When Oregon State University announced that spring term 2020 would be fully remote, Honors College staff, faculty and students knew they were facing an unprecedented challenge. The Honors College has offered courses through Ecampus for a number of years, but in-person classes and activities have traditionally been central to the honors experience. With just a week to plan, the entire community got to work on how to shift the full range of opportunities online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSpring term was a challenge for everyone, as we were asked to pivot quickly to remote delivery \u2014 of classes, advising, mixers, events like Dean & Friends, co-curricular programming, everything,\u201d says Susan Rodgers, the Honors College interim associate dean. \u201cA top priority was to ensure that students\u2019 academic experience remained as high quality and intellectually engaging as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Honors College faculty took this priority seriously. With face-to-face lessons and activities no longer possible, instructors were forced to think outside the box \u2014 or, in some cases, inside the box. Without the ability to host students in his lab to modify ride-on toy cars for his colloquium Toy-Based Technologies for Children with Disabilities, Sam Logan sent each student in the course an electronics kit so they could learn the same skills they would have in person. For others, moving online meant exploring new technologies: Tom Carrico, instructor of a course on creating images of space, set up cameras in his backyard and had students control them remotely. This unique adaptation allowed students to develop the same astrophotography skills that students in previous terms had learned in-person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere was so much innovation happening, and for faculty who weren\u2019t used to Zoom (which was everybody) or who hadn\u2019t relied much on Canvas, we had a support system set up, with live help available from 8-5,\u201d Susan adds. Canvas is the university\u2019s learning management system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe had one instructor who lives in a rural area, with no internet at home, drive to campus and sit in his car to log on to Zoom!\u201d Susan says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students joined faculty in working creatively to help deliver the full honors experience. Maja Engler, the president of the Honors College Student Association (HCSA), says that the HCSA found success in engaging their members to create new event programming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDuring spring term, HCSA held one remote student-led event every week,\u201d Maja says. \u201cOur more successful events included sign-ups for supplies that were mailed to the participants’ locations, such as painting or baking supplies.\u201d These allowed students to participate in events such as a \u201cBob Ross Paint Night\u201d and a baking challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asking students to lead events meant that they were able to each contribute something they were knowledgeable and passionate about, creating unique and highly individual experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHaving one person host an event of their choice each week during the spring worked well because they were able to use their creativity and cater to those who are interested in the same things, such as video games or virtual treasure hunts,\u201d Maja explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While everyone did their best, in some cases even finding new formats that will continue after the resumption of in-person learning, the spring was undeniably a learning experience. As fall term 2020 begins \u2014 again largely remote \u2014 the Honors College is working to apply those lessons to improve the experience for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe had low turnout for some events [in the spring], in part, I think, because people just got tired of being on Zoom,\u201d Susan says. \u201cWhen you\u2019re online all day, it\u2019s difficult to log on in the evening for a social or co-curricular event.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To combat this, Honors College staff have worked to provide opportunities this fall to engage in a variety of formats. There will be options for both in-person and online engagement, including activities around Corvallis and Honors College staples \u2014 Dean and Friends conversations, trivia nights and community coffees, among others \u2014 offered remotely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne way we hope to engage students is through a new initiative called Conversation Clusters,\u201d explains LeeAnn Baker, the Honors College director of student success and engagement. \u201cWith our community learning from a variety of locations, on-campus (in Corvallis, Bend or Newport), learning remotely or through Ecampus, all students will be assigned to an HC Conversation Cluster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cConversation Clusters will meet via Zoom for 30 minutes each week throughout the academic year to discuss topics, play games and be in community together,\u201d LeeAnn says. \u201cConversation Cluster members will get to know each other well and look out for one another as we navigate this challenging time together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And everyone knows that the challenges will, indeed, continue through the fall and possibly beyond. Even so, Honors College staff and students remain optimistic about the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese are difficult times,\u201d Maja says, \u201cbut if there is one thing that my Honors College peers have taught me it’s how to think critically, adapt and band together under new circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Christopher McCracken: Media Assistant, Honors College<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Oregon State University announced that spring term 2020 would be fully remote, Honors College staff, faculty and students knew they were facing an unprecedented challenge. The Honors College has offered courses through Ecampus for a number of years, but in-person classes and activities have traditionally been central to the honors experience. With just a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9319,"featured_media":7438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1205,82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9319"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5673"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7849,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5673\/revisions\/7849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}