of standing at the front of the class, 184 00:09:07,110 --> 00:09:10,130 wishing I could join their conversations beforehand, 185 00:09:10,130 --> 00:09:12,450 I got to be one of the crowd. 186 00:09:12,450 --> 00:09:14,450 Interactions that I'd normally only have 187 00:09:14,450 --> 00:09:16,980 with students who pop by office hours 188 00:09:16,980 --> 00:09:19,800 happened on a much broader scale. 189 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:21,647 Margaret loves Nutella. 190 00:09:21,647 --> 00:09:25,273 Isaac, Max and Lonnie can't live (audio blurs) daily pun. 191 00:09:26,518 --> 00:09:28,215 one has a chocolate pie recipe 192 00:09:28,215 --> 00:09:29,550 she inherited from her grandmother, 193 00:09:29,550 --> 00:09:31,650 and another is a dog walker. 194 00:09:31,650 --> 00:09:35,220 I've got new lollipop and caramel sauce flavor ideas. 195 00:09:35,220 --> 00:09:37,670 And that student who asked about lollipops 196 00:09:37,670 --> 00:09:40,320 picked out two flavors he wanted me to make 197 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:42,780 and drove up from Stowe to get them. 198 00:09:42,780 --> 00:09:45,460 Another is planning to grab some caramel sauce 199 00:09:45,460 --> 00:09:47,270 and lollipops soon. 200 00:09:47,270 --> 00:09:50,830 According to the feedback from a mid-semester survey, 201 00:09:50,830 --> 00:09:53,070 I'm cool and entertaining. 202 00:09:53,070 --> 00:09:55,510 Ironically, in a remote format, 203 00:09:55,510 --> 00:09:58,900 I was much more of a real person to students. 204 00:09:58,900 --> 00:10:00,840 And that sense of informality 205 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:04,150 didn't seem to diminish the respect of the students. 206 00:10:04,150 --> 00:10:07,030 Looking forward to when we're all in the classroom again, 207 00:10:07,030 --> 00:10:08,870 my goal is to find ways to preserve 208 00:10:08,870 --> 00:10:11,040 that sense of personal connection. 209 00:10:19,432 --> 00:10:22,132 - Thanks, Laura, I think it's transitioning to me now. 210 00:10:24,340 --> 00:10:26,920 I am going to share my slide. 211 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:27,753 Yeah. 212 00:10:37,116 --> 00:10:38,940 So I just wanted to give you a sense of my slide 213 00:10:38,940 --> 00:10:42,035 before I begin my story. 214 00:10:42,035 --> 00:10:43,039 I'm Elizabeth Adams. 215 00:10:43,039 --> 00:10:44,960 I'm from Communication Sciences and Disorders. 216 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:48,500 And my word that I picked was sharing, 217 00:10:48,500 --> 00:10:50,998 and the title that I ended up with is 218 00:10:50,998 --> 00:10:53,418 "Show and Tell: It's not Just for Kids." 219 00:10:53,418 --> 00:10:55,660 These are the words that I brainstormed. 220 00:10:55,660 --> 00:10:59,090 So let me stop sharing here, so you can see me 221 00:11:00,639 --> 00:11:02,306 a little bit better. 222 00:11:03,299 --> 00:11:04,132 Okay. 223 00:11:04,132 --> 00:11:08,090 So I teach, or this past fall, 224 00:11:08,090 --> 00:11:12,610 I taught two remote classes synchronously, 225 00:11:12,610 --> 00:11:17,610 and they are smaller classes for the major, NCSD, 226 00:11:20,380 --> 00:11:23,063 about 20 to (audio blurs) class. 227 00:11:24,910 --> 00:11:27,590 And they are required courses. 228 00:11:27,590 --> 00:11:30,770 And so I don't require 229 00:11:30,770 --> 00:11:33,270 that the students turn their cameras on in class, 230 00:11:33,270 --> 00:11:36,110 but I do strongly encourage them to, 231 00:11:36,110 --> 00:11:39,620 and I've, I got to a point 232 00:11:40,491 --> 00:11:42,210 where pretty much all of the students did 233 00:11:42,210 --> 00:11:43,272 have their cameras turned on. 234 00:11:43,272 --> 00:11:44,105 So they were able to see each other. 235 00:11:44,105 --> 00:11:46,240 I was able to see all of them for the most part 236 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:48,543 on my screen all at once, which was great. 237 00:11:50,190 --> 00:11:51,970 Like many of you, probably 238 00:11:51,970 --> 00:11:55,023 the start of the semester was a bit difficult. 239 00:11:56,530 --> 00:11:58,150 I don't know about all of you, 240 00:11:58,150 --> 00:12:00,610 I'm assuming that you leave class similarly 241 00:12:00,610 --> 00:12:03,900 when it's face-to-face in person as I do, 242 00:12:03,900 --> 00:12:06,050 where I leave feeling energized 243 00:12:06,050 --> 00:12:07,340 from engaging with the students, 244 00:12:07,340 --> 00:12:11,540 and just kind of leave the class 245 00:12:11,540 --> 00:12:13,620 with a bit of a bounce in my step 246 00:12:13,620 --> 00:12:15,710 because of just being with them. 247 00:12:15,710 --> 00:12:17,950 And so teaching remotely, 248 00:12:17,950 --> 00:12:20,370 I wasn't quite sure how that was gonna go. 249 00:12:20,370 --> 00:12:22,103 And the first couple of weeks, 250 00:12:22,973 --> 00:12:23,806 I was a bit disheartened 251 00:12:23,806 --> 00:12:28,232 just because I was feeling a pretty strong disconnect 252 00:12:28,232 --> 00:12:29,090 with the students. 253 00:12:29,090 --> 00:12:31,190 There was a low level of engagement. 254 00:12:31,190 --> 00:12:35,083 There wasn't a lot of chatting in the chat box. 255 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:40,433 I would pose questions, very few people would respond. 256 00:12:40,433 --> 00:12:43,294 And so it, like I said, 257 00:12:43,294 --> 00:12:46,360 it was pretty disheartening those first few weeks. 258 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:49,400 So in the third week of the semester, 259 00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:54,380 I had a technology issue where my iPad wasn't transmitting 260 00:12:54,380 --> 00:12:55,860 to the class session. 261 00:12:55,860 --> 00:13:00,640 And so I said to the students in one of the classes, 262 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:01,530 keep yourselves busy, 263 00:13:01,530 --> 00:13:05,260 just give me a couple of minutes so I can figure this out. 264 00:13:05,260 --> 00:13:07,432 Somebody share something, 265 00:13:07,432 --> 00:13:08,265 it doesn't have to be related to class, 266 00:13:08,265 --> 00:13:09,313 just share something. 267 00:13:10,154 --> 00:13:12,633 And so then I kind of turned away from my camera. 268 00:13:12,633 --> 00:13:13,933 I left it on, but I turned away, 269 00:13:13,933 --> 00:13:15,250 and I started working on my iPad 270 00:13:16,133 --> 00:13:18,583 and there was crickets, you know, dead silence. 271 00:13:19,430 --> 00:13:21,400 And I kind of internally sighed and said, okay, here we go. 272 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:25,817 But then I heard a voice say, "I have something to share." 273 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:31,720 And so he picked up a glass jar with stuff in it 274 00:13:33,665 --> 00:13:34,720 and put it really close to the camera, 275 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:38,395 and he said, "This is a jar with water 276 00:13:38,395 --> 00:13:40,809 "and material from the bottom of my pond, 277 00:13:40,809 --> 00:13:41,954 "outside of my house." 278 00:13:41,954 --> 00:13:46,060 He was a remote student or an at-home student. 279 00:13:46,060 --> 00:13:50,754 And so he said that there was a snail in there, 280 00:13:50,754 --> 00:13:52,863 and he was really excited to watch it grow. 281 00:13:53,770 --> 00:13:56,810 And the students in the class started asking questions, 282 00:13:56,810 --> 00:13:58,290 like, did he name the snail? 283 00:13:58,290 --> 00:13:59,860 What does he have to feed the snail? 284 00:13:59,860 --> 00:14:03,650 And so at that point, I'd figured out the iPad issue, 285 00:14:03,650 --> 00:14:06,155 and I was just letting them continue on 286 00:14:06,155 --> 00:14:06,988 in their conversation. 287 00:14:06,988 --> 00:14:09,630 And because I could see all of the students on my screen, 288 00:14:09,630 --> 00:14:12,310 I could see that they were all actually engaged 289 00:14:12,310 --> 00:14:13,940 in the conversation. 290 00:14:13,940 --> 00:14:15,550 Pretty much all of them were smiling. 291 00:14:15,550 --> 00:14:17,300 They were interested in this snail. 292 00:14:18,514 --> 00:14:21,720 So that was kind of a light bulb moment for me 293 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:25,220 in that I needed to provide the students 294 00:14:25,220 --> 00:14:27,610 with an opportunity to really just talk with each other 295 00:14:27,610 --> 00:14:29,740 in whatever way they wanted to, 296 00:14:29,740 --> 00:14:32,691 even though it was kind of cutting into my class time 297 00:14:32,691 --> 00:14:33,813 and what I wanted to get done. 298 00:14:35,130 --> 00:14:37,330 So I asked the class at the end of that session 299 00:14:37,330 --> 00:14:39,730 to come, someone come next week with something to share, 300 00:14:39,730 --> 00:14:42,209 and I'll just take a few minutes at the beginning, 301 00:14:42,209 --> 00:14:43,130 and we'll do that. 302 00:14:43,130 --> 00:14:45,940 And so I wasn't sure, would anyone come with anything? 303 00:14:45,940 --> 00:14:47,440 Two people did. 304 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:51,260 And so that was pretty exciting. 305 00:14:51,260 --> 00:14:54,360 And so over the course of the semester, 306 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:56,980 it turned into this show and tell sort of experience. 307 00:14:56,980 --> 00:15:00,048 And so it's just, it's not just for kids really. 308 00:15:00,048 --> 00:15:02,365 I think we should consider it for our, 309 00:15:02,365 --> 00:15:03,806 our students in our classes 310 00:15:03,806 --> 00:15:04,639 because the things that they shared 311 00:15:04,639 --> 00:15:07,948 were really, really interesting 312 00:15:07,948 --> 00:15:10,260 and sometimes kind of touching. 313 00:15:10,260 --> 00:15:13,480 So shortlist would be lots of pets, lots of animals, 314 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:14,543 cats, dogs. 315 00:15:15,391 --> 00:15:16,224 There was a lizard. 316 00:15:16,224 --> 00:15:19,130 The student who showed the pond water showed also a chicken. 317 00:15:19,130 --> 00:15:20,310 He raises chickens. 318 00:15:20,310 --> 00:15:22,750 So he had a chicken that he brought in in a box 319 00:15:22,750 --> 00:15:23,683 and it's chick. 320 00:15:25,189 --> 00:15:27,790 The chicken was very angry at him for touching its chick. 321 00:15:27,790 --> 00:15:30,170 Anyway, it was very interesting and fun to see the chick, 322 00:15:30,170 --> 00:15:31,103 the chicken and the chick, 323 00:15:32,230 --> 00:15:34,870 and a lot of artwork, 324 00:15:34,870 --> 00:15:37,260 a lot of creativity from Pinterest, 325 00:15:37,260 --> 00:15:40,508 things from their rooms that they had created 326 00:15:40,508 --> 00:15:42,343 and hung on the wall they wanted to share. 327 00:15:43,190 --> 00:15:47,630 One student bought a pumpkin and showed it the first, 328 00:15:47,630 --> 00:15:48,880 like at Halloween week. 329 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:51,970 And then the next week showed her attempts at carving it. 330 00:15:51,970 --> 00:15:54,013 They weren't successful generally, 331 00:15:54,865 --> 00:15:56,115 but it was good to share. 332 00:15:57,453 --> 00:16:01,168 And then this, the past two weeks, when everyone was home, 333 00:16:01,168 --> 00:16:02,090 they started to share people. 334 00:16:02,090 --> 00:16:06,260 And so someone introduced a brother, a boyfriend, 335 00:16:06,260 --> 00:16:08,530 and then we also met a parent, 336 00:16:08,530 --> 00:16:10,223 which was really kind of neat. 337 00:16:11,112 --> 00:16:13,000 So by the end of the semester, 338 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,430 I was basically using between five and 10 minutes 339 00:16:15,430 --> 00:16:17,050 at the beginning of every class, 340 00:16:17,050 --> 00:16:20,070 which I felt was well worth it 341 00:16:20,070 --> 00:16:22,920 because the students started off the class 342 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:23,820 doing something fun. 343 00:16:23,820 --> 00:16:25,940 They were engaged, they were smiling, 344 00:16:25,940 --> 00:16:27,950 they were connecting. 345 00:16:27,950 --> 00:16:30,310 And so even though the word that I selected 346 00:16:31,331 --> 00:16:32,852 for this workshop was sharing, 347 00:16:32,852 --> 00:16:34,200 that was the action that they were doing, 348 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:37,080 but really what they were doing is connecting and engaging. 349 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:40,880 And so it, like I said, it was, 350 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:44,370 it was kind of, it was kind of touching. 351 00:16:44,370 --> 00:16:46,650 And so I think I'm gonna try it again next semester. 352 00:16:46,650 --> 00:16:48,323 And I'm going to do it in a more, 353 00:16:49,606 --> 00:16:54,606 more specific way of maybe trying to (audio blurs) 354 00:16:55,670 --> 00:16:58,140 write maybe the first week or the second week 355 00:16:59,009 --> 00:17:00,203 and ask them to think about doing it, 356 00:17:01,209 --> 00:17:02,170 maybe assign students to share. 357 00:17:02,170 --> 00:17:05,633 I'm not quite sure exactly if I want to go that far, 358 00:17:05,633 --> 00:17:07,630 but I do want to continue this 359 00:17:07,630 --> 00:17:09,860 in the next semester because it was something 360 00:17:09,860 --> 00:17:10,850 that I really enjoyed 361 00:17:10,850 --> 00:17:13,771 and that I think the students really enjoyed as well. 362 00:17:13,771 --> 00:17:15,663 So thanks for hearing my story. 363 00:17:20,372 --> 00:17:22,949 And I think this is now moving on to Lizzy. 364 00:17:22,949 --> 00:17:23,971 - Yeah, Thanks. 365 00:17:23,971 --> 00:17:24,969 Thanks, Liz. 366 00:17:24,969 --> 00:17:25,802 That was awesome to hear your story. 367 00:17:25,802 --> 00:17:28,620 I love the idea of show and tell. 368 00:17:28,620 --> 00:17:31,020 I think I might use that next semester actually. 369 00:17:31,929 --> 00:17:32,850 So thank you. 370 00:17:32,850 --> 00:17:37,850 So I'm Lizzy, and this is my side. 371 00:17:38,690 --> 00:17:40,913 My word that I chose is creativity. 372 00:17:42,030 --> 00:17:44,767 And the title for my story is 373 00:17:44,767 --> 00:17:46,957 "I'm at the Pizza Hut, I'm at the Taco Bell, 374 00:17:46,957 --> 00:17:49,670 "I'm at the Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell." 375 00:17:49,670 --> 00:17:52,810 And this phrase comes from Tik Tok, 376 00:17:52,810 --> 00:17:54,140 which is a social media platform 377 00:17:54,140 --> 00:17:56,320 that is really popular right now. 378 00:17:56,320 --> 00:18:00,750 And it's where people go to create different videos, 379 00:18:00,750 --> 00:18:02,480 and they use these common sounds. 380 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:04,950 And one of the sounds that I saw on Tik Tok 381 00:18:04,950 --> 00:18:08,971 was this little song, and it really (audio blurs) 382 00:18:08,971 --> 00:18:11,331 of creativity this semester. 383 00:18:11,331 --> 00:18:13,600 And kind of the point of all the videos 384 00:18:14,611 --> 00:18:15,460 using this sound on Tik Tok 385 00:18:15,460 --> 00:18:17,610 is that you're combining two things. 386 00:18:17,610 --> 00:18:19,387 So for example, a lot of people did like 387 00:18:19,387 --> 00:18:21,537 "I have anxiety, there's a pandemic. 388 00:18:21,537 --> 00:18:24,527 "I now have anxiety in a pandemic." 389 00:18:24,527 --> 00:18:26,270 So you're at the Pizza Hut, you're at the Taco Bell, 390 00:18:26,270 --> 00:18:27,528 and now you combine them. 391 00:18:27,528 --> 00:18:31,520 And I felt like that was exactly what I felt this semester 392 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:32,970 when I used my creativity 393 00:18:34,228 --> 00:18:37,060 because on one hand using creativity 394 00:18:37,060 --> 00:18:39,660 in all the elements of my course was really fun. 395 00:18:39,660 --> 00:18:41,260 On the other hand, it was exhausting. 396 00:18:41,260 --> 00:18:43,231 And by the end of the semester, 397 00:18:43,231 --> 00:18:45,950 I was like in this mess of having a great time doing it 398 00:18:45,950 --> 00:18:47,890 but also being completely exhausted. 399 00:18:47,890 --> 00:18:50,610 So that explains my title a little bit. 400 00:18:50,610 --> 00:18:54,470 My course that I am focusing on in my story 401 00:18:54,470 --> 00:18:57,940 is my large Introduction to Nutrition course. 402 00:18:57,940 --> 00:19:00,320 So it has 241 students, 403 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:03,450 and it was a remote course this semester. 404 00:19:03,450 --> 00:19:07,460 And I spent most of the summer trying to figure out 405 00:19:07,460 --> 00:19:11,088 how to run it and build community in the course. 406 00:19:11,088 --> 00:19:13,330 So kind of, I think community is a common thread 407 00:19:13,330 --> 00:19:16,760 that Laura and Liz both talked about too, 408 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:17,820 but I was really like, 409 00:19:17,820 --> 00:19:20,040 how am I going to get to know these students? 410 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:22,300 How am I going to be engaging with them? 411 00:19:22,300 --> 00:19:25,460 And so I decided that I needed to be really creative 412 00:19:25,460 --> 00:19:28,167 about the course elements that I involved, 413 00:19:28,167 --> 00:19:30,752 and I kind of needed to give it everything that I had. 414 00:19:30,752 --> 00:19:33,220 So I spent the summer creating YouTube videos 415 00:19:33,220 --> 00:19:35,810 that had the concept of my course. 416 00:19:35,810 --> 00:19:37,240 And so that was one element 417 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:41,720 that I had to be hugely creative crafting. 418 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:44,000 And so I would like go around my house 419 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,270 and like I have a pool, so I used the pool set up 420 00:19:47,270 --> 00:19:49,390 for the structure of a cell. 421 00:19:49,390 --> 00:19:50,910 And I had like pool floats in there. 422 00:19:50,910 --> 00:19:54,332 And I learned video editing software, Final Cut Pro 10, 423 00:19:54,332 --> 00:19:57,950 so that I could put different moving elements 424 00:19:57,950 --> 00:20:01,971 into my videos and kind of bring them like a step up 425 00:20:01,971 --> 00:20:04,989 to the screen casting that I had done in the spring, 426 00:20:04,989 --> 00:20:05,850 which was good, but I wanted to do 427 00:20:05,850 --> 00:20:08,530 kind of a different (audio cuts out) for this course. 428 00:20:08,530 --> 00:20:11,700 And so having to create those videos during the summer, 429 00:20:11,700 --> 00:20:12,710 it was really fun. 430 00:20:12,710 --> 00:20:15,830 I think it actually gave me a place to channel 431 00:20:15,830 --> 00:20:18,790 like not being able to do much else because of the pandemic. 432 00:20:18,790 --> 00:20:21,830 And so channeling that energy towards creating these videos. 433 00:20:21,830 --> 00:20:23,180 But then when this semester started, 434 00:20:23,180 --> 00:20:24,660 and I wasn't done all the videos, 435 00:20:24,660 --> 00:20:26,930 it became a little bit more challenging 436 00:20:26,930 --> 00:20:28,730 because I still had to be really creative 437 00:20:28,730 --> 00:20:31,820 to create the rest of the videos that I needed 438 00:20:31,820 --> 00:20:32,823 for the course. 439 00:20:33,730 --> 00:20:35,460 But at the same time I was adding course elements 440 00:20:35,460 --> 00:20:37,010 that I also had to be creative. 441 00:20:37,010 --> 00:20:40,030 And then I had to be connecting with students 442 00:20:40,030 --> 00:20:41,770 through the course. 443 00:20:41,770 --> 00:20:43,840 So other things that I had in my course, 444 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:46,700 each week I would have obviously two class meetings. 445 00:20:46,700 --> 00:20:48,811 Well, it was a Tuesday/Thursday class, 446 00:20:48,811 --> 00:20:50,193 so I'd have two class meetings. 447 00:20:50,193 --> 00:20:52,930 And so I was creating PowerPoints for the Thursday class, 448 00:20:52,930 --> 00:20:55,160 especially was a full class 449 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:56,840 where we would do active learning 450 00:20:56,840 --> 00:20:58,710 with the topics of the week. 451 00:20:58,710 --> 00:21:00,760 And so I was trying to be creative and engaging 452 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:02,550 in those PowerPoints as well. 453 00:21:02,550 --> 00:21:07,250 And what ended up happening was that I would 454 00:21:07,250 --> 00:21:09,650 each week be working on a video on Monday. 455 00:21:09,650 --> 00:21:12,480 Then I would have to create the quiz for the week 456 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:14,900 on like Tuesday and the Tuesday PowerPoint. 457 00:21:14,900 --> 00:21:16,913 And then like Wednesday, 458 00:21:16,913 --> 00:21:18,200 I'd be scrambling to create the Thursday PowerPoint, 459 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:19,750 like you know how it works. 460 00:21:19,750 --> 00:21:21,370 And I just felt like every week 461 00:21:21,370 --> 00:21:23,240 I was just completely consumed 462 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:24,590 with the elements of this class 463 00:21:24,590 --> 00:21:27,351 and that my head was in like five different weeks 464 00:21:27,351 --> 00:21:30,510 of the class because of where my workflow was. 465 00:21:30,510 --> 00:21:32,270 And so I ended up feeling 466 00:21:32,270 --> 00:21:35,340 like I was excited to have to create these elements, 467 00:21:35,340 --> 00:21:38,660 but also completely exhausted by every week 468 00:21:38,660 --> 00:21:41,220 having to face down the creation of a video 469 00:21:41,220 --> 00:21:44,130 and a quiz and a PowerPoint and all of them, 470 00:21:44,130 --> 00:21:45,320 I'm a perfectionist. 471 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:48,700 So I wanted all of them to be like my max creative effort. 472 00:21:48,700 --> 00:21:51,890 And what ended up happening is for the Thursday PowerPoints, 473 00:21:51,890 --> 00:21:53,670 I reached a point where like, 474 00:21:53,670 --> 00:21:56,220 I couldn't motivate myself to work on them 475 00:21:56,220 --> 00:21:59,160 unless I thought of a tie in that was fun for me. 476 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:01,740 So for, that will look like 477 00:22:01,740 --> 00:22:05,031 using "Schitt's Creek" GIFs for awhile. 478 00:22:05,031 --> 00:22:08,550 So for our PowerPoint on, I think it was on vitamins. 479 00:22:08,550 --> 00:22:11,560 Every slide had like a GIF from "Schitt's Creek," 480 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:14,150 which was a show that I found this semester. 481 00:22:14,150 --> 00:22:15,253 And it was just so funny, 482 00:22:15,253 --> 00:22:16,460 and it was giving me life outside of work. 483 00:22:16,460 --> 00:22:18,170 And so I tied that in, 484 00:22:18,170 --> 00:22:20,166 and what was great about that 485 00:22:20,166 --> 00:22:21,530 is that it resonated with students. 486 00:22:21,530 --> 00:22:22,950 And then a bunch of them were like, 487 00:22:22,950 --> 00:22:25,151 oh, we started watching "Schitt's Creek." 488 00:22:25,151 --> 00:22:26,239 We love it. 489 00:22:26,239 --> 00:22:28,760 Or they were comment as if they were characters on the show 490 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:30,400 in the chat. 491 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:32,600 So I felt like even though to me 492 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:34,720 it was like a last ditch effort to try to still be creative 493 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:37,790 and motivate myself to get through all the work of the week 494 00:22:37,790 --> 00:22:40,870 that was, bringing in these creative elements 495 00:22:40,870 --> 00:22:42,970 were connecting with students. 496 00:22:42,970 --> 00:22:45,500 For protein, which protein is made up 497 00:22:45,500 --> 00:22:47,320 of 20 different amino acids, 498 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:51,470 and so I tied in protein to "The Bachelorette." 499 00:22:51,470 --> 00:22:54,210 And so like you have that one bachelorette, 500 00:22:54,210 --> 00:22:56,661 but then you have all these different suitors. 501 00:22:56,661 --> 00:22:58,317 So I was like, it's like, 502 00:22:58,317 --> 00:22:59,190 all the suitors are one of the amino acids 503 00:22:59,190 --> 00:23:00,120 that make up the protein. 504 00:23:00,120 --> 00:23:03,720 And that was like the driving force of that lecture. 505 00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:06,060 So that was, those are examples 506 00:23:06,060 --> 00:23:09,700 of how I was using creativity throughout my course. 507 00:23:09,700 --> 00:23:12,260 And I think that by making some of these concepts 508 00:23:12,260 --> 00:23:14,910 really relevant by using pop culture, 509 00:23:14,910 --> 00:23:17,700 students were connecting more with the material 510 00:23:17,700 --> 00:23:20,120 and remembering more, which is really great. 511 00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:23,230 And it was helping us to build community as I said. 512 00:23:23,230 --> 00:23:27,100 I also think that it extended to my students. 513 00:23:27,100 --> 00:23:29,320 So my students started displaying their creativity 514 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:32,373 in their weekly projects and then in their final projects. 515 00:23:33,221 --> 00:23:34,900 So they could choose to make Tik Toks 516 00:23:34,900 --> 00:23:37,713 for their final projects, illustrating the thing, 517 00:23:38,719 --> 00:23:40,180 their take home message from the course 518 00:23:40,180 --> 00:23:43,500 and the products they created were fantastic. 519 00:23:43,500 --> 00:23:48,343 And I think by me being creative and vulnerable in that 520 00:23:48,343 --> 00:23:51,415 they felt like they could do that too. 521 00:23:51,415 --> 00:23:54,200 And that was for all of us, 522 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:55,599 it was a fun assignment to grade 523 00:23:55,599 --> 00:23:56,780 to see what they created. 524 00:23:56,780 --> 00:24:01,480 So the story of my semester is using my creativity 525 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:03,550 and being really energized by that, 526 00:24:03,550 --> 00:24:05,440 using it to build community, 527 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:06,680 but also recognizing 528 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:10,600 that it took a lot of cognitive resources for me. 529 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:13,305 And at this point in the semester, 530 00:24:13,305 --> 00:24:15,560 I'm incredibly drained by it. 531 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:17,840 So I'm going to need like a few weeks off 532 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:21,537 to just reenergize my creative (audio blurs). 533 00:24:23,521 --> 00:24:24,845 Pretty normal for creators 534 00:24:24,845 --> 00:24:26,680 and something that we should acknowledge is necessary. 535 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:29,130 Like you need downtime in your brain 536 00:24:29,130 --> 00:24:31,944 in order to allow yourself to be creative, 537 00:24:31,944 --> 00:24:36,450 but when you can, it's so exciting when it works, 538 00:24:36,450 --> 00:24:39,670 and that kind of like electricity, 539 00:24:39,670 --> 00:24:42,619 I would like come to class excited to be like 540 00:24:42,619 --> 00:24:43,750 what we're going to talk about "The Bachelorette" today, 541 00:24:43,750 --> 00:24:45,800 and it's going to be so fun. 542 00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:49,960 And that was energy that I think my students really felt. 543 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:54,610 And I know that I put everything I could into the semester. 544 00:24:54,610 --> 00:24:57,390 At the end of the semester in our last class, like, 545 00:24:57,390 --> 00:24:59,520 I felt like I had just finished running a marathon. 546 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:01,360 I like collapsed at the finish line. 547 00:25:01,360 --> 00:25:03,370 I actually started crying at the end of the class 548 00:25:03,370 --> 00:25:05,740 thanking my students for their attention, 549 00:25:05,740 --> 00:25:07,690 but it was basically just because I was, 550 00:25:07,690 --> 00:25:09,030 I had given it everything I had, 551 00:25:09,030 --> 00:25:12,121 and I think that's because I gave it my creativity. 552 00:25:12,121 --> 00:25:13,322 So that's my story. 553 00:25:13,322 --> 00:25:15,223 And I'll pass it on to Allison. 554 00:25:17,664 --> 00:25:19,660 - All right, thanks, Lizzy. 555 00:25:19,660 --> 00:25:21,453 Let me share my screen here. 556 00:25:22,370 --> 00:25:27,370 So I have some similar elements to Lizzy here 557 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:33,000 in that I was very busy, had a lot of challenges 558 00:25:36,610 --> 00:25:38,620 in all of the creation that I was doing, 559 00:25:38,620 --> 00:25:40,593 are you able to see my screen? 560 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:42,633 - Yeah. 561 00:25:43,526 --> 00:25:44,524 - It looks like it's sharing. 562 00:25:44,524 --> 00:25:45,528 Okay, great. 563 00:25:45,528 --> 00:25:48,150 But the word that I focused in on was balancing 564 00:25:48,150 --> 00:25:51,890 because I found myself asking the dangerous question, 565 00:25:51,890 --> 00:25:54,800 how can I meet everyone's needs? 566 00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:57,710 And so I found that in a few different domains. 567 00:25:57,710 --> 00:26:01,225 I'll focus mostly on what was going on in the class, 568 00:26:01,225 --> 00:26:03,813 but also touch on that work-life balance too. 569 00:26:05,265 --> 00:26:07,753 I'm gonna change that. 570 00:26:08,806 --> 00:26:09,806 There we go. 571 00:26:11,349 --> 00:26:12,182 All right. 572 00:26:12,182 --> 00:26:13,850 So yeah, it was, it was really busy. 573 00:26:13,850 --> 00:26:18,690 And the main element of balance that I want to focus on 574 00:26:18,690 --> 00:26:23,140 was trying to balance students in the two modalities 575 00:26:23,140 --> 00:26:27,504 that I had, both in-person and remote simultaneously. 576 00:26:27,504 --> 00:26:29,520 And I chose the mixed-modality for my courses 577 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:34,520 because I teach the intro level Neuroscience course and lab 578 00:26:34,900 --> 00:26:37,320 that all neuro majors have to take, 579 00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:39,160 as well as upper-level electives 580 00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:41,848 for Psychology and Neuroscience, 581 00:26:41,848 --> 00:26:44,390 which a lot of our students have a hard time 582 00:26:44,390 --> 00:26:46,960 finding enough opportunities to take. 583 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:49,530 So (audio cuts out) versus to be available 584 00:26:49,530 --> 00:26:52,007 to everyone who needed them, 585 00:26:52,007 --> 00:26:54,760 regardless of what their current circumstances were. 586 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:56,550 And I knew that this was going to be a challenge 587 00:26:56,550 --> 00:26:59,008 for my classes, 588 00:26:59,008 --> 00:27:02,130 which this semester were in the 30 to 40 student range, 589 00:27:02,130 --> 00:27:05,240 and that this was going to be a whole new world 590 00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:09,020 for my lab classes to try to do things remotely, 591 00:27:09,020 --> 00:27:11,760 as well as in-person. 592 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:14,790 So the related challenge that I had expected 593 00:27:14,790 --> 00:27:18,610 going into the semester was trying to balance 594 00:27:18,610 --> 00:27:22,280 my prior experiences and class preparations that I had 595 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:24,230 with what was actually feasible this semester, 596 00:27:24,230 --> 00:27:25,700 having remote students 597 00:27:25,700 --> 00:27:28,023 at the same time as in-person students. 598 00:27:29,422 --> 00:27:32,340 So I had to take a really hard look at my daily 599 00:27:32,340 --> 00:27:36,610 in class activities, the labs (audio cuts out) for years, 600 00:27:36,610 --> 00:27:40,590 and even my course objectives and assessment options 601 00:27:40,590 --> 00:27:42,210 that I usually go with 602 00:27:42,210 --> 00:27:44,800 and figure out what was actually going to work, 603 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:46,960 what could be modified to work 604 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:48,923 and what just had to go this semester. 605 00:27:50,028 --> 00:27:51,420 So I cut a lot. 606 00:27:51,420 --> 00:27:55,845 I added a lot of new things and did a lot of refinement, 607 00:27:55,845 --> 00:27:56,895 and it was hard work, 608 00:27:57,860 --> 00:28:02,860 but the changes that I made really ultimately helped me 609 00:28:04,030 --> 00:28:07,883 meet my course objectives even better than they had before. 610 00:28:08,900 --> 00:28:13,900 So one example of a staple of my courses 611 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:16,986 that didn't quite work the same way anymore 612 00:28:16,986 --> 00:28:19,730 is small group discussions that I usually do 613 00:28:19,730 --> 00:28:23,100 in my upper level classes, where I give them a prompt 614 00:28:23,100 --> 00:28:27,900 to read, a prompt to respond to based on a reading, 615 00:28:27,900 --> 00:28:30,360 they discuss the reading in small groups, 616 00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:32,570 and then report to the entire class 617 00:28:32,570 --> 00:28:34,790 about their specific prompt. 618 00:28:34,790 --> 00:28:37,863 And so we can share in different ways, 619 00:28:37,863 --> 00:28:39,626 but that just couldn't work the same way 620 00:28:39,626 --> 00:28:40,713 as it had in person. 621 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:44,040 So even though some of my students were in person, 622 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:46,720 I didn't know ahead of time on any given day 623 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:48,420 who might need to attend remotely 624 00:28:48,420 --> 00:28:50,230 because they were quarantining 625 00:28:50,230 --> 00:28:53,070 or just whatever else came up for them. 626 00:28:53,070 --> 00:28:55,800 So it was hard to prepare things ahead of time. 627 00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:57,440 I had to be really flexible 628 00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:01,725 with how students could join groups and discuss with others, 629 00:29:01,725 --> 00:29:02,960 whether they were in person or remotely. 630 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:05,406 And that took a lot of finessing 631 00:29:05,406 --> 00:29:07,066 over the course of the semester. 632 00:29:07,066 --> 00:29:10,500 And I had to balance what I could reasonably expect 633 00:29:10,500 --> 00:29:13,110 from students and how to meet the learning objectives 634 00:29:13,110 --> 00:29:14,393 that I had set out. 635 00:29:15,350 --> 00:29:17,930 So (audio blurs) a real struggle, 636 00:29:17,930 --> 00:29:19,720 especially for time creating 637 00:29:20,789 --> 00:29:23,280 some of the new assessments that I have, 638 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:26,170 but I really love some of the changes that I've created. 639 00:29:26,170 --> 00:29:27,800 For example, in two courses, 640 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:30,930 I have swapped out tests for assignments 641 00:29:30,930 --> 00:29:33,510 that allow my students to engage more deeply 642 00:29:33,510 --> 00:29:36,040 with the material that I have. 643 00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:38,780 I've found more remote-friendly lab activities, 644 00:29:38,780 --> 00:29:41,190 and in my search for those activities, 645 00:29:41,190 --> 00:29:45,750 I found a great remote computer simulation 646 00:29:45,750 --> 00:29:47,110 that replaces a lab 647 00:29:47,110 --> 00:29:50,210 that students had continuously complained about. 648 00:29:50,210 --> 00:29:51,323 They hated it. 649 00:29:52,165 --> 00:29:55,080 And I just couldn't find anything to meet that objective 650 00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,045 of the course until I started the search 651 00:29:58,045 --> 00:30:00,380 for things that would work better in this new format. 652 00:30:00,380 --> 00:30:03,260 So ultimately a lot of the changes that I've made 653 00:30:03,260 --> 00:30:06,561 actually meet my course and learning objectives better, 654 00:30:06,561 --> 00:30:08,538 and not just for the current circumstances. 655 00:30:08,538 --> 00:30:10,290 I'm going to keep a lot of these changes, 656 00:30:10,290 --> 00:30:13,923 even if or when we go back to being completely in-person. 657 00:30:15,220 --> 00:30:18,270 So the final point of balance that I'll touch on 658 00:30:18,270 --> 00:30:21,853 was based on an unexpected challenge, 659 00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:23,841 which was the challenge 660 00:30:23,841 --> 00:30:26,900 of meeting students' expectations and requests. 661 00:30:26,900 --> 00:30:28,580 I found that this semester, 662 00:30:28,580 --> 00:30:33,100 many students needed a lot more communication, support, 663 00:30:33,100 --> 00:30:36,743 and guidance throughout the semester than I had seen before. 664 00:30:37,802 --> 00:30:40,310 And this came at a time when my work-life balance 665 00:30:40,310 --> 00:30:42,550 was more challenging than ever. 666 00:30:42,550 --> 00:30:46,180 I have two small children who are in childcare. 667 00:30:46,180 --> 00:30:48,940 Circumstances that right now 668 00:30:49,837 --> 00:30:51,200 can just change at a moment's notice. 669 00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:55,550 So my children's classes shut down for a whole week 670 00:30:55,550 --> 00:30:57,210 in the middle of the semester, 671 00:30:57,210 --> 00:31:01,463 which threw my entire semester off and was a huge challenge. 672 00:31:01,463 --> 00:31:06,230 So it was this balance of trying to accommodate students 673 00:31:06,230 --> 00:31:10,560 that were in greater need of academic and emotional support 674 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:13,890 while I really felt I could have used some support myself, 675 00:31:13,890 --> 00:31:15,770 and I just did not have the bandwidth 676 00:31:15,770 --> 00:31:18,720 to meet all of the requests that were coming at me. 677 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:23,080 So I often had to settle for what was good enough 678 00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:26,713 to get the job done or to meet the students' urgent needs. 679 00:31:27,823 --> 00:31:31,830 And it might not have been ideal, but ultimately it worked. 680 00:31:31,830 --> 00:31:36,720 I was able to do this by sometimes just being transparent 681 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:38,530 about what was going on with me. 682 00:31:38,530 --> 00:31:43,310 For example, I had to extend the deadline of a final paper 683 00:31:43,310 --> 00:31:45,860 in one class because I just wasn't able to get 684 00:31:45,860 --> 00:31:49,340 the students feedback on their drafts in the time 685 00:31:50,260 --> 00:31:51,250 that we had planned. 686 00:31:51,250 --> 00:31:53,580 And I find it really hard for me personally 687 00:31:53,580 --> 00:31:56,800 to share my personal information with my classes. 688 00:31:56,800 --> 00:31:58,710 It doesn't come natural to me, 689 00:31:58,710 --> 00:32:01,410 but I think it's really important 690 00:32:01,410 --> 00:32:03,530 to communicate how I'm really trying 691 00:32:03,530 --> 00:32:07,230 and I am a real person who has needs outside of this class. 692 00:32:07,230 --> 00:32:10,090 And I felt like it did help our connections in class 693 00:32:10,090 --> 00:32:11,143 when I did that. 694 00:32:12,684 --> 00:32:15,340 So ultimately I think my students and my courses 695 00:32:15,340 --> 00:32:16,910 got the support that they need. 696 00:32:16,910 --> 00:32:19,870 And I'm really happy with a lot of the changes, 697 00:32:19,870 --> 00:32:23,040 even though I felt like the whole semester was a struggle 698 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:26,830 every single day to figure out how to balance, 699 00:32:26,830 --> 00:32:29,570 but I am able to take a lot of these changes with me 700 00:32:29,570 --> 00:32:32,893 and hopefully have a smoother spring semester. 701 00:32:34,110 --> 00:32:36,223 That's my fall story. 702 00:32:36,223 --> 00:32:37,773 And I'll hand it over to Kelly. 703 00:32:42,081 --> 00:32:43,642 - Thank you. 704 00:32:43,642 --> 00:32:44,903 Let me share my screen here. 705 00:32:47,650 --> 00:32:49,790 It's funny that we have to remind ourselves 706 00:32:49,790 --> 00:32:52,662 and remind our students that we are humans too 707 00:32:52,662 --> 00:32:54,130 throughout all of this. 708 00:32:54,130 --> 00:32:54,963 Okay. 709 00:32:55,990 --> 00:32:57,793 Can everyone see my screen now? 710 00:32:59,570 --> 00:33:00,403 - Yes, yes. 711 00:33:01,782 --> 00:33:02,730 - Great, I'm still seeing Allison on my screen, 712 00:33:02,730 --> 00:33:05,090 but good morning everyone. 713 00:33:05,090 --> 00:33:07,620 It's really a privilege to add a story 714 00:33:07,620 --> 00:33:10,100 to the great stories that we've already heard this morning. 715 00:33:10,100 --> 00:33:13,290 I chose the themes of adapting and gratitude 716 00:33:13,290 --> 00:33:16,437 for the story of my semester and came up with a title of 717 00:33:16,437 --> 00:33:18,167 "From Disruption to Celebration: 718 00:33:18,167 --> 00:33:21,140 "Sur-thriving in our (Temporary) New Normal." 719 00:33:21,140 --> 00:33:23,790 And sur-thriving was a term given to me by a former student 720 00:33:23,790 --> 00:33:26,310 who reached out to see how we were all doing, 721 00:33:26,310 --> 00:33:29,930 who had graduated last May. 722 00:33:29,930 --> 00:33:32,700 And I just was so touched by that term 723 00:33:32,700 --> 00:33:34,850 because I really feel like that's what so many of us, 724 00:33:34,850 --> 00:33:37,970 and I think these stories have showed us this morning 725 00:33:37,970 --> 00:33:39,610 that we've done. 726 00:33:39,610 --> 00:33:40,750 So you can see here the words, 727 00:33:40,750 --> 00:33:43,970 I initially started with more negative words: 728 00:33:43,970 --> 00:33:45,600 disruption, change, risk, 729 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:48,660 and then moving on to being thankful 730 00:33:48,660 --> 00:33:50,770 and silver linings and celebrations. 731 00:33:50,770 --> 00:33:53,490 So with that, I will stop sharing my screen 732 00:33:54,870 --> 00:33:59,020 and move over to using more of that scripted narrative 733 00:33:59,020 --> 00:34:02,017 that I think Laura started us off with 734 00:34:02,017 --> 00:34:03,861 because there was just so much to think about 735 00:34:03,861 --> 00:34:04,694 in telling the story. 736 00:34:04,694 --> 00:34:08,520 So the story was written based on my CDAE 271, 737 00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:10,070 Local Community Initiatives Course. 738 00:34:10,070 --> 00:34:13,160 It serves as a small, only 20 student, 739 00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:14,370 senior capstone experience 740 00:34:14,370 --> 00:34:16,801 for our Community and International Development 741 00:34:16,801 --> 00:34:17,800 majors and minors. 742 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:18,940 As a service learning course, 743 00:34:18,940 --> 00:34:20,790 traditionally we've partnered with a variety 744 00:34:20,790 --> 00:34:23,990 of community partners here in my hometown of Bristol. 745 00:34:23,990 --> 00:34:27,010 So it was a class that was really near and dear to my heart, 746 00:34:27,010 --> 00:34:29,061 really impacted our communities here 747 00:34:29,061 --> 00:34:33,730 with a lot of great tangible projects over the years. 748 00:34:33,730 --> 00:34:37,160 And so COVID-19 really just forcing this re-imagining 749 00:34:37,160 --> 00:34:40,130 of this experience from top to bottom. 750 00:34:40,130 --> 00:34:43,480 So shortly after the adrenaline rush had dissipated 751 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:46,220 from the emergency pivot to remote teaching 752 00:34:46,220 --> 00:34:47,680 during the spring 2020 semester, 753 00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:49,970 the reality of needing to adapt my fall courses 754 00:34:49,970 --> 00:34:52,130 came into sharp focus. 755 00:34:52,130 --> 00:34:54,760 I was fairly confident that I had a solid base to work from 756 00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:57,523 for my larger 100 level lecture course, 757 00:34:57,523 --> 00:35:00,510 after creating a consistent and clear structure 758 00:35:00,510 --> 00:35:02,070 forged in the epic disruption 759 00:35:02,070 --> 00:35:04,600 that unfolded during our spring break. 760 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:06,510 The course that was giving me the most heartache 761 00:35:06,510 --> 00:35:08,240 was my local community initiatives class, 762 00:35:08,240 --> 00:35:10,260 a senior capstone service learning experience 763 00:35:10,260 --> 00:35:12,459 where student groups have been paired 764 00:35:12,459 --> 00:35:13,640 with local community organizations and volunteers 765 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:15,730 in my hometown of Bristol. 766 00:35:15,730 --> 00:35:17,780 Over the years, students have helped support events 767 00:35:17,780 --> 00:35:20,510 in our downtown, map a new trail network, 768 00:35:20,510 --> 00:35:23,500 design signage for that very same trail network, 769 00:35:23,500 --> 00:35:26,190 engage with older teens at the Hub Teen Center, 770 00:35:26,190 --> 00:35:30,190 surveyed visitors to our local land trust, and so much more. 771 00:35:30,190 --> 00:35:32,820 Even in June, it was clear that bringing students 772 00:35:32,820 --> 00:35:35,020 from Burlington to Bristol would be too risky 773 00:35:35,020 --> 00:35:36,423 in our COVID-changed world. 774 00:35:37,660 --> 00:35:39,370 Many questions bubbled to the surface 775 00:35:39,370 --> 00:35:42,010 over the summer months, and I agonized over making decisions 776 00:35:42,010 --> 00:35:44,010 about how to adapt this course. 777 00:35:44,010 --> 00:35:46,676 So I worked on essentially everything else that I could 778 00:35:46,676 --> 00:35:50,030 in order to prolong making the necessary changes 779 00:35:50,030 --> 00:35:52,710 until the shifting landscape became more stable 780 00:35:52,710 --> 00:35:54,890 or perhaps more truthfully and honestly, 781 00:35:54,890 --> 00:35:57,720 I finally came to accept that our collective new normal 782 00:35:57,720 --> 00:36:00,370 with pandemic teaching and learning was here to stay. 783 00:36:01,540 --> 00:36:04,942 Finally the time came that I needed to make decisions, 784 00:36:04,942 --> 00:36:06,939 I felt strongly that the service learning project 785 00:36:06,939 --> 00:36:09,000 needed to be fully remote to minimize risks to my students, 786 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:11,400 our partners, and our community. 787 00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:13,810 I also wanted students to have as much as possible 788 00:36:13,810 --> 00:36:15,940 a cohesive experience within the course, 789 00:36:15,940 --> 00:36:19,700 whether they were at home or at UVM or in Burlington, 790 00:36:19,700 --> 00:36:23,100 by having the same (audio cuts out) experience. 791 00:36:23,100 --> 00:36:24,570 I also felt it would be very important 792 00:36:24,570 --> 00:36:25,970 to have students work in small teams 793 00:36:25,970 --> 00:36:27,920 to cultivate connection with each other, 794 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:29,653 even in our remote classroom. 795 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:33,570 While listening to stories of downtown organization leaders 796 00:36:33,570 --> 00:36:35,302 from across the state 797 00:36:35,302 --> 00:36:38,380 in my volunteer board member capacity, opportunity struck. 798 00:36:38,380 --> 00:36:41,763 Vermont's designated downtowns were adapting to COVID-19 799 00:36:41,763 --> 00:36:43,360 in real time, and the students could help capture 800 00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:45,830 these stories of resilience while learning about communities 801 00:36:45,830 --> 00:36:47,220 across the state. 802 00:36:47,220 --> 00:36:49,770 We would lean into COVID-19 in a sort of way, 803 00:36:49,770 --> 00:36:51,400 something that I likely wouldn't have been 804 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:53,963 that enthused about back in the spring. 805 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:56,770 Through a collaboration with willing partners 806 00:36:56,770 --> 00:36:59,150 at the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development, 807 00:36:59,150 --> 00:37:01,310 excited for additional outreach capacity 808 00:37:01,310 --> 00:37:03,590 and with my priorities for my students in mind, 809 00:37:03,590 --> 00:37:05,590 we co-created a project where student teams 810 00:37:05,590 --> 00:37:07,960 would interview downtown leaders and local business owners 811 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:11,210 from each of the 23 designated downtowns across the state 812 00:37:11,210 --> 00:37:13,940 to collect stories of adaptation and challenges, 813 00:37:13,940 --> 00:37:17,350 as well as identify potential areas for further support. 814 00:37:17,350 --> 00:37:19,090 These interview insights would then culminate 815 00:37:19,090 --> 00:37:21,677 in a synthesized webinar presented by the students 816 00:37:21,677 --> 00:37:23,860 and a report that would be used to garner support 817 00:37:23,860 --> 00:37:26,264 for downtowns during this crisis, 818 00:37:26,264 --> 00:37:28,139 as well as celebrate their accomplishments 819 00:37:28,139 --> 00:37:29,870 during this unprecedented time. 820 00:37:29,870 --> 00:37:33,030 Students used MS Teams to conduct 49 interviews 821 00:37:33,030 --> 00:37:35,310 with leaders over the span of three weeks. 822 00:37:35,310 --> 00:37:36,880 The connections they made with these leaders 823 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:38,490 were overwhelmingly positive, 824 00:37:38,490 --> 00:37:40,950 a source of inspiration and offered a chance 825 00:37:41,859 --> 00:37:42,980 for those leaders to reflect on their own journeys 826 00:37:42,980 --> 00:37:45,020 over this turbulent time. 827 00:37:45,020 --> 00:37:46,901 They talked about the importance 828 00:37:46,901 --> 00:37:47,880 of finding the silver linings 829 00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:49,030 and thinking outside of the box 830 00:37:49,030 --> 00:37:50,810 to create beautiful outdoor spaces 831 00:37:50,810 --> 00:37:53,290 or launch local currency programs. 832 00:37:53,290 --> 00:37:55,540 They talked about how this crisis has offered an opportunity 833 00:37:55,540 --> 00:37:57,340 for strengthening relationships, 834 00:37:57,340 --> 00:38:00,220 both within and across their communities. 835 00:38:00,220 --> 00:38:02,640 Students reported feeling more connected to each other 836 00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:05,030 and their selected communities through this engagement 837 00:38:05,030 --> 00:38:06,400 than they thought could be possible 838 00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:09,000 in a remote learning experience. 839 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:10,790 They also reported gaining more confidence 840 00:38:10,790 --> 00:38:13,841 in their professional skills and their own ability 841 00:38:13,841 --> 00:38:16,080 to adapt to these difficult circumstances. 842 00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:20,500 So now at the end of this most, well, unique semester, 843 00:38:20,500 --> 00:38:22,920 there are many reasons for celebration. 844 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:25,360 This disruption led to the creation of a new partnership, 845 00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:28,580 which in turn led to a special opportunity for my students 846 00:38:28,580 --> 00:38:30,241 to connect to Vermonters across the state 847 00:38:30,241 --> 00:38:31,480 in new and meaningful ways. 848 00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:33,900 We can celebrate that we successfully navigated learning 849 00:38:33,900 --> 00:38:35,810 during a pandemic. 850 00:38:35,810 --> 00:38:37,480 We can celebrate the tight-knit community 851 00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:39,040 that we cultivated within our teams 852 00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:41,040 and in our classroom as a whole. 853 00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:43,930 We can celebrate that not only did we survive the semester 854 00:38:43,930 --> 00:38:45,641 but we thrived. 855 00:38:45,641 --> 00:38:46,973 And that's it. 856 00:38:49,862 --> 00:38:50,862 - Thank you so much. 857 00:38:52,030 --> 00:38:54,720 I actually, I actually found myself 858 00:38:54,720 --> 00:38:59,280 getting a little bit choked up with some of these stories, 859 00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:01,940 but I guess, you know, that's the power of stories, right? 860 00:39:01,940 --> 00:39:04,550 Is that sort of that emotional response 861 00:39:04,550 --> 00:39:07,830 in addition, that that helps us remember 862 00:39:08,722 --> 00:39:10,420 what we've heard. 863 00:39:10,420 --> 00:39:12,700 So I really want to thank you all 864 00:39:12,700 --> 00:39:16,010 for not only sharing the stories this morning, 865 00:39:16,010 --> 00:39:18,940 but also sort of experimenting with the process 866 00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:23,063 and because the, I think, 867 00:39:24,059 --> 00:39:28,262 I think the process might help folks 868 00:39:28,262 --> 00:39:31,070 go a little bit deeper with their stories. 869 00:39:31,070 --> 00:39:34,070 So with that in mind, we're gonna spend, you know, 870 00:39:34,070 --> 00:39:37,490 the next 15 minutes or so experimenting 871 00:39:37,490 --> 00:39:39,343 with the process. 872 00:39:39,343 --> 00:39:42,450 And we want you to know if questions have come up, 873 00:39:42,450 --> 00:39:44,130 I know that chat's been really busy, 874 00:39:44,130 --> 00:39:47,710 and that I'm sure our storytellers 875 00:39:47,710 --> 00:39:49,500 can follow up with you directly, 876 00:39:49,500 --> 00:39:53,821 but we're gonna go jump right into our own process, 877 00:39:53,821 --> 00:39:55,770 and it's going to be abbreviated. 878 00:39:55,770 --> 00:40:00,143 So we're gonna move fairly quickly through this. 879 00:40:01,060 --> 00:40:03,800 And so the focus is not on an end product per se. 880 00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:06,510 And if you want to revisit this at another time 881 00:40:06,510 --> 00:40:10,160 when you have more time in your schedule 882 00:40:10,160 --> 00:40:12,560 that we encourage you to do so. 883 00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:16,620 So we're going to offer three prompts. 884 00:40:16,620 --> 00:40:19,170 and this is all by invitation. 885 00:40:19,170 --> 00:40:22,653 So you can choose, you know, you choose what you want to do. 886 00:40:23,510 --> 00:40:25,580 And throughout the three prompts, 887 00:40:25,580 --> 00:40:27,680 there'll be some opportunities for action, 888 00:40:28,581 --> 00:40:30,420 for you to share your writing if you so choose. 889 00:40:30,420 --> 00:40:33,603 And we're going to share in the chat. 890 00:40:35,070 --> 00:40:37,320 So again, please feel free to use 891 00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:40,243 whatever feels productive to you. 892 00:40:40,243 --> 00:40:42,150 If these prompts don't feel helpful, 893 00:40:42,150 --> 00:40:45,410 and your writing wants to take you in a different direction, 894 00:40:45,410 --> 00:40:47,563 we invite you to follow your muse.