Abstract:

“We can never go back; nor should we, by the way.” This quote comes from Historian Keith Baker as he discussed a future beyond Covid-19. For all the damage and destruction that Covid-19 reigned down, the seeds of pedagogical innovation were planted and sometimes began sprouting during the crisis. As we move beyond the pandemic, we have opportunity to fertilize and water the seeds in ways that will promote meaningful educational processes. In my observations as a pedagogical expert (having published over 100 articles on teaching and learning in business, schools, and informal settings), the seeds were many and varied across disciplines and teaching philosophies. The seeds discussed here are suggestive of some that I observed and that might deserve fertilizing for the future.

In short, consider the following seeds that manifested themselves:
- Higher Education pedagogy became an act of design more so than a cult of personality
- Learning process became more overt than learning products
- Grading became less important than learning

The proposed presentation (and proceedings paper) is editorial and argumentative, rather than empirical; and it will address these three manifestations as needed innovation. I will chart a path forward to ensure that we, in fact, “lean into” opportunities that the Covid-19 pandemic provides. The path will be theoretical and conceptual, but it also will include practical strategies for higher education faculty and administration.

Higher Education Pedagogy as Act of Design:
Unfortunately, we often depend on a higher education pedagogy where the professor’s persuasiveness and formal authority (i.e., the authority granted by an institution) serve to shape classroom discourse and activity. With on-ground classes giving way to online learning management systems, many professors have—consciously or not—shifted toward aiming at the design—rather than the manipulation—of courses. This emphasis on design of learning interventions has potential to level authority and shift powers such that both professors and students can contribute more substantively to learning goals.

Learning Process Became Overt:
Because many students were new to online learning, they struggled with the mechanics of accessing information and integrating it into their thinking. Said differently, learning process became more important than learning products. As many professors scrambled to help their students adjust to the new environment, discussions shifted the norm of “how to submit” to the novelty of “how to proceed.” We should lean in to this shift.

Grading Became Less Important:
In many k-12 schools, teachers were instructed to (as one superintendent wrote to faculty) “not grade but to ensure learning is occurring.” At my institution, discussions of eliminating letter grading in the name of pass-fail were prominent because of the virus. Why is such common sense saved for times of pandemic crisis? Grading and learning are two different things, and we should use the pandemic as opportunity to critique the extent to which they correlate. After all, grades tend to prop up an objectivist epistemology where quantity and measurement are emphasized; yet, true learning is subjective and more based in the qualities (not quantities) of experience. The recognition by some faculty members that grading is not the issue during a time of pandemic is a seed that we should further water and allow to sprout and grow.

Keywords:

Pedagogy, Grading, Professor authority, Learning Process, Covid-19, Design.