Smeal Academy Sessions

We are moving rapidly through the semester, and many students are in the process of returning to some version of on-campus instruction. Amid the pressures and transition, there are many instructional strategies that you can incorporate to support the well-being of your students. This important session held on February 19, 2021, is filled with supportive strategies you can immediately implement in your teaching (bonus: many of these ideas will support your well-being, too!).

Session Links:

Session Slides

Session Music Playlist

Appeal:

• Lowe, D., & Lowe, T. (2020, August 21). Can We Talk About It?: Enhancing Student Engagement by Integrating Discussions of COVID-19 | Faculty Focus. Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning.
• Kocaarslan, F. (2021, January 18). 360 Degrees of Care. Retrieved February 14, 2021

Smeal Academy – Active Learning Strategies

Engaging Students

Reach

25 Classroom Icebreakers For College Professors [Plus: Free List of 50 Icebreakers]

Greater Good in Action Well-Being Practices

Enlist

Penn State Student Wellness Resources

Penn State Wellness Days Resources

 

 

 

 

Smeal Academy – Key Lessons Learned from Remote Teaching

Well, it’s Groundhog Day – and here we are teaching remotely again this semester! What have we learned from our past experiences of remote teaching? What real-world strategies work? Come and hear from Smeal faculty and staff about tips, tricks, and lessons learned as we continue to deliver instruction remotely.

Panelists:

• Scott Collins, Clinical Associate Professor of Accounting. Courses: Accounting Information Systems, Intermediate Managerial Accounting, Advanced Financial Accounting, Accounting Scandals.
• Misty Frederick-Ritz, Course Manager BA 342 & MGMT 301
• Chris McKeon, Instructor and Course Coordinator of PSU 6, First Year Business Seminar
• Rashmi Sharma, Instructor, SC&IS; SCM 404 – Demand Fulfillment, BAN 840 – Predictive Analytics for Business

Active Learning Session – January 13, 2021

Think about the last time you learned something. What was the topic? How did you learn it? What motivated you to engage in the learning and stay engaged? What got you thinking critically about the knowledge you were seeking? What kind of innovation had you wished had been applied to the topic? What new tool would have been fun? This session discussed active learning strategies in online learning that help faculty engage learners and can lead to innovation in the classroom. Active learning is a teaching method that supports learning. The method uses techniques and activities that promote analysis, synthesis, and evaluation that guides students towards achieving learning objectives. These techniques and activities are based on ideas about how people learn and engage regardless of content discipline. Multiple strategies were discussed in a very active session.

Links mentioned:

Discovery Education Puzzle Maker Puzzlemaker is a puzzle generation tool for teachers, students and parents. Create and print customized word search, criss-cross, math puzzles, and more-using your own word lists.

Kahoot Millions of teachers and students unleash the magic of learning with Kahoot!. Create your own kahoot in minutes or choose from 40+ million ready-to-play games. Engage students who aren’t in school with our distance learning features, play in class, and dive into game reports to assess learning.

Faculty Panel – Group Projects in Online, Remote, and Hybrid Courses:

Are you trying to figure out strategies for group work in your online/remote and hybrid classes? This session explored how some of our faculty are integrating group work in their classes. They discussed best practices and lessons learned and allowed time for participant Q & A to discuss questions, concerns, and needs. This session was held Wednesday, September 9 from 9 to 10 a.m.

Panelists: Norm Aggon, Shawn Clark, Nancy McClure, Jeanette Miller, Felisa Preciado-Higgins, and Al Vicere

 

Engaging Students Synchronously (A session designed as a collaboration between TLT and eLDIG): Are you interested in improving student engagement in your synchronous online classes? This August 27, 2020 session covered best practices when engaging students in synchronous, online settings. Topics included how to help students engage with the content, instructors, and their fellow students, as well as how to best adapt in-class activities to the synchronous online environment. This content applies to both blended and online courses.

Links to Resources Mentioned

• Zoom Learning Path for Hosts (Module 3)
• Zoom Questioning Strategies to Increase Engagement
• Google Docs Small Group Breakout Notes
• Team Contract Template (for group work)
• Google Slides Gallery Walk Template
• ESS Pressbook
• Template for Opening Zoom Slide (Google Slides)
• Template for Opening Zoom Slide (PPT Online)

You Got This – Prepping Your Course for the New Normal
This August 12, 2020 session reviewed strategies for the first week of class, orientation tips and tricks, academic integrity/online honor code resources, COVID updates, course communication, and Canvas navigation considerations to ensure a successful course launch.

Session PowerPoint Slides

Session Resources

This July 29, 2020 session reviewed active learning strategies for remote and asynchronous teaching contexts.

Part 1 Session Recording

 

Part 2 Session Recording

This page shares some takeaways from our April 30, 2020 session concerning strategies and challenges of working remotely.

Challenges Shared

• It’s hard not having the informal opportunity for chatting that the Business Building affords – every interaction has to be “formal” and handled via email, etc.
• Zoom is not efficient for being an administrator (you have to send an email and wait for a response, then schedule a formal meeting vs. walking down the hall or talking to a student in person)
• The Inbox is now flooded, as is the number of Zoom meetings.
• We’re trying to balance more than just work. There are conflicting priorities (work, family, having to homeschool, do childcare while trying to get work done)
• Work is “always there.”
• Feeling like you need to “prove” that you’re working and be “on” all the time.
• Feeling quarantine guilt: Why have I not been able to make time to _______?
• Self-care
• Feeling isolated and disconnected
• Feeling disorganized or scattered
• Steep learning curve due to learning new tech or do things differently.
• Not having the same equipment at home as at work
• Not having an ideal workspace at home
• Managing interruptions

Strategies Shared

Staying Healthy:

• Keep a small set of dumbbells next to the desk.
• Keep a list of exercises. Every time you get up, move down the list to another set of exercises. Hack: You can move a paperclip down the list to keep track of what you have done.
• Order food from places like Misfits Market to eat more healthy fruits and veggies.
• Weather permitting, walk for an hour every day in the late afternoon. It’s a great way to clear your head from the pressures of work.
• Walk during meetings where you will only be listening.
• Schedule walking phone meetings, walking while talking. Set them up as a “walk & talk” with the other person.

Work-Life Balance and Efficiency Hacks:

• For some, this means setting segregated hours for different “facets” of life. For others, it may mean being more flexible – maybe taking breaks during the day to do what you need/want to do and return to work later.
• It’s important to be kind to ourselves, take care of ourselves, and not feel guilty.
  We are fortunate to have leadership that is supportive and flexible
• There are differences between faculty and staff expectations for seat time that play into these feelings as well
• Start the day with a plan (Franklin-Covey kind of list: A, B, C-level items).
• ‘Job in a Box’: Keep all of your work materials in a box. At the end of the day, put your work in the box and put it away to transition to home time.
• Schedule breaks deliberately on your calendar so that meetings do not get scheduled.
• It’s OK to take vacation time! And make it an actual vacation day.
• Set up rules in your Outlook email to combat the increased emails.
• Bundle activities together – emails, calls, etc.
• Consider putting some headphones/earbuds in and listen to some music while working.
• If an email comes in with ‘unsubscribe’, it goes into a separate box that you can check just once per day

Social Connections

• Schedule non-business check-in meetings just to chat with colleagues.
• Use Teams, Slack, or other instant messaging to have conversations with colleagues.
• Reach out to colleagues to see if they are ok. You can send Kudoboards to encourage folks or Smeal Pawsitive Notes to spread a little cheer.
• Check out the Smeal Community in Microsoft Teams to stay connected to colleagues and share ideas.

Tools Shared and Discussed

• Use a Microsoft Surface or tablet with a stylus and the Zoom whiteboard to replace the function of the whiteboard in the classroom.
• Buy or DIY an inexpensive computer stand to allow for standing while working (especially during meetings). That allows for more movement during the day. This adjustable laptop stand was being used by one of our attendees.
• Purchase Bluetooth headphones for meetings that you are just listening/receiving information – so you can walk while listening.
• Use Microsoft To-Do to track tasks.
• We discussed several ways groups can use Teams. Check out ITLD’s Teams Learning Path for more information.

Articles and Links

• Remote Work Bingo (suggestions for better work-life balance)
• PSU Libraries’ De-Stress Fest
• BBC Article on Zoom Exhaustion
• Inc Article on Zoom Exhaustion
• 6 Daily Questions for Quarantine
• Beating Pandemic Burnout

Just for Fun

Virtual Bingo created by the eLDIG team for your entertainment

Videos to Make You Laugh

 

PowerPoint File

This session was held on April 15, 2020. It was led by Ana Enriquez, Scholarly Communications Outreach Librarian, and Lauren Reiter, Business Librarian. The presentation explored copyright concerns surrounding the use of a variety of educational materials, including data sets, problem sets, and journal articles, including considerations when moving to a remote instruction environment.

Part 1

This session was held on March 25, 2020. We explored strategies to increase student engagement in remote learning contexts with a heavy focus on leveraging advanced features in Zoom video conferencing.

Part 2

Link to PowerPoint

This session was held on April 3, 2020. We explored strategies to increase student engagement in remote learning contexts leveraging Canvas tools and assessment, gaming, and gamification strategies.