Benjamin Cuatt

I also appreciate the (relative) emotional connectivity of video conferences. They offer the opportunity to check in with my students in a way closer to in-person converstaion. I have found that students reacted quite positively to the times, and I ended up leaving a portion of the Zoom time unstructured so they could interact with each other as well as me.

While timing with network lag presents a learning curve, being able to see faces and hear voices certainly helps overcome the issues of the isolating effect of text-based correspondance.

I have so far found that technology and online learning to be an asset to students. They have told me that they appreciate the lectures and demonstrations being recorded, as they are able to revisit them and absorb the information at their own pace. Technology is as always a toolset, and not a panacea.

I have already seen difficulties in online learning, as we were all thrown into the deep end of the pool (so to speak). The technology gap is very apparent, and has severely limited the ability of many of my students to participate in courses. For tech/trade classes that rely on specific computer software in addition to the baseline of having one and a reliable connection, which is enough of a challenge, and many use the school's labs for access to industry software systems that can be prohibitively expensive.

Those without computers at home (or who recently borrowed them for… >>>

Working alliances and positive helping relationships are natural in my field in person, but, as will all of the transition to online, take forethoght and more intentionality. It is much easier to maintain the sort of connection and availability through the use of shared physical space like office, classroom, and laboratotry, but will require more structure to survive in a remote environment.

I prefer to teach PBL in-person, and hope to transition my online courses this direction this coming semester. I have always enjoyed learning when the information I acquire helps me overcome a challenge.

This section has been encouraging for my attempts to bring some of the collaborative laboratory space to the virtual classroom. I hope to foster a sense of comradeship and cocreation through useof message boards and live video sessions where students can help problem solve thier efforts together.

It has been a real shift for me already for giving feedback as written comments online. I am used to working with students as they practice their skills and giving real-time feedback in the lab, but am adjusting to leaving constructive criticism on our LMS.

Access to technology is an ever-present issue, especially in the arts and CTE, where ideally students would put to practice what they have learned in the course using industry-specific computer applications (and when in-person machinery). In an online course involving the Adobe Creative Cloud, for instance, it is ideal for students to all have accoiunts with Adobe for access to the programs, but it is a costly monthly premium to do so.

Especially in the context of involuntary remote learning, such as the curreny health crisis, issues of technological inequity become even more pronounced.

In person I prefer to use problem-based learning in my courses, as it lends itself to the material. In my field, problem solving production issues is the very core of our curriculum, as well as the mainstay of careers in imaging.

However many mof my problem-solving lessons involve significant laboratory time, and I am working to adapt them to the remote environemnt.

When I was a student, I really enjoyed problem-based learning, as it made you "discover" information and putting it to use helps cement concepts.

I am impressed that ALT text is available wthin PDF, though not completely surprised. I have made much use of PDFs for most of my printing career, but have focused on press-output fuctions. I look forward to trying out the new (to me) feature.

Seriuously, PDFs never cease to amaze.

I will defintely give my LMS posts a second (and third) look to ensure that the content I put up is accessable. I do hope I have not unintentionally built any educational barriers as I learned to use them mid-semester during our current crisis.