Dr. Thomas J. Tobin
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Thriving in the Post-2020 Classroom: Three teaching strategies for the "new normal"
Watch the video recording (opens in new tab)
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we moved our face-to-face courses to remote instruction. Now that most classes are back on campus, we want to find ways to create in-person learning experiences that are safe, provide choices for instructors and students, and make students want to be back in the classroom, while also keeping the affordances and flexibility that remote instruction gave our students.
As technology-mediated learning grows as a “new normal” across our curricula, we must find ways to interact with our students that 1) support their continued learning, 2) show compassion & flexibility for their varied circumstances, and 3) fit within our existing time and prep demands.
The last part is particularly important. This keynote session will explore ways to shift our focus that can actually take tasks off our plates. Dr. Tobin will share three low-effort, do-them-right-now strategies that reduce student anxiety and pressure, reduce your own instructor frustrations, and allow you to focus on the interactions that you want to have with your students. He will discuss three research-based, new-normal practices for
- access to materials, interactions, and people (in the course and beyond);
- assessment techniques: testing, grades, and feedback; and
- engagement strategies that make students want to come to the classroom.
A few promises: this session will not add to your already stretched resources. In fact, our conversation will help you to decide what you can profitably not pay attention to as you develop and hold class sessions with your students again. We will also focus on things that you can do without a lot of special equipment, staff support, and development time. Finally, we’ll frame our discussion around ways to honor the various commitments in our students’ and our own lives, in order to find good balance, address systemic inequity, and interact in a supportive way with one another.
Bonus Q&A Session
After the keynote, Dr. Tobin will offer a half-hour, open, ask-the-expert Q&A session where you can get help and support for your own specific challenges and plans. Please feel free to bring questions and ideas about the keynote or about any of his books, listed below. You can also ask questions ahead of time via a Qualtrics form which will open closer to the Symposium.
Brief Bio
Thomas J. Tobin is the Program Area Director for Distance Teaching & Learning on the Learning Design, Development, & Innovation (LDDI) team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as an internationally recognized speaker and author on quality in technology-mediated education, especially copyright, evaluation of teaching practice, academic integrity, and accessibility/universal design for learning.
He holds a Ph.D. in English literature, a second master’s degree in information science, and professional certifications in project management (PMP), online teaching (MOT), Quality Matters (QM), and accessibility core competencies (CPACC). Named to Ed Tech Magazine’s 2020 “Dean’s List” of Educational Technology Influencers, Tom serves on the editorial boards of InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching and the Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration.
His books include
- UDL for FET Practitioners: Guidance for Implementing Universal Design for Learning in Irish Further Education and Training (2021) with Ann Heelan and Dara Ryder. (Full text available from SOLAS, the further education and training authority in Ireland)
- Going Alt-Ac: A Guide to Alternative Academic Careers (2020) with Katie Linder and Kevin Kelly. (Full text available with login through IUCAT)
- Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education (2018) with Kirsten Behling. (Full text available with login through IUCAT)
- Evaluating Online Teaching: Implementing Best Practices (2015) with Jean Mandernach and Ann H. Taylor. (Full text available with login through IUCAT)
- The Copyright Ninja (2017).