These are a few of the resources we know about and hope will help you. Please be sure to look into your school’s center for teaching and wellness center. While the latter is usually aimed mostly at students, they also should have some resources for faculty, or that faculty can also take advantage of. Most of all, remember to take good care of yourself!
Communication
- VCU has a Facebook group for faculty called VCU Peer Support to Keep on Teaching, and it’s been a fantastic resource. If your school doesn’t have a similar group, why not start one?
- There are a great many other Facebook groups relating to teaching in this time, including Pandemic Pedagogy. There are also discipline-specific groups with similar names.
- Also check the Twitter tag #pandemicpedagogy.
- My department, being large, uses Slack for assorted conversations. While not enough people participate (I hope that will change in time), it’s been a great resource. Very effective for sharing assignments and so forth as well.
Learning
Please keep in mind that you can’t learn everything–and getting it done is always better than trying to get it done perfectly and making yourself miserable. Have reasonable expectations for yourself and your students, and be kind and patient.
That said, there are some great books about teaching, including Dee Fink’s Creating Significant Learning Experiences, and Flower Darby and James Lang’s Small Online Teaching.
Many schools are currently offering extensive training over the summer, so check your school’s calendar. However, you can probably sneak into some other schools’ programs.
Youtube has lots to offer. For example, try searching on Teaching Online Discussions, and you will find lots of videos on the topic, in varying lengths. You can also find valuable websites on such topics with the help of your favorite search engine.
Wellness
Wellness covers a ton of territory, and it can easily fill a website. (Can a website ever be full? Let’s not find out.) Below are some resources we hope you’ll find valuable. Please also reach out to your school, colleagues, family, and friends (probably not in that order) if you need support.
- The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) offers tons of support for people with mental illnesses and for family and friends of those people. They have support groups and lots of information, and they know how to navigate the system in ways that are invaluable.
- In Virginia, you can dial 211 to get help finding services in your area.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) put together this flyer about coping with stress during COVID-19. (You might also like to share it with your students.) One of the items they recommend is reducing the amount of time you spend on media or social media about matters (like the pandemic) that you find upsetting. This is so hard, especially since being aware of what’s going on is essential, but it’s also solid advice. Find the right amount for you.
- Get plenty of exercise. Check for at-home workout videos on YouTube, and take walks or jogs, etc., outdoors when it’s safe.
- Learning how to meditate can be wonderful and effective, and it can be done in small doses. Take a look at Calm or Headspace, both of which have free trials but aren’t free. Headspace now has one year free if you’re unemployed. You can also use YouTube for guided meditation. This link will show you videos under 4 minutes.
- Take breaks, video chat with friends and family, eat healthily, and try to find ways to make this very challenging time better for you.
