Ruth and Claire discuss getting Tenure. They have just submitted their files! Claire listed the requirements for tenure in her department and listed how she met those, which is helpful both for reviewers and a confidence boost! Ruth found it worked well for her to know that she cannot do stuff at the last minute and plan around that. Claire is working on calming down and recognises that although it is a big task, it is doable. Ruth is working on tackling being self deprecating.

Ruth and Claire discuss Professionalism. Ruth is trying to redefine professionalism to be authentic to her values. Claire prefers to model professionalism for her students by being professional in her interactions with them rather than explicitly telling them how to behave. Ruth is working on really believing that she can define professionalism for herself. Claire is working on balancing being professional with being relatable.

Ruth and Claire discuss Final Projects. Claire finds that giving students ownership of their projects is working great. She finds this online format can allow for even more creativity as they are not limited by practical restraints. Ruth has been inspired by other people’s amazing projects and the need to move beyond exams to incorporate a final project this semester. Claire is working on the balance of support and autonomy. Ruth is working on timing and rubrics.

Ruth and Claire discuss Life Outside Being a Professor. Ruth tries to make her world bigger by connecting with people and remembering that professoring is only a portion of her life. Claire finds it is really important to share information with her students both for connection and also to normalize for students that they can have a life in addition to academics. Ruth is working on her shame about not working all the time. Claire is working on interactions when meeting students in the wild.

Ruth and Claire discuss the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL). Ruth is working on some small projects, one examining the impact of prior physics experience on grades. Claire is working on simple small changes and assessing the impact of those changes. Ruth is working on dealing with the tiny number of students she has in each class and learning more about statistics. Claire is working on the assessment portion when there are so many variables.

Ruth and Claire discuss working with their Sponsored Programs Office. Sponsored Programs is the office on our campus that offers pre and post award support for grants and other sponsored programs. Ruth has decided to embrace the process of working with her amazing pre award specialist. Claire is excited to ask for help and make use of the many awesome services offered by the Sponsored Programs Office. Ruth is working on not being a baby about feedback on proposals. Claire is working on filling in forms early enough to get help when she needs it.

Ruth and Claire return to the topic of Virtual Teaching. Ruth is thinking about creating community in her online class through deliberate assignments. Recognizing that these are extra confusing times, Claire is thinking about enhanced communication with students. Claire is also excited about using Zoom breakout rooms. Ruth is concerned about student workload, she is hoping that being transparent will help. Claire is working on her plan for exams, she is excited about the idea of group tests and wondering about implementation.

Ruth mentioned: Humanizing Online Teaching to Equitize Higher Education: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339365337_Humanizing_Online_Teaching_To_Equitize_Higher_Ed and Escala: http://www.escalaeducation.com/.

Claire mentioned: the online meeting place Gather.Town and the group exam approach discussed in this paper: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00520

Will you send us questions for a listener mail episode? Maybe you would like to hear more about something we mentioned, or would like to hear our thoughts on something you’re working on yourself. Maybe you have a topic suggestion for us. Email us at [email protected] to let us know!

Ruth and Claire discuss Energy and how we can get it in our less interactive days during the quarantine. Ruth gets energy boosts from achieving things, she is using the highlight method that Claire introduced her to in the Productivity episode to do so. She is also doing Yoga at home. Claire is getting energy from a balance between having a schedule and doing spontaneous things. Ruth is trying to be like a pendulum by finding a frequency to her day. Claire is working on getting back on track when she has deviated from where she wants to be energetically.

Ruth mentioned: AliMcCall yoga: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIRunj2bgJDBg9GW20iDHKQ

Ruth and Claire discuss Virtual Labs: what are some options for virtual laboratory experiments and how can we best go about them? Claire is taking this opportunity to reflect on what her goals for each lab are and using that to design her virtual labs. Ruth shares that she found the app Vernier Video Physics that allows students to analyse motion from a video and will be using it for her labs for mechanics. Claire is working on fostering the peer support that normally happens in person in labs. Ruth is fretting about lab groups and how much to micromanage the group dynamics and work load division in a virtual setting.