Innovative teaching: Associate professor creates a virtual safe space
As COVID-19 spreads around the world, public health officials are calling for fewer public gatherings to reduce the spread of the virus, forcing many students out of classrooms.
Jori N. Hall, an associate professor in the Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy aims to create a safe meeting space. This semester, she was approved by the Institutional Review Board to explore online tools and the extent to which avatar-based meetings in combination with online tools—including discussion boards and Zoom—afford students collaborative learning experiences and a sense of community.
“We look at each other as the avatars we selected,” she said. “In terms of identity construction and communication, it’s interesting to think about what happens if we don’t see each other as we are in the real world.”