{"id":8729,"date":"2020-04-03T18:39:44","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T18:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2020\/04\/07\/with-digital-tools-and-creativity-furman-meets-the-challenges-of-remote-learning\/"},"modified":"2022-09-07T15:32:42","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T19:32:42","slug":"with-digital-tools-and-creativity-furman-meets-the-challenges-of-remote-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/with-digital-tools-and-creativity-furman-meets-the-challenges-of-remote-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"With digital tools and creativity, Furman meets the challenges of remote learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the COVID-19 pandemic \u2013 and the ensuing shift to remote learning \u2013 has scattered students far from campus, Furman faculty and staff are taking powerful measures to help them to adapt and thrive.<\/p>\n

From helping faculty members find remote ways to continue their personal interactions with their students to finding creative ways to help students feel together while they are apart, the Furman community has stepped up.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the great things I\u2019ve seen come out of this is how everyone is coming together and doing what\u2019s best for students,\u201d said Judy Bagley, director of Furman\u2019s Student Office for Accessibility Resources (SOAR). \u201cIt\u2019s every department, every unit.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOAR\u2019s mission is to create an accessible, inclusive and sustainable learning environment for students with disabilities. By assisting departments across campus, SOAR works with individual students to provide the accommodations they need to be successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat hasn\u2019t changed. That\u2019s what we\u2019re still doing,\u201d Bagley said. \u201cBut the way we do it and the accommodations students need is different now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zoom, Box and Moodle, to name a few<\/strong><\/p>\n

To accommodate students who need extended time on tests, SOAR is working with faculty to increase the time allowed on Moodle, Furman\u2019s learning management system. In other cases, SOAR is proctoring exams through Zoom, she said.<\/p>\n

But sometimes, accommodations used in a regular classroom setting don\u2019t work remotely. For instance, some hearing-impaired students use FM devices in class. Their professor wears a microphone that feeds directly into their cochlear implant. But the system doesn\u2019t work well over the computer. In those cases, SOAR is setting up live captioning so that students have equal access to the lecture.<\/p>\n

Some students who do well in a \u201cpaper-and-pencil\u201d setting struggle to read text and take tests on the computer, Bagley said. In those cases, SOAR is working with P2X (Print & Post Express) to print and ship materials to students.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Rogers said when in crisis, look for the helpers, and I have definitely seen all the helpers,\u201d Bagley said. \u201cFurman has stepped up, and it makes me proud to work here.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the extended spring break, Furman Libraries helped faculty access the resources they needed to move classes online. The libraries were open so faculty could attend training, workshops and get technical support, said Jenny Colvin, assistant director for outreach for Furman University Libraries.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody in the library had a role to play because we all worked together to support students,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Micah Arms ’21, a student assistant, scans class materials at James B. Duke Library.<\/p><\/div>\n

Colvin said that because Furman is a heavily residential campus, most students accessed library services in person before the campus closed. However, the library has always responded to requests for help in a virtual environment through online chat, text or email, she said.<\/p>\n

Research assistance is available virtually until 10 p.m. most nights. Students and faculty may make appointments with librarians for research consultations conducted over the phone, Zoom or Skype, she said. If a student needs material that is not available digitally, library staff are scanning chapters or pages of books and sending it to students, Colvin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a popular time of year for research papers,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Also, Furman\u2019s outreach librarians are meeting with classes live through Zoom, recording lectures that students can access through Box or Moodle, and creating online tutorials to fill in gaps.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times, it feels like the work that the library does is a little invisible because we provide all this access to information that people can get to on their own,\u201d she said. \u201cI think this reinforces how much work the library does to support the academic life of the university.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rapid progress<\/strong><\/p>\n

Susan Dunnavant, director of learning technologies for Furman\u2019s Information Technology Services, said faculty members value personal interaction with students every bit as much as the students do.<\/p>\n

\u201cInteracting remotely is not the same as the personal attention so highly prized at Furman, and the adjustments require not only appropriate technology, but innovative and resourceful use of it,\u201d she said. \u201cOur role of technicians includes encouragement for our user community.\u201d<\/p>\n

ITS has provided loaner technology for students who did not have hardware or devices to take part in their required activities and classes. The office also increased access to proprietary software systems ordinarily available only from on-campus systems. It increased the number of Furman professional Zoom accounts. It conducted practice sessions for faculty and students, helped faculty create videos and high-quality audio lectures, and provided training for expanded use of Moodle.<\/p>\n

Dunnavant said the initial concerns were logistical and mechanical \u2013 how to set up a meeting in Zoom, how to join a meeting, how to share material and whether a user\u2019s camera worked. But now, the requests have become more sophisticated, she said. Faculty members are asking how their students can work together on projects and then practice before presenting something to the whole class.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the other end of this, I think some faculty members may end up using some of these tools in a limited fashion as an enhancement to the things they\u2019re doing in the classroom,\u201d she said. \u201cSome may have had an interest in doing some blended learning, but they hadn\u2019t had the time. Now, they have the time to learn how to do it because there isn\u2019t any choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

A perfect time to #comtogether<\/strong><\/p>\n

ITS and others aren\u2019t the only ones that are finding creative ways to serve students during a time when connection may be more important than ever.<\/p>\n

\"\"

A recent tweet using the hashtag #comtogether.<\/p><\/div>\n

“For communication studies students, the hashtag #comtogether is a way to promote togetherness during the pandemic and serve as a learning experience in social media strategy,” said Mary Sturgill, a media specialist and instructor in the Department of Communication Studies.<\/p>\n

The hashtag came about through brainstorming between communication studies students and some professors. In addition to sharing departmental information, the main part of the campaign includes highlighting senior communication studies majors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve lost so much during this pandemic,\u201d Sturgill said.\u00a0\u201cThey\u2019ve lost the last couple of months of their college life that they won\u2019t ever get back, so we are trying to do something to honor them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each week, the department\u2019s social media platforms feature new students. The department encourages students, family and professors to post encouragement and memories for each senior.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a way to make our students feel connected in a world that feels so unconnected,\u201d Sturgill said. \u201cEven though we\u2019re separated, we\u2019re all in this together. We\u2019re supporting and uplifting each other.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the COVID-19 pandemic \u2013 and the ensuing shift to remote learning \u2013 has scattered students far from campus, Furman faculty and staff are taking powerful measures to help them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":273,"featured_media":18457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,51,70,43,52,78,30,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-communication-studies","category-diversity-equity-and-inclusion","category-graduate-studies","category-library","category-strategic-design","category-top-stories","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/273"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}