From: Dragseth, Debora

Sent: Monday, September 28, 2020 8:26 AM

To: Maggi Murdock;Rachel Watson
Cc: Willer, Anthony;Liz Simpson;Christi Boggs
Subject: RE: Question

Perhaps we could have a special session or two on this topic for our faculty.

-Debora

From: Maggi Murdock <maggi@learning-corps.com>

Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2020 5:27 PM
To: Rachel Watson <rachel@learning-corps.com>
Cc: Dragseth, Debora <deb.dragseth@dickinsonstate.edu>; Willer, Anthony <anthony.willer@dickinsonstate.edu>; Liz
Simpson <liz@learning-corps.com>; Christi Boggs <christi@learning-corps.com>
Subject: Re: Question

Rachel, thanks! I knew you'd have innovative perspectives.

Debora and Anthony -- you may hear more suggestions by tomorrow.

Maggi

From: Rachel Watson <rachel@learning-corps.com>

Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2020 5:04 PM
To: Maggi Murdock <maggi@learning-corps.com>
Cc: Dragseth, Debora <deb.dragseth@dickinsonstate.edu>; Willer, Anthony <anthony.willer@dickinsonstate.edu>; Liz
Simpson <liz@learning-corps.com>; Christi Boggs <christi@learning-corps.com>
Subject: Re: Question

Good evening,

Maggi gives a lot of evidence-based suggestions for dynamic attendance taking. The only addition that I would make is
that we can attain a personalized model for students by creating diverse teams and charging teammates with the role of
‘attendance taking’ or, perhaps better stated, accountability. Students within their diverse teams begin by creating a
rubric for accountability (what it means to be a good teammate). Students generally include something like attendance
or simply ‘presence’. I then have students both evaluate their teammates and themselves on these rubrics at least 3
times each semester.
I have seen student teams become very close and often they worry about a teammate who has not been present.
Likewise, a student who is not present is often more likely to inform the team as to why they might be missing.

I also like this model because teamwork can occur even when students on the teams are in disparate locations.
Teammates who are in class can be in communication with students at home (off campus). They can work on team
problem solving even if two teammates are in the classroom and two are in two different remote locations.

I hope this added suggestion is also helpful.

1
My very best,

Rachel Watson

On Sep 27, 2020, at 4:24 PM, Maggi Murdock <maggi@learning-corps.com> wrote:

Good afternoon, Debora and Anthony. I hope that you are enjoying some late-fall nice
weather. It's always so refreshing to me to be able to get outside for a little while before the
snow and ice comes to stay for a few months!

Debora's question is a good one. I have no doubt that my Learning Corps colleagues will have
some real insight into some simple and effective (and probably fun!) ways to ensure that
attendance-taking is made possible, even for the doubters. Just one the face of it,

• It seems that for the asynchronous learners it's just possible to see if they got into the
Blackboard class and see if they "attended" through that option. I'm not sure if
Blackboard has analytics that will tell whether a specific student watched a specific
recorded lecture -- I'm just not that familiar with Blackboard's details.
• I think for the F2F students and those students watching synchronously, faculty will
want to rely on the "high tech-high touch" mantra: take the time to call each student's
name/ask them a quick question just to "touch" them and make them feel part of
today's class.
• The same might apply as well for the asynchronous students: a simple daily email to the
students noting they aren't participating synchronously and checking in to see how they
are, if they've accessed the class, and if they need some help. Attendance might be
counted for those who respond to the email.
• Maybe requiring the synchronous students to reply to and the asynchronous students to
send in the answer to a fun question might count as attendance -- at least it makes a
continuing connection between the faculty and the student.
• Or, going in a totally different direction, maybe faculty could give up the idea that taking
attendance is essential or even important. Maybe focusing on helping students meet
learning objectives (in whatever way the student is comfortable and able) is a more
important way to approach learning.

However, as I noted above, I'm sure Liz, Christi, and Rachel will have much more inventive ideas
than mine!

While I provided some off-the-top-of-my-head ideas for attendance-taking (or not) above, I'm
wondering if the attendance question is really a proxy for a different issue or frustration DSU
faculty are feeling.

• I may be reading way too much into this, but it seems like faculty are really saying that
they don't feel connected -- or they feel unable to connect well -- to their students
effectively in the hyflex mode.
• My interactions with DSU faculty have given me the feeling that (1) they really want to
help their students learn (they are dedicated teachers); (2) they feel confident in their
2
 ability to teach effectively in a F2F setting (this is the learning environment they know
best); and (3) those with online experience feel confident in their ability to teach
asynchronously (they have enough experience and support to feel comfortable).
• What faculty do seem to feel frustrated about in my interactions (though my conclusion
is based on a very small N), is that they don't feel able to handle synchronous teaching
and learning AND asynchronous teaching and learning at the same time in the same
class.
o They know they are supposed to treat all students the same, regardless of how
the students choose to engage with the class, but I think the faculty also know
that treating students the same may not in reality be treating them equitably.
o AND, I think the faculty feel like they are pulled in too many directions in the
hyflex mode to do the kind of teaching -- and enabling the kind of learning -- that
they feel comfortable with and that they think is effective.

I'm wondering if there are other issues/challenges/frustrations that your DSU faculty are feeling
and expressing this semester that you feel you need to address as well?

Thanks for the question, Debora. I'm sure you'll hear from others in the next day or so.

Best wishes --
Maggi

From: Dragseth, Debora <deb.dragseth@dickinsonstate.edu>

Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2020 1:13 PM
To: Maggi Murdock <maggi@learning-corps.com>; Willer, Anthony
<anthony.willer@dickinsonstate.edu>
Cc: Liz Simpson <liz@learning-corps.com>; Rachel Watson <rachel@learning-corps.com>; Christi Boggs
<christi@learning-corps.com>
Subject: Question

Good afternoon. We did a faculty survey and some of the comments that seemed to crop up included
the challenges (some said “impossibilities”) of taking attendance in hy-flex classroom where students
can choose whether to be in the f-to-f class, watch synchronously or watch the recording later (because
they are traveling for a sport or quite ill).

Any ideas how this could be done more easily through Bb or some other methodology?

My thinking was even to ask students to self-report attendance. I know that would not necessarily make
the “doubters” happy. Doubter distrust students…

-Debora
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