I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. ~attributed to Etienne de Grellet~
It's been the question filling up faculty listservs: What should we do about grades? I can see the variety of perspectives here (except the one about law schools and med schools demanding letter grades--they will figure something out if we refuse to give letter grades). BUT--let's be honest for a moment. The average GPA of... Continue Reading →
Online teaching is hard. I don't know anyone who does it well who thinks that it's easier than teaching in person. But there is a lot to love. Here are a few: 1. Your students will open up in ways that they cannot in a face-to-face class. Without worrying about how they look or how... Continue Reading →
You've decided on what your students will be watching, reading, listening to, and doing in your class. You've set your due dates and written all your policies. What else does a syllabus need? Course name Course number CRN Semester Catalog description Program Goals Course objectives List of required materials List of prerequisite course and prerequisite... Continue Reading →
This blog post is part of a series to help you build an online course quickly. It is for people who are preparing to launch their third trimester in course that they thought would be F2F but will begin instead as an online course, those looking ahead to intensive May terms, and those who had... Continue Reading →
This blog post is part of a series to help you build an online course quickly. It is for people who are preparing to launch their third trimester in course that they thought would be F2F but will begin instead as an online course, those looking ahead to intensive May terms, and those who had... Continue Reading →
This blog post is part of a series to help you build an online course quickly. It is for people who are preparing to launch their third trimester in course that they thought would be F2F but will begin instead as an online course, those looking ahead to intensive May terms, and those who had... Continue Reading →
Thanks to Beth McMurtie for reporting on efforts to pivot to remote teaching that are compassionate, reasonable, and realistic. This is part of a larger discussion about the culture of overwork, presence bleed, precarious labor, and more that will likely happen in higher ed as we continue into an economic crisis. The illustration above is... Continue Reading →
A number of you have reached out to say thank you for the reassurance that you don't have to become great online teachers instantly. But many of you want to be able to do that over the long term, and many public K-12 teachers, in particular, are worried about this. Kansas was the first state... Continue Reading →
This post is part of a series on designing an online class in a hurry and without a lot of training, resources, or support. For educators who are looking ahead to the summer and fall and think they may be asked to teach online rather than in a traditional classroom, this series can help you... Continue Reading →
It's Sunday night, which means many of my teacher friends are doing what they ought not: gearing up to overfunction. Overfunctioning is when you assume responsibility that is not yours and do work that belongs to others, thereby taking from others the responsibility and work they need to assume to develop into the people they... Continue Reading →
Rebecca Barrett-Fox 