How to Be a Distance-Teaching Dynamo (Just-in-Time Session)
Thursday, January 7, 12:00 to 1:15 pm
In Fall 2020, professors returned to the classroom – virtual, face-to-face, or some hybrid of the two – to find one of the most challenging pedagogical environments of their careers. They were forced to abandon many strategies for managing student interaction and keeping students engaged which they had perfected in the traditional face-to-face, up-close-and-personal environment in the world before COVID-19.
The goal of this pedagogy jam is to re-think and re-vision our teaching in this “brave new world” of higher education. In 5 minutes and with no more than 5 PowerPoint slides, each speaker will introduce an innovative strategy, often involving a digital tool, that can help us meet the learning outcomes so valued by literature and language: close reading, effective research, information literacy, student engagement, and student success. Most of the session (45 minutes) will be devoted to audience interaction with the speakers and each other – first in small group discussions in breakout rooms followed by a concluding, full audience conversation.
Session Organizers/Presiders:
Dr. Tamara F. O’Callaghan, Northern Kentucky University
Dr. Andrea R. Harbin, State University of New York-Cortland
This proposed 75-minute pedagogy jam will have four speakers introduce their innovative teaching strategies (30 minutes). Then, using the breakout rooms offered by the MLA Convention’s virtual environment, audience members will work with the speaker whose strategy most intrigues them to brainstorm ideas, concerns, etc. (25 minutes). Finally, the groups will reconvene for a concluding large group discussion (20 minutes).
The four innovative pedagogy strategies are as follows:
Facilitating Online and Socially Distanced Classroom Community using MS Teams
Dr. Tonya Krouse, Northern Kentucky University
Today, we must find new models and tools to preserve the energy of the college experience while accommodating students with many different situations, challenges, and needs. This presentation discusses an innovative approach to encouraging student engagement and fostering community using just one powerful tool: MS Teams. Topics covered will include facilitating asynchronous class discussion with posts and the chat function, marshalling the power of the Class Notebook, and fostering collaboration through the use of Channels.
Searching to Engage: Teaching with the MLA International Bibliography
Dr. Daniel Connor, MLA International Bibliography and University of Scranton
The MLA International Bibliography is an essential tool for research in modern languages and literature. Now it can be brought into the classroom and used as an effective teaching tool. Thanks to the MLAIB’s free online course, instructors in the humanities can teach their students valuable research skills while exposing them to the scholarly output in their field, encouraging intellectual curiosity, and stimulating in-class discussion. Easy to set up and monitor, this free online course is self-grading, offering an auto-pilot solution for teaching research skills and exposing students to relevant scholarly publications.
Bringing the MLA Bib to Life
Dr. Claire Buck, Wheaton College Massachusetts
Students often find the MLA International Bibliography “remote.” How can we make the Bib more than a list of sources in our online and hybrid courses? This presentation will share an assignment that turns students into detectives who read the MLAIB to uncover the changing values of the discipline. And at a time when library resources are restricted, if not completely unavailable, such an assignment will encourage students to conduct effective research and develop strong information literacy skills even through online or remote learning.
Perusall: Getting Students to Read!
Dr. Lauren Barbeau, University of Georgia
With the pandemic teaching formats, many instructors fear a decline in student reading skills, especially close reading. While the virtual classroom may seem to pose a challenge to students’ development of this skill, technology can offer an effective solution. Perusall, a free collaborative annotation platform, offers a social-network-like experience to reading that engages students by promoting organic discussion of and critical thinking about texts. It also self-grades, offering a welcome opportunity to alleviate the increased grading workload that many instructors are now facing.