Since Monday, 16 March all in-person courses at the University of Luxembourg have been transitioned online. For staff and students, this shift represents an enormous effort in terms of adaptation and paradigm change. How is the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance adapting to this sudden transformation? Isabelle Riassetto, Vice Dean of Academic Affairs, answers some questions about the current situation and gives us some advice for staying motivated to work and learn during this challenging time for all.
Generally, how has the switch over to remote teaching gone? What specific measures have been put into place?
The transition from face-to-face to remote teaching has gone smoothly. After a short adaptation period during which professors and adjunct teachers decided which methods would be best adapted to their teaching style and content and familiarised themselves with the tools, in particular Webex, the alternative methods were put into place. However, it is still too early to take stock of the situation.
Regarding organisation, we have appointed additional study directors to serve as back-ups during this period of remote teaching. We have also determined points of contact for each department whose mission is to gather information from the study programme directors, identify possible problem areas and send this information to the Dean’s office so that we can have a real-time overview of the situation.
Regarding remote teaching, there are a few different methods used by our Faculty. On one side, lectures, seminars and tutorials are being conducted by videoconference through Webex. This method allows teachers to have close contact with students but requires a good amount of concentration and a stable internet connection. On the other side, there is distance learning, where course lecturers post their notes, documents and questions/quiz on Moodle and organise Q&A sessions with their students on the platform. This method requires students to be able to work independently. Blended distance learning is a combination of both methods. It consists of adding real-time video-conferencing or explanatory video and audio files to the course document uploaded on Moodle. At a programme-level scale, the ideal solution is to combine all of these methods to find a balance where learning can take place in the best possible conditions.
Examinations is another challenge… We are in contact with the Rector’s office and in concertation with the study programme directors in order to find alternatives solutions to in-person exams in June.
If we thank our academic staff (professors, adjunct teachers and lecturers) for their ability to adapt, we should also not forget the substantial work and continued steadfastness of the study programme administrators, without whom this transition would not have been as seamless.
What are the most popular solutions among professors?
We are following the recommendations from the Rector’s office to use Webex and Moodle (the tools found on remote-teaching.lu). However, the Faculty, Departments and study programme directors are not imposing any specific model or combination of tools. For the transition from face-to-face teaching to remote teaching, we need to be flexible and pragmatic. Each professor is free to choose the method which he or she feels is the best adapted for their courses. Clearly, many professors have “discovered” webex and are quite fond of the tool.
How can students and professors stay motivated when working and learning from home?
For professors and students alike, one of the best ways to stay motivated during this difficult period is to stay disciplined in order to keep up the same pace of work: impose working hours, maintain the schedule that was initially planned for in-person classes (same days, same time), but remember not to forget to schedule time for leisure activities and relaxation.
Staying connected with others (through email, phone calls, social media, video-conferencing) is also a good way to avoid distractions at home as well as avoiding depression and losing motivation. This is especially true when one lives alone, far from family or in student housing.
Thanks to the hard work of one of our colleagues who is certified in sophrology, we are planning on putting a stress management workshop into place in order to allow students to continue their studies in this anxiety-inducing environment with more tranquillity.
And finally, our study programme directors, who are concerned with the well-being of their students, are keeping in touch via Webex to get regular updates, reply to their questions, and gather their feedback and suggestions about how remote teaching is working for them.
Click here to read more stories and impressions about remote teaching from students and staff from all over the University community.