10 minute read
ARTS & CULTURE
add to concerns over intellectual property. Other professors like Orion Kidder echoed that sentiment. Kidder told Tri City News, “Remote learning has put an added burden on instructors and staff.”
One instructor, posting on a Facebook undergraduate group, wrote that demands for hybrid learning without considering instructors “devalues teacher effort and reduces [them] to unseen, unpaid labour.” A student who had been enrolled in a hybrid class said of their experience: “The poor professor was sitting in front of a computer and trying to engage with students online and at the same time the students who were there in person.” They added they don’t feel hybrid is the “solution to this complex problem.”
HYBRID LEARNING IN ACTION
I spoke with Hannah McGregor, publishing professor at SFU who recently self-hybridized two of her courses, PUB371 and PUB448, to find out more about her experience. McGregor clarified hybrid status can be set by SFU but her classes did not have that official designation.
She made the decision to offer hybrid options to increase accessibility for students who might not be able to attend in-person. For her, this meant giving students the option to attend classes remotely. Her course used Discord for class communications, and took advantage of the microphones and video capabilities that SFU classrooms already have to livestream the class.
For the type of conversation-driven classes McGregor was teaching, a hybrid model “wasn’t ideal.” However, she stressed that lecture style courses can allow for less dependence on in-person attendance: “I don’t understand why anybody would deliver a lecture in person anymore.”
While the hybrid approach may sound preferable for students, McGregor said this meant “teaching two courses simultaneously.” She added this approach also put stress on in-person students who had to participate in the Discord and in-person discussions at the same time. According to her, keeping the online students engaged felt “really unfair” because it involved more labour from the in-person students. Because of this conflict, McGregor gave up her hybrid group work approach over the Spring semester. She said this resulted in the online students being “a lot less engaged” because they didn’t feel like they were “in a community” with their other classmates.
POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
According to McGregor, increasing resources is one of the ways hybrid learning can be expanded fairly into our institutions. Hybrid course delivery “requires some fairly significant redesign of your courses and creation of new materials,” which is a lot of work for instructors. An “ideal hybrid class,” McGregor said, would have two professors to engage the two groups of students. Moreover, before the pandemic, “there were resources in place to help instructors develop online courses, and that was considered to be work that one should be paid for,” she said. Due to the sudden transition to online, staff were expected to do a “significant amount of extra work for free,” she added. “We do it because we care about our students [ . . . ] but I would really like to see hybrid course development being recognized as work because it can be done really, really well. You just need time and resources to actually figure out how to create those courses,” she said. McGregor’s experience speaks to the need for resources to facilitate fair course hybridization, which is still in its early phases.
BLENDED LEARNING: SFU’S ALTERNATIVE TO HYBRID
SFU’s solution to the hybrid learning debate has been to implement blended learning through the Centre for Educational Excellence (CEE). Project manager for online and blended learning, Brian Lorraine, had some helpful information about the program.
Lorraine explained hybrid models usually involve the simultaneous delivery of a course to an in-person and remote audience. Alternatively, blended learning offers a set schedule alternating between asynchronous online classes and synchronous in-person classes. Simply put, blended learning reduces the “portion of the regular face-to-face class sessions in a given course,” Lorraine said.
This option offers greater flexibility for students with scheduling conflicts, disabilities, and other considerations. According to the CEE webpage, blended courses are “associated with higher student satisfaction” because they allow for flexibility and community.
As an alternative to full-scale hybridization, blended learning can be effective when thoughtfully designed, he said. Lorraine said the CEE “leads a 10-week blended learning design cohort of instructors every semester, with an offer to collaborate for an additional semester on building course components in Canvas.”
SFU is “in the early stages of a 2-year pilot of blended learning,” having offered over 30 blended learning courses, Lorraine said. He anticipates “significant growth” the longer the program is in use.
MOVING FORWARD
Universities can create a more equitable learning environment by providing choice surrounding in-person attendance. For students with accessibility needs and scheduling conflicts, the flexibility of hybrid learning seemingly offers a viable solution. At the same time, hybrid learning is not a perfect system and adopting it without proper resources can be stressful for instructors.
Blended learning may be an effective alternative that supports the needs of both students and professors through its intentionally mixed course design. However, it’s not perfect either as it still requires some in-person learning.
Another solution may be increasing the number of remote courses available.
Online learning is a new and evolving field, and many of the practices we adopt will be through trial and error. While SFU students, administrators, and instructors have different perspectives on hybridity, a need for resources for students and professors should underline the continuing conversations about online learning.
ANNOY YOUR PEERS Top 10 ordinary things for your classmates to endure
How to distract your classmates during this semester
YASMIN VEJS SIMSEK // PEAK ASSOCIATE
1. A pineapple
Why not bring this mystery to class? You could either rock your pineapple like a baby, bring it to the teacher like an out-of-the-boxthinking teacher’s pet, or whip it out of your backpack halfway through class and apologize for having to eat it. The future is clear (and tropical)!
Bring a cardboard cutout of Leonardo DiCaprio to get your classmates talking — I speak from personal experience. You can ask Leo anything, like a Magic 8-ball. But a silent one you can dress up with anything, like a lei! Spice it up a little bit by feeding him during lunch break, or better yet, ask permission to use the bathroom, because Leo’s gotta go.
3. A really, really big hat
Go all out and wear one that is simply just as high as you are tall. You might get some nasty looks from the classmates who made the fatal decision to sit behind you, but they don’t understand fashion. For the full effect, it is crucial that you sit in the front row. If, or more likely, when, someone asks you to take your hat off, pretend you have absolutely no idea about any hat supposedly on your head.
4. A human-sized teddy bear
It’s imperative to treat this teddy bear as if it’s your life-long partner. Stage a meet-cute at the classroom entrance. Hold its paw and bat your eyelashes at it. Your classmates will be thrilled at this display of affection. Defend your love if anyone comes at you and invite them to the wedding in the fall. Manifest your future career in the classroom. This item is great because it guarantees you a seat on the bus on your way to class as well. And you get to pick exactly where you will be sitting in class, obviously. Ideally you would sit in the back so you can comment on everything the prof says and make sure they improve for the next shot. For full effect, get one of the high director’s chairs, so you can overlook your whole film crew/class.
7. An old PC computer
An oldie but a goodie. Bring the computer, keyboard, and monitor in all its glory. The clickety-clack of the external keyboard will ensure everyone knows you’re into the classics. Remember to arrive at least 20 minutes early to set you your whole home office — wires and all.
9. A scroll of the 10 commandments
An old-timey scroll roll with the 10 commandments written with quill and ink. Every time the prof asks a question, you roll out the scroll and find your answer there. When reading a commandment aloud, declare it with the same vigor that Moses would have done. This six-foot long beauty from Subway will feed your entire class. You’re not going to, though. You deserve this. You’ll probably need a hand carrying it into the classroom, the helping person can have a bite. Make sure you eat it as one long sandwich, no cutting it into normal-sized sandwiches. Bonus points if your sandwich has tuna and pickles.
8. A six-foot tall fern
It’s bring-your-bestie-to-class day and who better to bring than your BFF, Fern, whom you’ve raised since the lockdown of ‘20. You’re so proud of Fern and you obviously want to give them the best impression of your studies. The two of you should get in the middle of the class, right in front of the projector.
10. Your mom
This may or may not have been personally tested out. Bringing your mother to class is how you really make an impression on your classmates. To really go all in, ask her permission every time you want to do or say something like when you were a kid. Or exclaim with embarrassment “STOP IT, MOM!” every time she breathes.
ILLUSTRATIONS: Alyssa Umbal / The Peak
FRISKY ACADEMICS
YA lover disappointed SFU isn’t like their books
The world did not bless me with main character syndrome
EMILY HUANG // SFU STUDENT
For many international students transitioning to university, the first year of school proves to be full of surprises, excitement, and disappointment. Mitzi Bitzy is among those first year students. A young woman passionate in literature and a selfproclaimed “average YA enjoyer,” requested to speak to The Peak, stating it was important she warned fellow YA enthusiasts about setting their expectations too high.
“At first glance, it seemed that SFU had everything. A café situated in a charming little street, the goth-like interior architecture of the AQ building, and the chance to talk to the smart, quiet guy at the corner of a large theater,” Bitzi began hopefully. The freshman had even moved into the university residence area with hopes of maximizing her chance of living an “alternate universe (known to the fanfictioninitiated as AU) college/university” life.
“The world unfortunately has its ways of reminding you that you are not the star of a school drama,” Bitzi said disappointedly. “So much for being the hero of your own story.”
When asked about the experience that prompted this conversation, Bitzi said it was a culmination of disappointments starting from when she decided to use the wheel of names to choose her first semester courses. Seeing our crew’s confused expressions, she enthusiastically told The Peak, “In YA novels and fanfiction, the quiet, brooding guy would normally use this tactic because he wasn’t sure about what major he would declare himself into. He would then find a ‘sunshine significant other’ in the class and the two would get it on,” she said enthusiastically.
Bitzi continued, stating that she used this method to test the theory, but to no avail. “This calls for a change in tactic. If you can’t join ‘em, ship ‘em,” she said, grinning ominously. “That reminds me, my roommate and I are taking the same class alongside her childhood friend.”
The second incident that left Bitzi aghast was when her “found family ghosted her” after they were finished with a group project. Having used the wheel of names to pick her courses, Bitzi found herself in an introductory business course notoriously known for its dreaded final group project. “We’ve been through so much — prepared to succeed or fail gloriously together. I thought at this point that we were a found family.” Despite that, when Bitzi expressed her desire for their relationship to continue even after the semester, her eclectic group members did not remember her. The last incident, according to Bitzi, was a “funny, but not really” case. Upon hearing the many paranormal hotspots of the Burnaby parking lot, she and her roommate decided to explore the campus “Shane and Ryan style.”
“My roommate, Ari, was like, maybe we can find sexy Lucifer or whatever,” she chuckled.
Unfortunately, despite the gothic architecture of SFU, there were no spooks to be had. No magic cupboards, nor a magic wall that led to a wizarding world.
ILLUSTRATIONS: Stella Nguyen / The Peak
