STAYING NIMBLE

Staying Nimble

IN-CLASS, ONLINE ONLY, A COMBO OF EACH: TEACHING IN A COVID WORLD

BY SHAWN RYAN

Although students are spread out for social distancing and wearing face masks, teaching in a classroom can be just as nerve-wracking for the professor as the students.

Linda Hill knows. Linda Hill is doing it. Linda Hill tells students that, “Hey, we’re just like you.”

“It’s very anxiety-provoking to many people. Your faculty members are certainly not. They’re probably just as anxious as you are,” says Hill, coordinator for graduate courses in the nurse anesthesia program who teaches several face-to-face classes.

Adding to the stress are the extra steps that faculty must take when teaching in a classroom, she says.

“Setting up for each day’s lecture is cumbersome technically as well as making certain all the safety measures are being followed carefully,” she says.

With classes thrown into a whirlwind due to COVID-19, professors across campus are dealing with new and sometimes difficult realities. Some, like Hill, teach courses face-to-face. Laurel Rhyne, lecturer in the School of Nursing, has a blend of in-class and online courses. Christi Denton-Weber, also a lecturer in the school, is all online.

Each method has its own goods and bads.

Laurel Rhyne

Hybrid

The courses that Rhyne teaches—senior-level Professional Nursing and Medical-Surgical Nursing II— are in a hybrid format. Some face-to-face; some online. Quizzes, case studies and exams are the same whether in class or online, but there’s more flexibility online.

“The advantage to teaching hybrid allows for obstacles such as childcare, snow days and quarantine to be avoided,” she says. “I am a huge fan of faceto-face but am so incredibly thankful to have the ability to use the hybrid model as it allows information transfer and learning vital material to continue uninterrupted.”

Still, it is “challenging” to be an instructor for an online course, she says, and it’s even more challenging in nursing, especially for students.

“Communal learning and support is tremendously important in our program,” she says. “It is incredibly helpful to be in one space so that there is an ability (and comfort) to ask questions/clarification and for all to learn from it.

Christi Denton Weber

“For me personally, with limited visual connection to the students, it is hard to keep up the energy level during dense content delivery. This, in turn, can have a negative impact on student engagement and learning. I do try to stay cognizant of this and try to change my delivery but again, it can be challenging.”

Denton-Weber teaches two master’s level courses—Advanced Physical Assessment and Advanced Critical Care—and both are totally online. She thinks the set-up is excellent, but some think it’s not.

“There is an implication that the quality of online learning experiences is compromised and

diminished. However, the content of the class remains just as it would be delivered in a face-to-face scenario,” she says.

Online classes are taught live, giving students the chance to ask questions, but the courses’ information is available through online sources whenever the student needs to access it, she notes, “allowing students to participate together as well as consume information in a timeframe that is best suited to their lives.”

There are, however, some drawbacks for her, mostly in the lack of getting to know students on a one-to-one basis.

“I love getting to know students, chatting with them about their experiences, learning about them on a deeper level,” she says.

Some of that distance is reduced by teaching face-to-face labs.

“As an educator, there is nothing like seeing a student have a ‘light bulb’ moment where ideas coalesce.”

She has personal experience with taking courses that are totally online; she has them as she earns her doctor of nursing practice.

“As an online doctoral student myself, I can attest to the benefits on a personal level. I am a full-time educator, part-time clinician and full-time mom. The flexibility of online learning has allowed me to be afull-time student as well.”

In the end, though, whether courses are face-to-face or online, everyone on campus—teachers and students and staff—face many of the same problems. Everyone needs to work together to get through these times, Hill says.

“Just do the things you’re supposed to do,” she says. “We’re like a small town on this campus and we’re going to have to take care of each other.” +