Wesleyan Offering Wealth of Resources for Remote Teaching, Learning

Starting last March, Information Technology Services and the Center for Pedagogical Learning began offering a number of workshops to assist faculty in the transition to remote teaching. Wesleyan is using Zoom, a cloud-based video and online chat platform ideal for distance education, and Moodle, an open-source learning management system for the majority of online teachings.

Workshop topics include how to schedule and start a Zoom meeting, meeting controls, sharing a Zoom recording, managing Zoom breakout rooms, and using Moodle. The training workshop videos are online here.

In addition, this fall 30 faculty are participating in the newly established Remote Teaching Cohorts. There are currently nine groups of two to four faculty each.

As a member of the cohort, faculty are required to sit in on two remote class meetings of their cohort members’ classes before mid-October and take notes on what is working or not working. During two meetings (one in mid-October, and another in mid-November), the faculty will meet to discuss each other’s courses and offer suggestions.

In January 2021, cohort groups will submit a final report detailing the key findings of their remote pedagogy during the semester. Their anonymized results will be shared with all faculty.

For more information on teaching resources, visit:

• The Center for Pedagogical Innovation and Lifelong Learning, which provides faculty and instructional staff with the infrastructural resources, technical and logistical assistance, and training and mentoring needed to design, test, and deliver innovative courses, instructional materials, formats or modes of delivery, and advising or mentoring programs.
• The Office for Faculty Career Development, which supports faculty in their development of scholarship, teaching, and colleagueship.
• Academic Affair’s Teaching Preparedness website, which defines course types and the campus opening  schedule.
• Reactivating Campus Curriculum and Instruction webpage.
• Also, several remote teaching and learning success stories are now published on the Office for Faculty Career Development’s (OFCD) Teaching Matters website.