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SURVEY PROVIDES NEW DATA ABOUT THE REMOTE EXPERIENCE FOR STUDENTS
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A MESSAGE FROM JODY GREENE, ASSOCIATE VICE PROVOST FOR TEACHING & LEARNING AND CITL FOUNDING DIRECTOR
What do we know about UCSC students’ experiences with the pandemic, largely non-residential university life, and remote instruction? Since the Spring, Institutional Research and Planning (IRAPS) has sent out a series of surveys carefully crafted to find out how students are doing and what they need. CITL and Online Education collaborated to place questions about student learning on the most recent StayConnected2UCSC survey, and the preliminary results are illuminating. We will post the full IRAPS report on the Keep Teaching website just as soon as it becomes available, and we are grateful to them for sharing the initial findings with us so we could share them with you. More than 2,000 students responded to the most recent survey, and we have data from nearly 5,000 students who responded to earlier surveys in the series.
What we have learned so far contains some abiding concerns and some cause for hope. More than half of grads and undergrads report high levels of stress for themselves and their families due to COVID 19. In a figure that is undoubtedly related to that stress, three quarters of undergrads and 60% of grads remain concerned about maintaining motivation for studying and for doing well in their courses. 1 in 3 undergrads and 40% of grads have unreliable internet access, again making learning, teaching, and participating in university life more difficult.
Then there is some good news, news that suggests that all the work instructors have put into creating better remote courses is paying off. For undergrads, whereas 82% reported difficulty learning effectively in a remote environment last year, that number dropped to 64% this Fall. Those having difficulty finding study space dropped from 65% to 40% and the number having trouble accessing tutoring dropped from 61% to 37%. The last figure shows what a difference it can make when we message effectively to students about the resources available to them.
Finally, we have some interesting and (for us) somewhat surprising results regarding synchronous and asynchronous instruction. For synchronous classes, 92% of undergrad and 95% of grad students said they had missed no, one, or a few class meetings. Only 8% and 5% respectively said they had missed half or more of the class meetings. Another important finding is that whereas 61% of students reported motivational challenges in synchronous courses, 81% found it difficult to stay motivated in asynchronous courses.
In the coming days, the CITL and OE teams will be considering the entirety of the survey information as we develop recommendations to improve teaching in the courses we are offering to students, even as we recognize that the pandemic and its economic fallout are creating conditions that make it heartbreakingly difficult for many of our students to keep learning. That they are doing so, in many cases, is a testament both to their resilience and to all of your dedication, care, and labor.
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If you are teaching synchronous courses and you are not recording Zoom class meetings, we encourage you to inform your students of the ways that they will be able to access course materials (such as your slides or lecture notes) should they be unable to attend a class session. For international students, or any students studying from different time zones or who encounter barriers to attending class in these uncertain times, knowing how the instructor will make materials from synchronous Zoom class meetings available can reduce anxiety and help them prepare to catch up if they are sick or otherwise unable to attend a class session. We recommend you include this information in your syllabus, or in other orientation materials you prepare for your course. Given that some students have an expectation that most class sessions are being recorded, it is worth clarifying, if you are not recording, what avenues exist for students to access material from sessions they have missed. You may also want to let students know that they should contact you directly if they run into personal or family circumstances that mean they will have to be absent from synchronous classes for a week or more.
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University Forum: Teaching and Learning in the Time of COVID 19
Everything changed in March. UC Santa Cruz transitioned to remote teaching and learning seven months ago. This discussion is a reflection on the lessons we have learned as teachers and learners. What has the shift to remote or fully online instruction revealed about the current state and possible future of higher education? How can we use this crisis as an opportunity to reimagine the practice of teaching and learning at a research university? Watch this recorded timely conversation with Jody Greene, Associate Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning and Founding Director of the Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning, Michael Tassio, Chief of Staff for the Division of Academic Affairs and the Director for Online Education, and Cynthia Lewis, Chair and Professor in the Education Department.
Accessibility Corps Update
Since the last newsletter, Accessibility Corps has helped instructors caption over 26 hours of recorded lectures! Caption correction is the most requested service, but Accessibility Corps offers other services, including reviewing digital materials (such as PDFs) to make them more accessible for all your students. Visit Keep Teaching’s Accessibility page for more information about Accessibility Corps, including all services and how to get started improving your course.
Upcoming CFP to Develop New Online Courses
Be on the lookout for new opportunities for funding to develop online courses for Spring or Summer. In the coming weeks, Online Education will be releasing a new call for proposals to develop courses. The call will be posted on the Keep Teaching and Online Education websites, as well as being distributed through divisions.
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FEATURED WORKSHOPS & SUPPORT
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NEW! American Indians 101 with Dr. Rebecca Hernandez, Director of the American Indian Resource Center
Wednesday, December 2, 2:00 - 3:30pm
This presentation will give you an introduction to reservations, tribes, tribal enrollment, California Natives, Urban Indians, treaties, the Removal and Relocation Acts, and current issues in Indian country.
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Check out the Keep Teaching website for additional upcoming workshops.
Integrated Course Design for Remote Instruction
A Facilitated 3-Week Program
November 30 - Dec 16, Monday/Wednesday, 10:00-11:30am
If you are teaching remotely this winter, use this opportunity to join a cohort and take this course on designing and developing courses for remote and online instruction. The course blends pedagogical practices with practical tutorials for designing digital assignments and assessments, creating lecture videos, working more effectively in Canvas, and incorporating other instructional tools. We aim to have a minimum of 6 participants per cohort. Sign up for a cohort here.
Getting your Canvas Course Ready for Winter
Enrollment hasn’t opened, but your Winter courses have been created in Canvas in order to allow you flexibility in deciding when to work on them. When you do start building your course, your first step should be adding Online Education’s Orientation Module, which has information for students about everything from using the campus VPN to engaging in productive online discussions.
- You can import the module yourself from Canvas Commons. Or you can write to online@ucsc.edu, and we’ll do it for you.
- If you’re new to Canvas and would like more structure, take a look at the Course Design Template. Again, you can import it yourself, or we’ll do it for you.
- Once you’ve developed your course, ask us about our Course Readiness Check.
Additional Support
Need individual support? CITL and OE are available to answer your remote and online teaching questions. From pedagogy to technology, we can help. Drop in here for open virtual office hours with Online Education at 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm daily, or email online@ucsc.edu for support with any digital tools, or email CITL at citl@ucsc.edu for an individual consultation.
Join UCSC Online Slack! By joining you’re getting access to a space that is dedicated to addressing questions about teaching remotely and online. Ask questions, answer questions, and learn from your peers.
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HELPING STUDENTS BECOME KICKASS REMOTE LEARNERS WITH OPEN BOOK EXAMS
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As we approach finals, this is a good time to consider how you can better support student learning with a well designed assessment. One approach to replace a traditional timed final exam that can both improve student learning and work very well in the remote classroom is the open book exam.
What are they?
Open book exams require students to answer complex (and often real-world) problems while consulting course materials (e.g., a textbook or notes). Open book exams can promote and assess higher order thinking skills like problem solving, synthesis and evaluation. Consider questions like the following:
- Analyzing: “What are the parts or features of X”; “Compare and contrast..”
- Applying: “What would happen if…”
- Creating: “How would you evaluate…” or “Can you formulate a theory for…”
Strategies for Use
- Design questions that assess interpretation, application, comprehension, or critical thinking skills.
- Carefully review your exam for clarity, and include information on the exam for how students can communicate with you or the TAs.
- Exam can be offered with a large window (e.g., 24 hours).
Other Considerations
- Exam can be administered in stages.
- Questions can be shuffled in Canvas using Groups or Banks.
- Grading can be done more efficiently and fairly using Gradescope.
- Students can show work by writing answers on blank paper that they photograph and submit.
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DIGITAL TOOLS, UPDATES, & RESOURCES
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Piazza
Instructors and students who are using Piazza have received a notice that Piazza will begin running advertising on their free discussion sites beginning in January 2021. The Learning and Instructional Tools team is working in collaboration with the other UCs on both identifying alternative interactive discussion tools and on determining whether an agreement can be reached with Piazza to remove advertising. We will notify everyone as soon as we have more information. In the meantime, if you have questions, contact us at canvas.help@ucsc.edu.
Third Party Integrations for Winter 2021
If you are planning on using any third party integrations in your Canvas course for Winter 2021, please submit those requests to canvas.help@ucsc.edu by Friday, December 4. With an extended curtailment and classes beginning immediately upon return in January, it is essential to have your requests with enough time to implement them. See the list of available integrations here: https://its.ucsc.edu/canvas/canvas-faq.html#Apps
Uploading media or Zoom recordings to Canvas? There’s a better way.
The best and most reliable media viewing experience for your students is through the media management platform, YuJa. The user experience in Canvas does not deliver to students the performance, media viewing options, or stability that viewing media through YuJa provides. All faculty have access to YuJa, and to the automatic transfer and captioning of Zoom recordings into YuJa. Check out this awesome doc on all things needed for recording and sharing remote instruction sessions, and contact canvas.help@ucsc.edu for a consultation.
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CONTACT US
Center for Innovations for Teaching and Learning (CITL) • citl@ucsc.edu
Online Education • online@ucsc.edu
Faculty Instructional Technology Center (FITC) • fitc@ucsc.edu
University of California Santa Cruz
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