I am interested to know how this PBL work will go. I just received an email list of individuals in my group. After some light internet/google stalking I find the individuals represent the following list of fields: Physiotherapy, textiles, didactics, linguistics, Sociology, Education. No engineering or physical sciences participant. Also, arguably no mathematics participants although some members have statistics backgrounds so its hard to pinpoint. At any rate, I think this is a good cast of characters. Its obvious that teaching methods in different fields vary greatly. I often feel compelled to “team-up” with my physical science/engineering compatriots against the other class cohorts. Its not an antagonistic position more like I think we need to “validate” our approach by being vaguely dismissive of others approaches. I’m sure this is the result, or at least in part the result, of my own bias. Perhaps I’m trying to avoid perceived prejudice from another member of my community?

Thankfully, in this class I can feel free to explore and evaluate different aspects of learning without feeling like I have to worry about engineering-peer assessment/approval. This is especially convenient as I really have no idea what this class is about (even after the introductory lecture and videos). I think I’ll have to be especially open minded to get something out of it.

Some hopes for this class: My own experience with providing/producing online learning has been a disaster. The first class I taught was a 5 week long, special topics course on my research. I inherited the class from a senior retiring professor and with a sort of mandate that I keep it going and improve on it. The class covers a lot of material in a format that really leverages contact (in person) teaching. As expected, I and the course instructors, offered the class on Zoom without any real modification to the content and presentation style. There just wasn’t enough time to respond sufficiently to COVID. The course received OK reviews but I felt that it was no good.

I am currently teaching an electromagnetic theory class that also, traditionally, relies heavily on contact teaching. I am co-teaching with a professional teacher who is quite experienced with these large, compulsory classes and I’m learning a lot by watching him. However, he and I can see that Zoom + Powerpoint by itself may not be enough.

This brings me to my mindset dilemma regarding the class. I know my online teaching is bad and I really want to improve it; both for my sake and the sake of my students. However, I’m also holding on to hope that the pandemic will soon be over and I’ll never again have to give another class on Zoom. So, while I should be pursuing a deep approach, I find myself on tending towards the path of quick fixes (shallow).

In any event, the class has assignments and the group dynamic will make me accountable for my actions so at least I’ll be forced to learn something new.