UEval 2.0 Good News to Technophobes

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UEval 2.0: Good News to
Technophobes
By Ana Karbabian
2019 UEval participant & 2020 UEval facilitator
"On June 1, the slight sense
of first day of class anxiety
was quelled as soon as we
took the time to virtually
introduce ourselves...The
instructors and facilitators
demonstrated a calm, gowith-the-flow
approach to
the new online delivery
method and that sense of
calm dissipated to the
students during the group
activities. ”
- U E v a l L e a r n e r
Teaching Online This Fall?
Have a long list of tools on how to teach online, yet
still struggling to piece it all together? As a group of
co-instructors, facilitators, and research assistants,
who went through the planning and delivery of an
online institute during COVID-19, we wanted to share
what was signif icant and stood out for us, in this
transition to online learning.
First, a bit of background: In June 2020, we were
scheduled to run a one-week intensive evaluation
institute with over 25 students. The course was
intended to be a face-to-face experience that blended
class lectures with small group case study work.
Then, the pandemic struck. Our team's response was
to quickly retool the course for virtual delivery.
FIVE key
takeaways
from our
experience
Plan. Plan. Plan. Have a schedule for
planning your course and the delivery.
Meet f requently and go over your todo
list for your week, on a Gantt chart
or matrix. If you were planning to
teach in-person, shifting to an online
platform may mean revising your
former to-do list. Be flexible in your
planning!

Have the right mindset.
Source: http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/Technolo
gyrelated_Anxiety
Don't panic! Embrace the possibilities
of teaching and facilitating in new
ways. Whether you are a selfconfessed
technophobe or a covert
one, you can put your mind to rest by
researching what other institutions
are doing. Many centres for teaching
and learning provide toolkits and
references for teaching online (e.g.,
Zoom classroom).
Online platforms are learner-f riendly nowadays, with
breakout rooms and annotation tools to enhance interactive
learning. You can also streamline collaborative work by using
simple platforms like Google Suite, which allows participants
to simultaneously work on shared documents. And
remember that many of the principles that apply to effective
in-person facilitation also apply to the virtual world.
“A key takeaway for me from the group work experience during this week has been
the use of digital technology to work productively as a team on a common project.
It added speed to our work, ease of communication and delegation, and enough
flexibility to allow each individual to contribute at their own time and pace and
still keep us on track.”
- U E v a l L e a r n e r
“Considering the rapid
virtual transition this
course has made, it is
outstanding that I seldom
felt any inadequacies
during the online activities,
discussions and case study
work."
- U E v a l L e a r n e r
Designate an individual to be your
off icial tech wizard to coordinate the
technological aspects of learning.
This allows other people on your team
to focus on the teaching and
facilitation components. For instance,
one role of our UEval wiz was to
receive emails or texts about
technology issues. Another one was
to be the virtual hallway monitor and
send learners and facilitators to their
respective breakout rooms.
Source: https://www.timeout.com/new-yorkkids/things-to-do/online-classes-for-kids
Provide short, but relevant lectures
to learners. As you have probably
already noticed, online interactions
can be more tiring than in-person
ones. It makes sense to break-up the
experience into chunks. Three hours
is close to the maximum most people
can tolerate before they get burnt
out.

“It is not very often that
during an intensive course
there is time to reinforce
objectives in multiple learning
styles, but the group work
provided a practical flippedclassroom
environment that I
found very beneficial for
reiterating and enriching the
learning. ”
- U E v a l L e a r n e r
Front-end loading the overall
institute with asynchronous modules
and discussion posts with their peers
was also valuable for creating the
readiness to learn and participate.
It also helps to replace some
synchronous learning components
with asynchronous ones. This
includes producing pre-recorded
video lectures that participants can
access at their own pace and time.
These videos can be helpful in
getting learners ready for breakout
sessions.
“In the future, I hope to
use some of what I learned
about the flipped-classroom
style, group activities as a
method to impart learning,
guided facilitation, and peer
feedback into my own
classrooms for a better
educational experience for
my students.”
- U E v a l L e a r n e r
If things still seem complicated,
rely on your colleagues who are
facing similar challenges. A critical
source for us was the Facebook
group Higher Ed Learning Collective.
Remember, we are all in this
together.
Stay tuned for an upcoming video featuring one of our
UEval community learners and key informants f rom Spirit
North (spiritnorthxc.ca)! Learn more about UEval and be
encouraged about the possibilities of online learning
through this video.
Happy teaching and learning!
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UEval, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council & University of Alberta’s Teaching and Learning
Enhancement Fund, is a collaborative effort between students and
academics across disciplines at the University of Alberta and local
community stakeholders.