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Last Week’s Teaching in 2020 – Episode 7

a tower viewer over the ocean

UA faculty describe their experiences teaching during the 2020-2021 academic year. Share your ideas and experiences here, and your entry could be featured in the next episode. Anonymous Surveys to Make Adjustments for Spring 2021 “Listen to students” is part of my teaching philosophy. I’ve used Blackboard’s “survey” tool since 2015 for pre-term, mid-term, and post-term surveys. I now realize that I should have added some questions this fall. The shift to hybrid and/or remote teaching was an opportunity for me […]

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Last Week’s Teaching in 2020 – Episode 6

professor's home office teaching amid their children

Faculty and staff are being asked to do so much in Fall 2020, but the circumstances of the doing aren’t visible. That is just as true for students this fall. We can pause to think of our colleagues and our students — the ones who’ve excelled despite everything, the ones who seem like they’re holding it together but are really struggling, the procrastinators who’ve been caught flat-footed, and the ones who are just so overwhelmed by all of it. The […]

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Using Gradescope to Give Detailed Feedback on Assignments

construction site with grader at work

by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies/eTech Did you notice the “Gradescope” option under the “Build Content” option in your Blackboard courses in Fall 2020? Perhaps you also noticed the Gradescope resources posted by the Center for Instructional Technology? Thanks to the support of the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering, and the Office of Information Technology, UA provided Gradescope for everyone using Blackboard on campus. And, thanks to the positive feedback of instructors, it is renewed […]

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Messaging with Slack Improves Class Communication

seated people in a large movie theatre

by Lauren Horn Griffin, Department of Religious Studies I’ve been using Slack, a communication and collaboration tool, with the students in my Fall 2020 course REL310, “REL Goes to the Movies.” The app has given me more insight into student understanding and progress (those formative moments) than the live discussions where only some participate. Due to COVID-19, we are not watching the movies in the same room together. How were we going to watch and discuss movies remotely? I still […]

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Transition Multiple-Choice Exams Online: A Large-Enrollment Solution

empty notebook with pencil and pencil sharpener

by Diana Leung, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry In 2020 the changes brought about by COVID-19 forced me to transition my normally face-to-face classes to an online format. This fall semester I teach two sections of a freshman Introductory Chemistry class (CH 104), each with about ~200 students, and an Organic Chemistry II (CH 232) sophomore class with ~130 students. One of the worries I had when transitioning online was how to give exams to this large student population. Ultimately, […]

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Zoom Roleplay Practices to Teach Theory and Case Studies

Humorous image of two dogs in a zoom videoconference

by Elif Kalaycioglu, Political Science A key goal for my hybrid, advanced seminar this semester is to get students to think about the multiple roles that expertise plays in diverse domains of global politics. This requires familiarity with a range of IR theories on expertise, as well as linking these theories to concrete case studies. I have found this last link to be a trickier one for students to make. They can get excited about the real-world cases, like the […]

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Electronic Whiteboard Options for Online Lectures: iPad & Zoom or Blackboard Collaborate Ultra

by Diana Leung, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The University of Alabama. After the need for social distancing due to COVID-19, I had to transition my face to face classes to an online format. My teaching style relies crucially on the use of a whiteboard to provide handwritten notes. I believe the use of handwritten notes allows students time to process the information as the instructor is […]

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