Teaching series highlights faculty innovations; video offers glimpse into the hybrid classroom
Four weeks into the semester, the Carroll School of Management’s Teaching Committee has resumed its frequent lunchtime Zoom sessions for faculty teaching classes this spring. As in the fall, the Carroll School is offering fully in-person, remote, and hybrid instruction for its undergraduate and graduate students.
Recent meetings hosted by the Teaching Committee have focused on specific topics of teaching interest: online assessment and grading; effective use of Zoom breakout rooms; and how-to’s for polling students remotely in real time. Even as professors master these new technologies, their conversations continually circle back to students’ overall wellbeing and strategies for supporting them across the digital divide. (See video below for some of the tactics faculty have adopted to optimize teaching on Zoom.)
On February 15, Professor Judy Gordon, who chairs the Teaching Committee as well as the Management and Organization Department, facilitated a more open-ended discussion with approximately 50 faculty about how the spring semester has been going so far. The consensus was that, for the most part, Carroll School students are taking the COVID-related changes to classroom learning in stride—even as stressors outside of the classroom are undoubtedly on their minds.
Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Haub Family Professor of Finance Ronnie Sadka concluded the Feb. 15 debrief by thanking Carroll School faculty for their dedication, attributing the overall success of the University’s reopening to the hard work of its professors. “These discussions are just an example of how serious we take this commitment to deliver high-quality teaching. We are continuing to do that, and that’s how we are going to be successful,” said Sadka, who also chairs the Finance Department.
Town Hall Meetings—and a Glimpse into the Hybrid Classroom
In addition, nearly all faculty (130 total) signed onto Zoom during the week prior to the start of the spring classes, for one of two virtual Town Halls held by the Dean’s Office. In addition to reviewing COVID protocols and the many resources available to support remote instruction and research, John and Linda Powers Family Dean Andy Boynton also praised the performance of all who taught last semester, noting that “it was not business as usual, but you all did an outstanding job.”
Some of that teaching excellence from last fall was captured in a short video, created by Boston College technology consultant Kevin Tomaszek to provide professors with pointers for hybrid teaching. While instructive in nature, the three-minute clip (below) also gives a glimpse into what the hybrid college classroom really looks like at the Carroll School. To date, there have been no known transmissions of the COVID-19 virus traced back to in-class interactions.
— Leslie Ganson, Carroll School News