Welcome back: Insights, plans, and resources for a successful return to campus - Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning

Welcome Back, Huskies!

This fall, there will be more students on campus than there have been since the pandemic began. While this is exciting, as students bring with them an energy and vitality to our campus, both faculty and students may be experiencing some mixed emotions. Excitement to connect with colleagues and students may be tempered with uncertainty about changes and possibly fear of a resurgence of the pandemic. Fortunately, NIU has many resources to support faculty and students with a successful return to campus. You have an important role to play in welcoming both new and returning students , particularly our second-year students who may not have been on campus last year, and helping them all feel like they belong at NIU. Fortunately, the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning is here to support faculty, instructors, and teaching assistants as each of you prepares to embark on the 2021-2022 academic year.

Planning and Preparing

As you prepare for upcoming classes, take a moment to reflect on the past 18 months and how they have influenced you and your students. During the pandemic, the importance of personal and professional connections as well as compassion and patience were evident as we navigated unfamiliar situations. The lessons you learned can guide your future course design, teaching decisions, and use of technology to integrate compassion, connections, flexibility, patience, and student-centered, active learning that will always be best practices for teaching, pandemic or not.

While planning for your fall course, think about your first contact with students. What tone will your welcome message have for students? Continue to humanize your courses and build inclusive learning environments. Prioritize your students’ well-being, as well as your own. You may also integrate music, poetry, or storytelling into your course to help build connections and support systems.

Returning to campus may feel awkward. Anticipate the potential for awkward moments and prepare to address issues within your control. Remember to give yourself grace and be patient with students and colleagues. Each of us may feel a bit awkward interacting with others after a long period of social distancing. Acknowledge that both excitement and discomfort will be present as we return to campus and prepare to take actions that are within your control. Consult the NIU Protecting the Pack site for the latest information on Covid-19 and returning to campus.

You can help students navigate the wealth of institutional support available to them by sharing resources in Blackboard. The new Blackboard Assist tool connects students with many resources available to support them in their academic journey. As the fall semester progresses, maintain a climate of encouragement and care and use the support resources available at NIU. Remember that sophomores were freshmen during the pandemic and need time to learn about campus resources. Encourage them to get involved in campus activities and events to build relationships that are vital to success in college.

You may feel out of practice teaching in-person if you have been teaching remotely over the past year and a half. Take some time to practice and ease into face-to-face teaching. You may experience fatigue, so prepare to take short breaks to reenergize yourself while you regain your comfort with teaching on campus. Trust in your experience and be confident that the “new normal” will gradually feel more comfortable. Try to accept the issues that are out of your control and focus on how you can effectively manage your own actions to support your and students’ success.

Effective Teaching Practices

There is a wealth of literature available on effective teaching practices which provide insights that can guide our decisions for designing a class session and course. Lecture is an effective teaching strategy when used appropriately to disseminate content. However, consider attention spans, energy, and engagement. Break up lectures with activities to create active learning environments and to address lecture fatigue or “Zoom fatigue” (if you are teaching HyFlex, hybrid, or online synchronous courses). Think carefully about when it makes sense to engage students and which techniques will support students’ learning in the most effective way. For instance, you could use polling systems such as Blackboard Collaborate Polling, Clickers, or Polleverywhere to engage students in lectures.

Intentionally designing your course to build an inclusive learning environment that supports students goes a long way toward helping students feel like they belong and can succeed in a course. Show concern for students by implementing flexibility, proactive mentoring, and opportunities to connect with other students into the course. Culturally responsive teaching techniques and Universal Design for Learning provide insights and strategies for building inclusive classrooms.

Hybrid and HyFlex Teaching and Learning

Courses built on a Hybrid or HyFlex Model help to break down the boundary between the physical classroom and the virtual classroom by allowing students to access both platforms. Make decisions about the content and activities to use in the physical classroom and online classroom to provide robust teaching and learning experiences and flexible modalities aligned with course objectives. Also, make sure that students attending virtually have an equitable experience as those attending physically. Learn more about delivering a hybrid course.

Technology

Use technology to support teaching and learning, even in your face-to-face courses. Think about the course goals and objectives, and determine which technology can be used to help students learn content or to build engagement. The Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning provides extensive support and resources to help faculty effectively use technology in their teaching. Remember to use technology to support student learning in unique ways; avoid using technology for technology’s sake.

Wellness

Remember that returning to campus is a time of adjustment for everyone. Normalize that period of adjustment; check on yourself, students, and colleagues; and use the support resources available to you. The Employee Assistance Program, Work/Life Balance Resources, and Recreation are available for faculty and staff when you need them.

Extensive support resources are also available for students. The NIU Center for Student Assistance is a hub for student support resources such as tutoring, the Disability Resource Center, tutoring, Counseling and Consultative Services, and more. Blackboard also contains a new Assist tool that includes a variety of campus resources to help students succeed in school and life.

Together Forward

The past 18 months have been filled with new adventures, challenges, and opportunities to demonstrate the strength and resilience of the Huskie Spirit. Congratulations, NIU—you did it! Count your successes and launch the academic year with confidence. If uncertainty begins to enter your mind, remember that you are successfully navigating the pandemic and emerging with many new experiences, knowledge, and skills. Take a moment to reflect on strategies to keep (or discontinue) and consider how to use technology effectively in your teaching. Continue to use the strategies that served you and your students well and the practices that will support long-term flexible teaching approaches. Your teaching may look a bit different, but it will be positively impacted by the lessons learned during the pandemic. After all, lifelong learning is a hallmark of higher education. Huskies never quit!