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As
business
professor
Angela
Planisek
logged
in
for
the
first
time
to
conduct
her
spring
business
communications
class
online,
she
noticed
some
new
faces
among
her
students
…
furry
faces.
In a nod to the new realities of a semester turned inside out and upside down by the global coronavirus pandemic, Planisek decided to go with the flow, inviting students to introduce their four-legged study-buddies to the students assembled by videoconferencing software.
Such digital gathering spaces are up and running thanks to a massive effort, led by BW IT staff, to train, transition and support faculty and students in the move to remote learning in response to social distancing mandates.
The transition, which increased the online delivery of more than 1,500 course sections from 5% to 100%, took place over the span of an extended, two-week Spring Break.
While hiccups were inevitable in the roll-out of new technology and new approaches to teaching and learning, the BW community is adapting with can-do creativity.
Examples
of
resourceful
approaches
are
everywhere,
even
in
subject
areas
that
would
seem
to
be
the
most
demanding
to
deliver
online.
BW's nursing program is rolling out new online clinical instruction, spearheaded by Dr. Danita Wabeke, director of clinical education.
Student feedback on the live, faculty-led distance format is positive with comments like, "I felt as if I was in the hospital with my patient right in front of me" and "In clinicals today, all six of us converged on one patient. The learning took me deeper than ever before."
Students
studying
communication
disorders
and
speech-language
pathology
are
continuing
to
learn
by
doing
as
they
deliver
free
BW
Speech
Clinic
services
via
faculty-monitored
videoconferencing,
another
enormous
and
much-appreciated
undertaking.
"We are now offering 135 sessions per week through a health care compliant telehealth system," said Christie Needham, communication sciences and disorders department chair. "Our students are learning a lot about administering telehealth and our clients are grateful to have the consistency and normalcy of their therapy sessions still in place."
Music and performing arts programs are also rising to the distance challenge with live and recorded performances in the works that include plans for a virtual Conservatory of Music Bach Festival.
Meantime,
the
Conservatory's
nationally
acclaimed
music
theatre
program
has
marshaled
new
resources
to
continue
instruction
and
performance
and
will
stage
a
virtual
Senior
Showcase
to
launch
the
careers
of
BW's
future
Broadway
stars.
Music Theatre seniors are receiving remote coaching with one of NY's top agents, Ben Sands, and working to produce a blockbuster "highlights" reel to be released to the industry the day they would have been in New York for the annual Senior Showcase.
Freshmen music theatre students are recording one song each, in and around their homes, which will be edited together for a full online musical, while BW music theatre grad and multi-Emmy Award-winning producer Sainty Nelson and her husband, Eric Nelson, are providing TV/film coaching.
Even routine weekly class assignments have yielded improv moments worth sharing. Theatre and dance faculty member Heidi Glynias was delighted when Christine Smyth's hip-hop submission included her 90-year-old grandfather grooving into the video frame (and received permission to share).
In
the
BW
School
of
Education,
Susan
Finelli's
online
professional
development
course
on
teaching
technology
is
getting
an
immediate
workout
with
K-12
students
around
the
region
as
35
educators
in
the
class
adapt
their
own
teaching
to
a
home
environment.
"This remote learning out of nowhere is hard for not only my students but also their parents," wrote one teacher enrolled in the BW ed tech class.
"This class is greatly helping me with the transition." Another added, "Everything we have been learning is coming in handy!"
Finelli also compiled Distance Learning Resources for BW school partners and adapted the approaches for BW faculty, who found more than one faculty peer mentor during the transition.
Beyond the virtual classrooms, student support services are also alive and well with digital and tele-resources to support academic success, from advising to career services to disability services. Health and social needs are also moving online with YouTube workouts, mental health telecounseling services, including new, 24/7 services from ProtoCall, and more.
Faith Sloop '20, who's wrapping up her senior year in a way she never imagined, says she has been impressed by the quick transition to online service delivery, bumps and all, but she's most grateful that the BW personal connection is still shining through.
"Though I have always felt understanding and empathy from my professors throughout my time at BW, the genuine, unbridled compassion with which they have approached this trying time has been heartwarming," said Sloop. "I am so grateful that, even though I won't be returning to campus to take a class again, my professors have somehow found a way to make me feel as if I never left at all!"
