Charles Ungerleider, Professor Emeritus, The University of British Columbia
[permission to reproduce granted if authorship is acknowledged]
There is no doubt that the fall term was extremely
challenging for everyone. Many of the teachers with whom I have talked or
corresponded over the holidays are feeling guilty about the quality of their online
instruction. They know that they have not been prepared for teaching online and
believe that students are suffering as a result.
I have tried to explain to some of them that they know more
about online instruction than they think they know. I’ve done this by asking
them questions about their classroom teaching methods to get them to recognize
and make use of what they already know. I have distilled those conversations
into an interview format, calling upon what the teachers said in response to my
questions. My questions are in bold with a composite of the teachers’ answers beneath
edited for economy and clarity.
“What do you do in your classroom to reduce the
challenges students face when they confront new material?
I check to see what students already know about the
material. When I do that, I build upon what students know and can do and avoid
asking them to engage with material for which they do not have the necessary
prior knowledge or experience. I review with them what they know and can do.
I break the new material into small chunks or steps so that
students are not asked to bite off more than they can chew. What I mean by that
is that it is easier for me to check to see if they have mastered a small
amount of learning before I move on.
“What do you do if there are students who are struggling
to get to the next step?”
I build scaffolds and use cue cards or models to help them
along. I create diagrams of the processes I am asking them to follow or a timeline
or a chart. I use key terms or phrases as reminders of the ideas they are
trying to wrestle with. I prepare lots of examples so that, if a student is
struggling, I have a second or third or fourth example I can use. If I have
checked for prior understanding, I can usually link the material back to
something the student already knows or use an example within the student’s
frame of reference.
If there is a process or procedure that I am asking the
students to follow, I try to model it for them. As I am modelling the
procedure, I talk about what I am thinking at each step. I try to phrase what I
am thinking in terms that are familiar to the students. Linking to the
student’s prior knowledge or experience reminds them of what they know and shows
them they are being asked to make a small step up – not a big leap.
I try to build in frequent opportunities for practice for
two reasons. First, it allows me to observe them working through the problems,
checking their work for accuracy, and giving them hints or prompts that will
help them to succeed at the task. It builds their confidence to see their own
success. Second, if more than one or two students are struggling, I know that I
haven’t been successful in communicating the ideas or the process that I expect
them to learn. I need to go back and start that step again, but with a
different approach, examples, etc.
“What do you say or do for the students who are on track
to succeed or who have already succeeded in the task?”
I let them know that I recognize their success. But I try to
avoid saying, “good for you.” Someone is always saying “good for you,” but
that’s too vague. They need to know what specifically they have done well. I
say things like “you were careful in following each step,” “you remembered to
look for X,” or “you showed your work each step of the way.” If they are on
track, but not quite there, I try to nudge them in the right direction. “Check
to see if you have all of the steps in the right order,” “Where would I look to
see X?” or “Here’s an example that might be helpful” are some of the things I
say to give them a gentle push.
If they are working through a problem on paper or showing me
their work on a white board, I sometimes say, “let’s mark each of the steps to
see if they are all there.” Gently, but firmly providing little corrections and
feedback goes a long way to building understanding and confidence. Asking
students to use an assessment rubric that is familiar to them lets them check
their own work. If they do that often enough, checking their own work may
become habitual. That makes them more independent learners.
“What do you do when you are confident that students have
achieved the next level?”
Even when they have achieved the next level, they need
practice . . . and lots of it. I try to create opportunities for practice that
allow them to represent what they know. “Draw a diagram or make a chart,” “Find
examples that fit the model we’ve been working with,” “Teach [another student]
or teach me how to do that.”
“Is there anything that you’ve said that you cannot do
online?”
Not really. But when I teach online, I have tried to
overpackage the experience and made a lot of other mistakes. I really haven’t
checked for prior learning or broken things up as I would have in class. I’ve
spent too much time talking at students rather than with them. The lessons are
too long. Not enough examples. Too little practice. It’s hard to give feedback
online. But, no, you are right. In the classroom I have done what I described.
Now I need to put it into practice online.
Managing student behaviour, technology, and the learning
environment is very difficult in an online situation. My hunch: Online teaching
and its technologies threw teachers with sound teaching practices off their
game. If they did what they do with their students – inventory what they know –
the task might be a bit easier . . . but not easy.