Bicycle Wheels in a Field

Recording of May's Virtual Faculty Forum: Lessons Learned about Remote Teaching at UC Davis

Dear Faculty Colleagues, 

The faculty forum on May 15th provided almost 60 faculty and staff the opportunity to reflect on “Lessons Learned about Remote Teaching at UC Davis.” The faculty forum began with Marina Radulaski, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, discussing her experience with remote teaching this quarter. She highlighted the importance of encouraging students to interact with each other even during instances of remote teaching. 

In addition, Bob Blake, Distinguished Professor of Spanish and Director of Davis Language Learning Center, reflected on the importance of taking this (forced) opportunity to revamp our courses and to design activities that encourage student-student interactions. 

As the conversation continued, some important lessons learned from this quarter arose: 
  • Videos should be short and broken into chunks (certainly less than twenty minutes)
  • Equity and access need to be considered when designing remote learning. Students may not have access to reliable WiFi or computers. In addition, students may be caring for young children who are not currently in school. 
  • Student-student interactions are a crucial experience at UC Davis and should be built into learning activities. 
Thank you to all who joined us Friday for this vibrant and engaging faculty forum. As we all face uncertain times, we will continue to support faculty as they work to move beyond the emergency and prepare to offer high-quality online or face-to-face learning experiences for students in the fall. 

Please save the date for the virtual Summer Institute on Teaching and Technology which will take place July 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. The request for proposals for faculty presenters is open. If you have not yet submitted a proposal, please do so before the request for proposals closes on June 1st. 

Best, Andy Jones

Academic Associate Director, Academic Technology Services

Editor of The Wheel, The Instructional Technology Blog for UC Davis

University of California, Davis  

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