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This article is a component of the Resources for Teaching After Crisis playlist. Trauma Informed Distance Learning: A Conversation with Alex Shevrin Venet 
Lunch & learn webinar hosted by the University of Vermont’s Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education where Alex Shevrin Venet responds to questions submitted by attendees. [55 minute video and full transcript]
Trauma-informed recommendations for how educators can support students, prioritizing predictability, flexibility, connection, and empowerment. Advice for admins, teachers, educator self-care and boundaries, equitable course practices, and importance of connecting to colleagues. Context is synchronous online pandemic distance learning (2020).

Thanks to Philip Strong, who is an assistant dean in Lyman Briggs College (overseeing undergraduate academics, student affairs, and student support) as well as the leader of the East Neighborhood Engagement Center, which is the hub for the pilot of MSU’s Neighborhoods initiative, for sharing this resource from Sarah Marshall and her collaborators at Central Michigan University. 

If you are looking for ways to bring some life back into your remote or blended instruction, Flipgrid may be the tool for you. At its core it is a video conversation tool, but in practice it is something much more. So let me point out some of the features that I think you will like about Flipgrid.
 

Free Educational Accounts: That's right! Since MSU is on Office365, all MSU faculty, staff, and students have Outlook accounts; which are recognized as Microsoft accounts. Therefore, you can use MSU email to setup your free flipgrid account
 Classroom Structrure: Flipgrid uses the term "Grid" to refer to a community space. For educational purposes, think of the Grid as a representation of your classroom. In each Grid, you can create collection of topics. Think of the "Topics" as your class assignments. 
Rich Posting Features: By default, video posts are 1:30, but you can make them longer or shorter. This helps to make every student post an equal length ; and encourages students to organize their thoughts ahead of time. Here are some features related to posting that make it fun:

Abilty to add text and sticky notes to your video posts
Apply different color themes, backgrounds, pixelate faces, etc
Students can also add emojis


Detailed Feedback: Instructor can provide feedback on student videos. Students can provide feedback on other student videos. Rubric can be applied to the prompt. Students can see how many views there videos are getting.
Topic Repository: Lastly, there is a content library filled with discipline specifc content created by educators in the Flipgrid community that instructors can use in their own student Topics (assignments). These can be filtered by Audience, Subject, and Keyword. Each of these Topics contain information about the usage and the engagment scores.

These are just some the cool features that I have come across on flip grid. If you would like a thorough overview of the tool, check out this tutorial by the New EdTech Classroom:
 

This workshop is designed to help you prepare for your teaching roles by strengthening your pedagogical understandings of D2L. For us, this means understanding how to implement thoughtful, intentional, and inclusive practices. We will introduce GTAs to foundational skills and strategies necessary to create well-structured, engaging, accessible online learning experiences.  
Upon completing this session, GTAs will be able to: 

Identify key components and goals of the learner experience through design thinking exercises. 
Consider factors that may impact learners’ ability to fully participate in various modes of online learning, and develop strategies to gain a sense of learners’ digital learning contexts. 
Evaluate opportunities for asynchronous and synchronous connection, community-building, interaction, and engagement. 
Discuss and explore features for enhancing learning and improving accessibility.   
Identify resources and supports for technical aspects of D2L. 

This poster outlines approximately 20 suggestions to help students navigate online courses more successfully. Even with careful planning and development, the normalization of remote learning has not been without challenges for the students enrolled in our courses. Besides worrying about a stable internet connection, students must confront a steep learning curve and considerable frustration when it comes to completing even the most basic coursework each week. Participation in the ASPIRE and SOIREE programs notwithstanding, and despite our carefully worded syllabi, weekly course modules, project packets, assignment prompts, and the like, students nevertheless experience significant confusion and anxiety when faced with the prospect of leaving the physical classroom behind for the brave new world of the virtual. The reduction of course material by instructors to bite-sized chunks and the opportunity for online collaboration with their classmates do not necessarily mean students greet online learning with open arms. Already entrenched attitudes and habits among many young adults do little to help them as they make the shift to online learning. But there are a number of fairly simple ways that instructors can smooth this rocky road over which students must now travel. The tips I share have emerged and been developed further as part of my own ongoing process to minimize confusion, frustration, and improve levels of engagement, while simultaneously imparting more agency to the students enrolled in my IAH courses here at Michigan State University.To access a PDF of the "Pandemic Pedagogy: Online Learning and Suggestions for Minimizing Student Storms in a Teacup" poster, click here.
Description of the Poster 
Pandemic Pedagogy: Online Learning and Suggestions for Minimizing Student Storms in a Teacup 
Stokes Schwartz, Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities 
College of Arts and Letters, Michigan State University 
Abstract 
The normalization of remote learning during 2020-2021 has not been without challenges for the students enrolled in our courses.  Besides worrying about stable internet connections, they must also confront a steep learning curve and considerable frustration when it comes to completing even the most basic coursework each week. Even with instructor participation in the ASPIRE and SOIREE programs, carefully worded syllabi, weekly course modules, project packets, assignment prompts, and etc., students nevertheless experience significant confusion and anxiety when faced with the prospect of leaving the physical classroom behind for the virtual. Our reduction of course material to bite-sized chunks and the opportunity for online collaboration with their classmates via Zoom or Teams do not necessarily mean students greet online learning with open arms. Already entrenched attitudes and habits among many young adults do little to help them either in the shift to online learning.  But there are a few fairly simple ways that instructors can smooth the rocky road over which students must travel. The tips and suggestions I share in this poster presentation have emerged as part of my own ongoing process to minimize student confusion, frustration, and improve engagement, while simultaneously impart greater agency and opportunity for success to the young adults populating my asynchronous online IAH courses here at MSU during the 2020-2021 academic year. 
Background 

In mid-March 2020, school pupils, university students, and educators everywhere were thrown into disarray by the mass onset of the Covid-19 virus, related lockdowns, and interruptions to normal student-instructor interactions. 
At Michigan State University, we scrambled throughout the summer to prepare for the 2020-2021AY and reconfigure existing courses for online delivery.  
Yet reasonably well developed and presented online courses alone have not enough for students to succeed.  Even in the face of MSU’s push for empathy and understanding, students have demonstrated that they require additional help making the leap from traditional face-to-face to online learning. 
Instructors are well-placed to assist students in an ongoing way as they make this challenging transition.   
Without much additional work, we can support and encourage our students with weekly reminders that exhibit kind words, cues, prompts, signposts pointing the way forward, and calls to action. 
We can foster improved student engagement, learning, and success despite the challenging, new environment in which we operate. 
We can guide students through their many weekly activities with roadmaps to help them navigate course intricacies more easily 
We can provide students with ample opportunity for new ways of learning, thinking, knowing, and the acquisition of 21st century skills. 
In short, faculty teaching online courses occupy an ideal position to prepare students to operate more efficiently and productively in the real world after graduation since remote work and collaboration online is expected to increase markedly as society speeds further along into the 21st century. 

Develop Supporting Communications 

Beside online syllabi, course modules with seem to be clear directions, etc. students need reminders to keep an asynchronous online general education course in mind, on the rails, and moving forward.   
Routine, consistent supporting communications to students from the instructor help to minimize student confusion. 
Send reminders on the same day each week for the coming week. 
Include headers in all course documents, and email signatures, listing a few ‘how to succeed in this course’ tips. 
Share same supporting communication to weekly modules in LMS.  
Students benefit from supporting communication that guide them through the activities for a given week during the semester. 
When students see supporting communications routinely and predictably, they are more likely to remember and act on it. 

Provide Weekly Guidelines 

Through supporting communication, provide additional prompts, directions, clarifications, and reminders to students.  Let’s call these weekly reminders “guidelines.”. 
Emphasize steps students can take to achieve success in the course.  
Keep guidelines fairly short and to the point to avoid information overload. 
Include the week, your name, course name, and number at top of guidelines as both an advance organizer and to help guidelines standout in students’ email inboxes. 
Provide students with concise ‘roadmaps’ in these guidelines making it easy to plan and carry out their coursework each week. 
Conclude guidelines with a call to action for students to complete course-related activities, much like a TV or online commercial, or an old fashioned print ad. 
Think of weekly guidelines as marketing communications that have a higher purpose than just promotion however.  
Share same guidelines at top of weekly online modules in LMS, so students can access them in more than one place.  

Include Key Course Policy Reminders 

Students will not remember all course policies, and expectations outlined in our syllabi.  Some might conveniently “forget.”   
Provide gentle reminders from week to week.  
Assist students by including important course information as part of the guidelines sent each week.  
Remind students of key course policies, expectations, and their responsibilities as members of the course. 
One possible segue way might be,  “For students who have chosen to remain in this course, the expectation is. . .” 
Remind students that we are in a university setting, they are adults, and to avoid letting themselves fall through the cracks. 
Invite students to seek help or clarification from the instructor if they or their student learning team need it. 

Foster Civil Interaction 

We have asked students to make a huge leap into uncharted waters.  They are frustrated and possibly fearful. 
Many are not used to online learning, self-reflection, thinking on their feet, problem solving, or working cohesively with others.  
Many already exhibit an entitled, customer service mindset. 
Make expectations for civil interaction clear with a concise statement in online syllabi, modules, and weekly guidelines.   
Model civility with polite decorum and kindness to reduce potential problems with disgruntled students. 
Be respectful and civil in your synchronous, asynchronous, or email interaction with students.  Listen without interrupting. 
Avoid terse replies, even to naïve questions! 
Use the student’s name in verbal or email replies. 
Reduce the potential for unpleasant episodes by opening all email replies with “Thank you for your email,” and conclude them with “Best/Kind Regards. . .”   
Be the adult in the room and show patience, patience, patience! 
Here are vital teachable moments that allow us to help shape students for collegial and productive working lives following graduation. 
Civil interaction is challenging given the various pressures and constraints under which all of us, faculty and students, must operate, but it is an important part of facilitating continued student engagement and success in our online courses.  

Remind Students of the Skills They Cultivate 

Besides the specific subject matter of the course, remind students in weekly guidelines that they are also cultivating real world expertise.   
‘21st century skills, ’ a term used by Christopher J. Dede, John Richards  and others in The 60-Year Curriculum: New Models for Lifelong Learning in the Digital Economy (2020), enable a smooth transition into the globalized digital economy after graduation.   
Remind students that they are refining relevant skills in:  
Deeper (critical) thinking  
Collaboration and collegiality  
Personal and agency and proactive engagement.  
Effective planning and organization  
Time management.   
Intellectually openness and mental agility.   
Learning from mistakes.   
Accountability and ownership 
Self-Awareness  
Attention to detail  
Timely and Frequent Communication with Your Team  
Creative problem-solving  
Development of high quality work 
Consistency  
On-time delivery of assignments and projects. 
Self-regulation 
Frequent practice of skills like these during weekly course-related activities better prepares students for long term employability through an anticipated six decades of working life in a rapidly changing world. 

Establish Consistent Guideline Format 
Below is a possible format for the weekly guidelines I propose: 

A recurring header in your weekly that lists easy steps students can take to ensure their own success in course.  
Begin with an advance organizer that identifies right away the week, semester, and dates the guidelines are for. 
Follow with a friendly greeting and focusing statement in a brief paragraph. 
Highlight any due dates in yellow below the greeting below greeting and focusing statement. 
Include two-three concise paragraphs that enumerate and outline individual assignments or team projects for the week. 
Provide brief directions for how (and when) to ask questions or seek clarification. 
Furnish technical assistance contact information for students who experience challenges uploading assignments or team projects. 
Remind students gently about the collaborative course design and expectations for students enrolled in the course. 
Mention to students of the need to keep course policies and expectations in mind as they complete their work. 
Highlight the big picture skills students practice each week besides the specific subject matter of the course, and how those skills are relevant to their lives after graduation. 
Finish with a closing salutation that is a bit less formal and includes good wishes for students’ continued safety and well-being. 

Conclusion 

The approach outlined here has emerged, crystalized, and evolved over two semesters in the interest of ensuring student success in asynchronous online IAH courses. 
While these observations are preliminary at this point, most students in the six courses taught during 2020-2021 have met the challenges facing them, completed their individual and collaborative coursework, and met or exceeded rubric expectations.  
 Anticipated student problems and drama either have not materialized, or have been minimal. 
Early impressions suggest that supporting communications like these are helpful to students when it comes to navigating online courses more easily and completing related tasks. 
Weekly supporting communications, presented as brief guidelines, might also be useful in the context in synchronous online, hybrid, and hy-flex as well as traditional face-to-face courses when it comes to helping students navigate and complete coursework in less confused, more systematic way. 
Future plans include refining the weekly guidelines further and possibly assessing their effectiveness through a small study. 

MSU is leveraging our Coursera Partnership and their offer to provide free access to nearly 4,000 online learning experiences during the Coronavirus pandemic.
 
Anyone with a msu.edu is eligible providing you use your msu.edu e-mail when signing up.
 
Access and sign up on the Coursera-4-Campus platform by using the URL below:
https://www.coursera.org/programs/michigan-state-university-on-coursera-207nw
 
Please note the following when signing up:

You must sign up with your msu.edu e-mail
Please follow the prompts and provide the requested information in order to gain access

 
Free Access is available through 12/31/20.  If you intend to complete courses and earn the corresponding credentials, you must meet all course requirements and secure your credential by 12/31/20.  Extensions will not be available.

In How to Build an Online Learning Community (In 2020) https://www.learnworlds.com/build-online-learning-community/ via @learnworlds 
 
Announcements help us build a stronger rapport with our learners.
News and announcements make you seem active. You are the half part of the equation.
Depending on your preferences and those of your learners, you can also send emails, text, or social media messages that repeat online announcements or merely remind learners to log in to view those announcements.
If you send a weekly message via email or some other format (eg., Twitter), make sure these are identical to any announcements in your online classroom.
Let learners know from the first day of class that each time they log in, they should check for the latest announcements. So, having a uniform announcement area in your course platform is essential.
 
Here are some examples of announcements:



Remind learners about due dates and stages of the course, for example, if a new section or activity is going to be released in your course.
Underline progress and encourage learners.
Remind learners about special events (eg., webinars, or introducing new presenters in videos).
Bring in authentic news from the outside world when relevant to demonstrate your active interest in the class topics and to involve your learners.



Tools:

Create an Announcement in D2L
Teaching Tips: Making Regular Announcements

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC
 
In How to Build an Online Learning Community (In 2020) https://www.learnworlds.com/build-online-learning-community/ via @learnworlds 
 
Way #1: Establishing the Instructor’s Presence

Convey a sense of enthusiasm about getting started the course. 
Personalize and provide some touchstones about yourself and encourage learners to do the same.
Indicate your availability for questions and communications.

Don’t forget that your initial postings in the discussion forum, your first messages sent to all by email, or the greeting you post on your course home page will do much to set the tone and expectations for your course.


Putting this into practice
There are several ways that this can be accomplished in your course. Here are some examples:

Posting an Introduction post in the course via text or video. It's important to show your class that you are a real person. You can do this by including images of yourself and by sharing aspects of your background and particular interest in the subject that you are teaching. Your introduction post is also a great place to share your expectations about the course, important dates, setting expectations for feedback.
Video is a good tool creating an instructor pressence online. Creating an Introduction video segments, using video to introduce the course content for each week, and using weekly videos to questions arise or address patterns.

Tools
Kaltura Capture is a quick easy way to record and upload video into Kaltura MediaSpace. From there the videos can easily be embeded into your D2L course.

 
Creating Content in D2L
You can embed video and images into your Introductory posts on D2L. The following video will demonstrate how to embed additional media from the Insert Stuff icon.

 
As a result of the Kaltura MediaSpace intergration in D2L, you can access all of the videos that you have uploaded into Kaltura Media from the Insert Stuff icon. Just look for the My Media Link. Check out the screen shot below: