{"id":90791,"date":"2020-08-05T11:33:10","date_gmt":"2020-08-05T15:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/?p=90791"},"modified":"2020-08-05T14:35:46","modified_gmt":"2020-08-05T18:35:46","slug":"professors-pool-expertise-to-create-compelling-courses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2020\/08\/05\/professors-pool-expertise-to-create-compelling-courses\/","title":{"rendered":"Professors Pool Resources to Focus on \u2018Compelling Courses\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

To teach mitosis, April Wynn has students in her class act out the process, portraying chromosomes that divide into nuclei. The assistant professor of biological sciences hopes to replicate lively exercises like this \u2013 but virtually \u2013 in the fall.<\/p>\n

\"Assistant
Assistant Professor of Biology April Wynn is among the dozens of UMW professors participating this summer in Compelling Courses, a faculty learning community to help instructors design engaging courses.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMy goal is to promote the same level of engagement, energy and enthusiasm in an online space,\u201d said Wynn, who, as faculty director of the University of Mary Washington\u2019s First-Year Experience, is helping other instructors do the same for their classes.<\/p>\n

Professors often spend their breaks on scholarly research, but Wynn is among dozens of UMW faculty members who went back to school this summer. Through a new faculty learning community called Compelling Courses, representatives from nearly every academic department have been teaching each other how to deliver dynamic online lessons and incorporate the best of the UMW experience into distance learning.<\/p>\n

In March of this year, UMW professors \u2013 the majority of whom had never taught online \u2013 abruptly had to shift to a new method of teaching. The succeeding months have given these instructors time to tinker with and tweak tools so that they are fully prepared to teach virtually if necessary. Many, like Wynn, have found that this modality can even offer benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe teaching can be excellent regardless of medium,\u201d said Professor of Economics Steve Greenlaw, who launched the group with Professor of Communication Anand Rao. \u201cIt all depends on how you design the course.”<\/p>\n

The community was an offshoot of the ongoing ReFocus Online<\/a>, a four-week course design camp that launched in June. UMW\u2019s Center for Teaching paired with Digital Learning Support to create the university-wide professional development initiative, with assistance from the Office of Disability Resources and UMW Libraries. It comprises weekly workshops, Q&A sessions and a comprehensive website that houses resources and models that are being used by instructors at other schools throughout the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

\u201cApproximately 200 individual faculty attended at least one ReFocus Online event this summer, and many more accessed our online materials,\u201d said Center for Teaching Director Victoria Russell. \u201cFaculty and staff openly shared teaching challenges and worked together to offer each other ideas. Our goal this fall is to keep these connections strong by offering spaces for continued conversations and support.\u201d<\/p>\n

With over a decade of combined online teaching experience, Greenlaw and Rao invited their colleagues to participate in the Compelling Courses community to build on what they learned in ReFocus Online. Meeting weekly on Zoom, the faculty began by brainstorming the unique characteristics of a UMW course \u2013 such as small discussion groups and hands-on learning opportunities \u2013 and identifying the classes they wanted to reimagine.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve delved into topics like tech tools, flipped classrooms and virtual guest speakers; discussed academic integrity; and weighed the benefits of synchronous and asynchronous learning. Most importantly, they\u2019ve discovered how to foster the collaboration and engagement that Mary Washington is known for \u2013 in an online format.<\/p>\n

Building connections between students and faculty from the onset was critical to Wynn, who was inspired to help First-Year Seminar<\/a> (FSEM) instructors create \u201cblockbuster movie style trailers\u201d to introduce freshmen to their classes and professors.<\/p>\n