Resilient Pedagogy in Practice

Prior to March 2020, it was unimaginable that anything could disrupt the day-to-day lives of our institutions as drastically and suddenly as Covid-19 did. In order to teach a now-remote student body, faculty grappled with the question of what was possible (and what was necessary) to teach courses at a distance. Faculty took on this challenge and made the shift by reworking their courses and employing new teaching strategies in two tireless weeks before the start of spring term.

Now, with the remote teaching requirement behind us and a new academic year ahead, it may soon be possible to return to teaching as we knew it pre-pandemic. While most welcome a return to the familiar classroom environment and plan to bring back strategies and insights gleaned from teaching remotely, the memory of March 2020 still looms large. Many are scanning the horizon and bracing for the next disruption, which now seems to some inevitable.

How might we stay pedagogically prepared for the next major disruption? What changes will be needed, and how can we prepare? How might what we've learned from remote teaching inform our preparation?

In two sessions recently, we explored these questions through the lens of resilient course design, which offers an adaptive approach by planning courses that are resistant to disruption and agnostic to any particular learning environment. 

As we begin Fall term and face the uncertainties it brings, consider the resources below on resilient pedagogy and the example of Dartmouth's Math 3, a course redesigned with resilience in mind.

Read the guide: Resilient Course Design

Watch the session recording: Resilient Course Design in Practice – Math 3