Trends from SITT 2021: A Five-Part Blog Series
"Necessity is the mother of invention."
While much of society came to a halt because of the pandemic, education had to carry on. University faculty, staff, administrators, and students forged on, and in doing so, birthed many innovations in teaching and learning.
For over a year, instructors and students reached higher levels of creativity, flexibility, and compassion than perhaps ever before. Because of these efforts and experiences, UC Davis faculty have created a collection of lessons learned while remote teaching during a pandemic, many of which will make positive contributions when migrated to an in-person classroom.
The theme of resilience drove many of the presentations and discussions at the 2021 UC Davis Summer Institute on Teaching and Technology (SITT), which took place September 9th & 10th. This year’s SITT included a keynote presentation by Bettina Ng'weno, Associate Professor in African American and African Studies, a series of pre-recorded events (faculty interviews and short presentations), live webinars, and a special SITT edition faculty forum. SITT attendees engaged in interactive presentations and participated in thought-provoking and informative discussions in a multimodal format, including synchronous face-to-face presentations and discussions, dialogue in the Zoom chat, and sound-bytes on Twitter.
Professor Ng’weno opened the event by boldly asking the audience to rethink pedagogy in a post-pandemic era, and to imagine a better world. Revisiting her experience of remote teaching during a pandemic, Prof. Ng’weno reminded us of glaring concerns in education, such as students’ struggles with inequalities, missed opportunities, and lack of engagement. She also showed what teaching insights could be gleaned from innovative approaches to inspiring and connecting meaningfully with her students.
“I found the students to be kind and generous and super tech savvy....They would help me out all the time. But so many of them were looking after loved ones, and often ill. And, they were super forgiving of all our mistakes.” - Bettina Ng'weno
Dr. Ng’weno’s keynote address introduced many topics that fueled SITT 2021, especially the themes of thinking forward, pushing our students to achieve even more, addressing issues of inequalities in education, highlighting innovations in pedagogy theory and application, and taking time to rethink, reflect on, and renovate course design.
Attendees utilized the presentations, pre-recorded sessions, and informal talks and chat-chatter as spaces to dissect and analyze challenges, share solutions and strategies, and bring to light innovations, many of which were discovered and accentuated in the time of teaching online during a pandemic. Tethering these topics were faculty discussions about ways to incorporate changes as we head back to the in-person classroom.
The pandemic so rudely interrupted and stalled society in many regards, but it also fostered critical discussions and encouraged fresh ways of thinking and teaching in higher education. As UC Davis faculty embark on a new academic year, we are armed and supported with tools and teamwork.
“As we bounce back to fall, this [Academic Technology Services instructional design and instructional technology] team is ready to help support you and run with that momentum.” - Meggan Levitt, Associate Chief Information Officer in Information and Educational Technology at UC Davis.
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This five-part blog series will summarize this two-day event, highlight innovative instructional strategies and technology tools trialed by UC Davis faculty, and provoke thoughts on how other faculty might integrate these practices into their own classroom. This series will cover 1) Going Forward: Online Teaching Strategies Applied to In-Person Classes, 2) Student Autonomy, 3) The Student Voice, 4) Flexibility, Accessibility & Support, and 5) Collaboration, Teamwork & Team Building. In the coming weeks, please look out for these five blog posts covering SITT 2021 trends. I look forward to sharing them with you!
Lillian Jones
Lillian Jones is a doctoral student at the University of California, Davis, studying Spanish linguistics and second language acquisition. Her main research interests include mobile-assisted language learning, messaging apps and second language teaching and learning, computer-assisted language learning, and online and hybrid teaching. Lillian has published on various aspects of texting for language learning, including the impact it may have on literacy, as well as using emoji in L2 vocabulary lessons and digital storytelling. Lillian is currently the Managing Editor for Communications for the Spanish and Portuguese Review and is on the committee for the CALICO graduate student special interest group. She has also provided curriculum and user experience support in the development of an open-source, digital vocabulary program. In her free time, Lillian enjoys traveling, running, playing soccer, practicing yoga, cooking, writing, learning languages, teaching, laughing, drinking coffee, and tasting Old World red wines.
P.S. Remember to check out post-event resources:
- Keep Teaching Resources for Faculty
- Keep Teaching Resources for Students
- Center for Educational Effectiveness
- Email instructionaldesign@ucdavis.edu for consulting and advice on how to implement instructional technologies in your specific UC Davis course.
- Find SITT snippets on Twitter by following @ucdaviswheel and @Lily_Jones20, using the hashtag #UCDavisSITT.
*Remember that SITT is an annual event, so make sure you put it on your calendar for next year! Subscribe to The Wheel e-newsletter here, or follow @ucdaviswheel to stay up to date on all Academic Technology Services happenings and more.