Class structure, Assignments & Deadlines
- Encourage submission of partially completed assignments to meet the deadline, with the option of revising them later on.
- Accept past due assignments and lower the point deduction penalties I usually enforce for late submissions.
- Prompt grading & feedback.
- Clear guidelines, rubrics and comments for each assignment.
- Response to emails within 48hrs.
- Focus on broad concepts rather than technical/software-specific skills.
Positive/hopeful outlook
- Find opportunities, news articles etc. to highlight how relevant the skills we are learning in our courses are in the current/post-COVID economy (i.e: advantages of animated vs. live action production in a pandemic; the power of digital and social media in creating systemic changes etc.)
Emotional support
- Dedicate 5 minutes at the beginning and end of each class to discuss students’ concerns – whether they are related to the class or not.
Inclusive pedagogy
- Use of gender and race neutral nouns in examples/prompts/lectures
- Showcase role models from diverse genders, race, and cultural backgrounds.
- Growth-mindset encouragement (i.e: “I know you have the ability to master this topic if you follow these steps” instead of “ I know you are smart”)
- Emphasis on the fact that I don’t know everything and that the field we are engaged in is always evolving and requires us to constantly learn new tools, make mistakes, and learn from them.
Building Community
- Encourage asynchronous peer-to-peer interactions (i.e: discussion boards, Flipgrid, Slack).
- Facilitate constructive peer reviews (synchronously and asynchronously)
