This week was the UC Psychology Teaching & Learning conference, hosted by faculty at UC San Diego, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis and UCLA. From the conference webpage, “[The conference] is designed for psychology instructors at all levels who are interested in developing teaching strategies and learning about pedagogy research.”

This was an informative event and gave attendees numerous tools on how to improve the classroom experience (especially in a virtual setting). Listed below are some of the helpful things I learned over the course of these two days:

For the syllabus, include concrete learning goals and objectives instead of using more ambiguous wording. Say that students should be able to “assess/explain/etc.” different concepts by the end of the course instead of being able to “understand/believe” something. If the virtual class is taking place during the pandemic (meaning that there is a certain expectation of increased grading flexibility), write how you’re being flexible into the syllabus. This lets students know that you’re making accommodations for them from the get-go.

Grading flexibility can come in many forms. Some professors choose to do a “drop the lowest quiz score” approach, but that doesn’t reward consistently low-scorers completing every assignment, but who struggle with material. It may favor students who decide to blow off one assignment instead. Other options worth considering are an “emergency extension button” (no questions asked, it gives a student an extra day or two on an assignment without penalization), an “improvement bonus” (if you see students slowly improving as the class progresses, give them an extra 5-10% on an assignment) or a “revise and submit” option for some assignments.

On the topic of student performance and setting first-day explanations, professors can state the studying methods that they think are most beneficial for their class. (This can go into the syllabus too.) Not only does this help reduce student test anxiety, but it will aid first-gen students who may have never learned efficient study strategies. Personally, I found this piece of information about first-generation students to be validating. As a first-gen student, I never learned good study methods. It was to the point that I didn’t take notes as an undergraduate. It’s not that I didn’t try (I tried during my first 1.5 years at the University of Oregon), but I never knew how to review them in a meaningful way. It felt ineffective. By my junior year, I transitioned completely to showing up sans notebook, instead focusing intensely on lecture. My method worked for me, but it broke down really quickly when slides were overrun and crowded (and didn’t match the speaker’s topic well) or if my classmates were distracting (chatting or using Netflix, etc.).

There are other things instructional staff can do to reduce anxiety in their students and encourage performance. A simple one is creating a Zoom landing page for lecture. If student arrives to lecture before a professor, sometimes there is uncertainty about whether or not they are in the right place. Having a PowerPoint slide displayed until your get to your computer can reduce stress and allow the class to begin on the right foot. 

Break-out rooms are another thing that faculty talked about as being a source of anxiety. Students don’t have access to prompts or your screen once moved to a Zoom breakout room and, often, they may not be in a place to turn on their camera or mic. Feedback these professors have gotten is that it’s best not to use breakout rooms (because it discourages students from attending) and instead have them “discuss” over online forums before or after class. The forum discussion would be graded, which incentivizes students being prepared to contribute. 

Additionally, professors can send students periodic check-in emails. If a student misses live lectures for the week, send out an email asking if everything is okay or if they need to be connected to resources. This will encourage students to attend live lecture. Alternatively, if a student is showing up consistently, sending an appreciative email will increase student morale.

Finally, send out a survey before the first day of class. Ask students what time zone they are in, if they plan on attending synchronously, if they have any technological barriers they are worried about, if their country allows sites such as Youtube and Google, and what they’re wanting to take from the course.

These tips came from: Drs. Victoria Cross (UCD), Celeste Pilegard (UCSD) and Emma Geller (UCSD). Thank you to all of the panelists at the UC Psychology Teaching & Learning Conference for hosting a fantastic event.