In November 2020, the University Council on Teaching surveyed BC faculty asking them to share what they learned about teaching in the various modalities offered during the Fall 2020 semester. The survey received 211 responses. Following the survey, the UCT and CTE facilitated six associated discussion sessions in November and December, three focused on teaching in the classroom and three focused on teaching online.
Not surprisingly, faculty shared a wide range of ideas for how they met the needs of the current moment, but amidst that diversity of perspectives, a few commonalities emerged. We identified six core themes that ran throughout the data. Follow the links below to read more about each theme and to find modality-specific strategies related to each.
We’ll continue to update this list of strategies as we hear more from faculty about what is working in their courses, so check back in on this page for updates if you’re in need of some inspiration. You can also see summaries of recommendations that are organized by modality rather than theme, if that’s how you would prefer to engage in the material.
When reviewing survey results and notes from the discussions, it was not surprising to hear that instructors also faced a number of challenges teaching during the past semester, including a significant uptick in labor, the need to access and become familiar with new technologies, and the demands of building class community in a new modality.