The university, it said, would offer something called “Carolina Away” for up to 1,000 students unable to return to campus. “This initiative, still in development,” the announcement read, “will allow them to learn together in high-quality, digital sections of key courses in our general education curriculum, participate in small group experiences, and engage in learning communities that focus on the impact of Covid-19.”
It’s an attempt to provide something important that was hard to achieve during this spring’s remote instruction: social connection. The ties students form with classmates aren’t just enjoyable -- they’re important for learning. As Josh Eyler lays out in his recent book How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching, people evolved as social creatures, and “many of our modes of communication and learning developed as a result of these social bonds.”
That’s why a sense of belonging is so critical for students, Eyler writes, and why the best teaching approaches emphasize student collaboration, by which he means a certain kind of group work in which students build knowledge together. Creating such a learning environment is easier face-to-face, Eyler writes, but even then it takes a concerted effort.
More effort will probably be required this fall. Even if professors are teaching in person, social distancing will radically change how students interact in class. There’s also the possibility that some students will be in the room while others attend online, or that parts of the class could shift between those modes.
After Carolina’s announcement, its chancellor, Kevin M. Guskiewicz, took questions from reporters in a Zoom meeting. I asked him to elaborate on who “Carolina Away” was for and how it would work. Guskiewicz explained that the idea grew from the recognition that the “vast majority of international students will not be able to come to campus this fall.” But the university still wants to enroll them, he said, and have them join their classmates in person when they can.
The program might also appeal to transfer students, Guskiewicz said, and those whose location in the United States or family circumstances would make travel to campus difficult.
After the Zoom, the university’s media-relations office emailed to say that “Carolina Away” students would “continue to gather for meals, discussions, and other community-building activities” even after they were able to come to campus.
The idea of putting students in cohorts is, of course, common across higher education, and one of the go-to moves of the many large universities that hope to create the feeling of a small campus. It’s a thread that runs through learning communities, honors programs, and first-year seminars. How well would it work under these circumstances? If in fact many Tar Heels do attend in-person classes on campus this fall, could “Carolina Away” help those who can’t feel connected to their college--and their classmates?
It’s an interesting direction, and one I haven’t seen many colleges take in their efforts to make any future remote-learning experience more successful.
What do you think of “Carolina Away”? Has your college discussed something like it? Do you have ideas about how to cultivate social presence with students under the various scenarios possible for the fall? Let me know, at beckie.supiano@chronicle.com, and your comments may appear in a future newsletter.
Reading Recommendations?
Seth Offenbach, an associate professor of history at Bronx Community College, part of the City University of New York, recently wrote in with a question we thought readers might be able to answer. “I am going to submit my spring grades tomorrow,” he said, “and next week I plan on prepping for a fully online fall 2020. I’ve never done that (not for real!). I want to read a few smart pedagogy books which can help me plan a real online class (as opposed to what we did this semester). I’d love to read a newsletter with summer reading suggestions!”
Is there a “smart pedagogy book” you’d recommend for readers who, like Offenbach, are new to online teaching and looking to improve? Tell us here, and we’ll compile a list.
Watch This Space
On Friday, June 5, I will join Josh Eyler, director of faculty development at the University of Mississippi, and my colleague Ian Wilhelm in a Chronicle virtual event about keeping students engaged -- whether online or face-to-face -- in the Covid-19 era.
The following Friday, June 12, Beth will moderate a panel discussion in another Chronicle virtual forum, on how colleges can move from emergency remote instruction to effective online teaching.
Stay tuned for more details on both events.
Thanks for reading Teaching. If you have suggestions or ideas, please feel free to email us: dan.berrett@chronicle.com, beckie.supiano@chronicle.com, or beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com.
—Beckie
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