Dr. Yahn leads seamless transition to all-virtual learning amid pandemic

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Ohio University moved to remote and online instruction in March through the end of summer semester. For many professors and students, this was a major adjustment. For OHIO Eastern Assistant Professor Dr. Jacqueline Yahn, however, it was not.

In fact, she didn’t have to change much at all.

“When COVID-19 happened and I found out we were going to a virtual format, it quickly became apparent I was not going to have much, if any, access to campus, nor were my students,” said Yahn. “But I basically didn’t have to change anything. I didn’t have to change content for courses, I didn’t have to create new content for course, and I was still able to communicate and share documents with students the same way we always do for class.”

The Middle Childhood Education program coordinator detailed her seamless transition to all-virtual learning in an April 6 presentation, “What Worked Well in Transitioning to Fully Online Education.” This hour-long talk was the first installment of The Patton College of Education’s new Remote Teaching Series, which discusses innovations in teaching and engaging students with technology. The series, which will continue every two weeks for the next month and beyond, is open to all OHIO faculty and its online community. Each session will be hosted on Microsoft Teams and will be recorded for those who cannot attend or participate live.

“I believe this will be a very beneficial and worthwhile series, and Dr. Yahn did an excellent job leading off,” said Patton College Dean Renée A. Middleton. “Her forward-thinking approach to higher education is exactly what is needed. The more educators who implement her practices and ideas, the better we can serve our students. I look forward to the next series of seminars designed to support faculty across the university with best practices and strategies to effectively engage states via remote teaching and learning.”

Yahn teaches three classes ranging in size from 13 to 38 students, all of which met via Zoom after Ohio implemented shelter-in-place orders. Fortunately, relying on technology was nothing new for Yahn—or her students. All of Yahn’s courses feature a hybrid design, which uses a blend of digital and face-to-face content and communication in order to achieve key learning outcomes. Each course requires one hour of student preparation before class and two hours of in-person meetings.

Being unable to meet in person, however, wasn’t a deal-breaker. Yahn’s courses, by design, allow for all-virtual contingencies.

“There will inevitably be adverse circumstances that come up for me and my students,” she said. “They can be smaller things like severe weather events, they can be more extensive things like what we’re dealing with right now, or they can be more personal things where I have to be away from the university for a few weeks. But I want to keep my course running.”

One way to achieve this? Flipped lectures. Yahn records all lectures and shares them electronically with students, who are expected to listen and take notes prior to class. Each lecture typically includes supported readings.

“Students have time to really absorb the key content and topics that we’re working on before we have live class, so when they get to class, their questions are more specific, they’re more meaningful, and they’re more excited to talk about scenarios they’re seeing in the field,” said Yahn. “They’ve had time to really think about what they’re confused about or want more information on, and our class is more beneficial to them.”

Once in class, the first hour unfolds in townhall format: students pose and answer questions about the lecture and readings and discuss their field work.

“If I let them, we could have townhall for the whole class,” said Yahn. “But we have a strict cut-off time at an hour in so that we can do more hands-on work as a group and they can experiment with tools, techniques, and things that they might do in their classroom.”

Yahn, who uses Power Point for flipped lectures, produces a plethora of evergreen content, which is designed and delivered in a manner that can be easily modified from one semester—or year—to the next. If Yahn wants to update part of a flipped lecture, she can easily update slides or recordings without deleting the entire file or having to record a lecture from scratch.

“These are a big hit with my students because they can manipulate how they listen to them,” said Yahn. “They can listen to one straight through, or they can listen to it in chunks depending on their schedule. They can also speed up, slow down, or rewind the lecture as needed.”

Yahn uses the file-sharing platforms, including DropBox and OneDrive, in her courses. She also uses Blackboard to communicate with students and administer weekly 10-question quizzes called exit tickets.

“Exit tickets provide students with the opportunity to measure their own progress in terms of how well they know the content we worked on for that week,” said Yahn, “and they give me the opportunity to see if there are any weaknesses in the group’s understanding of a concept, which influences what we might need to come back to.”

Two of Yahn’s classes are comprised of students from multiple campuses, which previously met via the Ohio University Learning Network (OULN), while a third is comprised entirely of Eastern students. Each class has adjusted well to the all-virtual format, in part because they were already accustomed to it.

“Having an internet option for sharing course content, lecturers, quizzes, and assignments normalizes it for students,” said Yahn. “If we have to make a sudden transition, as we did with the coronavirus, they will adapt to it more easily.”

Yahn’s digital syllabus plays a key role in that. It outlines expectations for each course, previews content, and explains communication and assessment protocols. It also empowers students to take ownership of their education.

“I want there to be a transfer of responsibility in my courses,” said Yahn. “My whole focus, whether we’re in a crisis or not, is that they take responsibility for the knowledge and skillsets they need not only to enter the profession, but to be successful in the profession. When I design my courses, I think about how to emphasize their active role in the course.”

At the end of each course, students are permitted to keep their DropBox file, which includes all lecturers, readings, and course materials. These items serve as great resources and can have a lasting impact on students’ lives and careers.

“They know that class is not going to be a time where I talk at them,” said Yahn. “We’re going to talk together, we’re going to work together, and they’re going to drive what we do.”

While the last few months haven’t always been easy, they have been professionally rewarding. Yahn is not only helping students through a difficult time, but also dispelling some stereotypes about rural education.

“The idea that rural schools and communities do not use technology isn’t true,” said Yahn, whose research focuses on rural policy and leadership. “Some of my students live in the most rural parts of Ohio, and they were embracing technology in the classroom long before the pandemic began and will continue to do so long after the pandemic ends.”

That theme will continue in the Remote Teaching Series, as three future presentations have been scheduled. Restaurant, Hotel and Tourism Assistant Professor Dr. Thom Stevenson will deliver “Virtual Learning Approaches From a Mutually Safe Distance,” on April 20; Human and Consumer Sciences Assistant Professor of Instruction and Customer Service Leadership Program Coordinator Robin Ambrozy will deliver “Providing Value in a Quarantined Internship,” on May 4; and Educational Studies Assistant Professor Dr. Jesse Strycker will deliver “Creating and Using Instructional Videos, Screencasts, and Podcasts to Increase Instructor Presence, Increase Student Interaction, and Expedite Feedback in Online Courses,” on May 18. All presentations are scheduled for 12-1 p.m.

View Yahn’s Remote Teaching Series presentation.

“Practically speaking, the pandemic does present opportunities for us to rethink our approach to higher education,” said Yahn. “Higher education doesn’t have to be completely online or completely in-person; it can be a combination of both, which could allow us to serve a larger number of students in both our undergraduate and graduate programs and reach audiences we’re not currently reaching. The Remote Teaching Series is a chance to think and talk about what we could do better, but most importantly, it is a chance to begin making these changes. I am so happy Dean Middleton is helping us bring that to light.”

If you wish to present in this series, contact please Dr. Beth VanDerveer, associate professor and chair, Department of Human and Consumer Sciences, at vanderve@ohio.edu.