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2021-03 FLEXspace



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One Year Post COVID

Active Learning in the Time of COVID: Several Campuses Weigh In

Let’s start with the obvious. We’re darn grateful to not only have a job but to have direction and purpose in a noble cause serving higher education. This past year has stretched people to new limits and called on our collective expertise to deliver education as safely and effectively as possible. Too many of us have lost friends and family members to this terrible pandemic, yet we collectively remain motivated – surrounded by our students who have persevered, remaining focused on grit, grades, and graduation.

 

The past several pre-pandemic years have introduced significant changes in classroom design and collaborative technologies. We worked to quiet HVAC, install more power to fuel devices, and spec’d lots of furniture with wheels… classrooms became configurable, and re-configurable to foster “creative collisions” among ideas and academic problem solving – the age of “active learning” was upon us! Faculty became excited by emerging data pointing to more effective pedagogy supporting learner retention and began redesigning courses to infuse group work, reflection time, and flipped classroom lectures.

No sooner had the train picked up speed when the pandemic screeched sparks on the rails grinding the cars to a halt. As entire campuses shut down and sent students packing, there was little question that instruction would continue, but how would all these newly designed active learning classes continue virtually? 

SPACE IN THE SPOTLIGHT:

Informal Learning Space -  Health Sciences Center
Informal Learning Space –  Health Sciences Center
The Octagon Active Learning Lab
The Octagon Active Learning Lab
iCreate Innovation Greenhouse - Harriman Hall
iCreate Innovation Greenhouse – Harriman Hall
Team-Based Learning in the MART (Medical Research and Translation)
Team-Based Learning in the MART (Medical Research and Translation)

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To see learning space examples featured in this column plus hundreds more, login to FLEXspace.org and visit the Gallery “FEATURED IN HIGHER ED AV MAGAZINE

“The Covid-19 global health pandemic has brought about changes in teaching and learning, and the definition of “learning spaces.” What does this mean for active, collaborative, and hands-on learning, and how did IT units, faculty developers, and instructors prepare for these changes? How have things shifted since the pandemic began almost one year ago?”

This was the key question guiding an EDUCAUSE Member Quick Talk: Active Learning in the Time of COVID – Part 2. Jarrod McFarlane, Associate Director of Learning Spaces at Stony Brook University, posted a listserv question early in the pandemic pivot to remote instruction last year, “How are we going to keep building active learning momentum without derailing it during a mass virtual migration?” EDUCAUSE granted us a “Member Quick Talk,” which emphasizes conversation, not presentation. Given the intense desire from faculty, facilities, academic and technology support staff to connect, the first session felt like group therapy – reassuring each other that we’d get through it and began swapping detailed ideas.  “Part 2” took place February 24th, 2021, with nearly 50 participants reconvening with the panelists for a second chat (and asking for a third session at the end!). We’re sharing a summary below, but you can find more information by logging into the FLEXpace Toolkit and clicking on the link: “Quick Talk Notes on Active Learning in the Time of COVID Feb 2021″.

Fall 2020 Emphasized ‘Design Thinking’ – Test and Iterate

This group agreed that scrambling to outfit rooms, ready faculty, and students, and respond to a never-ending stream of requests left their heads on a swivel reacting to the unknown. We agreed that “you can’t do it ALL, well.” There is no substitute for getting feedback from faculty, staff, and students to determine what’s working (and what isn’t) to focus priorities. Another participant said, “We were on call 24×7 for classroom tech rollout adding monitors, cameras, capture systems. We deployed a survey at the end of the semester and developed a new spring strategy from lessons learned that fall. We learned that “laser-like focus on our core function — getting students safely in the doors and/or connected virtually for instruction skills — mattered most. Everything else was second.”

The Rise of Hybrid, Connected Rooms, and Tech Experimentation

Many campuses used CARE funding to purchase new technology to outfit hybrid classrooms. One campus went from 3 to 80 hybrid rooms. “There has been a lot of experimentation with the technology, but the bottom line is a need to adopt a lot of the curriculum to take advantage of the technology best,” suggested Dwayne Smith from Old Dominion. Here are a few examples of the Connected Classroom approach at SDSU. And along with spaces featured in this article, here are the latest hybrid teaching technologies at SUNY Stonybrook. You can find even more examples in FLEXspace.org.

Using Teacher Aides to Support Hybrid Classes

There seems to be a consensus that it’s quite challenging to manage in-person and remote students simultaneously in a “HyFlex” format. Some folks reported using TA’s in the classroom, but they’re mostly there to assist with instruction, not troubleshoot technology.  In light of the pandemic, TA’s were often thrust into a technology support role. Several participants liked the idea of having a student assistant in the classroom to support faculty and/or online to facilitate virtual student activities. One campus person said they’re using embedded peer tutors. “We found a way to have a peer tutor in most first-year synchronous remote courses, and they helped instructors moderate chat, facilitate breakout rooms, etc. It really helped engagement and morale, and the tutors got a good remote work-study job.’

Making Use of Every Space

Several campuses converted or leveraged every available space, whether or not it was conducive to active learning. One participant shared, “We took over the basketball arena, the library, and the Student Union. We made them ALL classrooms, so we can meet the CDC requirements and still hold our capacities.” At Wake Forest, a large chapel was modified for general use classes and choir practice – masked and 10-feet apart. “It’s not a wonderful learning space, it has fixed seating, no work surfaces, and minimal writing surface, but we’re making the most of it.”

At Old Dominion University in Virginia, a hotel ballroom where weddings are often held was converted into a huge indoor venue. “We converted those two classrooms and restricted the classes to be scheduled as in-person only. We installed some portable PA equipment, and the students learned they had to speak up. There just wasn’t a whole lot you can do to convert those kinds of spaces – but we were able to make good use of what we had. We also converted several non-academic spaces to temporary instructional spaces, adding portable whiteboards and tech, including this classroom we created out of a cafeteria in our student union.” 

Not surprisingly, several campuses are leveraging outdoor spaces, weather permitting. One campus noted, “Our music ensembles and classes used the outdoor spaces extensively in the fall. We’re waiting for good weather to return so we can move them outside again.” Of course, bad weather isn’t as much of an issue in southern California, where tents are being used for classrooms at UCSD, and they’re planning to deploy tents and use outdoor auditoriums, like the Open Air Theater, at SDSU. In New York, “They set up a field hospital on our campus, and we considered using it for large outdoor classes.” Of course, in these outdoor or cavernous indoor spaces, acoustics is always an issue.

Tools for Student Engagement are Crucial

According to Sean Hauze, Director of Instructional Technology Services at SDSU, “Once faculty got the basics down of remote instruction, they said, okay now my biggest challenge is student engagement — that’s been the number one focus.” For teaching and engaging students, many faculty are touting interactive video with in-video quizzing, with tools such as Canvas Studio and PlayPosit, which can be useful for in-person courses and online sync and asynchronous courses. Other faculty see benefits in using peer review tools in their courses, such as Turnitin PeerMark, and having students do peer critiques in synchronous sessions using Zoom breakout rooms.  Panelist Katie Hughes described how she makes extensive use of breakout rooms with her Rhetoric and Writing Studies students at SDSU. Collaborative cloud-based tools like Google Suite, with shared folders, drives, and docs, are handy for student work, whether inside or outside the LMS. One participant mentioned an increased demand for AR/VR/XR tools, particularly for students who could not participate in planned international study abroad experiences.

What Has Been Your Greatest Challenge?

Faculty faced new challenges in both in-person and virtual teaching.

For in-person teaching with masks and social distancing, it’s more difficult to ”monitor the room.” “It’s harder to read facial cues through masks and conversation, and group work is somewhat inhibited,” shared one participant. Another described their fall 2020 journey, “We faced a two-week pause in in-person instruction in September due to COVID.  Unfortunately, after our return to in-person instruction following that period, many students and faculty chose to remain online/remote. This made the in-person experience less than ideal for those on campus.”

For online synchronous classes, some faculty are finding it’s more challenging. They’re trying to cover the same amount of material. Still, each interactive activity takes extra time to ensure everyone has access to the tools or collaborative documents, assign breakout rooms, and sense when to bring the whole class back together. Someone said they’d “love to see a Zoom feature that lets you monitor rooms without actually going into them.”

Procuring necessary learning space equipment is nearly impossible.

For some, procurement was nearly impossible, with huge pressure to find equipment. According to John Adamo from Stonybrook University, “One of the greatest challenges was ordering the necessary A/V equipment before the first day of classes, including furniture (lecterns/podiums), vetting the system to work with Zoom and utilizing dual monitors with the ability to annotate.  As Jarrod mentioned, we did installations in 60+ spaces.” (Below is an example picture of what John shared) “This is what we came up with – A Dell Optiplex computer with dual Display port outputs and USB-C output, dual Viewsonic monitors (one for Zoom, the other for PowerPoint), a Logitech Meetup camera to view students and a Logitech “eyeball” type of camera to view the instructor (BCC-950).  This system also has to work with our existing Creston AV / Projection systems in lecture halls and classrooms.” John can be reached for questions at john.adamo@stonybrook.edu


Finding space for students to study and attend online classes is hard

COVID spikes cause campus communities to shift back and forth on the CDC color-coded risk level chart, making it difficult to manage expectations and spaces. When campuses partially reopen, some students attend classes on campus while others attend online, making it “tricky to adjust and navigate.” One participant shared, “We just went through an early semester spike in January and it shut down our main library, where students had been relying on study carrels ‘on demand.’ We heard a lot of concern from students who were trying to get to online classes in between in-person classes and couldn’t get back to their off-campus apartment in time with just 10 minutes in between classes.”

Unused spaces such as small classrooms are being leveraged for small group work, but students don’t necessarily know how to find them. “We have so many small seminar rooms just sitting empty right now. Many of them have been identified, with furniture inside with socially distanced zones marked off but they’re not scheduled for classes. So we’ve created a website where we continuously update study space availability for students, then refer students to our reservation system to sign up for an empty classroom. Right now, that’s not an automated process. It’s basically about getting the word out and letting students know there is available space to meet demand.”

Providing Wifi and equipment to students, and staff in need

When ‘home’ is where the learning and work is happening rather than on campus, issues of connectivity continue to be a challenge. A lot of students used hotpoints at campus parking lots, Starbucks, etc. One campus uses hotspot maps from IT to help diagnose density gaps for wifi. Another campus distributed WiFi hotspots to students and staff in need. “One of the things we did making the shift in March was to create a methodology for identifying students who would need to take home a WiFi hotspot, as well as some staff who were pushed to work remotely.”

Planning for Fall 2021 ‘worst-case scenarios’

With Fall 2021 course registration expected to begin later this semester, many are finding it necessary to plan for a “worst-case scenario,” in which classroom capacities remain restricted due to physical distancing constraints but with many more F2F classes. This is forcing some campuses to modify the fall course schedule so that they can take advantage of available classrooms during non-peak hours. Others are exploring ‘non-traditional’ and additional temporary spaces, as previously described. Faculty are being encouraged to consider course designs, instructional activities, and assignments that could work either in-person or online ‘just in case.’

Successes You’ve Experienced Through all This?

Accelerated faculty adoption of technology, new pedagogies

A significant number of instructors now have greater proficiency and comfort with a variety of technology tools that support active learning.  At SDSU, an extensive faculty development program was launched, the “Flexible Course Design Institute” during the Summer of 2020, with plans for the fourth edition of the Institute for Summer 2021, supported by a drop-in virtual faculty support center.

Greater camaraderie, greater empathy

A common thread expressed by the group was how this experience has brought us closer together and created new connections or deepened existing collegial relationships. For many learning space designers, support teams, and IT/AV staff, “There was a sense that everyone had each others’ back.” For faculty who had to learn a new way of teaching and working online from home, they were able to consider, “What is this like for the students?” Faculty were also able to connect with other faculty through newly created listservs and professional development cohorts like never before. Students were grateful for in-person experiences, and safe, socially distant courses wherever possible.

Do you find yourself nodding your head and thinking, “Yep, that’s what we did!”, or wishing you could inquire further into the stories shared here? Feel free to tap into the FLEXspace community which has 6000 members worldwide and growing. Join other members who are sharing stories and resources to help you plan, get ideas for designs or faculty support, and find resources to help “make the case” for learning environments investment. The FLEXspace team continues to encourage contributions from campuses in order to curate into useful collections based on needs. Please reach out to us to let us know what you’re looking for, and we’ll do our best to find it!

BIOS

LISA STEPHENS, Ph.D.
Assistant Dean, Digital & Online Education
School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, The University at Buffalo
Project Director, FLEXspace.org 

Lisa serves as Assistant Dean at the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences leading the Office of Digital & Online Education, and also serves as Senior Strategist for Academic Innovation in the Office of the SUNY Provost.  She enjoys an appointment in the UB Department of Communication as an Adjunct Associate Professor. Her SUNY portfolio includes leadership of FLEXspace.org™ and serves as the SUNY Partner Manager for Coursera.

REBECCA V. FRAZEE, EdD
Faculty, Learning Design & Technology Program
San Diego State University
Associate Director, FLEXspace.org 

Rebecca teaches in the Learning Design and Technology program at San Diego State University and is the FLEXspace.org Manager. She enjoys experimenting with new technology tools and techniques to support active learning and team collaboration in higher ed and the workplace. Rebecca is a singer and songwriter and has been having fun with asynchronous ‘socially distanced’ recording projects this year. Contact Rebecca at rfrazee@sdsu.edu, and Twitter at @rebeccafrazee.


The Flexible Learning Environments eXchange (FLEXspace.org) is an award winning community and open digital repository for higher ed that houses a growing collection of user-contributed content “by campuses for campuses,” with detailed examples of formal and informal learning spaces ranging from multimedia studios, makerspaces, computer labs, hybrid/flexible classrooms, and huddle spaces to large exhibit spaces, simulation labs and renovated lecture halls. FLEXspace was launched in 2012 as a collaboration between SUNY, the CSU Cal State University system, and Foothill-DeAnza Community College District and has since grown to include over 5000 members from 1400 campuses around the world, with PennState joining the partnership in 2019. FLEXspace won the Campus Technology Innovators Award in 2016, and the California Higher Education (CHEC) Collaborative Conference Focus on Efficiency Award in 2018.  

FLEXspace users include practitioners, experts and decision makers in higher education, K-12, libraries, and museums who are focused on campus planning and facilities, learning technology, A/V systems integration, instructional design, teaching, and research. The FLEXspace portal provides a sophisticated suite of features that enables users to document and showcase their own campus learning spaces, share research, best practices and tools for planning,


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