Resilient Teaching Through Times of Crisis and Change

We take a brief look in our “rearview mirror” and reflect on the challenges of the emergency remote teaching phase that was prompted by the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. We then look to “the horizon line” and make a case for why we need a resilient approach to course design now more than ever. We do this by examining characteristics of a wide range of potential instructional scenarios that will impact how students and faculty teach and learn. We then examine the construct of “resilience” and situate it within a range of disciplines in order to be able to articulate key characteristics of resilient design.

We examine a systems design approach in order to be able to identify key components of a system. We then consider how system components relate to course design. Building on this, we use ideas from education, such as the interactions triangle and universal design for learning as we move towards articulating principles of resilient design for learning. We define and articulate three guiding principles for resilient design for learning: designing for extensibility, designing for flexibility, and designing for redundancy.

We hear from Professor Chris Quintana who describes the characteristics, challenges, and context of a course he will be teaching next semester. We follow a worked example of how Professor Quintana is using the instructional triangle and the three guiding principles of resilient design for learning to inform course design decisions. Participants reflect on their own course design contexts and use these reflections as the basis of a peer-graded resilient teaching plan.