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MAN (VOICEOVER): OTAN, Outreach and Technical Assistance Network.

Renee Ramig: Well, welcome. Thank you for coming to our session. So our session is three teachers and a techie, and I happened to fall in the techie category, so that's me, and then there's three teachers.

I just want to know I created a website. Here is the URL for it and it has some best practices for distance and in hybrid learning. It has some short Canvas videos, some of them are ones that I did, some of them are ones I pulled from the Canvas site. I also linked to the community guides, which can be overwhelming, but it's really helpful. You can find a lot of Canvas support there if you're a Canvas user, Zoom resources, and then this presentation is here if you want to pull it up along with some other documents. So I just want it to show you that you can get all of that on this particular website. I know, I stole the OTAN 2021, so hey.

So I'll just start by introducing myself. I have been working at Mount Diablo for about a year and a half. But I've been doing educational technology and teacher training for almost 40 years because I'm just that old. And when I was hired at Mount Diablo, it was to do tech support, but I've been really blessed with this COVID thing to be able to, again, work with teachers and help them to move online and be successful in this hybrid and distance learning environment. So I will let the others introduce themselves, Shari.

Shari Becker: Good morning, everybody. I'm Shari Becker and I'm currently working clinical. I'm a registered dental assistant, we're clinical, and do chair site assistant and have been in the field for over 36 years. And I am honored to be teaching with my other colleagues, I have been an educator now for over 26 years at Mount Diablo with my teaching credential.

And have enjoyed all aspects of it, enjoy still the clinical aspect of working in the office as well as the teaching aspect. And I'm very honored to be presenting with my colleagues today and super happy that all of you guys are with us too. So welcome aboard. Happy to have you.

Renee Ramig: Thank you. MeeYing.

Meeying Coffer: Hi, everyone. My name is MeeYing Coffer and I've been teaching with Mount Diablo for 34 years now. I just celebrated my 34th year anniversary on the 1st and I'm still loving it. And I also had dental experience all for over 20 years, I'm not going to tell you how long I've been teaching in the dental field. But I thank everyone also for joining us today and I hope we learn something from you too.

Renee Ramig: All right, Katy.

Katy Gerard: Hi, my name is Katy Gerard and I've been a clinical dental assistant for 37 years and an educator for 11 years with Mount Diablo School District. I love it, I love the results that we get. Our program for dental assistant and career technical education has 100% hire rate and I'm just happy to be a part of that and watching our students get jobs. And I'm happy to be here and I'm happy you're here.

Renee Ramig: OK, thank you. So the teachers are going to do almost all of the talking, but I just wanted to start it out. So March 16 was the da, da, da date. We came together in a classroom in the Sytek administrators basically said at this point, we're going to have to close the school indefinitely, because they had no idea at that point, like all of us how long.

And they basically gave teachers two options. One was to move online and the other was to cancel indefinitely. For a lot of our programs, it made sense to cancel because they had just started within the past week or two, so our EMT program, our office professional program, and our CNA program had just started. So they chose to cancel, but two of the programs were in the middle of the program, it had gone for several months and that was surgical technology and dental assistant.

So those had to think a little bit about what do I want to do? How do I meet the needs of my students? And where do I want to go? Because it was scary, the dental assistant teachers had never taught online before, we didn't have any technology in place, they didn't even know me. I mean, I hadn't been working with teachers.

So they're like, how do we do this? So it was a difficult decision. So we're going to-- they're going to share the process of what they went through and what was challenging and what is working well. Katy, do you want to start?

Katy Gerard: I will. Thanks, Renee. I was shocked, it was scary. We were called into a room, we needed to quickly also, we were going to be vacating our classrooms.

We also need to notify our students and then they had questions and we didn't quite have the answers. After hearing that we needed to decide, because our administrators needed to apply for an accreditation waiver to see if we could be hybrid and go online. And so they needed an answer that day and my answer was no, I don't think we're going to do this.

I couldn't quite imagine it because we are in the classroom every day and it was just hard for me to fathom. So I went home that night and my boss called me and asked if I was OK. So I guess my face had said it all, I must have looked like a ghost.

Then the weekend went by and I realized this isn't about me, it's about our students, and it's about getting them working and they were halfway through the program. So no matter what it took and I just would move through the fear and we would make this work. So I called them and said, we're in on Monday morning. That was my story.

Renee Ramig: All right, so Shari, do you want to talk about-- yours looked a little bit different because you teach the first class, which had already completed for that cohort. So what was it like for you to have to move your program online and the changes that had to happen?

Shari Becker: So yeah. Thanks, Renee. So for me, I teach the introductory course, which is course 1 in our dental assisting program. And my cohort was actually supposed to start in March, and so that entire cohort ended up being canceled.

With that being said, I usually teach in the evenings when I would come on campus with my class. And so now, we weren't allowed to come on campus at all. And so I was like a fish out of water I guess. I'm not really sure direction that we were going to be going in, there was a cohort that was in the middle of transitioning.

And so there was some time to put some thought to it. But as far as the technology being limited, I was not familiar at all with the Zoom, I was not familiar at all with Canvas, not to mention too my course was being consolidated down from an eight-week course to a six-week course. So the development and the progression of having to merge everything into an online format was very overwhelming.

On top of that with everything that was happening environmentally with all the unknowns and COVID and with myself being involved in health care directly, it was a very daunting and trying time. And I think that Katy and MeeYing along with Renee's amazing assistants, they pulled it off. I mean, I was amazed.

So they actually set much of the foundation for me when I was going to be starting my next cohort. But in the meantime, it was like walking in a cave with one of those headlights on that you have on your head and thinking you have some sense of how to navigate or what would be expected in the cave. And then all of a sudden your battery ran out on your headlight, and now you are totally in the dark and just trusting basically on good to use the analogy of somebody talking to you, like sound. So it was administration and it was Renee's voice of confidence and encouragement, I think, that really assisted us in laying our foundation and moving forward with any of this.

So I was very fortunate to have some of that foundation already set for me when my next cohort was going to be starting. But there was always transitions and I know we're going to be talking and getting a little bit deeper into the weeds in a few more minutes. So it's very, very different for me, very different.

Renee Ramig: And so, MeeYing, what was it like for you? You started right away with Katy literally just a couple of days after we found out the school was going to close.

Meeying Coffer: Exactly, and it was great that Katy and I were able to do this together, put our heads together and figure out how are we going to do this? The didactic was pretty easy but doing the hands-on, because that dental assistant is hands-on skills and so how to demonstrate skills to the students was the biggest challenge. And I just go back to thinking about classes that I've taken in the past and challenges that I had. And so it was hard for me to accept technology as our future. And I stay open-minded and with Renee as our big helper, we made it through it.

Renee Ramig: You did great. Yeah, so I just want to mention the technology piece. So a lot of the teachers, you were using desktops so we had to figure out how to get them devices that they can use off campus.

All of our student laptops, which were windows, were imaged or set up only to be used online. So I had to work with our on-site hardware person to get them reimaged so that the students that needed them could get a loaner laptop that could be used offline. And then a lot of our laptops didn't have cameras, so then we had to figure out how do we get cameras because as you know on Zoom, being on camera is critical to being able to do Zoom synchronous times successfully.

So we made sure that we got technology to the students that needed it, got technology to the teachers that needed it. And then like I said, I'm really lucky that I got the opportunity to then work with the teachers and do some training so that they felt supported and then the students got this amazing education.

Shari Becker: Well, and that's one thing I would put in there too was, even back on the previous slide, Renee, is that--

Renee Ramig: Sorry.

Shari Becker: --is that-- no, you're fine. Is that the support for the teachers, so administration and Renee had set up weekly meetings for staff for us to go through some, I'm going to call it basic training, for me anyway. And I'll just admit that I'm of the generation that is not very techie and technical. And we have computers and we do things in the dental office and I'm somewhat familiar with some systems. However, trying to learn Canvas while simultaneously also trying to learn Zoom really presented for me some vulnerabilities and along with the technology for the students too.

So trying to get the students up to speed, I know we're going to talk about that a little bit more too, was a very interesting transition. And it really stretched me as an instructor on certain limitations and boundaries, so that we're going to talk about that too in a little bit as well. But I think all in all, the choice that Katy made was very brave.

I will frame it that way because we were-- I was at the very back of the cave, at the very behind everybody. But Katy was at the front of the cave and her head light went out, and she was in the dark. And like I said, it was through great support that we were able to push ahead, so right.

Katy Gerard: We had Renee too.

Shari Becker: Renee, we would not have been able-- yeah, we would not have been able to progress without her assistance.

Meeying Coffer: So we had to think out of the box.

Renee Ramig: Absolutely, absolutely.

Shari Becker: Definitely.

Renee Ramig: All right, so these are some of the things that the teachers identified that are working well. So any of you can jump in and talk about any of them.

Katy Gerard: I'll jump in with the synchronistic time. After, it's a year later, but after now, I would say I can't imagine it the old way anymore. Just from the standpoint that the student is more like a flipped classroom and the students use their asynchronistic time to be very prepared. So when they do come in for lab skills, they have that foundation of the topics that we're studying and we're just ready to go. So it actually, I would never have thought this, it ends up being much more productive when we are live instruction because of the foundation. That's been exciting.

Meeying Coffer: Yeah, getting to learn different parts of Canvas has been fun, like using the breakout room for discussions and critical thinking, using scenarios that we learn from our lectures to relate it to the dental office. And then also using screen share, because some students need visual aids. So using PowerPoint on screen share was very helpful to show pictures as we gave our lectures. And we limit our lectures to just the basics when we did that.

Renee Ramig: Right. I think the three of you said that you try to not lecture more than 15 minutes during the two-hour Zoom time, right?

Meeying Coffer: Right.

Renee Ramig: So the majority of it is breakout rooms and discussions and other hands-on times.

Katy Gerard: And Renee, MeeYing touched on it too to where the visual aid. So we gave them visual aids to take home. So if we're studying like for example, we could do two-number warm ups and they have the cards they've made or we've given them teeth to take home, a little pit. And then we had gone to the hardware store, that was in our panic mode, of how to create a suction and a water syringe.

Meeying Coffer: Yes, that's right.

Katy Gerard: But I think having that, it breaks up that two-hour Zoom time, the breakout rooms, the visual aids, and then obviously doing all the lecture didactic topics.

Meeying Coffer: Yeah

Renee Ramig: Nice.

Shari Becker: Well, and I think too it's contributed to us as educators to rethinking how we organize our time and what materials are really critical for the students between the synchronous and the asynchronous time. So pulling out some fluff that maybe we would have had previously and some of our material and really finding more of what the meat and potatoes and what's really going to be needed for this for the students. And not only that, but I think as far as previously, maybe in the classroom, we were doing a lot of hand-holding, a little more spoon feeding along the way. And so this has really stretched us I think as far or I can speak for myself, as far as my ability with my education skills to think like MeeYing said earlier, to think outside the box and what's in the student's best interest. And having, instead of us being a talking head for however long we would talk in the classroom, way more student engagement and different types of thinking.

And so we have on the slide they're more critical thinking. So a question asking having the students be prepared with the material prior to them coming online with us has really been an asset too. And I think one of the instructors was going to talk about some practice test things that has worked well. For myself, not so much breakout rooms that I would utilize in my introductory course.

For me, I did more screen sharing with the students and had them utilize their whiteboards in the class for our conversations and for critical thinking and introducing a broad concept that we would then have to pare down into some bullet points. And so what I enjoyed about that aspect of the synchronous time on the Zoom was that it allowed them, the students, to have to pair down a lot of details into some bullet point thinking. Which is a skill that they're going to need to utilize also in the dental office in reporting things back to the doctor, when they're interviewing a patient for maybe an emergency or a new patient, finding out goals and things along those lines.

So utilizing the whiteboard with the students actually playing secretaries oftentimes and utilizing the screen share. However, I think that as we progress with our next cohort, I will venture into doing some breakout rooms because I think that learning that skill will be good not only for the students, but for me as well. So getting a little more practice on those breakout rooms will be good as they transition then from my course, which is now a six-week course into the remainder of our program, which is really handled with Katy and me as the full time educators for the remainder of that program. So those things have been helpful for me along the way. And I think they've worked fairly well through the transition also.

Renee Ramig: And I love that you said, I mean, something that's really critical is that it doesn't stay the same. So I love that you said, hey, I think I've talked to MeeYing and Katy and they really find that breakout rooms are really great with the students and you're saying I think I'm going to try it. But I think it's also really critical that you don't try every new thing all at once.

So you were learning Canvas, you were learning Zoom, you were figuring it out online, you were digitizing your resources, and you were dealing with the dental office and COVID all at the same time. It was not time to do breakout rooms. But now that you feel comfortable, you're all like so you continue to move forward and try new things, just not all at once everybody.

And don't feel-- I think it's so important, I have teachers that always come to me go, I'm just not ready to do breakout groups or I just can't do the whiteboard yet. I'm like, OK. Don't feel guilty, it's absolutely OK. The goal is to move forward a little bit at a time, not to get so overwhelmed that you can't be successful in what you're using.

But I think Shari brought up a good point about this has led to using practice tests differently. MeeYing and Katy, can you talk about how you're using practice tests now, sort of how that's changed since you moved online.

Katy Gerard: Absolutely. I love what Shari said about cutting the apron strings and it really has forced you to do that, which works great for preparing them for their externship which is a very self-directed career that they're embarking on. And empowering the students to use all the resources, it's been very helpful. And like the whiteboard and put their thoughts on there or collaborate with critical thinking in the breakout rooms. It's been awesome to do that.

As far as the test what we would do, we do practice tests that they can go in and take and it will be numerous questions, way more than it's on their actual test. And I was so against that originally, because I felt like, oh, they can't see the test question before they take it and that's just helping too much. But it actually has been better that they see all the material and they put in more time doing that on their own time and everybody takes those practice tests.

At first, we were requiring it before you can qualify to take the test, but now with the new cohort, we just have it in place and they all do it. So they want the information, they want to put in the time. And I think it works well that they can do that when they're not in the classroom, that it's the asynchronous time to prepare. So--

Renee Ramig: And they could take those multiple times, right?

Meeying Coffer: Right.

Renee Ramig: They could take it--

Katy Gerard: They can.

Renee Ramig: --as many times as they want.

Meeying Coffer: Yes.

Katy Gerard: And you can scramble the answers and it's been a good thing. I've resisted it, but it's worked out pretty well. And their GPAs have stayed 80 and above. So I think that's been a good tool.

Meeying Coffer: Another item I think has helped is we required them to preread the chapters of the lectures before they come on Zoom. So that way, they have questions for us if they need to ask us questions.

Renee Ramig: Yeah, so that's a perfect example of a flipped classroom, right. So they're coming to you and you're not spending class time like you used to do saying open up your textbook and go ahead and read this chapter and answer these questions. You're saying, read it ahead of time and then let's have some critical thinking and deep discussions. And does anybody not understand part of it? Let's talk about it.

So it's really diving deeper rather than using your synchronous time, whether it be Zoom or in person to read a textbook that is the perfect thing to do during asynchronous time. So that, yeah, I love that that's working for you and your feeling that the students are coming prepared to have discussions and ask questions, rather than spending time reading the chapter.

Meeying Coffer: Right.

Renee Ramig: Yeah. I know one of the other things that all of you have brought up is that creating a Canvas course requires you to be at least somewhat organized. And so it's helped to organize curricular materials as well as think of how you're organizing your curriculum in general. And I think Shari mentioned taking out quote, "fluff", I believe do you call it, for things that really are critical to the learning. Does anybody want to talk about that?

Shari Becker: Sure I'll jump in. So I think I was faced with two kinds of things, developing that course on Canvas but also consolidating the course. And then really having to put thought to the synchronous versus asynchronous time. So putting myself, I think back into the student's shoes like.

And it was really hard for me really quite honestly, because I know the material so well. So trying to pull myself back to like if I didn't know anything, how long and what would I focus on? And for myself too and I think, Katy and MeeYing do the same, but I offer study guides for every topic that we cover and so it's a little bit of, I wouldn't say it's the full headlight in the cave, but it's a flashlight in the cave to try to have the students be able to funnel down some of the main points and give them some direction. Because I know that it can be daunting and overwhelming, especially for those students that haven't been in a formal education setting in quite some time, which is the majority of our students, of course.

So even things as far as organizing our curriculum, but inserting into the curriculum study skills and other resources that they have for studying. And I know we're going to talk a little bit about time management in a little bit, but this also, reorganizing of the curriculum stretched me back I think to having to think more like if I was the student and didn't know anything, what would that look like? And then the consolidation also forced me, which wasn't a bad thing.

It was uncomfortable at the beginning and I don't think any of us like to feel like we're forced, but it did in a positive way force me anyway as an instructor to really say, OK, let's do this. I know we could do this, so let's do this. So that's just some of my insights.

Katy Gerard: What did you say that sometimes it's better just to be pushed off the cliff?

Shari Becker: Yeah, ready, set, go. Yeah, we can sometimes be our own worst enemies in trying to either talk ourselves out of a process or a direction. Procrastination sometimes can be our worst enemy. And so the fact that I think we didn't have a lot of time and it's easy for me to say because I wasn't involved in that first panicked March episode a year ago. But knowing too that there were some safety nets and there were some parachutes that were given to us, which was great, and taking the pressure off. And I would also say one other thing, for me, when I was doing my curriculum, I was only one week ahead. So--

Renee Ramig: And that's important.

Shari Becker: --I didn't only keep up with it because it was-- and I know we're going to talk about that in a little bit on the next slide. So I'll wait.

Renee Ramig: Yeah, that's a really good point. So let's go. So these are all the things that worked well and we inserted a few things that were challenging. But the next slide is what has been challenging?

And so go ahead and I'd love, one of you can start with before you went online, you knew your curriculum and your candidate was done. You had the whole cohort done and now you're a week or two ahead because you're having to organize your material, create your Canvas course. Do you want to talk about, any of you want to talk about that a little bit and how that made you feel?

Katy Gerard: Being you mean, just--

Renee Ramig: Just that you're having, yeah, that you're not as far ahead from the students. That you're just a week or two ahead of where the students are with basically getting your curriculum all organized and uptight.

Katy Gerard: I felt it was very poor and it felt like I was unprepared. I didn't want them to think that, that we were only a week ahead. But it also was just logistically what was possible when navigating so much.

And the neat thing about it being a year later. And what this year has been like is that the course is created and then you tweak it and you the next time, but a lot of the foundation is already there. And then you can just add things or see things that worked in a breakout room or what was engaging and what wasn't. And like Shari said, just you have to change things because you need to give them what is most important and getting rid of--

That was hard to cut out things, I felt like oh, everything was important. But you had to think about what would most make them successful at their job? What they need to know, what's going to best prepare them? Just whittle it down and then put back that curriculum in.

Renee Ramig: And I think that was true for all the teachers that I worked with. I think it was really hard for them to, the two things is take out pieces, but also not be the overseer. Like give up and say I'm going to allow students to read the textbook on their own and I'm not going to be there to make sure that they're reading it. And so that was really hard and I know some of you said that some of your challenges has been helping students figuring out ways to manage their asynchronous time.

Katy Gerard: Absolutely. Renee, when you said read the textbook on their own, sometimes that doesn't happen. So what we put in measures for that is we make a PowerPoint of the chapter and ask them to ask questions or answer, they have to answer 5 to 10 questions after viewing the PowerPoint. So it's just a little security that it makes our time more quality when we get into the classroom.

Meeying Coffer: Right.

Katy Gerard: That makes sense?

Meeying Coffer: So we found Katy and I would have to brainstorm at times to think of ideas to keep the students engaged before class begins.

Katy Gerard: You mean before--

Renee Ramig: Yes so I love that you did a summary PowerPoint that they had to watch and answer questions on that was a summary of the chapter.

Katy Gerard: Exactly.

Meeying Coffer: Right.

Katy Gerard: Just a summary. Just a summary. And we put PowerPoint questions, we put questions of the last slide and in the middle, so you made sure that they didn't just watch. A couple of them, we always make sure they spread. But it's some people are more visual and they like to learn that way or it reinforces that what they've read. So it works, I wouldn't have thought to do that unless this had happened. That's been good.

Shari Becker: I think another challenge too was that we as instructors, as the educators really had or I'll speak for myself, I had a different reliance on the resources. So for example, our publisher and our textbook, I had to view it differently because the resources now that would be available to the students through the technology, we were utilizing it very differently. And then offering additional resources for the students, not just with the curriculum, but with their technology, with their computers, with their connectivity, with their modems, with their phones, with their iPads, with their cameras.

It was daunting for me and Renee was there with all the life preservers that you could ever ask for. But that continues, I think, to be a challenge from the student perspective with some of the technology as well. So I'm a curriculum expert, I know my curriculum, but I am not the technology expert.

So having even thinking backing the train all the way up before, because my course is the first course, doing certain orientation and then talking about doing a technology orientation with the students. So that my eight weeks that got crunched into six weeks now isn't with the whole first week, just dealing with technology issues and pulling away from my time with curriculum. So we're still a work in progress and to see how that goes. But the boundaries issue at the bottom there, the boundaries issue talking about that is setting boundaries not just for us as educators, but also setting boundaries with the students. And I think Katy and MeeYing we're going to speak into that a little bit also.

Katy Gerard: That's a big piece, Shari. That's a good point. When we started, we were getting text messages at nonbusiness hours when a student might be panicked about an assignment or had a question.

So we went over what would be expected and same in their workplace. So we went over that you could text us from 8:00 to 6:00 if you had a question. But you could send an email after or a notification on Canvas, notify us that way.

And we would-- and Shari, I think you did the same thing, you told them that you check your email and you told them what time. So that you check it twice a day, so they knew what to expect. And they also knew office hours was a time, so we set those in place where they needed to, we needed to be available for them for their questions.

Renee Ramig: And you have those every week, right, where they could pop in to ask questions?

Meeying Coffer: Right, every Wednesday.

Katy Gerard: Every Wednesday. And then sometimes, they'll stay after, we never get off Zoom class right away, we wait if they have any questions and then we can actually put them in a wait room to have one on one, a quick one, with a student just before we end the day. And then MeeYing does the best wrap ups that have been great I'll let her speak on that.

Meeying Coffer: Yes.

Renee Ramig: Yes. Great.

Katy Gerard: But the other boundary too, and I call Renee because you're not just a techie, she's a student support advocate and a teacher. And I would have students sitting on their bed eating cereal during class. And then their kids would come in and push on the camera or sit on their lap. And then their pets, they would want to show their pets.

And all that was good, so we just-- but it didn't help us transition into our classroom time. So we learned to take the first 5 to 10 minutes, check in with everyone. It's like a morning huddle which they'll have in their dental offices and see how everyone is, do a check in, maybe they want their child to say hi before we start.

And then Renee had said it's perfectly OK to expect them, ask them to sit maybe on the edge of their bed. Because they could go into their bedroom, I think, for privacy, but it just wasn't a good learning environment to be all sprawled out on your bed eating. And it just didn't fit so we had them get a chair and a surface that they could write on and that was a requirement as well as not turn their cameras off. And they are so good about it now that if they do turn it off, they are saying that I'm just going to use the restroom, I'll be back or I need the two minutes and I'll be right back.

Renee Ramig: Right.

Meeying Coffer: Well, we learned something, I learned something new last night. Renee sent an email about emails on the send, the little arrow that you can respond to them, but the email will be sent to them the next morning. So you don't have to worry about them communicating with you late at night. So that was a nice way of thinking oh, it's good way of setting boundaries. But yes, I love to do the wrap up in the Announcements section of Canvas.

I usually wrap, yeah, I usually tell them what we did that day, positive things what we learned that day. And then I usually tell them, I make it a list of what their homework is, assignments are coming up, or the quizzes that are opening up and when is going to close because they forget. Even though we write it on the board in class, they still forget.

So then I do that. And then I also do at the end of the week, I wrap up what we learned and what's coming up the following week, what are we going to be teaching the following week? So it gives them an idea mindset of what we're going.

Renee Ramig: And so this is daily, right, after--

Meeying Coffer: Yes.

Renee Ramig: --you do a meeting or after class?

Meeying Coffer: Yes.

Renee Ramig: And can you talk about why you started it and how it's helped with the issue.

Meeying Coffer: Well, we started because we thought, well, maybe this will help reduce emails and text. So as long as they read the announcements, sometimes we have to remind them, did you read the announcement? I like to put pictures in the announcements too if I can find good pictures, because I feel that, that will help attract them to look at the announcements.

Katy Gerard: We could put pictures of them doing skills, for sure they'll check the announcement.

Shari Becker: I love that.

Meeying Coffer: Yeah.

Katy Gerard: Yes. So I guess it's a way of empowering them.

Renee Ramig: And has it helped? Have you found out that it has helped?

Meeying Coffer: It has helped.

Katy Gerard: Yeah.

Meeying Coffer: It has helped.

Renee Ramig: And I think one of you mentioned when we were doing our practice that you're having to teach different skills with the students. Not just your dental assistant skills, but you're having to teach, as Shari said, technology skills. So you're having to teach digital literacy, which is new, but also things like time management and responsibility. So that they are not texting you and saying, hey, I don't know where the homework is when the homework is listed in multiple places in Canvas.

Katy Gerard: Exactly.

Renee Ramig: Do you want to touch on how that's been a challenge to have to incorporate time management skills and scheduling asynchronous skills and digital literacy skills, add it to your curriculum?

Shari Becker: Sure, I'll jump in first. Excuse me. So having the students set aside that time and have a designated place also for their asynchronous time as well as there are synchronous time, I think is important. But time management, not just for the students, but for myself also as an educator has been somewhat of a challenge.

But with the students, they're busy with work and kids and pets and things along those lines. So I remember this last cohort I had a student who would do her synchronous time in the closet and I would think where are you? You're-- and so that was her only quiet place that she could find at the time under her living circumstance. But yeah, time management, very, very important and offering the resources for the students too so that they don't impinge on our time management. Because time management, not just in the educator mode of it, but also in the communication mode of it as well.

So having them understand I check my email two times a day, once in the morning, once in the evening. So if you've missed that time slot, you know I'm not going to get it, maybe after 6:30 on a weeknight, I'm not going to get it until 6:30 in the morning the next day. And time management with our office hours and having them be disciplined enough to know that if they have a specific concern that needs additional time to address, they need to carve out, it needs to become a priority for them.

So that's a great thing for them to understand and learn as they progress, not just through our program, but also when they're employed. That time management is important because in the dental office, time management is what runs our offices. So yeah.

Renee Ramig: That is great. So since they call them wrap ups, we thought we would do a wrap up and before all of you share. So some of the things that the teacher said is, and sorry guys, and please clarify. But if today the pandemic was done and you were given the option of going back to the way it was, you would choose to stay with hybrid learning rather than going back to full face to face.

Meeying Coffer: Right.

Katy Gerard: Yes.

Renee Ramig: Right?

Katy Gerard: Yes, absolutely.

Meeying Coffer: Yes. Yeah.

Shari Becker: Yes.

Renee Ramig: And I think we talked about this, but it's important to continue to grow and change. But it's important to not change all at once. So I think hopefully we've really shared that it was scary and the things were scary but they took on what they could took on. They made the students part of their team saying we're all in this together.

We're here for you, that's why we're going online, that's why we're doing this hybrid learning. We don't know what we're doing, we know our curriculum. And that's what we want to teach you, but together, we're learning Zoom and Canvas because those are things that are new to all of us.

And students were helpful. And students, I know in your class, students will use breakout rooms on their own now when they're doing projects and things. So they are learning digital tools that hopefully will help them in the workplace and beyond, things that you didn't do before, which is very cool.

You've also mentioned and maybe you can expand that one of the worries you had was that you wouldn't have enough time with them. You wouldn't have enough one on one time, you would feel really distant. But that with office hours and Zoom as well as you're in class time, you actually feel like there's more collaboration time and more one on one time. Do you want to mention anything about that at all? Because in case somebody hasn't done a lot of online and they're worried about that for collaboration.

Katy Gerard: I notice, it takes, I need to communicate and send emails to them when I grade their work, give more commentary. Just a lot more communication online to the students, positive reinforcement. But I think you said it very well. Cool.

Meeying Coffer: Right. So the Speedgrader in Canvas has been very good because not only do you give him a grade, but you actually have a place where you can comment, giving them the positive reinforcement. And I haven't tried this yet, the audio one rather than just type--

Renee Ramig: Oh--

Meeying Coffer: --type the content.

Renee Ramig: Yeah, I haven't used the audio grader either. OK.

Meeying Coffer: Yeah.

Renee Ramig: Yeah. And then I know that Shari had, when we were typing up the list, Shari said that she's using a lot more, like audio visual things that she didn't used before. So we've got a video library that students, and it's nice because students are watching them on their own. So you're not having to use your synchronous time either in class or during Zoom to watch videos. Right, so you can say, I want you to go watch this video demonstration of how to Don and Doff your PPE and then we'll discuss it.

So it's not just reading ahead of time, but it's also being prepared by watching videos or like I said, if they're doing a project, they can do their own Zoom and do breakout rooms on their own. And then, of course, the interactive whiteboards. So there's a lot of tools that you can use to make it as collaborative, if not more collaborative than it was when you were fully face to face.

Katy Gerard: Right

Renee Ramig: Anything else you want to share before we open it up to the floor. And I'd love to have people share what has worked well and what you still feel challenged with. Anything else, Shari, MeeYing, or Katy?

Shari Becker: I just want to say that I think because of the situation before we became a hybrid program, my class ran in the evenings only. And so I was not available to come on campus during the day because I'm in the dental office during the day. So this has really spawned an opportunity for us as a team to get closer. And even though we've worked all these years together, oftentimes, I would feel like the Lone Ranger at night and a little bit disconnected from the rest of the program. But this has really enabled me as an educator with my colleagues, including you Renee.

Renee Ramig: Thank you.

Shari Becker: And including Tricia, who I see there too.

Speaker 5: Yeah

Shari Becker: It's really enabled the technology in general, just has really enabled, I think. Even though it's distance, it has its own minutia of bringing people closer together and with a different perspective. And so I'm appreciative of that opportunity to feel more engaged and connected with the program and with the campus administration as well.

So I'm appreciative of that. And I think the students have a different perspective of resources and different ways of connectivity that they're utilizing as well through not just their Canvas, but through Zoom. Like you were saying they're doing their own breakout rooms in their own projects on their own, where normally it would be like can we meet at the Starbucks at 10 o'clock or whatever? So it does afford new opportunities. So thank you. That's all.

Katy Gerard: I like that, Shari. Even though it's distance learning, it still has created more intimacy in a way and way to connect with our students and each other. Isn't that something you would-- who would have thought?

Renee Ramig: Yeah.

Shari Becker: Who would have thought?

Renee Ramig: I don't see a lot of-- I just reposted the website link in the chat, somebody asked that. And then somebody just said I'd like to hear more from MeeYing. Jump in if you want to ask questions, if you want to share your experiences, this is part discussion. So we'd love to have you share.

Speaker 6: Renee, this is Anthony. So hi, again, everyone.

Renee Ramig: Hi, Anthony.

Speaker 6: So we don't all talk over each other, just remember that there are the reactions on the bottom of your Zoom toolbar. So maybe if you do want to raise your hand or chime in, why don't we take advantage of that? And then everyone is able to come on mic. So if you want to yourself while you're asking your question, you are also free to do that as well.

Katy Gerard: And Renee, you must stop sharing so we can see everyone.

Renee Ramig: Sure, I will do that. And I will just take notes in case I need to add it to-- because like I said, if you want to share things, resources, or anything, I'll add it to the website after the presentation. So maybe like to share, how about, how many of you can use the thumbs up? Maybe how many of you--

Shari Becker: Tricia has her hand raised. I'm sorry.

Renee Ramig: Well--

Meeying Coffer: Yes.

Renee Ramig: OK, I guess I could call on Tricia then. Hi, Tricia.

Speaker 5: Hi, guys. I put this in the chat, but I just wanted to tell her because I was so impressed and hadn't really thought about this. But the other day I visited Katy and MeeYing's class. And I'm the coordinator, interim coordinator at this time. But visited their class and Katy was on her computer.

She was using a document camera and showing them doing some instruction and on MeeYing's camera, she was actually doing the demonstration. So as a student, because I was working as a student, I could see the instruction right here and I could see the demonstration right here. And I thought, oh, my goodness, there is no way we could have done this in the classroom.