Leading the way during Lehigh’s rapid transition to remote learning
When Lehigh announced in early March that the remainder of the spring semester 2020 would be fully remote, our Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL) had already prepared an Academic Continuity Guide with specific steps faculty could take to move their courses online rapidly; we already had a campus-wide Zoom license in place; our recently upgraded Course Site system was ready for the increased demand; and we were well prepared to offer remote access to software and library materials.
Over 300 faculty and graduate student instructors attended course development workshops offered by our Instructional Technology team, and we followed up with individual consultations and additional workshops throughout the spring semester.
In addition, LTS:
- Distributed Internet hotspots and computers to students in need.
- Purchased and distributed additional document cameras, microphones, and other technology to support remote lecture creation.
- Met increased internet demand by enhancing connectivity to campus.
- Streamlined remote access to scholarly materials, software, and key Lehigh applications.
- Offered easy curbside pickup of library materials and technology equipment.
- Extended remote hours for librarian consultation.
- Increased Zoom recording storage, software licensing, and access to LUapps and Virtual Computer Labs.
- Expanded on-site and virtual Help Desk hours and prepared staff to respond to a newly-expanded range of support requests.
- Transitioned our TRAC Writing Fellows program to continue its work supporting 24 courses and over 1,000 students.
- Created a “Remote Learning and Academic Integrity” guide, and consulted on adjusting assignments and assessments for remote learning.
Preparing for Fall 2020
In partnership with a Faculty Senate Working Group, our Vice Provost and CITL staff reviewed the highs and lows from spring 2020 and then developed a plan to further prepare Lehigh faculty and graduate student instructors for fall 2020. In coordination with College Deans’ offices, we offered 35 workshops for Lehigh faculty and graduate students, highlighting lessons learned from spring 2020, recommending best practices, answering questions, and spotlighting faculty successes. Over 500 faculty and teaching assistants attended; many more accessed workshop recordings and our numerous online resources.
In addition, we acquired new digital materials to support online learning and remote research:
- JoVE and Labster, multimedia-rich science instruction platforms
- O’Reilly for Higher Education, a service of online books and video in support of data science, technology, and business
- The Washington Post, supplementing our campus-wide subscriptions to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal
- Two hundred fifteen new titles in OverDrive, an ebook and audiobook platform
- New software such as Respondus, Adobe Creative Cloud, Slack Enterprise Grid LinkedIn Learning, a professional development platform that offers over 10,000 expert-led, online courses and video tutorials
- Interdisciplinary ebook and streaming video packages.
We partnered with faculty on over 100 courses to prepare them for teaching in a hybrid environment, where they teach simultaneously to remote and in-classroom students.
BUILDING ON A LONG TRADITION The Office of Distance Education continued its work supporting remote learning, helping colleges offer 33 graduate DE courses, sharing expertise with others on campus, and offering expanded help to newly remote undergraduates in the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business, and the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science.
We collaborated with Bacy Dong, Steve Savino, and Robert Kuchta, recipients of the College of Business Teaching Innovation Grant. We offered 6 workshops for 45 graduate students in our Teacher Development Program and 8 workshops for 25 P.C. Rossin Graduate Student Teaching Fellows. Ninety two undergraduate TRAC Writing Fellows supported 27 instructors and provided technology research and communication support to approximately 2,200 students.
Remember 2019?
Although fall 2019 may feel a world away right now, LTS was collaborating with faculty on some of Lehigh’s most innovative and engaging courses. We partnered with eight CITL Faculty Fellows and faculty on rethinking instructional approaches and assignments used in courses.
- Hugo Ceron-Anaya, Introduction to Sociology
- Michael Kramp, Film and Cultural Theory
- Ginny McSwain, Introduction to Astronomy Lab
- Michelle Washington, Organizational Behavior
- Julia Maserjian, Community Study through Documentary Film
- Joan Ramage, Following the Drinking Gourd
- Ziad Munson, Keep the Change: Social Movements
- William Crow, Ancient to Medieval Art and Architecture
Spotlight on cutting-edge courses
In this course, taught by Valerie Taylor, students first identified why and how racism occurs and is maintained, and then analyzed various social-psychological interventions that have been designed to reduce racism, specifically. Students were tasked with designing a cartoon strip that details a particular psychological, social-psychological, historical, and/or legal process that has contributed to racism today. Digital Scholarship Team (DST) staff vetted tools and assisted in assignment design.
An advanced TRAC fellow was assigned to work over the summer with the new Director of the Rauch Center for Business Communications to help design and launch a new first-year course. In the fall 2019 and spring 2020 semesters, TRAC fellows supported a team of BUS 003 instructors and supplied peer-tutoring in written and oral communication for approximately 420 students.
Jeremy Littau and Matt Veto. This course was an introduction to storytelling across multimedia styles such as video, audio, photography, social media, and the written word. Students received instruction from DST staff on protocols and flight for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (drones) and accompanied students on flights, which were incorporated into their video projects.
TRAC Fellows worked for the first time with preprofessional students on personal statements for their medical, dental, and law school applications. CCPD Assistant Director Mary Ellen Raposa offered this assessment of the fellows' work: "I was very impressed by the personal statements that the students submitted this summer in the cycle. They were polished to perfection, had a great flow, and just in general were of a higher quality than I often see."
Our librarians offered a robust curricular instruction program, serving students through integration into various co-curricular programs.
During the fall semester, first-year students were introduced to scholarly, historical, and digital archive materials through a wide variety of 5x10 orientation programs facilitated by librarians. Sessions included an Escape Room activity based on library resources, an exploration of how 16th and 17th century rare books and maps depicted new scientific and geographic discoveries, and a Special Collections open house that gave over 200 first-year students the opportunity to engage and interact with artifacts spanning several millennia.
Librarians in total taught 126 classes, which encompassed approximately 1,250 students. Library instruction included teaching:
- Undergraduate Psychology students to analyze the differences between magazine and newspaper depictions of scientific research in comparison to scholarly research
- First-year students how to use primary sources such as maps to understand the experience of escaping enslavement on the Underground Railroad in an Earth and Environmental Science course
- Sociology students to investigate the role that information production and dissemination plays in the formation of conspiracy theories
- Biology students to create an open access textbook on introductory neuroscience
- Art History students giving gallery talks how to research artists and art works
CITL partnered with the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity to offer a two-day Inclusive Excellence in Teaching and Learning workshop for faculty and teaching assistants.
Our TRAC Writing Fellows offered peer-to-peer support to students in the Center for Career & Professional Development (CCPD) pre-professional program, and we partnered with CCPD to create six dual-purpose rooms in the Fairchild-Martindale Library that serve as study rooms and job interview rooms.
CITL partnered with the Office of Graduate Life to offer a 12-session Teacher Development Program for Graduate Students for 35 graduate students, and offered a two-day Intensive Teaching Workshop for 35 Rossin Doctoral Teaching Fellows in RCEAS.
Over half of first-year students and one third of graduate students completed the LTS Ramp Up online summer orientation. Hosted on our Course Site learning management system, Ramp Up features interactive video, software downloads, and more to help orient new students to our services before they arrive on campus.
A blue-ribbon panel of veteran undergraduate researchers offered insight, advice, and opportunities to over 40 first-year students in the Undergrads Do Research 5x10, co-sponsored by LTS.
Our Librarians sponsored several Graduate Breakfasts in Packer House, providing space and time for graduate students to meet and socialize with librarians.
CITL partnered with the Creative Inquiry Program to offer course redesign workshops for eight Creative Inquiry Faculty Fellows, and with the Office of International Affairs for eight Global Teaching and Learning Fellows.
Teaching and Learning: By the numbers
- 300+ instructors attended 19 Spring 2020 Academic Continuity workshops
- 500+ instructors attended at least one of 35 Preparing for Fall 2020 workshops
- 91 unique software titles available on LUapps, virtual computing software that can be accessed anywhere, any time, on any device
- 612K ebooks available to students, faculty, and staff, constituting 60% of our total print collection
- 100% faculty and staff using Duo Two-factor Authentication to secure their accounts and Lehigh data
- 2,400+ Course Sites in our Learning Management System
- 22 classrooms upgraded with videoconferencing technology, bringing our total to 40
- 75 faculty requests met for equipment needed for enhanced remote instruction
- 729 hours of video and audio production
- 225 DMS lab hours and instruction time
- 134 classes hosted in the Digital Media Studio (DMS)
- 1,416 pieces of equipment loaned (cameras, microphones, conference kits, etc.)
- 31 courses supported for projects using Digital Media, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, & Unmanned Aircraft System (drone) flights
- 164 event recordings coordinated by Digital Media Studio staff
