Teaching In the Shadow of COVID-19 The spring semester and summer sessions of 2020 were unprecedented at Mars Hill University and across the nation. From March through August, all classes at MHU were conducted online and professors that have long built their teaching style around the value of personal contact suddenly found themselves teaching across the impersonal space of the internet, many for the first time. One professor shares her thoughts and those of her colleagues during this time of intense adjustment. by Felice Lopez Bell Assistant Professor of English
This spring semester, I taught composition classes and an interdisciplinary class on the undead. In the course, my students and I explore the role of the zombie in contemporary literature, film, and other artistic forms of expression from across the world. Before March, I’d never taught online. I knew that this semester would be different for my colleagues across campus: the Information Technology Department gave out laptops and WIFI hotspots, the Center for Student Success moved their tutoring services online, and faculty adjusted their courses with little time for preparation.
One afternoon my home internet connection was weak, so I walked to Cornwell Hall to grade poetry, short stories, comics, and short films about zombies. When I left the building, the sun had disappeared. The streets were deserted: the sidewalk in front of Papa Nick’s was empty. It was the same street, the same buildings, the same students, but it felt eerily and completely changed. The virus may have killed the semester that we expected, but the semester rose again and shuffled toward the future.
In the Fine Arts
I normally spend hours with my ENG 111 students in my office reading rough drafts aloud and discussing revisions. In ENG 112, we use the library resources to find, evaluate, and utilize research materials--easy to do with a classroom located in Renfro Library. In the undead class, we watch films, discuss Haitian religion and history, touch on concepts from race and gender in film to Bella Lugosi and George Romero.
Shane Mickey, assistant professor of art, highlights the brighter side of the shift to online classes: “Mars Hill has a schedule that does not allow studiobased courses to have long contact hours like most other institutions. That means some things are harder to cover in depth such as art history, contemporary field work, and deeper critical discourse beyond students’ work. I used the move online to fill in some of those gaps!
From March to May, I met with my students on Zoom or over the phone to talk about their papers: instead of 15-minute conferences, we met for 30 minutes. Instead of interactive classroom activities, I created videos, online quizzes, and interactive digital exercises. We peer reviewed by email. Students texted me their papers or photographs of assignments. They submitted work in the days following funerals and hospital visits. I relaxed deadlines and did away with the attendance policy.
Scott Lowery, our drawing and painting professor, at first was perplexed by what to do and started with standard approaches, terminology, research etc. Scott saw an opportunity that would require some work. He used a copy stand to video his demonstrations for his drawing techniques class and had students attempt them remotely. Studio professors are not able to make suggestions and corrections in real time with online processes, but
12 Mars Hill, the Magazine | Fall 2020
