Remote Learning Stories
North is Innovation
Students and faculty around the world are adjusting to remote learning. At Northern Vermont University, our community is pushing forward in these unprecedented times with creative strategies to keep our students engaged.
North sees straight to the problem and gets straight to fixing it.
Here are a few of the inventive ways our community is adapting to remote instruction.
Goggles On!
Sean Doll hosted a Zoom meeting for the second to last outdoor education, leadership, and tourism practicum class. And while ski resorts across Vermont have closed due to concerns about COVID-19, our students dressed in their ski/snowboard gear and were ready to learn.
“Even though the students could not be in the field, their heads were in the right place,” Sean joked in a Facebook post.
News7 Weather Podcast
Meaghan Meachem and atmospheric science students are producing daily News7 podcasts to share weather forecasts to the NVU community to replace live broadcasts from the News7 studio.
“It’s definitely a different experience. A lot of television stations will provide forecasts to radio stations and have to record an audio clip without the use of graphics. This is good practice for that. It’s interesting going from only getting one take to taking as many tries as I need and editing the podcast to sound smooth. I’m glad we’re able to continue getting weather forecasts out to our viewers and keep up our skills, but I do miss the live, in-studio experience,” said Lillie Farrell, a senior in the atmospheric sciences and meteorology degree program.
Subscribe and listen to the News7 podcast on PodBean here.
Digital Advocacy
In Professor David McGough‘s Critical and Cultural Perspectives in Education course, six graduate students (Andrea Senesac, Sarah Hewitt, Sierra Williams, Bobbi Jo Capone, Liam Gannon, and Dannielle Clayton) created Virtual e-Vermonter, a digital collection of fun, creative, and inspiring activities for Vermonters to access. Content on the site includes a calendar of virtual performances and workshops, links to COVID-19 news and resources, and a forum to share and trade stay-at-home stories and tips.
The team project is a direct reaction to the way COVID-19 drastically changed the world and altered advocacy and support for rural communities.
Visit their site, Virtual e-Vermonter.
Remote Print Making
Adjunct faculty member and Julian Scott Memorial Gallery director Phil Robertson is taking on the challenge of moving his hands-on printmaking course to an online format. During the first two weeks of remote instruction, Phil asked his students to submit drawings, collages, and illustrations in Canvas, our online learning management platform. Students are also studying art history and responding to articles with short essays.
Read more about Phil’s remote teaching style in a recent Seven Days article here.
Pre-Recorded Videos for Performing Arts Students
Isaac Eddy is fully embracing remote instruction for his performing arts courses. By uploading pre-recorded videos to Canvas, our online learning management platform, he is able to still provide in-person instruction and motivation to his students. The screenshot showed here is from a pre-recorded video for his Acting II course.
Plus, he’s using one of our NVU Zoom backgrounds specially designed for remote learning.