Abstract
This chapter discusses some challenges two faculty members faced after an abrupt shift to online learning during the pandemic of COVID-19. It also identifies opportunities that arose through their collegial collaboration to help students make a smooth transition to the remote learning setting. The two professors reflected on experiential strategies over varied topics including course design, student engagement and empowerment, and socioemotional support needed by both students and instructors in the process of collaboration and mutual mentoring. These discussions are documented over nine months in the form of conversations as the pandemic is stretching over two semesters. It illustrates the importance of collegial collaboration for promoting professional growth and personal wellbeing of both students and professors during times of crisis and chaos.
TopBackground
Growth Mindset and Open Pedagogy for Community Building During the Pandemic
According to Bandura, self-efficacy refers to “people’s judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute (the) course of action required to attain designated types of performances.” (1986, p. 391) One who is self-efficacious actually asks the question - Can I do the task under this situation? The answer, in the affirmative, informs the actions leading to the completion of the domain-specific task. Research indicates that skills and practices in conjunction with a student’s beliefs about his/her capacities affect how they approach the future (Bykin & Noguero, 2011, p. 52). Self-regulated learning, connected to motivation theory, is defined as “self-generated thoughts, feelings and actions that are systematically designed to affect one’s knowledge and skills” (Schunk & Zimmerman, 2008). The learner actually takes control of their own learning, based on self-reflection. Research on attribution theory (Weiner, 1974; 1980; 1986) is based on human’s desire to provide a rational explanation for events in which they have participated. The three factors are controllable vs. uncontrollable cause; stable or variable cause; internal or external source. These theories impact student engagement and task persistence.
During the pause, which resulted from the pandemic, one of the authors was introduced to strategies and techniques based on Growth Mindset and Open Pedagogy. Open pedagogy views learners as contributors to their knowledge rather than consumers. Students develop skills by seeing the coursework as valuable because it is connected to a larger purpose, therefore relevant to their lives: connecting what they are learning in class to a purpose that is bigger than themselves, and in which they are actively engaged. While Growth Mindset behaviors and beliefs are based on the premises that effort leads to improvement; persisting through difficulty and learning from mistakes, which reflect what the other author discussed with her students on the topic of grit.
It was clear that instructors need to use the educational theories taught in the course, along with the theories they are learning in order to add greater meaning to the coursework. As one of the authors put it, “my goal was to model teaching from the framework of these theories so that it would not only provide greater impact on the course participants but also on their future students.”
Key Terms in this Chapter
Open Pedagogy: Students are viewed as contributors to their knowledge rather than consumers. Students develop skills by seeing the coursework as valuable because it is connected to a larger purpose, therefore relevant to their lives: connecting what they are learning in class to a purpose that is bigger than themselves, and in which they are actively engaged.
Action Research: A collaborative and reflective process among colleagues searching for solutions for real life issues or ways to promote learning in schools. Inquire, discussion, and reflection are key components of the “research.”
Learning Management Systems: A learning platform that helps instructions deliver and manage and assess online learning and allows students to access multimedia learning contents and engage in synchronous and asynchronous communications with instructors and classmates.
Professional Development: Developing and improving skills to maintain credentials and skills to meet the professional needs. Examples include attending workshops, conferences, coursework, webinars, or online discussions.
Educational Technology: A multidisciplinary informed by theories in the areas of education, psychology, sociology, computer science, cognitive science. It investigates best practices of designing, developing, implementing, evaluating, and distributing technology-based instructional environment and learning materials to promote learning.
Online Learning: An alternative of learning through the Internet offered synchronously or asynchronously. Instructors manage a virtual classroom with tools embedded to communicate with students, provide instructional contents, conduct learning assessment, and generate progress report.
Growth Mindset: Behaviors and beliefs are based on the premises that effort leads to improvement; persisting through difficulty and learning from mistakes.