Connected community
Engagement and collaboration have always been a key part of classes led by Professor Annemarie Jutel, Associate Dean—Academic, Equity, and Students for Te Wāhanga Tātai Hauora—Wellington Faculty of Health.
This is no less important for the students who are accessing class online, whether they are doing so as part of dual delivery, or if the class is being delivered online-only due to a lockdown.
“The kaupapa of my class is engagement. I learn from my students and they learn from me. My students are there to be inspired by me, by the subject, by their classmates,” Annemarie explains.
During the most recent lockdown, she has been using creative online engagement tools, such as Miro, to facilitate hands-on engagement in her classroom. She uses breakout rooms frequently in her online classes, to help her students connect with each other and give them the space to hold genuine discussions.
This not only helps her students stay engaged online, but also fosters community and connection among students, some of whom are in Auckland.
The collaboration Annemarie sees over Zoom is often more productive than in-person discussions. She says this is due to online classes being more forgiving of a student’s individual circumstances. She has seen online learning work well for students who feel shy talking in class, students who find it difficult to sit for long periods in a lecture theatre, and students who find it difficult or time-consuming to commute to campus.
For staff who are finding dual delivery tricky to navigate, Annemarie’s advice is to not get overwhelmed by the countless tools available.
“Focus on figuring out what you do best. If the thing you do best is a formal lecture, then your lecture should be recorded. If what you do best is engage with people and draw them out, then your lecture should be synchronous.
“Identify where your skills and preferences as a teacher reside, and then seek support for how to enact those things remotely.”
Vanessa Baledrokadroka, a third-year Bachelor of Health student and one of Annemarie’s students, has spent lockdown with her family in Auckland. When Aotearoa New Zealand went into lockdown in August 2021, Vanessa didn’t have any of her University resources with her and was initially worried about what would happen with her study.
“I decided to reach out to my lecturers, and because of the support they had all given me in person, I was confident they would help me.
“Every single one of them came back to me and said they would support me in any way they could. They pointed me towards student services and explained how I could borrow a laptop.”
Although Vanessa has been in alert level 4 for over a month now, she has found community and support in her online classes, which has helped her continue to feel connected to the University.
“Annemarie starts every one of her classes by checking in on everyone—how they’re doing, what lockdown is like for them, do they have the resources and support they need. It makes you feel like you’re not just a number.
“When we use breakout rooms in her classes, it gives us an opportunity to talk with each other about how we’re feeling and connect with each other. It feels like there’s this massive support network that has just wrapped around us.”