We have made our way through!

Written by Katherine Kohler, TLC Learning Designer

FACING UNCERTAINTY

In our experience supporting faculty and staff during this difficult and unprecedented time, we at TLC have been humbled by the effort, resilience, flexibility, and compassion that instructors have shown to their students and to one another. The past months have forced us to contend with extraordinary events and challenges including a pandemic, extreme temperatures, landslides, and floods. Even though we have faced events so gripping that they could be read or watched in the plot of a thriller, we have done so together and because of this, our community has grown, and we have made our way through.

After the holidays, members of the Teaching and Learning Centre were eager to return to supporting faculty. At the office, we were met with a flood caused by a burst pipe due to freezing temperatures. Once again, we pivoted to work from home. Our own experience of facing continuous challenges seems to mirror the experiences of those that we support. Faculty have gone from teaching face-to-face to online and back again at least twice within these past two terms. They have had to adjust their lessons and course material to accommodate students in a variety of exceptional situations. Our experiences as educators share underlying themes, amidst all this transition, of change, uncertainty, and the unpredictable nature of extenuating events.

PLANNING IS PARAMOUNT

While we cannot take away the uncertainty of this time, we at TLC can continue to support you as we face these new challenges in teaching. The most proactive thing we can do is to help you with the planning and preparation of your courses. If we prepare for the unexpected, we can minimize the stress, anxiety, and amount of work involved in any challenges we may face ahead.

LET US HELP YOU PLAN

We know that many faculty members are teaching hybrid courses, and many have adapted parts of their face-to-face courses to be taught online. We can also help you to explore other options. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for every course, however, we can say with certainty that providing a variety of learning opportunities for your students can help you to meet their needs when things do not go as planned. Some of the areas we can explore with you are:

Increasing asynchronous learning opportunities in your course

Learning techniques for creating an engaging interactive virtual classroom

Assisting you to create purposeful, reusable, and sharable content for your courses

Teaching active learning strategies

Brainstorming and problem solving

Guiding you to resources and tech tools

Exploring various approaches to assessment

METHODS OF SUPPORT

We are happy to support you in whatever way fits your schedule.

Sign up for a workshop

Enroll in a MicroCourse

Book a 1-1 appointment with a Learning Designer or an Educational Developer

Sign up for ongoing support with a designated tech-buddy

Request to watch an OnDemand video recording of one of our workshops

While the landscape of education may have changed over these past few years, our goals in TLC have not: we are still committed to supporting you in the preparation, delivery and improvement of your teaching and assessment.

CONTACT US
Asktlc@ufv.ca