Melanie Bedore
School of Earth, Environment and Society
Course
ENVSOCTY 4US3 | Sustainable Cities | 45 students
Their story
Since the switch to online learning, students have told me about the many time-consuming obligations that compete with our courses for their attention: Paid jobs, volunteer work, family caring duties, their own illnesses, applying for work and graduate school, all while trying to practice self-care. In light of these realities, I provided options for varying degrees and modes of student engagement without sacrificing the intellectual rigour of my courses. In ENVSOCTY 4US3 Sustainable Cities, I used the following strategies to provide students with 1) as much (or as little) engagement with their peers and I as they wished, and 2) as much scheduling flexibility as possible:
• Asynchronous, recorded lectures
• Optional, ungraded weekly tutorials for students who thrive with discussion-based learning (these were recorded and posted for all students). Six students attended on average
• Daytime and evening office hours
• A learning portfolio assignment with flexible prompts and personalized, formative feedback
• My office hours were underused, so in weeks I0 and 11, I offered 15-minute sign-up “Consultation meetings” to discuss students’ final assignments. I had energizing conversations with 18 students (40% of the class).
• Weekly video greetings using the Announcement tool on Avenue to Learn. Our family dog, Sweetpea, a French bulldog/Boston terrier mix, was often the star of the show while I discussed the upcoming week’s content and assignments. Students told me they loved her seeing her and appreciated the videos.
Please direct your inquiries to: bedorem@mcmaster.ca