When it was announced that UA was moving to remote learning, Dr. Heath Turner was not very hopeful. “To be honest, my very first thought was that this was going to be a catastrophe. We have a very large department, lots of hands-on teaching labs, and we run one of the largest study-abroad programs in the country,” said Turner, the chemical and biological engineering department head. Fortunately, he said, the switch turned out fine for his department. “In retrospect, I was really amazed at how quickly everyone adapted and the encouraging attitudes of the faculty, staff and students throughout the entire process,” Turner said. Turner’s wife has been homeschooling their three children for years. Other than some minor logistical issues, the adjustment to being at home all day was mostly on him. Dr. Heath Turner, chemical and biological engineering department head, and his children filmed a video for students graduating in May 2020. Turner wished the new alumni the best while his children played Pomp and Circumstance.
Gurbuz recorded herself presenting the most important course material for students to watch on their own time and then connected with them in live video chats during the regular class times. During those chats, she was able to answer questions and go through example problems. “I think overall they did learn, but overall my students commented that they really missed and preferred inperson education,” Gurbuz said. She picked up some best practices from the initial experience and has shortened some of her videos and clearly labeled the required ones so as not to overwhelm students with content. “Labeling would help them prioritize, and keeping them short would help them watch more,” Gurbuz said. More than anything else, the biggest hurdle for her was the social isolation, and she felt she wasn’t alone in her outlook. Students told her the classes brought a form of structure and routine to an uncertain time.
“I was encroaching on their turf,” he said. Instead of helping his children adapt to the new normal, they helped him. The family stepped in to do office work he needed help completing, like scanning homework and organizing documents. Plus, his son, who plays cello and piano daily, provided background music for his conference calls. He even recruited his children to play Pomp and Circumstance for a video he made for his department’s May graduates. “The College of Engineering posted the video on our homepage, and I got a lot of great feedback from our students,” Turner said. One downside to having everyone home at once was the stability of the internet connection, and spring storms didn’t help the matter. “One morning I had a live Zoom lecture scheduled, but my power was out due to storms. So, I quickly got in my car, drove over to my brother’s house and gave the lecture from my car, sitting in his driveway,” Turner said. Like most faculty, he used a combination of typed documents, recorded lessons and video conferencing to teach his classes. The department worked together to make it a good experience for their students.
“It is difficult to work on anything in isolation. Humans have great social needs,” Gurbuz said. “I think the biggest challenge for everyone, myself included, was psychological and finding ways to stay motivated, focused and on-task.”
“It took some adjustment, but I think it forced a lot of us to branch out and learn about some new technologies,” Turner said. “We had weekly faculty meetings via Zoom during this time, and we learned a lot of tips from each other, especially about administering tests remotely.”
After class, she had online office hours for more in-depth questions, which she said often centered around grading and other policy changes that came from the mid-semester switch to distance learning.
Overall, he feels the transition went well, and he was proud of his student’s performance.
“’Just do the best you can to learn, and the rest will work itself out. Don’t worry and stay healthy’ was the main message,” Gurbuz said.
“We were still able to finish the semester strong,” Turner said.
DRIVING INNOVATION
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