Table of Contents

Reflect
Rethink
Reimagine
Retool

"You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of mind next to honor."

Aristotle

You've Come to the Right Place:

Most educators had to deal with emergency remote teaching starting in March 2020. It was a sudden shift, and most educators no longer had access to their own classrooms and teaching was no longer being conducted face-to-face. This module covers some of the changes that have come about due to remote teaching. It was very clear at the beginning of the shift to remote teaching that many institutions and school districts weren't prepared to teach remotely at such large scales.

The purpose of this course is to help you find new ways forward to assist in developing your remote teaching courses. It is focused on helping your consider new forms of pedagogy, how to get your teaching style and personality into a remote course setting, and how to build engagement and connection with students.

Ultimately, for remote teaching to succeed, most instructors are going to need the courage to become trailblazers -- working alone and together -- to find new paths and new roads into how to teach our students when we lose access to our physical classrooms and our campuses. There is "no one size fits all" mentality that will get us over this emergency mode of teaching. It will effort, mindfulness, and professional development to help us all meet the opportunities and challenges of this present moment in the history of education, and indeed, the larger world.

Guiding Questions for this Module:

This module's focus is an introduction to the concept of remote teaching.

What is meant by remote teaching and its relationship online teaching?
How can the instructional design process be helpful in crafting a remote course?
What are some of your preferred teaching techniques that may be used during remote teaching?
What are the challenges that will be faced by students as remote learners?

Click on the tabs at the top of this page to access the three remaining sections of today's lesson: Rethink, Reimagine, Retool

How Can I Earn the Trailblazer Badge?

You can earn a trailblazer badge by completing all four parts of this module, plus passing Quiz #1. The Trailblazer badge signifies that after this module you are willing to blaze new trails in your course and with your students.

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The instructional design process is a powerful way to reimagine and redesign your remote course.

Watch the following video by Cheryl Diermyer will help you understand the steps you can take in a linear, logical fashion to start building a new kind of learning experience for your students.

Video #1: Introducing Instructional Design
Total Running Time: 8:40
Abstract: Ms. Diermyer introduces the concept of instructional design workflow.

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Redesigning the Experience of Remote Teaching:
Stephen Sondheim as Creative Inspiration, Part One

Bit by bit, putting it together
Piece by piece, working out the vision night and day
What it takes is time and perseverance
Dealing with details along the way

from the Sondheim song, "Putting It Together"

In this clip from PBS News Hour, lyricist-composer Stephen Sondheim reflects on his award-winning career and what continues to fuel his creative fire:

As you start to consider how to retool your pedagogy and your course, let's explore a few questions inspired by Stephen Sondheim and the idea of "putting it together:"

1) What is your favorite aspect of the craft of teaching? Be specific.

2) How would you explain your approach to teaching if you were speaking to Stephen Sondheim? (assume he is very interested in your approach to teaching, but knows little about your discipline)

3) What about the process of teaching is appealing to you?

4) What part of the craft of teaching do you wish you could do better than you do already?

Congratulations! You have now completed Module #1. We hope you have had fun and been inspired by the material in this module. We encourage you to keep an open mind and an open heart about the transition to remote teaching.

Continue to put together all the pieces from this module as you consider how to rethink, reimagine, and retool your remote teaching course. Don't forget that you need to work bit by bit and piece by piece. Remote teaching can be a lengthy translation process from the way you normally teach, so give yourself lots of time to be successful in the transition.

Now proceed to Quiz #1 to test your knowledge of this module. Upon successful completion of this module, you will receive your TRAILBLAZER badge, and can proceed to Module #2.

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