Teaching in this remote environment for the past six months has certainly stretched me. As with stretching the physical body, it’s made me more flexible in my approach to content delivery, class activities, and assessment. I think I’ve become more flexible in my day-to-day routines. This pandemic has dictated that kind of flexibility. On the other hand, I’ve felt close to the breaking point at times, like a rubber band stretched too far. I can only imagine that our students have felt the same.
I’ve tried to turn challenges into opportunities for growth, incorporating new practices into teaching/learning situations, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. The infusion of reflection through ePortfolio into my courses is one of those practices and continues to be a work in progress. It gives me an opportunity to peek into the students’ understanding of concepts in a way that their assignments may not fully demonstrate, especially when we are not physically together in a classroom or meeting during office hours. I’m learning to navigate the mechanics of ePortfolio and can also understand the students’ frustration with formatting issues, differentiating between pages and posts, making posts visible, “tagging” or categorizing posts, etc. I’m certainly feeling their pain!
I do long to get back into the classroom someday soon. When that day comes, I don’t necessarily see my going back to all my “old ways” of teaching. I do anticipate many of my newly developed practices will follow me, albeit adapted to various learning environments. Reflective writing through ePortfolio will remain and, I hope, will expand in breadth and depth of content. With continued practice, I also hope to become more proficient with the platform and serve as a role model for the students.