Dublin Core
Title
Maria Gigante - Audio Reflection
Creator
Maria Gigante
Date
5/7/2020
Rights
Format
mp3
Language
English
Sound Item Type Metadata
Transcription
This is Maria Gigante, Assistant professor of practice in CSU's School of Film and Media Arts.
What are the most challenging parts of the transition?
I would say that the most challenging parts of the transition is, as we are teaching the class, it's not really knowing exactly what is connecting to the student; how they're really absorbing the information or connecting with the class experience.
I do simultaneous classes on Zoom. So, I do have that face-to-face time with them, but it's different. It's two-dimensional. It's different and their presence is different. Some people adjust well. Other people who might be really present in class and really active in class, just are not doing class remotely. They are not that connected and this could be a variety of reasons. It could be their emotional state. It could be their, just disconnection with this way of learning. It could be stresses at home. It could be their schedule’s off, all sorts of things. So not knowing how they're connecting to the material, to me, to this format of class.
So, I don't know. I don't know what's working. I don't know what needs to be adjusted, what is not translating this way. It's also specifically been challenging for me in film production because a) we need equipment and facilities to create films, specifically for advanced production classes, which is what I teach. So, in this case, this semester all of my students were about a week away from making the big film that they had been working either one semester or even two semesters toward. So, it was particularly devastating for them to have that halted at this point and there was not a really good way to make that up. So, anything that I put forth was going to be inadequate.
But, the film production classes have to deal with this all over the world right now. Luckily, there are some resources on Facebook. There's a couple different groups for, specifically, for university film production classes, for instructors. So, I've been a part of that and we're all asking the same questions. We're all workshopping different solutions. So, that's a huge challenge is to think going forward how we are going to make that experience translate remotely, in a way that isn't something that is just half the value, is inadequate. That definitely is causing frustration, anger, disappointment, and disillusionment with the students, knowing that that in the future, in the fall, in the spring, especially the older students who are looking forward to growing and having bigger productions, that they may not get those.
Another challenging part of this process is constantly revising my delivery and what I'm doing. We only had a couple weeks to put together a new action plan, and so, it's like we are learning in real time and sometimes we're seeing something that's not working and we have to then revise. We have to change.
Personally, I'm finding myself doing that, is really kind of assessing how different tactics, different methods are working and how they're being received and how I'm feeling about them; what kind of interaction I'm getting or not getting. So, this semester has been, I've been calling it triage. Where we are just in triage trying to do the best we can do, trying to save some lives, trying to keep students, trying to keep them engaged but, also knowing that sometimes we're going to have to shift course when things are sort of, just not really being pulled off. That's a lot of work. That's a lot of extra maintenance that you know for me, the instructor. That's definitely some additional work and time put in.
Its additionally, challenging, I am a parent of young children who are, should be, in elementary school and so, suddenly I'm working at home. My husband’s working at home. I have two different children of different grades who now have a whole remote learning plan of their own. So, having to balance all of that, suddenly being mom, professor, home school teacher to elementary school students, two different grades; plus, just taking care of the day-to-day domestics, meals, pets, all of that, is a huge stress and it's a lot of juggling. It's a lot of juggling. Something that is, like, when I go into the school as a professor, when I go to CSU, that hat is firmly put on my head, and that helps me do my job. So, to not be able to firmly put that hat on my head here, it's literally a rotating, you know, series of hats that I'm wearing. That's a challenge to me as a worker, as a professor. Luckily, I have a big house and I can get away to the attic and I can be as in the moment, as I can be. But, it is, there's a lot of other things right now that need my attention.
A final challenge that I'm finding specifically for film production, is finding a way to screen films with the class, all together, in an interactive way; either to screen their work or to screen clips or things that I'd want to share. I've tried many different solutions. I've workshopped this. I've asked questions to my support groups that I'm in and there are some solutions out there. One’s called Screening Room, but that involves having students sign up for an account and they have to, we would have to, leave Zoom and go there and all that. Zoom does not playback video seamlessly. It is halted playback. So, we’ve had a hard time doing a screen share.
So, we’ve/I've had a compromise of just giving them the link and having them jump over to a YouTube link to view it, and then we come back and talk and that's not ideal. So, I'm really working on coming up with a different way to do that in a more interactive, seamless way that is a better experience for them and that also allows us to sort of be in the same room, quote-unquote, while we're viewing film, which is a hugely important thing. Especially if we're viewing it and then, we're discussing.
What are the most common needs expressed by your students?
The most common needs they come to me with are about their sort of emotional, mental, well-being. They usually come to me when they're struggling, maybe keeping up with the coursework with being engaged and it usually has to do with how they're processing what's going on; their stresses at home. The transition to moving home has been difficult. They have technical difficulties. They are feeling severely unmotivated. They're feeling detached. They don't have a schedule now. Their sleep schedules are off. They're questioning what they're doing with their education. So, I'm getting a lot of that. Certainly, there are students that are adjusting well to this, but they're, I'd say there's a good thirty to forty percent that are not and that are dealing with a lot of different emotions, that are getting in the way of them being the best student they can be. (and) I'm impressed that a lot of them are reaching out to me asking for meetings, just letting me know that they're struggling. Some of them have increased workloads. They've gotten new jobs. They seem to be distracted or their focus is elsewhere. It is not in school right now. So, that's what I'm hearing from them.
I am getting the occasional very angry student, who seems to be channeling their anger at CSU, as opposed to maybe the world, God, whatever. I try to talk them through that. It definitely seems like some people need someone to talk to. You know, they might need a therapist at this point, but to realize that this is not just something that's being done to them, that this is not some decision that CSU made out of line with the rest of the world. But you know, I think when things like this happen, when these changes and these, I mean, these traumas happen, a lot of times people are trying to find someone to blame, up to make sense of it. (and) So, I think there's a little bit of that among some students and then that can translate in their, into their attitude about the class, maybe attitude about me, attitude about everything.
What new teaching techniques or tools are you trying as a result of the switch to remote teaching?
I've been using Zoom primarily in terms of interacting with the students, that and Blackboard of course. I've been using Blackboard a lot more than I have in the past, which has actually been great. It's allowed me to really explore Blackboard and I know that there's a lot more to it that I have yet to explore. So, I am kind of looking forward to getting deeper into Blackboard and seeing how I can continue to use it in the remote situation.
In terms of Zoom, I have class, four classes, twice a week, for each class, and we meet on Zoom for one full class period and then the other class period is sort of open office hours and then they are given additional work to do during that week, to kind of make up for that class. So, that has worked pretty well. We've had full classes. They lasted you know nearly two hours each class. And then, they seem to kind of enjoy the freedom of having to do some of the work outside of class, on their own. But for the most part the attendance is pretty steady on those Zoom classes.
On Blackboard, some things that I've been using that I hadn't used before, I'm using the discussion board a lot as a way to keep them and got engaged throughout the week, to respond to each other. I give them a prompt to, sort of, respond to initially and then also require them to respond to one of their classmates, as well. I do it for points. So, that definitely seems to motivate them. I have posted a few boards as optional and I don't really get a lot of response there. So, definitely for points and then they do engage.
I've been exploring programs like Microsoft Teams, a film project management program Yamdu, SetHero and Trello, specifically for a producing/project management/production management class I teach. So, I'm looking to replace Movie Magic Budgeting and Movie Magic Scheduling, which is a program we have on the computers at school. I'm looking, I have been interested in looking, at new programs anyway. So this summer I plan on looking into some of these other programs, that are cloud-based, to give the students some other options and experience with working with these programs, as they put their films together. It allows them to communicate to see all kind of, like in, a Google Drive sort of way, but then to also communicate to each other through messaging and commenting and that type of thing; sort of like a one-stop shop to put all of your materials in that one place.
Back to Blackboard. I tried Panopto once, just to leave sort of a recorded message for my students, in the beginning of the transition and I then abandoned it because I embraced Zoom. So, I didn't do any pre-recorded lectures and I don't really like the idea of it. Honestly, I don't foresee using that, unless I had to. I don't think students loved that, having to not be able to engage in really in any way. So especially with all the other video out there on various topics.
I just think, I probably won't engage with that. One other aspect Blackboard, that I used for the first time was the tests, surveys and polls. I had not used that, and I love it. So, I will continue to use that for sure. I found that to be really, really helpful.
What new insights are you gaining about teaching in general?
This is a great question. In this whole experience, in my job and my life, it's forcing me to look at everything from a new perspective. That's a benefit that I take from this, a silver lining. It's so easy to just do the same thing semester after semester, as an instructor, if there's no reason to change it. And then, when there is a reason you have to look at what you are doing and extract the essence of what it is and how you can reformulate it, ask if there are other ways to achieve that objective; and now that we have to, what are those ways? What else can we do, maybe that is different? Better? What new technology might help us in doing those things in a more engaging way? In a more modern way?
So, what this thing has forced me to consider and to do is to, kind of, take a step back and see, what was I doing and what do I have at hand to, kind of, take my instruction to a more contemporary, a more modern level. So, there is that our hand has been forced into that direction to say, “well you might not use that program, but now's the time, to learn it, to explore it, learn from other people, see what they're doing. In this situation, maybe we can take, learn some things from other people.
I'm also thinking a lot about especially teaching film, teaching art type classes, the notion of giving feedback and critique, because we're not in the room with the person and we're not having this shared viewing experience together, where we're really kind of mulling over and reacting to work and it's sort of detached. This is a little separate from it all, but I am thinking a lot about that process and what is the most effective way to give feedback, to give critique, to grade this type of work and what's most helpful in terms of the students growing from the critique, from the feedback.
How might this experience change your teaching when you return to face-to-face instruction?
There are some parts of remote learning that I really like, personally. I'm somewhat of an introvert at times. So, performing as an instructor in class can be exhausting. I teach four classes, twice a week, each class, and so it's a lot.
So, from this experience, I found that I enjoy less time running a class, more time interacting with students individually. And I find that the quality of that interaction then, of what we accomplished in those one-on-ones, is so much deeper than having a semester where we don't have that.
So, by scaling back maybe the group meet, and engaging more in the individual meet, I think that could be a nice combination moving forward no matter what our teaching looks like, whether it's fully back to school, whether it's hybrid, whether it's fully remote, I think it's made me look at that and say, “I really value and I think the students really value increased one-on-one time, you know, when possible.”
Okay that's it for me. Thank you.
What are the most challenging parts of the transition?
I would say that the most challenging parts of the transition is, as we are teaching the class, it's not really knowing exactly what is connecting to the student; how they're really absorbing the information or connecting with the class experience.
I do simultaneous classes on Zoom. So, I do have that face-to-face time with them, but it's different. It's two-dimensional. It's different and their presence is different. Some people adjust well. Other people who might be really present in class and really active in class, just are not doing class remotely. They are not that connected and this could be a variety of reasons. It could be their emotional state. It could be their, just disconnection with this way of learning. It could be stresses at home. It could be their schedule’s off, all sorts of things. So not knowing how they're connecting to the material, to me, to this format of class.
So, I don't know. I don't know what's working. I don't know what needs to be adjusted, what is not translating this way. It's also specifically been challenging for me in film production because a) we need equipment and facilities to create films, specifically for advanced production classes, which is what I teach. So, in this case, this semester all of my students were about a week away from making the big film that they had been working either one semester or even two semesters toward. So, it was particularly devastating for them to have that halted at this point and there was not a really good way to make that up. So, anything that I put forth was going to be inadequate.
But, the film production classes have to deal with this all over the world right now. Luckily, there are some resources on Facebook. There's a couple different groups for, specifically, for university film production classes, for instructors. So, I've been a part of that and we're all asking the same questions. We're all workshopping different solutions. So, that's a huge challenge is to think going forward how we are going to make that experience translate remotely, in a way that isn't something that is just half the value, is inadequate. That definitely is causing frustration, anger, disappointment, and disillusionment with the students, knowing that that in the future, in the fall, in the spring, especially the older students who are looking forward to growing and having bigger productions, that they may not get those.
Another challenging part of this process is constantly revising my delivery and what I'm doing. We only had a couple weeks to put together a new action plan, and so, it's like we are learning in real time and sometimes we're seeing something that's not working and we have to then revise. We have to change.
Personally, I'm finding myself doing that, is really kind of assessing how different tactics, different methods are working and how they're being received and how I'm feeling about them; what kind of interaction I'm getting or not getting. So, this semester has been, I've been calling it triage. Where we are just in triage trying to do the best we can do, trying to save some lives, trying to keep students, trying to keep them engaged but, also knowing that sometimes we're going to have to shift course when things are sort of, just not really being pulled off. That's a lot of work. That's a lot of extra maintenance that you know for me, the instructor. That's definitely some additional work and time put in.
Its additionally, challenging, I am a parent of young children who are, should be, in elementary school and so, suddenly I'm working at home. My husband’s working at home. I have two different children of different grades who now have a whole remote learning plan of their own. So, having to balance all of that, suddenly being mom, professor, home school teacher to elementary school students, two different grades; plus, just taking care of the day-to-day domestics, meals, pets, all of that, is a huge stress and it's a lot of juggling. It's a lot of juggling. Something that is, like, when I go into the school as a professor, when I go to CSU, that hat is firmly put on my head, and that helps me do my job. So, to not be able to firmly put that hat on my head here, it's literally a rotating, you know, series of hats that I'm wearing. That's a challenge to me as a worker, as a professor. Luckily, I have a big house and I can get away to the attic and I can be as in the moment, as I can be. But, it is, there's a lot of other things right now that need my attention.
A final challenge that I'm finding specifically for film production, is finding a way to screen films with the class, all together, in an interactive way; either to screen their work or to screen clips or things that I'd want to share. I've tried many different solutions. I've workshopped this. I've asked questions to my support groups that I'm in and there are some solutions out there. One’s called Screening Room, but that involves having students sign up for an account and they have to, we would have to, leave Zoom and go there and all that. Zoom does not playback video seamlessly. It is halted playback. So, we’ve had a hard time doing a screen share.
So, we’ve/I've had a compromise of just giving them the link and having them jump over to a YouTube link to view it, and then we come back and talk and that's not ideal. So, I'm really working on coming up with a different way to do that in a more interactive, seamless way that is a better experience for them and that also allows us to sort of be in the same room, quote-unquote, while we're viewing film, which is a hugely important thing. Especially if we're viewing it and then, we're discussing.
What are the most common needs expressed by your students?
The most common needs they come to me with are about their sort of emotional, mental, well-being. They usually come to me when they're struggling, maybe keeping up with the coursework with being engaged and it usually has to do with how they're processing what's going on; their stresses at home. The transition to moving home has been difficult. They have technical difficulties. They are feeling severely unmotivated. They're feeling detached. They don't have a schedule now. Their sleep schedules are off. They're questioning what they're doing with their education. So, I'm getting a lot of that. Certainly, there are students that are adjusting well to this, but they're, I'd say there's a good thirty to forty percent that are not and that are dealing with a lot of different emotions, that are getting in the way of them being the best student they can be. (and) I'm impressed that a lot of them are reaching out to me asking for meetings, just letting me know that they're struggling. Some of them have increased workloads. They've gotten new jobs. They seem to be distracted or their focus is elsewhere. It is not in school right now. So, that's what I'm hearing from them.
I am getting the occasional very angry student, who seems to be channeling their anger at CSU, as opposed to maybe the world, God, whatever. I try to talk them through that. It definitely seems like some people need someone to talk to. You know, they might need a therapist at this point, but to realize that this is not just something that's being done to them, that this is not some decision that CSU made out of line with the rest of the world. But you know, I think when things like this happen, when these changes and these, I mean, these traumas happen, a lot of times people are trying to find someone to blame, up to make sense of it. (and) So, I think there's a little bit of that among some students and then that can translate in their, into their attitude about the class, maybe attitude about me, attitude about everything.
What new teaching techniques or tools are you trying as a result of the switch to remote teaching?
I've been using Zoom primarily in terms of interacting with the students, that and Blackboard of course. I've been using Blackboard a lot more than I have in the past, which has actually been great. It's allowed me to really explore Blackboard and I know that there's a lot more to it that I have yet to explore. So, I am kind of looking forward to getting deeper into Blackboard and seeing how I can continue to use it in the remote situation.
In terms of Zoom, I have class, four classes, twice a week, for each class, and we meet on Zoom for one full class period and then the other class period is sort of open office hours and then they are given additional work to do during that week, to kind of make up for that class. So, that has worked pretty well. We've had full classes. They lasted you know nearly two hours each class. And then, they seem to kind of enjoy the freedom of having to do some of the work outside of class, on their own. But for the most part the attendance is pretty steady on those Zoom classes.
On Blackboard, some things that I've been using that I hadn't used before, I'm using the discussion board a lot as a way to keep them and got engaged throughout the week, to respond to each other. I give them a prompt to, sort of, respond to initially and then also require them to respond to one of their classmates, as well. I do it for points. So, that definitely seems to motivate them. I have posted a few boards as optional and I don't really get a lot of response there. So, definitely for points and then they do engage.
I've been exploring programs like Microsoft Teams, a film project management program Yamdu, SetHero and Trello, specifically for a producing/project management/production management class I teach. So, I'm looking to replace Movie Magic Budgeting and Movie Magic Scheduling, which is a program we have on the computers at school. I'm looking, I have been interested in looking, at new programs anyway. So this summer I plan on looking into some of these other programs, that are cloud-based, to give the students some other options and experience with working with these programs, as they put their films together. It allows them to communicate to see all kind of, like in, a Google Drive sort of way, but then to also communicate to each other through messaging and commenting and that type of thing; sort of like a one-stop shop to put all of your materials in that one place.
Back to Blackboard. I tried Panopto once, just to leave sort of a recorded message for my students, in the beginning of the transition and I then abandoned it because I embraced Zoom. So, I didn't do any pre-recorded lectures and I don't really like the idea of it. Honestly, I don't foresee using that, unless I had to. I don't think students loved that, having to not be able to engage in really in any way. So especially with all the other video out there on various topics.
I just think, I probably won't engage with that. One other aspect Blackboard, that I used for the first time was the tests, surveys and polls. I had not used that, and I love it. So, I will continue to use that for sure. I found that to be really, really helpful.
What new insights are you gaining about teaching in general?
This is a great question. In this whole experience, in my job and my life, it's forcing me to look at everything from a new perspective. That's a benefit that I take from this, a silver lining. It's so easy to just do the same thing semester after semester, as an instructor, if there's no reason to change it. And then, when there is a reason you have to look at what you are doing and extract the essence of what it is and how you can reformulate it, ask if there are other ways to achieve that objective; and now that we have to, what are those ways? What else can we do, maybe that is different? Better? What new technology might help us in doing those things in a more engaging way? In a more modern way?
So, what this thing has forced me to consider and to do is to, kind of, take a step back and see, what was I doing and what do I have at hand to, kind of, take my instruction to a more contemporary, a more modern level. So, there is that our hand has been forced into that direction to say, “well you might not use that program, but now's the time, to learn it, to explore it, learn from other people, see what they're doing. In this situation, maybe we can take, learn some things from other people.
I'm also thinking a lot about especially teaching film, teaching art type classes, the notion of giving feedback and critique, because we're not in the room with the person and we're not having this shared viewing experience together, where we're really kind of mulling over and reacting to work and it's sort of detached. This is a little separate from it all, but I am thinking a lot about that process and what is the most effective way to give feedback, to give critique, to grade this type of work and what's most helpful in terms of the students growing from the critique, from the feedback.
How might this experience change your teaching when you return to face-to-face instruction?
There are some parts of remote learning that I really like, personally. I'm somewhat of an introvert at times. So, performing as an instructor in class can be exhausting. I teach four classes, twice a week, each class, and so it's a lot.
So, from this experience, I found that I enjoy less time running a class, more time interacting with students individually. And I find that the quality of that interaction then, of what we accomplished in those one-on-ones, is so much deeper than having a semester where we don't have that.
So, by scaling back maybe the group meet, and engaging more in the individual meet, I think that could be a nice combination moving forward no matter what our teaching looks like, whether it's fully back to school, whether it's hybrid, whether it's fully remote, I think it's made me look at that and say, “I really value and I think the students really value increased one-on-one time, you know, when possible.”
Okay that's it for me. Thank you.
Original Format
Audio recording
Duration
17 minutes, 11 seconds