Friday! It was an interesting day indeed. Lots of computer work and Zoom… and some great conversations. Tonight, we watched a recorded session from the Elon Teaching and Learning Conference entitled “Resilient and Flexible Teaching (RAFT): Staying Afloat in Rough Waters” by Heather Keith, Executive Director of Faculty Development & Professor of Philosophy, Radford University and Christina Fabrey, Associate Dean for Advising and Academic Achievement, Prescott College. They both have worked together since 2013 and wrote a chapter together that is available online. They started with a quote:
A teaching and learning environment that promotes resilient, flexible, humane, and empathetic community is good for student learning, for faculty wellbeing, and for a world that now needs, more than ever, educated citizens prepared for using their knowledge for good.
Heather Keith and Christina Fabrey, Elon Teaching and Learning Conference 2021
Keith presented data on mental health, food security, and social support impacts of the pandemic. Thus, thinking about resilience, beyond the pandemic, is important. They defined RAFT as “a holistic, student-centered pedagogy, that engages our learns in best practices of great teaching and student support with a flexible, unsilo-ed setting that allows them to navigate turbulent waters.” They also spoke about finding flow and shared several tips. They spoke about spending time on connections as they are important to learning and thinking deeply about the content. For this, designing courses that are resilient and able to withstand disturbance and promoting access to content (OERs) and basic needs resources. Flexibility in teaching, Fabrey shared, can include flexible grading and deadlines, course modality and transdisciplinary and “wicked” problem-based relevant courses. They explained that pop-up courses could be extremely valuable to students: zero to one credit problem-solving and multiple instructor relevant courses, for example. Fabrey shared a long list of useful suggestions for “Waterproofing your RAFT” with icebreakers, community-building experiences, temperature checks, community norms, student surveys to collect data, exit tickets, efforts to reduce cognitive load, diverse readings, growth mindset, and embedding reflections. In a section of their presentation entitled “paddle together: keep your guide well, too” Fabrey shared ways to support faculty and avoid burnout. They mentioned and displayed a checklist that is also in their chapter. The list includes resources for both faculty and students that support resilient and flexible courses. I was excited to hear that the Quality Matters rubric was mentioned by an attendee as well as co-creating norms with students. RAFT is a great way to remember teaching as a holistic practice centered on student growth. I will aim to use this term more often now and read the chapter the presenters wrote.
