How a New Question Drove Innovation in my Course Reinvention
Switching from in-person to remote learning has been an incredible challenge on so many fronts. First, is the tech. If we weren't using it before, we are definitely using it now. Second, is the engagement. If it wasn't good in person, it'll be worse via Zoom. Third is the curriculum, it was built for in-person delivery and now it has to be delivered online. Fortunately, we've had some time to not only get used to virtual, but also embrace it a little. However, that doesn't mean it's all good. I had to make the switch to remote teaching back in March 2020 and that was very hard in the middle of the semester. But then I had the summer to reflect, reimagine, and reinvent my approach.
It was time to figure out how to teach online or how to deliver my plan via video or the internet. However, every time I thought of a way to put my teaching plan online, I felt the quality of the experience would suffer.
As I got back to work, I remembered something my coach always tells me.
WHAT and WHY I want something is more important than the HOW
Think back to anything you achieved that you wanted so very much. I bet you did not know exactly HOW you were going to achieve it. You started on the path, things happened, and your plan changed. Well, SOMETHING BIG has happened and it's time for our plan to change.
I know what I want - to deliver all of the student outcomes I have always set for my courses. I know why I want it - because I want my students to break through limiting beliefs and do what they didn't think they could do.
So Am I Even Asking the Right Question?
This drove me to consider if the question 'How do I teach online?' addresses the essential problem I need to solve. I considered if answering this question would give way to the innovative solutions we need in our new reality. This question seems to focus on one particular HOW rather than opening up the possibilities to other HOWs. It focuses on the delivery method more than it does on the outcome I want to deliver for my students.
When we ask the question, 'How do I teach online?' at best we start thinking of ways to take everything we planned and put it on the internet.
Putting education on the internet is the equivalent of putting radio on the internet. While we could ask the question: how do I broadcast radio through the internet? That question would never give way to a solution like Spotify - a digital music, podcast, and video streaming service - which answers very different questions, like:
how do we introduce people to new music they will actually enjoy?
how do we help our customers find and listen to new music they will enjoy as much as their current favorites?
Those carefully crafted questions drive innovative solutions like Spotify.
Asking a Better Question to Drive Innovation
These are some of the new questions I considered in order to reimagine my approach for a virtual course experience:
How do we teach via long distance? (this question removes the method of delivery and replaces it with the essential challenge of distance)
How do I get my students to the successful completion of this course via long distance? (this question sets the result or outcome as the target that must be met, given the essential challenge of long distance)
These questions motivated and kept me focused on the targets I get most excited about:
How do I drive learning and performance via long distance? (this question focuses on the learning experience of our students given a new reality)
How do I unleash student creativity and critical thinking via long distance? (this question focuses on more specific objectives given a new reality)
How do I drive growth in student performance via long distance? (this question keeps us focused on students getting better in class)
How do I make sure my students receive maximum feedback on their work via long distance? (this particular question drove me to borrow a strategy from a short case study I share below)
Necessity is the Mother of Innovation
If there was ever a time where we need innovation, it is now. We have an urgent need to throw away old questions and replace it with ones that drive innovative solutions.
Seeking Inspiration: How One School Solved The Distance Problem over 50 Years Ago
This short case study is based on my personal experience as a student at Walden University, an online university. Walden University designed a solution that starts with the target in mind (i.e. student outcomes), instead of the delivery method (i.e. the technology).
All throughout 2009 and 2010, I pursued a masters of science degree in psychology through Walden University. After graduating, it occurred to me that it was one of the most effective models for distance learning.
Long ago, Walden University solved the distance learning problem, helping working professionals earn graduate degrees without quitting their jobs.
During my two years at Walden, I did not have a single video class session. Instead, they created an efficient and effective learning experience that held steady throughout the entire two years. Here are a few highlights that you could apply right away in your classroom. I applied the fourth one a couple of weeks after the 2020 lockdowns were initiated.
Weekly Routine
All courses followed a 7-day schedule. Monday was day 1 all the way through day 7 on Sunday. All throughout the semester, courses would follow a pretty standard recipe of written assignments due on specific days. This allowed students to learn one system that would apply to all courses thus solving the age-old problem of having to learn each and every professor’s “system.” Switching styles, class by class, semester by semester, is like moving the basket's location and height in a basketball court from game to game. Constantly moving this target hinders improvement in performance from semester to semester. This weekly recipe made it significantly easier to transition smoothly from one course/semester to the next with little friction and allowed students to focus on the subject material instead of the delivery method.
Weekly Reading Time
Since we could not be face to face, Walden University replaced classroom time with reading and writing time. Each week started with a listing of 5-10 scholarly articles or text readings we needed to complete in order to complete that week’s assignments. This heavy emphasis on reading positioned students to significantly improve their reading ability, performance, and base of field knowledge. I am happy to report, the reading I completed during that time still serves me 10 years later as I am able to recall key ideas, studies, and concepts that I make me quicker to notice, apply, or follow up on for solving today’s challenges. Making this reading more effective and purposeful were the carefully designed weekly writing assignments.
Weekly Writing Time
The other critical ingredient to the Walden University formula was its significant emphasis on writing. Each week, in nearly every class I took (except for statistics), I was responsible for leveraging the 5-10 scholarly articles in order to respond to 3 powerful questions in the form three separate written assignments. These writing assignments challenged me to leverage and integrate all that I read into powerful arguments that developed and evolved my ability to think and create new ideas. If Walden's mission was to develop critical thinkers, well, mission accomplished!
Weekly Discussion Posts
Since we could not debate with our classmates face to face, each week, one of our assignments was to publish a discussion post, based on our response to a question prompt that also had to leverage the reading list provided at the beginning of the week. The second part of this assignment was to respond with critical and constructive feedback to at least two of our classmates. This often resulted in great discussion and debate and taught us how to defend our positions and also how to respectfully consider other people’s ideas and challenges to our own.
Putting this into Action
As an educator, I am challenged to figure out how to complete my current teaching commitments, that were originally designed for in-person delivery, via long distance. Rather than asking myself how do I take what I planned and put it on the internet, I asked myself, how do I get my students to the finish line of this course via long distance? One of the ideas I borrowed from Walden was the discussion post and reply. This solution has significantly increased student participation, via long distance, in the form of high quality and constructive feedback. In fact, I argue this solution has driven higher engagement levels that we had in some of our in-person class sessions! It is likely I will be carrying this strategy into the redesign of this course when we re-emerge from remote teaching.