Colleagues:
A little over a month ago, we found ourselves in the unprecedented position of having to alter the course of a semester in two short weeks. Each of you had to rethink (and in some cases revise) the trajectory of your courses, how you were going to move your students to the finish lines of your courses, and what those finish lines even looked like. We, along with dozens of units on campus, began collecting and sharing resources focusing on topics such as how to move a class online, how to use the technological tools to execute your class online, how to translate what you were used to doing in person to an online format, how to deal with the stress and anxiety your students were experiencing, and how to deal with the stress and anxiety you were experiencing, to name just a few. By all accounts, within a two week span of time, you were able to collectively stop a large, moving ship and alter its course. Your efforts made a difference and while our last third of the semester may not be as elegant and graceful as the first two-thirds of the semester, there is a last third of the semester – congratulations to you on that achievement!
Now, we are faced with answering the question of what’s next. Last week, we learned that all summer school sessions would be held online and we know that Marshall, along with every other institution across the country is talking about what to do in the fall. While we do not yet know what the fall will look like, we can start getting ready for a different fall – now. As we pivot from crisis mode (spring) to urgent mode (summer) to unknown mode (fall), there are things we can do to be prepared. To that end, the Center for Teaching and Learning is also shifting modes. Our office is “open” (https://www.marshall.edu/ctl/) and we have re-organized our resource pages and updated our programming to facilitate making these shifts.
- Center for Teaching and Learning (https://www.marshall.edu/ctl/)
- CTL Preparedness Plan for Teaching | Preparedness Plan Resources
- Teaching and Learning Cooperative (TLC): The TLC is a new professional development experience for faculty who benefit from working collaboratively on course design and development and having an imposed structure for the work to happen. We look forward to initiating this new workshop model, which will provide support now and long into the future. (Registration: https://tinyurl.com/ybs6bz7c )
The CTL website and Preparedness Plan for Teaching and associated resources are ready for your use now. Registration will be available soon for the TLC and will be announced via email from the Faculty Senate office. Additional training sessions will also be offered and those will also be announced through the Faculty Senate office.
We look forward to working with individuals, programs, and departments. Please let us know how else we can help.
Karen (mccomas@marshall.edu)
April (fugett5@marshall.edu)
Jenny (jennifer.morgan@marshall.edu)