TransCrip Teaching Tips �During COVID-19
brief notes from Vern Harner�vharner@uw.edu�tiny.cc/VernHarner�Created March 15, 2020
Updated March 30, 2020�
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Who is Vern?
Hi! I’m a doctoral candidate in the School of Social Welfare at the University of Washington. �Yes, the one in Seattle!
I use the pronoun ‘they’ and am chronically ill. As an educator, I center trans/queer & BIPOC students, along with access needs*.
Who is Vern?
To do this, I do my best to stay transparent, authentic, and engaged. I honor my students’ whole selves, even especially when that means putting wellbeing before coursework.
I’ve been teaching & consulting for �7 years. Here are some other pedagogical resources I’ve made:
Who is Vern?
As a chronically ill and nonbinary PhD student, I do a lot of “microconsulting” that is unfunded. If you are employed full-time, please consider buying me a virtual cup of coffee ($1-10 to Cash App or Venmo, where my handle is VernHarner) to help support these efforts.
On to my actual tips...
Most importantly, lead by example.
If you witness racist or xenophobic comments about COVID-19, address them immediately.
“Oops, that comment could be really harmful. Can you reword it to not make generalizations about ____?”
“Oof...that phrasing hits me the wrong way.”
“Actually, new data shows that…………....”
TransCrip �Teaching Tips:
1. Transparency
Crowdsourcing teaching tools & tactics means remembering that our students are also resourceful and knowledgeable!
Perhaps they know of a tool that us instructors haven’t found yet or witnessed another instructor use something that worked really well.
Pretending that COVID-19 isn’t impacting us or our teaching isn’t the reality we are currently in. Students will likely appreciate you sharing how this is impacting you.
We are all juggling a lot right now!
Let your students know how COVID-19 is impacting you.
Tell them how much time you had to switch to an online format.
Ask them for feedback or tips they might have.
2. Authenticity
One of the most helpful parts of my classroom for me as an educator is the check-in time I provide at the beginning of every class. Inspired by Connie Phillips, a professor I had at Arizona State University during my MSW, my students can count on the check-in always being one of the first things we do. Students aren’t required to share, but are provided a moment to share:
I often find that, when students aren’t engaged in my teaching, it’s because of things they have going on outside of class...and not because they don’t like me or the class.
Are you recording lectures at home?
Introduce your pets, plants, or children to your students.
Don’t hide interruptions (from pets or kids, for example) from them.
Provide space for a check-in at the beginning of synchronous time.
3. Engagement
During synchronous content:
For courses that previously met in person once a week for 3 hours…
Limit synchronous class time to 30-60 minutes per week. This replaces small group activities.
Prerecord mini-lectures (5-15 mins long) covering ONE concept each for students to watch before synchronous class time.
3. Engagement
During asynchronous content:
For courses that previously met in person once a week for 3 hours…
Limit synchronous class time to 30-60 minutes per week. This replaces small group activities.
Prerecord mini-lectures (5-15 mins long) covering ONE concept each for students to watch before synchronous class time.
3. Engagement
For assignments
Consider different formats to help students stay engaged -- you might even provide several options for them to choose from. Ideas include:
For courses that previously met in person once a week for 3 hours…
Limit synchronous class time to 30-60 minutes per week. This replaces small group activities.
Prerecord mini-lectures (5-15 mins long) covering ONE concept each for students to watch before synchronous class time.
4. Accessibility
Send an email or poll to your students asking what their access needs* are, given this new format of learning.
While under different circumstances I recommend following Universal Design, in this instance the time constraint we have to move content online calls for a different approach. Design with your students’ access needs in mind.
Once you know their access needs, don’t spend time on accessibility features that won’t be used this quarter/semester.
While we are all having to move courses to an online format with barely any notice, it’s imperative that we continue to center access needs in our teaching.
There are many tools to help us do this with online content.
4. Accessibility
Reconsider your slide design.
While we are all having to move courses to an online format with barely any notice, it’s imperative that we continue to center access needs in our teaching.
There are many tools to help us do this with online content.
4. Accessibility
Deaf/HOH students & folks with auditory processing needs depend on captioning.
Auto-generated captions are often incredibly inaccurate, especially regarding field-specific vocabulary. Providing just a transcript, separate from the video, does not allow the student to truly engage with the content. PowerPoint and Google Slides can auto-caption as you present, and are much more accurate than YouTube auto-captions.
Insert captions into pre-recorded videos. Otter.ai, YouTube, or Panapto can get the bulk of transcription out of the way, but you’ll likely need to manually fix and adjust things.
For live captioning, students might have a live captioner available to them through Disability Services. However, this relies on an additional window being open on their end, which doesn’t mesh well with instructors screen-sharing. Consider using a tool like Vitac or Otter.ai to live-caption Zoom meetings.
While we are all having to move courses to an online format with barely any notice, it’s imperative that we continue to center access needs in our teaching.
There are many tools to help us do this with online content.
4. Accessibility
Provide image descriptions so folks with low or no vision can still engage.
If presenting, provide a rich verbal description. If on a post, provide a textual description. Here are some examples:
Which description is more likely to convey the true impact of the image? Use rich, descriptive language.
While we are all having to move courses to an online format with barely any notice, it’s imperative that we continue to center access needs in our teaching.
There are many tools to help us do this with online content.
4. Accessibility
Folks with low or no vision, or colorblindness, may use screen readers.
Ensure all readings (PDFs, etc) are accessible by screen readers. A quick test is to see if you can highlight text on them. If yes, you’re likely good to go. If not, re-scan the document or make it an optional reading.
Create your slide sets using accessible templates & tools.
Provide textual/verbal descriptions of charts and graphs so colorblind students can understand the results.
Provide a voiceover on recorded lectures instead of just a link to your slides, especially if you know you have a low/no vision student.
While we are all having to move courses to an online format with barely any notice, it’s imperative that we continue to center access needs in our teaching.
There are many tools to help us do this with online content.
4. Accessibility
It’s likely that we are all spending even more time now watching videos and staring at computer screens.
This can lead to increased migraines/headaches, very dry eyes, eye strain, problems focusing for folks with ADD/ADHD, etc.
Provide frequent breaks and encourage students to use them to close their eyes for a few moments, focus on objects more than 20 feet away, stretch their bodies and hands, get a drink of water, or do whatever else is needed.
While we are all having to move courses to an online format with barely any notice, it’s imperative that we continue to center access needs in our teaching.
There are many tools to help us do this with online content.
4. Accessibility
Consider informally polling your students about their access needs have things shift to online formats.
Do they have a computer/laptop/tablet at home?
Do they have reliable internet service?
Do they share a computer with others?
Are they parents suddenly providing full time childcare?
Do they have access needs that were less impactful during in-person classes?
Do they feel keeping up with coursework will help maintain a sense of normalcy?
While we are all having to move courses to an online format with barely any notice, it’s imperative that we continue to center access needs in our teaching.
There are many tools to help us do this with online content.
4. Accessibility
If English is not their first language, students might especially struggle when content is moved online.
While we are all having to move courses to an online format with barely any notice, it’s imperative that we continue to center access needs in our teaching.
There are many tools to help us do this with online content.
Miscellaneous
These tools may or may not work for you and your students, depending on access needs.
Miscellaneous
These tools may or may not work for you and your students, depending on access needs.
Miscellaneous
These tools may or may not work for you and your students, depending on access needs.
General Resources for Teaching Online
These tools may or may not work for you and your students, depending on access needs.
Library Resources for Teaching Online
These tools may or may not work for you and your students, depending on access needs.
What am I forgetting?
What am I not aware of yet?
Please email me with additional tips, tricks, or tools that have been helpful for you as an instructor or student as we all quickly adjust to these new formats. I’ll add them in!
vharner@uw.edu
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