As the spread of COVID-19 continues to transform daily life around the world, we at General Assembly have been paying close attention to how the virus is upending education:
- Over 1,000 colleges have been impacted, representing more than 13 million students.
- Teachers serving students in elementary, middle, and high schools are doing their best to adapt, with varied levels of training and support.
- Community colleges and nonprofit training providers, already struggling to stay afloat, are facing existential threats.
And this is only the beginning — we are entering a new world of work that will look radically different as the pandemic progresses.
Last year alone, we saw a 141% spike in enrollment in GA’s full-time remote programs. In some ways, the rise of online learning means that education providers are better-equipped than ever to respond to these changes. Schools are rapidly implementing online programs, video conferencing has never been more sophisticated, and hundreds of thousands of students are logging on to continue their studies virtually.
But the reality is that converting to an online learning environment isn’t as simple as clicking a button. As Kevin Carey put it in The New York Times, colleges are quickly realizing that “it’s impossible to transform a college course into a virtual world overnight,” — and that teaching and learning don’t always work the same way online as they do in person.
At General Assembly, we are grappling with this challenge as well: We recently made the decision to bring all of our in-person Immersive courses online to support more than 5,500 students globally. The good news is that online learning isn’t new to us. We’ve learned a lot from facilitating online programs for over 4 years, and hope to share those challenges — and opportunities — with institutions around the globe as they enter this new and confusing world.
That’s why we’re offering free access to How To Teach Online to anyone. This short-form course — led by one of our resident experts in online instruction, Maria Weaver — is specifically designed for instructors transitioning to a remote format. Whether you’re a seasoned online instructor or a first-time Zoom user, sign up to access new tools, discover essential resources, and gain best practices for impactful online instruction, including how to:
- Foster online discussions with students.
- Cultivate classroom culture through Zoom.
- Plan for student differences online.
In uncertain times like these, it’s more important than ever to share knowledge and experience with those who can benefit from it. This course has helped hundreds of our instructors acquire the basic skills and techniques needed to lead effective online classrooms, and we hope it provides the same value for other instructors out there.
Our team is committed to making more of our resources and expertise readily available to the global education community, and we see this as an initial, small step in that direction. We welcome any ideas or feedback you may have and encourage you to reach out to us at impact@generalassemb.ly.
Tom Ogletree is Senior Director of Social Impact and External Affairs, where he leads GA’s public policy, communications, and social impact initiatives. Tom previously held leadership roles at the Clinton Foundation, CCS Fundraising, and GLAAD. He serves on the boards of the Ali Forney Center and the NYC Employment and Training Coalition, and is an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.