One thing that I have always enjoyed about being an instructor is standing in front of a room full of students. In-person teaching can be part stage performance, part stand-up routine and part mind-reading act as you scan the faces of the students in the class. Do they understand? Am I going too fast or too slow?  

Of course, all of this changed last spring when we were forced to abandon in-person classes for online ones. For those of us who spent many years developing our classes and classroom teaching styles, this was a scary change; at least, it was for me. With the end of this period in sight, however, I have been reflecting on how much many of us have grown as instructors.

The most obvious change that has occurred over the last three semesters is how much more comfortable instructors have become using a Learning Management System (LMS), such as Canvas. For example, when LMSs were first introduced, I primarily used them as a repository for class readings and the syllabus. The pandemic, however, has convinced many of us that the LMS is as integral to a well-designed course as the textbook or lecture slides. With our new familiarity with the features of Canvas, we have found new ways to facilitate class discussion, provide additional resources for curious students and provide rapid feedback on assignments.

The move to online has also forced many instructors to replace older, less-engaging assignments with newer ones, such as creating podcasts or wikis. The students' relationship with the class LMS page has also changed. They are more comfortable using Canvas features and also have greater expectations about what they should be able to access and do via the class page, which is likely to carry over even after the return to in-person classes.

One surprising result of the move to online teaching for me was new insight into my students' personal lives. Some of these students have poor access to a reliable internet connection or a working computer. Some Zoom into class from breakrooms at their work, and many clearly have difficulty finding a quiet place in their homes from which to attend virtual class.  

Many of these problems were exacerbated by the pandemic; however, it is important for instructors to remember that issues of housing, transportation and access to technology will still be there after the return to a more normal world.  Personally, I have already begun to consider how I can structure my in-person classes to lessen the impact of these barriers to student learning and performance.

Finally, I think many instructors have begun to reevaluate our course learning objectives as a result of online teaching. For example, in adapting several of my assessments for an online class, I've realized that because the student is sitting at a computer, the correct answer to many problems could simply be "Googled," with little-to-no understanding of the material. This raises the question, "Do students really need to learn this information if we are seldom far from a device that can search the internet for a quick answer?"

This is not to say that students should be excused from committing any information to memory. For example, a student who has not learned the nomenclature for a topic cannot easily understand a lecture. However, I have found myself shifting learning objectives towards skills that make more sense in a modern information world. These include emphasizing the ability to evaluate the quality of online sources, synthesizing information, critical thinking as well as written and oral communication. These skills cannot be easily replaced with an internet search and are likely to be the ones that employers continue to value for a long time to come.

It would be foolish to argue that the pandemic has been good for Temple University students and faculty on the whole, and in fact, it has been a tremendous hardship for many. However, it is worth noting the ways in which instructors and the Psychology Department have had to adapt. As I look forward to teaching my first in-person classes in a year and a half, I know that the lessons I have learned during this period will continue to have a profound effect on my teaching.