Teaching and Learning at Vol State

Differentiated Instruction in an Online College Classroom Differentiated Instruction: Providing students opportunities to learn content using different resources, employing varied strategies, and/or allowing students to demonstrate their learning in different ways based on their individual learning needs and interests. --Natalie Milman, Differentiating Instruction in Online Environments Are we still thinking about differentiated instruction now that we're online? It's a core instructional principle that we all believe in, but in an overwhelming race to digital learning, it can easily be pushed to the side in a to-do-later-pile by even the very best and the brightest. How can we make an online learning environment engaging for our students while maintaining the integrity of the academic content and without further complicating the process? Creating an engaging course is as easy as focusing on the 3 main principles: Course Clarity, Student Communication, and Timely Student Feedba...

Hello, campus community!  In October 2021, I had the opportunity to participate in an online nursing mastery series focused on enhancing online instruction utilizing interactive activities and an understanding of learning theories to optimize student learning in the online environment. The program lasted through December 2021, with meetings one week each month and supplemental assignments, discussion, and collaboration in the remaining three weeks. Overall, the opportunity provided me with an improved understanding of online learning while providing me the opportunity to recognize areas of improvement in my current course delivery. For many of you, I am sure the concepts I learned are “old news”; however, as a new instructor, I found the discussion engaging and enjoyed the opportunity to explore ways to improve the classroom experience for my students (especially in this virtual environment). As you all know, the pandemic has changed the way in which we teach and learning occurs; t...

That’s right, I said it! Teaching via Zoom CAN be as engaging as teaching in the classroom! Additionally, online synchronous classes provide an opportunity to teach students digital technology and teamwork skills they will need in their careers, while having a little bit of FUN! Admittedly, educational technology (ed-tech) can feel overwhelming if you do not know where to begin. At first, I was worried students would struggle or feel more overwhelmed. I was honest upfront by telling students we were trying something new and I wanted their feedback after we tried it. Most students were excited to try something new. One student even commented it was nice that to see a faculty member trying new things and asking for feedback, it demonstrated that faculty members do care about student learning.   One student literally said, “I’m understanding the material and learning a skill I could use at a job.” Yes, that is my goal! We want students to learn the material to meet course learning o...

This past August faculty members from VSCC attended the University of Wisconsin’s Distance Education Teaching and Learning Conference. Like so many other conferences being held during the time of the pandemic, this four-day teleconference offered a large variety of online sessions, interactive and streaming, focused on the how to best meet college students’ needs to help them be successful during these challenging times. One of the most refreshing and valuable aspects of this year’s conference was the focus on how online higher education and educators are working hard to meet the moment of our current national situation. Not only did keynote addresses and session discussions center on the challenges of distance education during the pandemic, but also many discussed the ways to create antiracist curriculum as we address concerns voiced by the Black Lives Matters Movement. The keynote speaker, Dr. Newton Miller, focused on how faculty can connect real-world issues to our teaching, remin...

The year 2020 has been an extraordinary and challenging year, to say the least.  However, as educators teaching chemistry, a subject that requires problem-solving and critical thinking, we were abruptly forced to solve the problem of delivering course content for lecture and lab amid the pandemonium of a pandemic, COVID-19.  A year ago, neither of us would have thought it was possible to deliver an online version of chemistry that was equivalent to our on-ground course.  However, the silver lining of the pandemic was the innovation, collaboration, and modification as we agreed we will not do our students a disservice in the continuation of a quality education. March 2020, as we departed campus for our annual spring-break we never imagined what was to come; NO ONE CAN RETURN TO CAMPUS?  We had a week to get our courses ready to be completely online. But did online have to mean the traditional format that so many of our students refer to as “teaching themselves” (asynchronou...