Currently reading Robnett et al. (2022) on “Are synchronous chats a silver lining of emergency remote instruction? Text-based chatting is disproportionately favored by women in a non-majors introductory biology course”
Encouraging active participation in class is often a goal since it is correlated with better learning outcomes, but that became a lot more difficult when teaching had to suddenly move online in 2020. But maybe not all about online teaching was bad, or at least not for everybody?
Robnett et al. (2022) analyze how students use the chat in synchronous zoom sessions. In fall 2020, teachers in the classes investigated here had encouraged the use of chat over several sessions. They then summarized and analyzed what was written in the chats: who writes and how often, and what type of comments were made, for example content-related questions or comments, responses to instructors or students regarding the content or something else, supportive or negative comments, …
They also surveyed students about their experiences using the chat, and found that students, and especially female students, enjoyed the synchronous chat during the lectures and felt that it helped them participate in class, for example because it made them less anxious than other modes of participation, they did not need to worry about stuttering, they could make sure something made sense before posting. Especially women were also positive about having live chats included in future classes. This is an important finding, since women in STEM classes tend to participate less than men, and participating through chat might help them establish a sense of belonging and build their academic identity. But of course, chats in zoom sessions only work if they are encouraged by the teacher, rather than ridiculed or participants are then called out to repeat orally what they wrote…
How can these findings be leveraged in in-person courses? Robnett et al. (2022) suggest hybridizing courses, and considering offering backchannels. They suggest that using a multiple communication channels increases the likelyhood of women participating. I personally definitely prefer writing something in a chat, too, over participating orally in a large meeting! And I noticed in my recent online “Teaching for Sustainability” course that many people wrote direct messages to me in the chat, that my co-teacher posted links relevant to what I was talking about, that people posted comments and questions that came up but did not seem urgent enough to disrupt whoever was talking right then, and I definitely appreciated having that channel available for all of that then, too. So reading this article is a good reminder for me to try to consistently provide that option in my teaching!
Robnett RD, Ballen CJ, Fagbodun S, Lane K, McCoy SJ, Robinson L, et al. (2022) Are synchronous chats a silver lining of emergency remote instruction? Text-based chatting is disproportionately favored by women in a non-majors introductory biology course. PLoS ONE 17(10): e0273301. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273301
I’ve been travelling so much recently that I hardly know if I am coming or going, but this is from two weeks ago when we suddenly had a lot of snow!
And a very dramatic sky in the morning, with the clouds over Malmö lit from below…
And Långabryggan looking inviting as always!
It is just a very cool place
And then I had the whole place all to myself, so I could take pictures! See the sauna on the left, and the stairs down into the water on the right… And the lights of Copenhagen on the horizon…
And this is the inside of the new sauna!
When I walked back, it started getting light
…and icy…
I should have timed it better with the sunrise!
Snow makes everything look so magical!
Winterwonderland :)
