Abstract
At the start of 2020, COVID-19 restrictions have led universities to move most face-to-face teaching to online. Across the sector, traditional university teaching staff were faced with a common challenge: adapting classroom teaching to online in a short window of time. The difficulty of this transition was often compounded by limited support, resources, technical skills and knowledge required to create socially-engaged online classroom experiences that supported learning as effectively as their face-to-face teaching.
As a response to the needs of supporting educators during the transition, in March 2020, a cross-institute approach at the Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI), Monash University Australia led to the establishment of the Teaching On¬line Meetups (TOM) — a series of regular online sessions attended by academic and professional staff in the Institute. The initiative gained momentum across 2020, and later expanded to include across other faculties of Monash University.
In this chapter, we firstly discuss the critical roles TOM played in supporting staff’s successful transitioning into online teaching during the lockdown and outline the process involved in the establishment and operation of TOM, including the management of TOM’s resource site. Next, we explain TOM’s community building and staff capacity development approach, which centres around creating an open and safe space to share online teaching practices, test new online teaching tools and activities, and provide hands-on experience with online technologies in a live group setting. We evaluate how this practical approach helped staff to develop their digital capacity effectively and gain confidence in online teaching. Lastly, we discuss the pattern of technology adoption and the different levels of needs of participants. We reflect on how the progression of session topics has continued to address the community’s online teaching needs. We conclude with recommendations for others in adopting similar approaches at an institutional level.
As a response to the needs of supporting educators during the transition, in March 2020, a cross-institute approach at the Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI), Monash University Australia led to the establishment of the Teaching On¬line Meetups (TOM) — a series of regular online sessions attended by academic and professional staff in the Institute. The initiative gained momentum across 2020, and later expanded to include across other faculties of Monash University.
In this chapter, we firstly discuss the critical roles TOM played in supporting staff’s successful transitioning into online teaching during the lockdown and outline the process involved in the establishment and operation of TOM, including the management of TOM’s resource site. Next, we explain TOM’s community building and staff capacity development approach, which centres around creating an open and safe space to share online teaching practices, test new online teaching tools and activities, and provide hands-on experience with online technologies in a live group setting. We evaluate how this practical approach helped staff to develop their digital capacity effectively and gain confidence in online teaching. Lastly, we discuss the pattern of technology adoption and the different levels of needs of participants. We reflect on how the progression of session topics has continued to address the community’s online teaching needs. We conclude with recommendations for others in adopting similar approaches at an institutional level.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Title of host publication | The Impact of COVID-19 on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education |
Editors | Sylvie Studente, Stephen Ellis, Bhavini Desai |
Place of Publication | New York NY USA |
Publisher | Nova Science Publishers |
Chapter | 1 |
Pages | 1-22 |
Number of pages | 22 |
Edition | 1st |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781536199710 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781536199475 |
Publication status | Published - 2021 |
Publication series
Name | Education in a competitive and globalising world |
---|---|
Publisher | Nova Science |
Keywords
- peer support
- capacity building
- online teaching
- transition