Okay...this tweet has led to some interesting discussions about the teacher-student dynamic, unpaid labor, wingpeople, and the like...I guess I'll process out loud because I'm a glutton for punishment?
#HigherEd
#AcademicChatter
I was throwing spaghetti at the wall here at a way we could get students more engaged in sync online sessions AND help manage faculty overload. I'm always seeking those spaces of mutualism in our work.
What I'm talking about is stepping away from our role as the sole leader in the classroom and inviting students into leadership roles. Moving from a sage on the stage to a guide on the side in our Zoom classes.
What might that look like? I'm not sure. That's what I'm pondering. Could students take turns leading the chat space? Could students take turns leading breakout room discussions? Could students help keep time to stay on task?
A sub-topic has evolved, as they do, about paying tech assistants to support faculty. I think that's a fantastic idea too. That's not what I was thinking about, but I think it's a great idea.
But I notice a reaction to the idea that students should take on leadership roles in the classroom. That's what we want folks! That's active learning and agency. That's where the magic happens.
Is that unpaid labor?
I got back to this whole thing we talked about last week about the pushback against asynch online courses. The idea that students there have to "teach themselves." We get uncomfortable with the idea of self-directed learning.
We know lecture doesn't really work in most cases, but many of us want that sage on the stage.
Again, Rebecca Cox did a great job of exploring this in The College Fear Factor if you want a deep dive on this.
Where is the line b/t engaging students as teachers in the classroom and having them become unpaid teaching assistants? That's a great question for sure.
But I just think there's much more to this conversation than that. The idea of teacher-students and student-teachers freaks a lot of us out, myself included.
But I'm kind of excited to think that maybe remote/online teaching will help faculty to get students more involved as co-facilitators and bring that back into the physical classroom space.
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