I consider myself a fairly tech savvy person. I’m a former web project manager, I’ve been a webmaster, I have created and run countless web projects, but I wasn’t prepared for the sudden adjustment to teaching all my classes and taking all of my courses online. In my mind if I had time to prepare it would’ve been way better, but isn’t that always the case?
I’m down to my last week of online classes – thank goodness. Although I don’t see this ending anytime soon. No one has made the official announcement yet but I can’t imagine school being back to normal in the fall. How could it? College campuses are like germ incubators, COVID-19 would run through dorms and classrooms so fast. In order to protect the students, faculty and staff I can’t imagine teaching being the way it used to be, at least not just yet. Not without new protocols or guidance. And as hard as it was for my students to take COVID-19 seriously, I don’t see them wanting to take all their classes online or following all the protocols that could be set once they get to campus. It’s all still up in the air.
So what can I do? Plan. Plan for both online and in person classes. Try to figure out the best ways to make my classes engaging and worthwhile to students. Prepare myself for worst case scenarios so I don’t feel like I’m in quicksand. All I can do is try to be the best educator I can be.
Professor DWJ 