On a lunch hour in late October, as an early snowfall accumulates outside, nearly 75 Carroll School faculty log onto a Zoom call to talk about how 鈥渉辞辫蝉肠辞迟肠丑颈苍驳鈥� in a pandemic has been going.聽That鈥檚 the hybrid learning model in which professors teach their classes in person, but students alternate between in-person and virtual attendance to reduce classroom occupancies.聽
The Zoom conversation picks up quickly. One by one, faculty chime in with the tricks each has come up with for juggling the many technologies involved when teaching two audiences at once鈥攕imultaneously attending to students watching online and those seated in desks in front of them.
Juan Montes, associate professor of the practice (Management & Organization), describes how he lugs a large monitor to each class meeting along with his laptop, so he can see the faces of his remote students clearly even as he lectures to the other half of the class in person. Mary Ellen Carter, an associate professor of Accounting, swears by her iPad for simulating a whiteboard; the app she uses projects her notations in real time online as well as on the actual whiteboard behind her鈥攁nd saves what she鈥檚 written as PDFs for students who miss class entirely or need a refresh later.
鈥淚t鈥檚 taken a bit of training,鈥� says George Wyner, associate professor of the practice of Information Systems, who bought a wide-angle webcam so he can move more freely as he teaches. 鈥淚鈥檝e got a little checklist ready. I鈥檓 trying to be like the pit stop in the Indy 500.鈥� Associate Professor of Finance Jon Reuter says he鈥檚 grateful to have half of his students in attendance. 鈥淥therwise, I feel like I鈥檓 talking to myself for 75 minutes.鈥�
From students鈥� perspective, though, the college classroom has actually looked pretty familiar this fall. Despite all the talk about online and remote learning, in-person classes are still a core fixture of the academic experience at Boston College and the Carroll School. Thanks to small class sizes, 40 percent of the Carroll School鈥檚 undergraduate courses have been held fully in-person this fall鈥攁lbeit with strict seating charts and mask mandates. Another third聽adopted the hybrid 鈥渉辞辫蝉肠辞迟肠丑颈苍驳鈥� approach聽that the professors were discussing, alternating between in-person and virtual class meetings to reduce classroom occupancies. In other words, the vast majority of Carroll School students have spent at least half of their class time engaging face-to-face with their professors and peers (appropriately spaced, of course).
That said, 鈥渋n-person鈥� and 鈥渞emote鈥� class categorizations have proven fluid over the course of the term. Even fully in-person classes are hosted virtually for students required to quarantine due to COVID exposure, as well as those with special health and learning accommodations. And, because the University聽has allowed students to decide聽whether or not they will finish the term on campus after Thanksgiving break, all-in-person classes will adopt a hybrid model in the final weeks of fall. Final exams will also be administered remotely.
In the meantime, the Carroll School faculty has been gathering regularly (and virtually) to assess and reassess the classroom strategies鈥攕haring ideas about such matters as how to help recreate the sense of community that is a hallmark of student life at Boston College. They鈥檝e been making changes and adjustments at record speed.
Indeed, 聽noted that colleges鈥� transition to digital learning 鈥渉appened remarkably quickly, especially for an industry that鈥檚 often described as so deliberative as to be hidebound.鈥� Much of the responsibility for that rapid shift fell on faculty, tasked with learning to teach their courses in entirely new ways. As their Zoom calls revealed, faculty members have mastered all kinds of new maneuvers, like logging into Zoom from multiple devices at the start of every class. Splitting laptop screens to see remote students and lecture notes at the same time. Balancing attention between the raised hands in the room and the questions that pop up in the virtual chat. And keeping in mind that, for all the challenges this semester has created for educators, the students are stressed, too.
Professors recognize that it鈥檚 harder for students to make new friends in a hybrid class environment, where only half the class meets at a time and even group projects are constrained by social distancing. Most use Zoom鈥檚 鈥渂reakout rooms鈥� in class to enable interactive activities remotely. At least one professor hosts virtual social hours outside of class so students can get to know each other better.
Rachel Spooner, an associate professor of the practice in Business Law, has been giving more pep talks. 鈥淚t鈥檚 cheesy, but I think it helps,鈥� she says. And Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs Ethan Sullivan has reminded faculty that if the semester鈥檚 stresses are causing some students to fall behind academically, 鈥渋t鈥檚 likely not just isolated to your class.鈥� In such cases, Sullivan encourages faculty to refer students to his office for the holistic support they need.
At the same time, many faculty report seeing positive outcomes in their classes despite the disruptions. Several professors teaching remotely remarked that students鈥� academic performance this term has been equal to or exceeded that of students in past semesters.
Some even speculated whether the new strategies that an online class format demands鈥攆rom pre-recorded lectures to in-depth discussion boards鈥攈as led to deeper student learning. For graduate students in particular, who are soon to return to a more digitized workplace than they鈥檝e known, the new challenges of staying focused, communicating effectively, and delivering on deadlines in a remote environment are critical preparation for their future careers.
鈥淚鈥檓 in awe of our faculty鈥檚 efforts and how successful this has been,鈥� John and Linda Powers Family Dean Andy Boynton said during the faculty Zoom session on teaching in late October. 鈥淲e have to think about our students as individuals, and the commitment from faculty throughout the semester has been outstanding.鈥� The dean added in an interview, 鈥淓verything we鈥檝e done hasn鈥檛 been perfect, and I don鈥檛 know what perfect would be, in these times. But we鈥檝e been improving the academic experience at every step along the way.鈥澛�