{"id":810,"date":"2021-02-08T17:12:55","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T17:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/clt\/?p=810"},"modified":"2021-02-08T17:24:51","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T17:24:51","slug":"reflections-on-a-semester-of-teaching-the-bath-blend-in-person-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/clt\/2021\/02\/08\/reflections-on-a-semester-of-teaching-the-bath-blend-in-person-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on a semester of teaching the Bath Blend: In Person Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the third in a series of blogs in which Steve Cayzer, Department of Mechanical Engineering, reflects on\u00a0 ensuring his courses are Covid-ready by designing them according to the Bath Blend.<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Steve reflects on what has worked well (and less well) and what he would like to keep in the \u2018new normal\u2019.<\/p>\n

Reflection # 3: In Person Time should be social, authentic and simple<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s probably fair to say that In Person Time was the area of teaching requiring most thought. Fortunately, the University had already thought through the Health and Safety environment \u2013 with students in small groups, but at 2m distancing, with low occupation rooms, good ventilation, and the use of face coverings, the risk levels were kept low. This allowed me to concentrate on the pedagogy.<\/p>\n

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\"Students<\/a>Physically distanced, socially connected. The students are holding \u2018voting paddles\u2019 to indicate their choice as the output of a 4S activity (complex problem, simple output).<\/em><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Over the semester I did encounter a few issues and challenges:<\/p>\n

How to keep focus<\/h3>\n

Energy levels are quite hard to maintain over a four-hour session (with a lunchbreak). Having multiple disparate activities meant students were being asked to \u2018gear themselves up\u2019 a number of times over the day. Over the semester, I moved to a model where the four hours contained at most two activities and, for Semester 2, most weeks were dedicated to a single topic.<\/p>\n

How to involve the remote students<\/h3>\n

It turned out to be really hard to provide a seamless experience for remote students. I did not even try to implement hybrid teams (though some educators have<\/a>), but I did try to allow remote students to \u2018join\u2019 the room through video link. Even this was problematic - the remote students can see what is going on in the room but don\u2019t feel involved. I have now started to run parallel sessions for in person and remote students, with a dedicated (and properly briefed) facilitator for the online students. This has the additional advantage of creating a \u2018team teaching\u2019 environment<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the lecturers get involved with all the modules, very holistic.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It also allows some modifications to be made to the online version of the class exercise. For example, instead of an in person \u2018pitch\u2019 that relies on body language, an online team might create an impactful poster or image.<\/p>\n

Technical and Physical Issues<\/h3>\n

I had a host of problems with the AV equipment, starting with the ancient PCs being unable to handle Zoom (our IT department replaced the PCs in double quick time once the issue was raised, but in retrospect I could have caught this earlier). I had issues with the range on the microphones, and background noise. I needed to think through the use of, for example, flipcharts or pens in a Covid-safe environment (risk management plans). I also needed to figure out a way for the cohort to be divided into sensible groups as in our risk management plan, students are expected to take a particular seat and hence table location for the whole day.<\/p>\n

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\"Students<\/a>
Students using a flipchart in a socially distanced class<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

I have now evolved a model with the following features<\/p>\n