Monthly Archives: April 2020

Favorite Strategies and Resources for Asynchronous Teaching?

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Greeting, Independent Learning faculty!

As educational institutions throughout the world have transitioned to emergency remote teaching and learning, asynchronous online education (that is, not working in real time) has been suggested as a way to increase accessibility for students and faculty with limited internet. Web conferencing tools are certainly wonderful, but they also take a lot of bandwidth. For some faculty, asynchronous interaction can be a difficult adjustment if they’ve interacted in real-time throughout their teaching career.

How did you transition from synchronous to asynchronous education? What challenges did you encounter? What did you like about it? Have you encountered any resources that you’ve found helpful?

Beyond an opportunity to reflect, I would love to share your experiences, ideas, reflections, etc on teaching in an asynchronous environment. Do you have any stories you’d like to share? Feel free to reply, or e-mail me at jrfreese@nullwisc.edu.

Stay safe, healthy, and well!

Articles: Online Teaching vs Emergency/Remote Teaching and Learning

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Two recent articles provide worthwhile comparisons and contrasts between online learning (with Independent Learning being just one example) and the now-widespread emergency online teaching/learning.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-04-02-what-students-are-doing-is-remote-learning-not-online-learning-there-s-a-difference

https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-difference-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and-online-learning

It’s certainly amazing how quickly institutions have been able to continue instruction in the midst of face-to-face instruction being cancelled, but it’s also important to note the difference between typical online courses (the instructional design component is mentioned in both articles) vs an emergency change in teaching modality.

Well-Being App

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Greetings, IL faculty! I hope you and yours are safe and healthy.

During this time of pandemic, a Center for Healthy Minds at UW-Madison affiliate has made a recently released app freely available. This app is called the Healthy Minds Program. From their website:

Translating pioneering neuroscience into tools for everyday life, our unique framework guides you through the four pillars of the science of training the mind: awareness, connection, insight and purpose.

This tool was informed by decades of research at the Center for Healthy Minds. For more information, go to: https://tryhealthyminds.org/#program