THREAD on tips for pandemic teaching, inspired by student comments!
Synchronous online classes are better than asynchronous; with asynchronous classes, students fall behind and lack structure. 1/

Faculty should avoid (repeated) technical difficulties!
Breakout rooms are good (for about 8-10 minutes) -- especially if students get the same breakout partners repeatedly, and especially if there is a clear task/goal. 2/

Students like being able to review recorded (synchronous) lectures.
Students like interacting in the chat, through polls, etc.
3/

Students like having a break during a long class!
Students appreciate it sometimes when a class ends early! 4/

Students like it when homeworks are due at consistent times every week.
Students like when faculty make clear announcements and have clear guidelines for assignments. 5/

Students like having small, frequent assignments (but not busywork).
Students often (but not always) appreciate group projects as a way of meeting other students. 6/

Students do not like digital proctoring (HonorLock). Students prefer projects or open-book open-note tests. 7/

For hybrid classes, students like it when the in-person session is used for interaction or hands-on activities, rather than a lecture which could have been done online. 8/

Students often find that mixed-modality classes (teaching in-person while also streaming online) are sub-optimal for everyone. 9/

I assigned my students to talk to a classmate as the last question on every homework, which was a good idea, but some students just exchanged a single message with answers to all the discussion questions and didn't have a truly satisfying interaction. 10/

Many students find that the content of online classes is fine and they are learning, but they sorely miss the socio-intellectual aspect of learning. 11/

Some of these problems can be addressed by instructors (breakout rooms, group projects, assigned real conversations with classmates, in-person sessions with human interaction). Students need repeated interaction with the SAME people to build friendships. 12/

Other problems would need action from Student Life, administration, or other parties. 13/

Above all, students want empathy, clarity (clear announcements), trust (open-book tests), not TOO much work (they resent when they feel like more work is assigned to make up for the online modality!), and a socio-intellectual community. /END

I should also add, students do NOT like having to watch an asynchronous video PRIOR to a synchronous meeting of the same class -- too much work!