Dear Colleagues,
This is another update on resources to help you prepare for fall term teaching.
The Faculty Hub has completed the first short course on Effective Online and Blended Teaching. A second cohort with more than 115 of your colleagues is underway. You may still join today and catch up on prior content online before tomorrow’s 10 a.m. class on Zoom. Please email the Faculty Hub now and we will enroll you! (Note: Both sessions have now ended. If you were unable to attend the course but would like to gain access to those materials, we just need to add you. Please email us for access.)
Sandra Joireman’s email on Friday noted that the ACS Pedagogy Workshop dates and registration are now available.
The first ACS workshop is this Wednesday, June 24, 1-2:30 pm EDT: Purposeful Planning for the Distinctive Learning Experiences of Small, Residential Liberal Arts Colleges. We are hoping to see you there! [Full disclosure, I am involved in this one]
A number of collaborative ACS working groups will share materials by August 1- some of you will want to review these for advice and resources when they become available. From our faculty, Joanna Wares, Marcella Torres, Laura Browder, and Patricia Herrera are contributors.
Faculty have questions about teaching with a mask on. I want to share some work by a colleague at Roanoke College (attached) on the issue of teachinTeaching in Masks and Shields – An Experimentg in face masks and shields (note that shields are not currently allowed as replacements for masks).
Last week, a group of UR faculty and staff had a chance to speak in a large lecture room with masks on and social distancing. My experience is similar to what Chris Lee reported. You will have to be more aware of the pace and enunciation of your speech. As Chris noted, some masks slip from proper positioning as they get moist and with continual chin and jaw movements, as would happen when you are teaching. Wearing a tight-fitting mask seems to help minimize slippage and tighter masks elevate the need to be intentional about enunciation. Some have found that having a mask with a built-in wire to mold around your nose reduces the fog on glasses, and may help keep the mask in place.
My take home— speaking with a mask on is not the part of teaching I am looking forward to this fall. But, I can make some adaptations to make it work. It will help me to practice with it. There is some teaching (music, languages, theatre come to mind) where the use of masks will be even more challenging. My current best idea for this is: hold classes those classes outside in open spaces without masks, if allowed (with distancing). I know it does not address all issues (acoustics).
Best wishes,
Linda
Director, Faculty Hub