Virtual Delight: Increasing Student Satisfaction and Engagement in Virtual/Live/Recorded Synthesized Teaching Environments During the Coronavirus Pandemic and Beyond

Concurrent Session 1
Streamed Session Community College/TAACCCT

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Session Materials

Brief Abstract

Faculty have had to pivot to new methods with short notice, so, reasonably, teachers and students are weary and wary. This session will examine classroom-tested tools and methods, and breakdown the design of new engaging virtual/live/recorded synthesized teaching environments including the free but licensed use of music, sounds, and graphics.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Jared Riddle, Ivy Tech Community College

Jared Riddle is most concerned with the power of words to tell individual stories, particularly the stories of Northwest Indiana. He has been teaching a variety of English, theatre, developmental, and communication courses in higher education for over two decades while straddling two millennia. An Ivy-covered-Boiler-making-Hoosier through and through, he completed his undergraduate work at Indiana University, his graduate work at Purdue, and, currently, as Ivy Tech Community College’s Lake County Department Chair of English, he oversees the only three location Campus (East Chicago, Gary: Arts and Sciences, and Crown Point) English Departmental faculty and student group in the largest single-accredited statewide community college system in the United States. Riddle has been honored for his contributions to education including the 2004 President’s Award, the 2005 Dedication to the Children of Gary Award, and both a 2013 and 2020 Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence grant. Notably, in May of 2015, Riddle portrayed Thomas Alva Edison for the cover of The Times, Innovation Special Edition, distributed to an over 90,000 strong readership. In addition to education, Riddle has an extended background in academic, community, and regional theatre. Significantly, Riddle was cast as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar at the legendary Star Plaza Theatre, alongside Michael Cunio –of the nationally touring Under the Streetlamp and Broadway’s Hairspray– as Jesus, and, also, with Marc Summers –of Nickelodeon’s Double Dare and Food Network’s Unwrapped– as Herod. Jared Riddle currently serves on the boards of the Northwest Indiana Excellence in Theatre Foundation (nietf.org), the Northwest Indiana Society of Innovators (nwisoi.org), as well as the Humanities Director for Chautauqua in the Dunes (duneschautauqua.com).

Extended Abstract

Faculty across the nation have had to pivot to virtual delivery with very short notice, so, reasonably, teachers and students are weary and wary. Many of us are simply unfamiliar with ways to connect this virtual space with our time-tested insight which knows that teaching and learning is, first and foremost, about relationships.  This session will examine classroom-tested tools and methods, and breakdown the design of engaging virtual environments including the use of public domain and free but licensed music, sounds, and graphics. This session will not provide legal advice but will contemplate fair use in the instructional setting.

Attending this session will allow participates to increase their understating of and utilize best practices in: 1. Knowing how faculty can be aligned with three aspects of good teaching: Preparation, Connection, and Engagement. 2. Understanding some tools and approaches toward creating an engaging virtual learning space. 3. Analyzing our own student engagement practices alongside best practices. 4. Recognizing a best practice foundation from which individual practice can be created.

The presentation will be structured to foster engaging exchanges while providing strategies toward making sense of individual faculty responsibilities for successfully connecting with students. Best practices will be emphasized while reshaping the perceptions of faculty responsibility. The session aims to be distinctively engaging by use of presentation style with the careful use of custom images, sounds, and public domain and licensed music. 

The approach to virtual instruction being presented was: awarded a  Ivy Tech Community College StatewideFostering Creativity and Innovation Strategy Team Summer 2020 Recognition", shared with the Great Lakes community a part of Chautauqua in the Dunes at our Indiana Dunes State Park, and nominated for the 2020 Society of Innovators at Purdue Northwest Innovation Awards which will be streamed in November of this year.