The course is over. Now what?

I think that the ONL course has left me with more questions than answers, but it definitely has provided much food for thought. For one thing, it has raised in my mind the need to think very consciously and critically about how to create a learning community online. It is not just a matter of using many platforms and tools.

At a personal level, I found the course very stressful. It came on at a time when my work was increasing rapidly due to COVID-19, and there was one point when I thought I would not be able to continue. As one of my PBL group members pointed out, this actually could be a good way for us to gain some empathy about the plight of our students. When the learning is taking place online some things become easier, but other things become much harder. We also cannot ignore the fact that all this online learning is taking place at a time when poor governance and hyper capitalism have led to very devastating effects in the face of COVID-19. So students are coping with many changes, with some of them struggling to make ends meet as businesses close and jobs become defunct.

But that aside, I learned a lot from how the course was structured and facilitated. I have opinions about the recasting of teachers as facilitators, but perhaps I will leave that aside for now. Against the backdrop of such a large, internationally sprawled out group, the PBL groups felt very human. They gave us consistent and sustained human contact. This is unusual for large courses, and it has given me an idea for a module that I will be teaching completely online next semester. Entitled “Sex in the media”, it is a 4th year undergraduate module that runs on deep reading and active discussions that often challenge students’ assumptions. This can leave them feeling rather shaken – not always in a painful way, because even joy can shake us. My idea is to create support groups of about 3-5 students each. These will be separate from activity or project groups. I will have to think of ways to motivate them and hold them accountable, as well as to connect to the module’s learning objectives. But when everything is online, perhaps these support groups can help students feel like they have a “home” that they can come back to with all their messy emotions that don’t find easy voice in a zoom classroom.