Professors Teach with Creativity and Compassion

In mid-March, as Canada began physical distancing measures in response to the COVID-19 public health situation, academic life at UWaterloo and Grebel was drastically disrupted. A one-week pause allowed professors to move their last few weeks of classes and exams online, as students moved out of residence or out of the city, and faculty and staff began working from home. Now, two months into pandemic life, the winter term is finished, the spring term is being taught entirely online, and we have found a moment to reflect on what just happened.

“In their shift to remote teaching, Grebel faculty responded with remarkable creativity and compassion,” explained Dean Troy Osborne. “At the same time that they were beginning to work from home, instructors learned new skills in online teaching and redesigned the final weeks and exams. Through it all, they connected with their students in a new way, reconstructing a sense of a classroom community from a distance.”

Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) Professor Jennifer Ball held the last three classes of her Negotiation Theory and Strategies course online—practicing live negotiations. She encouraged her students to look at this experience as an experiment in learning how to negotiate online—a real possibility in future jobs. “The challenge of not being in the same room as their team members led to innovative uses of texting as they conferred and gave each other advice and tips,” Jennifer explained. “From determining child custody in a divorce settlement to a hostage negotiation on a ship, our term ended with much drama and rich learning—in addition to much flexibility—amidst our adjusted learning environs.”

Jennifer also described how her graduate class in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding moved seamlessly online, thanks to her prior experience in holding Circle discussions on Zoom. “Weekly check-ins of a high and a low provided a valuable opportunity for us all to process the wide range of feelings experienced in those first few weeks of sudden change and restriction,” she said. “Honouring these in this way allowed us then to shift into the peacebuilding discussions of the week, often weaving in new insights related to the current COVID-19 reality. In such authentic connection, we each found support to get through the final weeks of term.” Even after classes ended, the group continues to hold a weekly MPACS Circle, creating space for connection during social isolation.

As director of the Chapel Choir, Music Professor Kate Steiner realized that students needed closure to the term amidst the turmoil. She co-ordinated an online gathering specifically to honour graduating students. “Students put a lot of emotional energy into choir, and the end of term is really an important time for sharing that with their peers,” she reflected. “I also asked members to record themselves while listening to me sing parts of one of the choral anthems we had already done this term.” Student Marissa Duncan edited those recordings, which were then played during Grebel’s virtual End-of-Term Chapel service. “It was helpful for the Chapel Choir members to be able to share something of what they had been working on with the broader Grebel community. And it was good for the Grebel community to feel connected to that longer work of the term from the Chapel Choir.”

Grebel professors each worked in their own way to ensure that students would have a successful term, despite the challenging circumstances. “Students were gracious with us as faculty, as we learned new skills, and we heard student struggles of working from home, sometimes in difficult conditions,” added Troy. “The experience led many of us to rediscover the core of what we hope our students learn and to connect in new ways.”