They Said It: Learning Amid Disruption

From the return after spring break on March 23 to graduation on May 8, a long list of learnings emerged, some of which were captured in the COE student survey. Here are other comments shared during and as the semester came to an end:

Katie McGrane, student, movement and exercise science: One of my best stories probably involves my biomechanics professor Mauricio Nunez. The moment we went to online learning, he was sure to reach out and keep us in the loop and still had Zoom lectures at the regularly scheduled time. This really helped me stay organized and made this huge change a little more approachable. I can say with confidence that I sent him at least two emails each week, each email filled with questions, and he responded in a timely manner to those emails and was always willing to help or Zoom with me. I really wanted to excel in his class and with his help, I was able to do just that...The biggest take-away from this recent experience was how truly important it is to create relationships with your professors for each class.

Robin Dada, head, curriculum and instruction: COVID-19 appeared on the scene, something no one could predict with an impact that required a change of practice like we had not seen before. Things that were impossible one day, became things that had to be considered and adjusted.

Students have previously stated and continue to do so that different sections of the same course do not seem to be similar. One of my takeaways has been the introduction of Course Leaders in C&I who will convene all faculty teaching a specific course to review the syllabi for the course, prior to distribution to students, to discuss common assessments used, with the understanding that data produced by these assessments will help improve the courses and will be reviewed at the end of the semester. The sharing of alternative assignments that different faculty developed out of need during COVID-19 will be shared and may actually become recognized as productive assignments that we'd previously not considered.

Blair Bodermann, student, physical education teaching: The biggest take-away for me was the amount of motivation needed to finish the semester online. At first, I felt very motivated to attend all Zoom meetings and have a set schedule so I wouldn’t feel behind on classes. As the weeks went on, I would push off assignments and instead of watching the live Zoom, I’d watch the recording instead. I needed more motivation in order to complete the assignments and finish the semester strong. ...My best experience was being introduced to Panopto and Zoom. I have never used these two services before, but I needed both in order to complete assignments. I now feel more confident with using both.. I hope for next fall we will return to campus because I am taking my Methods courses then, but if we are online, I feel confident that I will do well.

Farah Kashef, faculty technology integration specialist: I’ve learned that "prevention is better than cure." Having a plan B for unusual circumstances never hurts. Who knows when the next campus closure is, so we all need to have a couple of backup tools and evaluate them yearly. I encourage faculty to include their plan B on the syllabi, so there are no surprises for the students. I am also incredibly lucky to be working with colleagues that I can communicate with and trust. Tremendous teamwork went on behind the scene by the IT from finding creative ways to checkout devices, to installing software remotely, to increasing wifi access in certain parking lots around campus. Everyone worked hard to get the mission accomplished.