Keep Them Coming Back in a Crisis
Recently, I have been hearing a lot of talk on all fronts
about student motivation. From Camp Teacher, I have heard many people desperately
trying to keep morale and motivations up, all while disparagingly combing
through their online class conversion for something that they could be doing
better on to motivate their students. I, as well as many other teachers, feel
helpless as they see students disappear into the ether, their work on Canvas
stop coming in, and our emails go unanswered. From Camp Student, I’ve heard complaints
of teacher incompetence, no desire to work on classes while their worlds are
being disrupted, confusion at how converted classes are going to work, upset at
the sudden learning curve, and despair at the semester and opportunities they
will be missing. When student motivation seems to be at an all-time low and
there are tweets like this circulating:
What are we to do? Of course, I am not going to advocate for
a mass pass of all students in all courses. Nor can I really say that I believe
the semester should be canceled. So, if neither option can be met, I feel like
giving the topic of motivation a closer look might be a way to help us as
teachers survive this. In another class, I am taking we have been reading a
number of books, but one that I fell back on for a closer reading now was How
Learning Works by Ambrose et al. Of course, I would rather this have been
called “How Learning Works in a Global Crisis”, but I take what I can!
So in this book Ambrose talks a lot about how students are motivated by a
number of things such as the utility of a class, their own expectations as well
as yours, and also their own outside circumstances. I don’t know if you’ve
realized it yet, but all three of those factors have been severely disrupted. This
is not to devalue ENG 103 or ENG 104, only to say that because of our students'
circumstances right now our classes have probably fallen in value for them.
Where getting an A mattered before, keeping themselves and their families safe
may now take precedent. On the topic of expectations, even we can empathize
that our expectations have been blown way the hell out of the water. As of
right now, at any given time I’m not sure what to expect. Because of the
current situation, of course, student motivation is low. How could we expect
anything else?!
As teachers though, it is expected that we stick with it. In their book, Ambrose advises teachers to make their expectations clear and understood with their students. I think that this is certainly doable for us all once we figure out what exactly we are wanting to do for the rest of the semester. I am working right now on a mini schedule that I can provide for them as a replacement for the original, as well as a replacement baby syllabus. They also outline that we should be giving our students goals. f course we all outlined our goals at the beginning of the semester and at the beginning of each assignment and unit, but perhaps taking time to reframe our goals would also be something that would help to ground our students. Lastly, and this is not mentioned in the book, but providing grace and empathy to our students as they struggle emotionally with the jarring changes.
So…I’m here to ask.
How are you guys working on this issue? What are you doing to keep your
students coming back for more? I have relaxed my courses. They have an asynchronous,
slow pace, time for questions, online lectures and quizzes, and the deadlines
are lax. I keep my email open basically 24/7 now and it’s been working. I’ve
only had 1 disappearance! 😊
I’d like to hear what
you all are up to!
Sarah,
ReplyDeletePersonally, I have also relaxed things a bit, moving to an asynchronous model to help with pacing and accessibility. While I have honestly had a handful of disappearances, I know that I am doing all I can for them in this trying time. I think my biggest frustration as of right now is that it feels like there is no end date for al of this. I received an email from Hamada not too long ago letting me know that it is an incredibly real possibility that my summer classes will be moved online as well. With all of this in mind, I think it is important for us to continue to be aware that our students are struggling to adjust just as much as we are and flexibility and patience on all fronts are important.
Abbie
I feel that Abbie. Everything is up in the air, and so that sense of "never ending" unknowns is absolutely a frustration that I have. I can't even imagine all of that as an undergrad.
DeleteHi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteIt's a confusing time for all of us...I honestly have no idea what I'm doing, what I'm supposed to be doing...I saw a post about COVID19 (unrelated to teaching) and it said "I simultaneously feel like I'm over and underreacting to this pandemic" and I felt it resonate beyond just the virus and to the classroom within the pandemic. I see what my colleagues are expecting of their students and feel like I'm not giving them enough work or I'm "letting them off easy", then I see discussions online and feel like I'm being too demanding. I decided to cut my last project from the class, because we just didn't have the wiggle room we needed to get adjusted. Since they have only their paper left, I'm pretty much allowing the last 4-5 weeks to be "work on paper, send in drafts, sporadically text and conference with me" to allow them to work at their own pace and not set an expectation for time commitment and resources. Was this too much? Not enough? I just don't know!
JJ
What project did you cut? There's some 103/104 differences, but I was considering doing the same.
DeleteI know we're supposed to have a certain number of major projects for the students under the WP guidelines, but I think it would make more sense for them to do one project and maybe get something out of than two projects where neither they nor I know exactly what's going on.
JJ,
DeleteIt's so interesting that you say that, because I'm also comparing myself, in the sense that I feel as if I don't cut something out, I'm being too demanding. Yet, I don't know what leeway I have or what's within my rights here. I also don't want to hurt students by cutting something that could be beneficial to their composition learning experience.
But, at the same time, I feel they're losing out (Especially in terms of the multi-modal project, which is my final project), because it feels like there's so much less that I'll be able to offer them in terms of learning about and preparing for that project online instead of in person.
Hi All,
DeleteI have been battling with this myself. In cutting a project I A. feel like I'm going to get the WP running through my front door to fire me, and B. hurting my students. That being said, with the massive failures I've seen in online class hours... I know I won't be doing that. I actually asked my students what they wanted to do, and a lot of them said they would make a video or even write a small reflection about their learning during the crisis and how it was effected (great meta-cog activity if you ask me). I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, but I do know that I am going to relax the grading. But yeah. That's my suggestion, ask them what they'd like to do!
Fellow GAs,
DeleteI was also considering replacing the final project with a reflection, perhaps partially over what they’ve learned in the class and partially about this whole situation… so anyways, it’s nice to know that others where considering something similar. (It’s also my multi-modal project, so I’m also feeling guilty about that…) As for your (Sarah's) comment on being more lax when it comes to grading, for most of the small activities I’m giving them in place of some of the in-class learning, I’m kind of taking more of a completion/effort-based grading approach (which I’ve felt a little guilty about and then chided myself for feeling guilty about it because I think it’s quite reasonable considering everything). So it’s also nice to hear that that’s something other people are implementing. I’m still grading the major assignment they’re turning in off of the same rubric (we established and covered that in-class before this whole mess). I’m relating a lot to what you all are saying about hoping I’m not breaking some WP law or hurting my students because of the changes I’m making.
-Jessie
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI too am struggling with keeping my students in check. I've pushed due dates back, I've relaxed my expectations about the final project, and I've been much more lenient with my students than is typical of me. I haven't had any students disappear, necessarily, but I have students not completing very small participation assignments, but then they still respond to my check-in emails.
I've been reaching out to students ASAP when I notice they haven't turned something in, and I hope they realize I'm not scolding them, but that I want to catch them before they slip too far and can't recover this semester. It's frustrating to have had very frank conversations with students about where they stand in terms of the semester and how small the margins of passing are for them (I'm talking about a select few who have turned very little in), and then to have them say they understand that, and STILL not turn participation assignments in.
I've also tried to be very clear about what I expect of them and just to give them small daily assignments that are building to their larger assignments. Yet, I've had many of them express that they fear they will lose track of what's going on, when I've posted an updated schedule and email them frequently. I understand that this is an adjustment for us all, but it certainly feels like I'm making a desperate attempt to keep my students afloat.
I wish I had more positive things to say in response. I'm glad we can all relate to each other in this.
Shelbi
Hey Shelbi,
DeleteI've been wanting to solidify an updated schedule as I think that would help my students (and me!) but haven't done so yet due to the ever changing speed and current of the class. I think I'm getting a feel for the speed they can handle, so I will probably try to get that out this week!
Sarah, it's definitely been a tough road. My one on one conferences fell this week, and obviously they were intended to be in person, but doing them online has been rough. I don't think it has been all bad, though, so there is some light in the darkness. I have had a few students (I think 2 or 3) who have disappeared totally. I continually try to reach out to them, but it's hard to do when I'm also trying to keep 45 others students on track (let alone my personal schoolwork, which is not just in the backseat, it's in the trunk). I am still in that headspace where I feel a bit too much responsibility for their learning and participation. Instead of in-person conference meetings, I made a google doc schedule and I'm doing them through video chats. I meet with each student, ask them how they are doing in the transition to online, and then discussing the paper/class/etc. A lot of these are going well, and others not so much. Tech problems and missed meetings (like 5-10 of them) and other factors make this so frustrating. Maybe I am too traditional and I can't adapt well enough, but it is my opinion that face to face classes are bounds more valuable than online. I feel saddened by this, and though some conferences make me feel better, others have me upset. I don't want to move to a totally asynchronous class - I feel like I would lose the last shred of class community we have - but I suppose it's headed in that direction. I wish I had something helpful (or even useful) to say, but I guess I just needed to vent a bit in a comment. I understand your struggles, and I'm not sure what to do either.
ReplyDeleteKristen
I'm glad to hear about this Kristen (though not glad of the situation). However, I think that something to remember is that this is not a good representation of what online classes and online teaching is like. There was some email I got recently that said something along the lines of, “this is not online education, this is remote education.” This is just how we’re dealing with the crisis now and we shouldn’t let the crisis situation reflect badly on how things are playing out. I think it could be a good thing to remind our students of this. It might even put the pressure off of us and them to think of it like this. If we can spin this to see the reality of the situation, and acknowledge the fact that we are handling this surprisingly well and can only improve as time goes on, I think it will make us all feel better. I think that one of the best things to realize is that it’s not just instructors and students who are having to cope with this situation. People everywhere are making incredibly innovative solutions to challenges that we have little other choice than to face right now.
DeleteHang in there! (I’m certainly trying to.)
I definitely identify with this post Sarah. I feel like it’s a hard situation to make sense of in general, let alone figuring out what the best thing is for our students. I have decided not to cut my final project, though I have scaled it back. However, I feel like this is a project that was already going to be a bit intimidating for students and I wonder if I should be cutting it altogether or changing the assignment. Despite this though, I think it’s important to keep because it is fairly low-key and I had already planned on using contract grading for this assignment. In this case then, if students do the work, they will get full points on it. This could be a good safety net for those students whose grades were already suffering or whose grades are now suffering because of the situation.
ReplyDeleteI want to provide them with every possible tool to pass the class and get the composition foundation they need, but it’s hard to wrangle it all on top of my own classes. I have certainly struggled with trying to keep my students motivated and on top of the work. A lot of them have expressed to me their hatred of this switch to online and their distaste for the whole experience. I had a student email me today asking if he could withdraw. In the end though, it’s gonna be up to them whether or not they are able to pass the class.
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI have relaxed things in my running and upcoming units. We all are adapting something new and challenging. For my class, first I thought to keep at least 1-day synchronous class per week to keep students on track. I thought it would be good to meet them and talk in person. Furthermore, I know, it's very easy to skip things when we are not accountable to someone. But later when I was informed about their emergency dorm evacuation notice, I removed the synchronous activity. As for many of them, it was hard to maintain the synchronous activity. So, I tried to make that a little bit more flexible for them. Already they are very much stressed out and panicked, they are struggling with this new sudden change in learning, I really didn't want to give them more pressure. However, I removed all the "close" dates from recent and upcoming journals. Because many of them couldn't do that on time due to this unwanted transition in their lives. This week, I was holding conferences. I gave them a couple of extra time slots than the regular one so that they can meet me online at a convenient time.
This is frustrating for me too. Since I'm sending them emails after emails and most of them remain unanswered. Nevertheless, I'm trying to make sure they receive each and every announcement from me. Thus they feel like I'm there as I used to be every other day in class.
I told them to reach out to me anytime they need. I'm keeping my email open for them 24/7 and trying to get back to them with answers as quickly as I can. I'm checking in with students frequently. Additionally, I uploaded some funny videos for them to help them de-stressing. I post some funny memes about online teaching and other things that they are liking very much.
For me, my students' well being comes first. If their mental health is not helped, what can we expect from them? If we expect, will that be reasonable?
In essence, I'm focusing more on their mental health and trying to make sure they are doing well with their research paper.