“I am not a natural online teacher – I like being in the classroom too much…
I love that feeling of leaving the world at the door and turning towards books and ideas. My students at Salford are so sparky and funny – no matter what meetings I’ve been in that day or forms I’ve had to fill out, they never fail to make me think and laugh. I wasn’t sure, if I’m honest, how I’d cope without having these interactions but, as they say, needs must when the devil drives.
This semester I was running three modules – the first year core module Theory and Practice, a final year research-led option Alternative Ulster and the MA module on Professional Practice. I realised quite quickly that these three groups needed a different approach but that there was some elements of best practice I could stick to – make sure every session is recorded, be consistent in the platforms that I use and try to bring some of the spirit of our interactions to this brave new world.
At Salford, a patient colleague in our Learning Technologies department, Calum Thompson, explained the capabilities of our VLE to us and we began to experiment together. He made YouTube videos to help our students submit different kinds of assignments and answered questions with the kind of generosity that makes me think every University needs a Calum!
Daunted, I sat down at my computer at a corner of the bedroom, my partner beginning his own move to online teaching for his EAP course in the living room. But I needn’t have worried – my first years developed their own brilliantly chaotic approach to using the chat box, my third years rallied round some difficult material and indulged me sending them recipes for the Northern Irish delicacy (Fifteens) I had planned to make. My MA students turned their conference, long planned and sadly cancelled, into digital presentations. It’s not the same as sitting and talking, drinking coffee while sharing in-jokes and biscuits but our students are proving themselves good humoured and adaptable. Surely not terrible skills in the world to come.”
Dr Caroline Magennis is a Reader in Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Literature and Admissions Lead for Literature, Language, Creative Writing and Drama in the School of Arts and Media at the University of Salford. Caroline is also the Chair of the British Association of Irish Studies. You can find her on Twitter @drmagennis.
