When the Covid-19 pandemic hit and courses shifted to the online environment, Professor John Johnston from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences faced a monumental task.
Building new online courses, especially in the geosciences where it involves hands-on lab and field training, is not a simple matter of turning on a video and lecturing in front of a camera.
There are also time-consuming tasks such as programming tasks and deadlines in the course calendar, setting up online groups, creating and moderating message boards, creating video subtitles for the course content, programming online quizzes and exams, recording, editing and uploading video content, among the many other aspects of making an online course function smoothly.
Fortunately for Johnston and many other instructors, there was help. The University of Waterloo created brand new positions, online learning assistants (OLAs), precisely for the behind the scenes tasks involved in transitioning to online courses.
Minghan Han, a fourth-year student in Earth and Environmental Sciences was one them. As an OLA, he was helping Johnston and other Faculty of Science professors.
Over the past 4 terms, 175 OLAs were employed within the Faculty of Science who assisted 66 professors, with help from Science Teaching Fellows. Throughout the University of Waterloo, more than 300 OLA positions were created and funded through the federal government’s Student Work Placement Program (SWPP), with matching contributions from the University.
“We help create new online content, support instructors in delivering course learning outcomes, including assignments, discussion and presentation,” Han says. “We also complete other duties assigned by faculties member or other support staff. For example, once a professor is finished recording the video, I have to check the subtitles, because in earth science, there is a lot of professional vocabulary that needs to be correct.”
It is a behind-the-scenes job. Han’s work is largely invisible to the students, yet it is invaluable in ensuring the students are as engaged as possible in the online courses.
That
was
especially
important
in
earth
sciences,
a
discipline that
normally
relies
heavily
on
hands-on
training. “We
lick
and
scratch
and
test
rocks,”
says
Johnston. “There
are
many
components
in
our
science
where
you
need
that
hands-on
experience
to
prepare
for
the
professional
field
of
the
geosciences.”
Han
is
from
China and
became instrumental
in
ensuring
the
courses delivered to
fellow
Chinese
students would
be
easy
for
them
to
follow.
When
Han
had
to
return
to
China in
the
midst
of the
pandemic,
he
was also able
to
continue helping
the
Waterloo
professors even
from
China.
Han
says he
is
grateful
for
the
support
he received
from
Johnston
and
other
professors. “This
has
been
a
very
precious
opportunity
for
me.”
For
professors
who are crunched
for
time,
the
OLAs
made
the
online
course
delivery
possible, Johnston
says.
The OLAs also provided valuable
suggestions
for
improving
the
online
course
delivery.
Han
says
he
was
trained
through
the
Waterloo
Professional
Development
Program
in
the
use
of
the
relevant
technology
such
as
the
LEARN
course
building
tool. Becoming
an
online
learning
assistant opened up a
world
of
new
skills. “How
to
prioritize
multiple
tasks
and
finish
them
at
a
given
time
is
one
of
the
great
things
I
have
learned
from
this position.”
The OLAs also often helped each other as teammates. Johnston says that in the OLAs, he saw the initiative and drive of a younger generation, which makes him hopeful for the future. “It’s going to be a bumpy future with a lot of challenges, so to see young people problem-solving, communicating and helping each other is wonderful.
“On behalf of all the instructors, I want to send out a big heartfelt thank you to all of the OLA’s, for helping improve classes for their fellow classmates.”