I realized when I made the transition to teaching online that one of the casual things I missed was being able to connect with students when returning their work with my feedback. I tended to be quite straightforward in the ways I wrote in the margins and would contextualize or soften the critiques when I handed it back by making a few comments about the ways their thinking prompted my own thinking or perhaps mentioning a specific comment that really resonated with me. It was my way of connecting with them and letting them know I internalized their work before I commented on it — I wanted them to know I spent time thinking about their thinking.
Learning how to embed video and audio comments to accompany my feedback helped me accomplish this but also led to me having more time and space to work with for that kind of feedback. In this way moving online not only offered me a way to continue a practice I valued as a face to face teacher, it actually improved that way of communicating with students. Now I often use similar tools for responding to student emails so instead of just getting a text based reply, they sometimes get a video from me which serves as a proxy of sorts for if they were able to stop by my office and ask me in person.
How To
- Create audio/video feedback to attach to Blackboard grading
- Screencast as you talk over marked up student work —There are many screencast options including Kaltura Capture & Quicktime
- Share quick video responses to student questions with iCloud link
We Want to Hear from You
What teaching tips have you picked up working remotely? Please let us know so we can learn from you and share the work you are doing. Would you like to be part of a conversation about how to personalize your student feedback? Let us know by contacting John Pijanowski and we will be in touch to schedule a small group consultation via Zoom where we can share ideas, work through technical questions, and learn from each other.