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Recipe for Classroom Success
Recipe for
Classroom Success
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Amid growing fears that the coronavirus has been driving depression and altering our cognitive capacity, one lecturer in chemistry has cooked up a formula for teaching success.
Teaching Online
Dr. Leah Garner-O’Neale Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry
Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry Dr. Leah
Garner-O’Neale
introduced a strategy of infusing her courses with technology-based techniques, laced with empathy towards students, mindful of their additional challenge of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. The methodology proved so successful that she plans to retain aspects on the resumption of face-to-face teaching.
Dr. Garner-O’Neale gave insight into her experience as she presented on the topic “My Secret
Recipe for Teaching Success
During a Pandemic” during the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning’s Annual Teaching and Learning Week held last June. The lecturer in the Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences in the Faculty of Science and Technology said her secret recipe involved “a cup of flip, a tablespoon of Kahoot, a dash of WhatsApp and stir[red] with compassion, understanding and love”.
Flip refers to the flipped classroom approach, a pedagogical style that moves traditional homework activities into the classroom, while Kahoot is a gamebased learning platform.
At the time of her presentation, Dr. Garner-O’Neale had incorporated both initiatives in 15 months of emergency remote teaching. The strategy saw her receiving rave reviews in student evaluations. She opted for the new strategy after the pandemic forced the campus to adjust its operations, including the mode of teaching delivery. She said she did not believe she was giving students her best in the initial phase of the changeover, hence her decision to apply the flipped classroom approach. The lecturer used the PowerPoint software to create videos that she uploaded to her YouTube channel, facilitating easier access for students with mobile devices. The students were required to watch these before classes. The classroom sessions then focused on applied learning activities and critical thinking tasks.
As compensation for students using their own time to familiarise themselves with the material, the time allocated for classes was truncated.
Dr. Garner-O’Neale said this approach allowed her to cover all the course material effectively.
“I did not [shortchange the students] with the content that had to be covered. The flip methodology worked in such a way that the students covered the content in their free time, and they felt
motivated to do it. My one-hour session was to make sure that I created opportunities to clear up any misconceptions that they had, assessed those misconceptions, give them an opportunity for critical thinking and help them to remain engaged.”
With regards to Kahoots, the lecturer incorporated all the elements of her online videos into a question aimed at ensuring that the students synthesised the information.
She said those who did not watch her videos beforehand learnt from their peers during the game. Kahoots also allowed her to assess their knowledge level as she was able to access individual student’s details from the gaming platform. This also allowed her to better plan her tutorials and guide her one-on-one interaction with students.
“It was fun, and I had classroom engagement. The students knew the material ahead of time, and therefore, they were ready and willing to go [and] they were motivated.”
To improve communication, Dr. Garner-O’Neale utilised emails and also created a WhatsApp group in which she invited each student to join. She explained that this enhanced the feeling of being involved in a learning community and offered a measure of reassurance to students. l
