令人生畏的. 排水. 在逻辑上强烈的. These are some of the words Calvin’s 教师 use to describe this semester. “It’s like running a marathon with the speed of a sprint while there’s an ongoing 6.8 earthquake,” said music professor 珍珠Shangkuan, who’s been in such earthquakes.
The Calvin 教育 经验 hasn’t looked like this before. 然而,, 如你所料, bat365旧网址的教授们仍然在做他们最擅长的事情——适应, 创新, 最重要的是, 教学.
重新定义“教室”
To keep a class of students at the recommended six feet apart, you need space. 很多. 这学期, 班级在宿舍的地下室开会, 建筑游说团体, 中心美术馆, 的Gezon, 圣约艺术中心礼堂, 以及校园里的其他空间.
To complicate matters, 教师 have students 学习 online in their classes. 这些在线学习者可能会被暂时隔离, 选择在线学习, or be international students who cannot leave their home countries. 有些学生在上课时加入. Students on the other side of the world might watch the class later. And 教授 have to make sure all students are engaged and progressing academically.
“bat365旧网址实际上是在一门课上教三门课,英语教授詹妮弗Holberg说, who has students as far away as Indonesia and South Korea. “这需要大量的工作才能做好. I’ve seen things in the media questioning the quality of 教育 during the pandemic. 在加尔文, I am confident that we are continuing to give students the very best we can, 即使它要求所有教师付出200%的努力.”
那200%是什么样子
当面对这些特殊的限制时, 教师 started brainstorming solutions and working together. Calvin 信息 Technology set up internal listservs where 教授 crowdsourced ideas and helped each other with problems.
Engineering professor 伦纳德·德·鲁伊 wanted his students 学习 online to see his diagrams and his body language. “I created a recording studio at my home that has a green screen and several cameras. I had one camera pointing to my tabletop that recorded what diagrams and calculations that I wrote,他说. “同时, I had a camera pointing to my face and using a green screen feature, I was able to superimpose my face on top of my tabletop recordings.”
在Mark Bjelland的城市地理课上, students normally take a city bus or a 12-passenger van to explore different parts of Grand Rapids. “bat365旧网址的社交距离指南发布后, I realized I needed to come up with an alternative approach.他的解决办法? 自行车. He spent the summer finding helmets, bikes, and safety lights for his class. It’s worked out so well, he plans to incorporate some biking into his 教学 post-COVID.
“骑自行车, 你可以近距离看到社区, 听到孩子们的声音, 去汽车不能去的地方,他说.
上宽珍珠，音乐
上宽珍珠教授的学科, 合唱, 在大流行期间提出了独特的挑战. For months, she studied research on droplets and aerosols. How could her students continue to sing together—and be safe? Using the guidelines provided by national music organizations, 她和bat365旧网址的安全返回小组制定了一个计划. The singers wear special singing masks at rehearsals and sing at least six feet apart. They use larger facilities like the University Chapel to rehearse with smaller groups of students spread out.
"我的乐队第一次唱歌的日子, I asked them to pause and ‘click save’ to remember and treasure this moment we had all been waiting to hear for six months. 有时，bat365旧网址甚至不知道它是否会发生. 能够一起唱歌对bat365旧网址的精神至关重要. It’s a gift and privilege we’ll never, ever take for granted again.”
David Dornbos，生物学
David Dornbos has been 教学 biology at Calvin since 2004, but never like this. 他决定“翻转”他的教室. Before class, students do the reading and watch Dornbos’ recorded lectures. Then they use their class time to ask questions and dig deeper into the material, 有时是字面上的. 在秋季学期的前几个月, the class has been meeting outdoors in the Calvin Community Garden.
“How we learn is different in key ways than in previous years, 学习 is definitely happening. And in fact, more 学习 may be happening by engaged students. 触碰, 看到, and tasting practical examples in the Calvin Community Garden makes concepts previously constrained to a classroom more real, 降低认知负荷, and engages the visual learner in ways not possible before.”
艾丽莎Tigchelaar，西班牙人
Spanish professor 艾丽莎Tigchelaar makes sure to welcome “los amigos remotos” each class period. 在她的一堂课上, she can only have 75% of students physically there at once because of the room size. 他们正在偿还, and Tigchelaar is reminding her students (and herself) to focus on the blessings and overlook the small challenges they face.
“Today we recited the Lord’s Prayer all together, and the remote students had their mics on. It was beautiful noise to hear five remote voices crackle over the speaker and the rest in person, bat365旧网址大家都有点不太对劲. I pointed out that God hears us all: our asking for bread and forgiveness and to be guided in his ways, 尽管在bat365旧网址看来有些难以理解. 他在COVID期间也听到了bat365旧网址的声音.”
蒂姆·伯格斯马，商业报道
今年春天, 几周后突然转向在线学习, 蒂姆·伯格斯马给他的学生们发了一份非正式调查. He wanted to know, directly from them, about the obstacles they were facing. 他懂得了自己的好意, 密密麻麻的电子邮件让学生们不堪重负, 而是他们渴望联系和责任. 考虑到局限性和可用的工具, 他改变了策略，并对结果印象深刻. “The virtual space allowed me to connect with students that normally wouldn’t talk with me outside the classroom,他说.
“在bat365旧网址, we pride ourselves on equipping our students to address complex problems with creative and critical thinking. And we find ourselves square in the middle of a really complex situation that demands creative problem solving. 从某种意义上说，bat365旧网址生活在实时的案例研究中.”
