These are slides which accompanied a presentation I gave to the Women In Leadership event the Association of Theological Schools held Oct. 14 and 15, 2020

1. Revisiting Course Design and Delivery: Virtual Teaching and Learning
Mary E. Hess, PhD
Women in Leadership
Association of Theological Schools
15 October 2020
https://www.slideshare.net/maryhess1

2. I come to you from lands that are Anishinaabe and
Dakota, and I reverence the care they have given
these lands for more than 15,000 years. I also
grieve over the taking of that land through
colonization and forced use, and seek to restore
and reconcile with these communities.

3. we are in the midst
of a maelstrom
right now, a
chaotic whirlwind,
and all I want to try
and do in the next
brief span of time
is offer a few
lenses through
which to think
about teaching/
learning via digital
tools and then
point you to a
page of resources

4. in the midst of a maelstrom, we often reach for what
is familiar; which might mean the dominant and
default choice of competition, isolation, and
autonomy
we can choose instead collaboration, community,
and accountability
we can teach for justice rather than charity, for
solidarity rather than unity, for transformation rather
than restoration (Barrett-Fox)

5. we know this in our bones,
in our very bodies, and now is the time
to live into the possibilities
we need to be about igniting curiosity
in our topics, curating robust and
appropriate materials, and giving
students support for the practices they
need to learn

6. four conceptual frames that help
• context collapse
• authority, authenticity, agency
• implications of trauma for teaching/learning
• leadership mindtraps and ways out

7. we are living in a time of context collapse

8. a primary task for us as teachers is to re-
contextualize — a challenge that is not helped by the
realities we are living within at the moment, as well as
the long term shifts that have been taking place since
the advent of digital media

9. one simple example: will you ask your students to
have their zoom windows (or team windows, or
hangout windows) unmuted? will you ban or will you
invite virtual backgrounds? there are numerous justice
implications here

10. the three most dynamic and compelling shifts that are
happening in the middle of digital media have to do
with how we experience authority, how we
encounter authenticity, and how we engage
agency
Hess

11. authority build authority don’t assume it

12. authenticity know how to draw on experience

13. agency find your spaces

14. trauma-informed pedagogy
• foster safety (and I would add: brave
spaces)
• nurture trust and transparency
• encourage peer support and mutuality
• support collaboration by sharing
agency
• empower voice by identifying and
building on strengths
• pay attention to cultural, gender, and
historical issues
• support a sense of purpose
InsideHigherEd

15. I find it helps to think in terms of what Jennifer
Garvey Berger calls “leadership mind traps”

16. (115)

18. I wish I’d known early on that …
• teaching during a pandemic means bringing far more intentional listening to
my colleagues, as well as to my students, than I have ever needed to do in
the past
• I need to check in with students early and often — and intentionally create
ways for them to do so with each other in the space of a class (random
breakout groups, and specifically curated breakout groups can help with this)
• I need to remember to teach for enduring understandings rather than content
“coverage” — uncover, discover, recover!
• it’s better to curate well, than to reinvent the wheel
• small assignments with regular feedback build good learning relationships,
and such relationships are essential

19. I wish I’d known early on that (cont.)…
• not every student enjoys improvisation or flexibility — structure can offer
comfort —differentiated instruction is even more important during this
pandemic
• I need to set good ground rules — for the class overall, for particularly for
how I use chat and polls, and that I need to create a team to help
(students who serve as chat moderators, a TA or instructional design
person, etc.)
• zoom fatigue is real, with observable neurological evidence
• finding ways to get feedback along the way helps everyone (eg. CIQ from
Brookfield)
• rubrics are crucial (and a great way to save time)

20. a few resources I’ve found useful
• “effective teaching is anti-racist teaching”
• “building online communities”
• “reconsidering deadlines for student work”
• “don’t turn into a bot online”
• “how the coronavirus pandemic will change our future teaching”
• “how teachers can help students get through the semester”
• “the new rules of engagement”

22. citations:
maelstrom image (https://dwilicnu.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/356952-maelstrom.jpg)
“future is in the seeds” (https://www.facebook.com/rlmartstudio/photos/
a.383746670304/10162671711905305/?type=3&theater)
“authorship learning” (http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/journal/constructionism-reborn/)
“connected learning” (http://www.teachthought.com/learning/connected-learning-the-
power-of-social-learning-models/)
“networked learning model” (http://jarche.com/2016/08/a-network-perspective/
#more-16661)
hiroshima conference sign (photo by mary e hess)
“make them feel loved” (https://www.facebook.com/photo?
fbid=10158709062475148&set=a.10150106279330148)

23. more information:
mhess@religioused.org
meh.religioused.org
slideshare.net/maryhess1