La Sierra University gears up over summer break for fall online

Summer of Strategies

“This has been a different summer than any other summer that I remember in the past in that there's been a lot more contact [between faculty], interestingly enough, while we're in quarantine,” Geriguis said, through training meetings, town hall and faculty meetings, and other interaction.

Faculty members are off contract from their university duties between June and September and are typically traveling and conducting research. However this year La Sierra’s professors were frequently in discussion regarding best practices and invested many summer hours building upon hastily acquired knowledge of online technologies during the spring quarter shutdown last school year.

Using the online video-based lecturing platform Panopto, which is embedded in Blackboard and which became popular among teachers during the tumultuous spring, Geriguis developed a series of tutorial videos that grew out of conversations among faculty. The idea took root when social work department chair Jill Rasmussen expressed interest in Geriguis’ use of a Google Appointments link in her email signature which takes students to a page of slots for booking Zoom appointments. “It's something that I had actually started using before …as a way to automate the office hours process, and it has just hugely simplified things. It’s made it so much more convenient for students,” Geriguis said.

Geriguis decided to create a Panopto video on how to use Google Appointments and share it with other faculty. Meanwhile, ideas for use of other technologies buzzed throughout summer conversations -- psychology professor Paul Mallery’s use of Perusall, a social e-reading and grading platform that integrates a social media experience for students, and Flipgrid used by associate psychology professor Shelly McCoy which allows students to make videos in response to a prompt, for example. As word spread on the use of these and other technologies, Geriguis, through a conversation with College of Arts & Sciences Interim Dean Sam McBride, decided to expand on the video tutorial idea and create additional Panopto videos interviewing faculty about their implementation of the platforms they use and share the videos on the college webpage. The series was created in August, made available at the beginning of September, and promoted to faculty during colloquium week.

"This is hard, but this is possible, great teaching is still great even when it has a really different form." - Dr. Nate Sutter, professor of biology 

The video series included an interview with biology professor Nate Sutter on his advice for using Zoom video conferencing in teaching online classes based on his experiences during spring quarter.  “This is hard, but this is possible, great teaching is still great even when it has a really different form,” he said. Teaching is performative, he noted, and the transition to video-based teaching is like moving from community theater to television. “I feel like I’m re-learning how to teach.”

He touched on topics such as the importance of proper sound and lighting, camera position, use of multiple large screens, whether students should be required to turn on their computer cameras, and how to continue engaging with students in a virtual environment. “Connection is just as vital as it ever was,” Sutter said. “The classroom space is an intimate space …and the classroom space has tremendous opportunities to change people’s lives.”

Noted Geriguis, “I do feel like this summer was a really good time to kind of soak and think and plan. I do feel like the faculty as a whole are in a different place than we were in that emergency [mode] in spring.  …And so now that we've had a little more time to absorb, in some ways, you can see more problems than maybe you did at the beginning. But it's also given us a chance to come up with a certain amount of strategies as well.”

Efforts to better engage students in a fully online environment has evolved over the months and included renewed interest in how to better use Blackboard, a learning management system which has been widely used at the university in the past and primarily in a utilitarian manner to manage assignments and hold occasional online class discussions. Now attention is focused on how the Blackboard space is organized, the friendliness and clarity of the messaging, and additional ways to facilitate discussions between students. Geriguis said she has added images to her Blackboard space to tie in with the content and style of the classes she is teaching, as well as information about herself, and photos and information about any guest speakers.

Adapting to change

While almost all courses will be held virtually at La Sierra, state guidance issued to higher education institutions on Aug. 7 allows for limited in-person science labs and art and film studio classes. As such, La Sierra is holding several labs and studio courses on campus in a physically-distanced manner and in keeping with health and safety protocol. These include a SEA-GENES biology class taught by associate biology professor Arturo Diaz. The lab class researches viruses and will involve 15 students split between two lab rooms to allow for physical distancing of six feet. Students will be required to wear face masks and goggles while in the labs, and a system has been implemented to avoid sharing of lab supplies.“Four of the Art + Design classes are being delivered via Zoom, and four more are being delivered in a Hyflex model, with limited studio access,” said Art+Design Chair Terrill Thomas. “Over the summer we reduced capacity of all of the studios by alternating work stations and moving tables outdoors. The department is blessed to be on a hillside with large high ceilings, spacious studios and a cross breeze to the  outdoors.”

"I know that God is among us and at work, so I’m excited to discover the new methods and spaces that he’s going to call us into.” - Campus Chaplain Jason Decena

Additionally, three teaching studios were set up on campus for faculty whose home WiFi or environment are not conducive to online teaching. Each studio is outfitted with a monitor, podcast-quality microphone, headset, webcam and ring light. Also, ring lights, microphones, headsets, and other types of small equipment were offered to faculty to enhance their online teaching at home, said McBride of the College of Arts & Sciences.

University services departments have also been busy bolstering their online offerings. Student Wellness Services provides Telemedicine, Teletherapy and assessment online, the library provides resource videos and online librarians, the Office of Academic & Career Services this summer created a one-stop, Zoom-based virtual ‘front desk’ to streamline interactions with students for tutoring, testing, academic advising, career services and other functions.

Pastor Jason Decena, hired in June to serve as campus chaplain and director of the Office of Spiritual Life, is entering his new role at La Sierra during the tumult of the pandemic. He is open to exploring new ways of connecting and of providing virtual campus spiritual activities such as weekly chapels which during spring quarter were hosted on YouTube. The university’s livestreaming platform and or even Instagram TV may be delivery options, he said.

“My primary goal for the Spiritual Life team for fall quarter is to make contact with all of the students,” Decena said. “It’s not a necessarily groundbreaking goal, but we recognize that pandemic and quarantine has taken a toll on all of us, physically, mentally, socially, emotionally, and spiritually.”

He added, “So much does get lost without the ability to be in the same space with a person, to be able to read their body language, to be able to make eye contact, and be able to share the energy of a common space. However, I know that God is among us and at work, so I’m excited to discover the new methods and spaces that he’s going to call us into.”