UPEI profs look forward to the fall following a unique and challenging school year

Submitted: UPEI profs. Wendy Shilton and Philip Smith

 

By Yakosu Umana

Despite teaching for more than 30 years, Prof. Wendy Shilton faced a learning curve doing so this school year.

The 2020/21 academic year for UPEI was all virtual. UPEI has only offered online learning since the pandemic outbreak, Mar. 2020.

“I am one of the faculty members who had zip experience with online teaching,” Shilton said.

“In some surprising ways it was a very positive learning experience and it debunked a lot of preconceptions that I had about e-learning.”

Teaching felt new to her again, Shilton said.

“It was a massive learning curve for me. I had no idea how to be in the controlling seat.”

The English dept. professor was also affected by the pandemic as a student.

Before the school year, she took courses in the US but returned to Canada following outbreaks. She continued her courses virtually.

“This gave me some real positive lenses to bring to something that otherwise would’ve been a negative experience. I saw it as an opportunity to learn,” Shilton said.

“I think I would always be a student, I love learning.”

The fall term was quite stressful for both students and teachers but it prepared everyone for the second term, Shilton said.

“Students were far less anxious. People were more engaged, they were more responsive.

“The second semester was a far less stressful, more enjoyable experience.”

She said her course had a better impact on students during the winter term.

When asked whether teaching virtually was good or bad, Shilton said there’s no definitive answer.

“It isn’t diametric, it’s not a binary like that,” She said.

Virtual schooling possesses its unique challenges, she said.

“We communicate less far less through virtual learning.”

However, Shilton acknowledges its positives. One of them is no snow days.

“This (virtual learning) is going to help offset some of the practical challenges we face teaching, in a Canadian climate.

Another UPEI Professor agrees.

UPEI Prof. Philip Smith

Zoom video-call capture

“I’ve had the appreciation of online learning and the re-appreciation of the benefits of a full university experience that can happen with in-person learning,” Prof. Philip Smith said.

He is a faculty member of the psychology dept. at UPEI.

Before the pandemic, online teaching was never a consideration for him, Smith said.

“Before I had to do it, I would have never chosen to do online teaching. I would never have signed up to say, ‘I’ll do an online course by choice’.”

His workload was heavier than usual, Smith said.

“Structuring the technological work was a chunk of things.

“The email traffic was certainly heavy.”

Through his course, Smith always aims to have students connect with themselves. He found that challenging this year.

“The challenge was finding different ways to do that in an online environment,” he said.

Smith resorted to using forum posts on UPEI’s Moodle site. Students could share their responses to a topic, and give feedback to their peers.

Smith also acknowledges the unique positives of online learning.

He said it gave him the chance to set up more quizzes.

“It’s not feasible to do frequent quizzes in a large in-person class, but online it is quite possible to do short, very frequent quizzes.”

Quizzing students helps with learning, he said.

“There is a lot of evidence that frequent quizzing is beneficial to student learning. If nothing else, it prompts students to attend to studying material more frequently.”

UPEI hopes to return to some normalcy this fall with a return to in-person learning

Yakosu Umana photo

This fall, UPEI plans to offer a blended delivery model. This means courses can be both online and in-person.

Students will have a good opportunity and choice to take in-person classes, Smith said.

He is glad to be back in a lecture hall, he said.

“I’m really looking forward to being back with students.”

Smith believes both students and instructors would have a new lens on in-person learning, this fall.

“Sometimes when people have lost something and come back to it, they take more care of it,” he said.

“I’m curious to see if that would have any impact on profs and students approach to in-person learning.”

As for Shilton, she is optimistic about the blended delivery model this fall.

“There is going to be a lot of uncertainty but we’re not going to be kneecapped like we were last fall,” she said.

“The rock isn’t coming back to hit us the way it did.”

She is also delighted to return to the lecture hall.

“It’s almost like a feeling of coming home. I’m back where I’m supposed to be.”

Shilton urges caution from the university and students, in a return to in-person learning.