Using technologies such as Zoom in our teaching can give students the opportunity to interact with us – and each other – in real time.Ìý While we in the OTL recommend that no more than 50% of your course be synchronous, providing at least some opportunities for these real-time interactions can help create the sense of community and connection that is so critical in this time when many of our students are likely feeling isolated and disconnected.Ìý
In a Town Hall conversation that drew nearly 750 viewers, University ofÌýDenver Chancellor Jeremy Haefner brought the 91¿´Æ¬ community together virtually to share stories and reflect on the ways teaching, learning and social engagement have evolved over the past two months.
In this critical time for higher education and the economy, I am writing to let you know that we have been working closely with the government officials who are entrusted with deciding how to allocate COVID-19 emergency resources that could potentially benefit higher education institutions, including the 91¿´Æ¬.
These are not ordinary times. I think that our well-intentioned anxieties about not doing enough for our students are exacerbated because most of us do not teach online regularly. We aren’t sure how to calculate whether we are doing enough – or whether we might be doing too much. But doing too much can be exhausting. As Dean Danny McIntosh keeps reminding CAHSS faculty, this will be a long quarter, and we need to make sure that what we do is sustainable, for ourselves and our students, so that none of us burn out.
I invite students, faculty, staff, alumni and parents to join me and other community members for a digital conversation about how physical distance has impacted teaching, learning, wellbeing and our sense of community at 91¿´Æ¬.
