Claudia Bonaccorsi ’22
Erin Crawley-Woods , visiting assistant professor of dance, generally focuses on building awareness of and connection to self, others and environment through yoga, dance techniques and somatic modalities and improvisation—none of which is exactly conducive to online learning. But the fact that she’s been forced to rethink her approach might just have led to nuanced breakthroughs in her teaching style.
“There is truly no substitute for being in the same room together, and I’ve stopped trying to make it like there is and instead figure out what this new thing is,” she says, noting that teaching such a physical subject online is working out better than she expected it to. “Preparing to teach remotely forced me to reorganize a lot of material. I became much more aware of where things in my syllabi were unclear or of how I had structured an assignment was inefficient. I’m more open to changing things up and feel like a more versatile educator.” Hans Pfister, professor of physics and the George W. Pedlow Chair in Pedagogy, has also been changing things up. And while he says it’s about double the work of classroom teaching for himself and his science colleagues, it’s something he’s come to embrace.
“I’m still having a fantastic time, and I believe that my students have a great time as well,” he says, noting that in one class, students are exploring kinetic art, collecting data via video from thousands of miles away. “I can intrigue them and bend their minds with my physics puzzles in a Zoom class as much as during a class that would meet in Tome.”
N OT A R E P L AC E M E N T In the end, students have had a lot of good things to say about the fall 2020 semester, such as Sydney Loewy ’24, in Schlitt’s FYS, who says, “Although [it’s] not ideal, I don’t feel like I’m lacking a quality education. Every professor that I currently have has adapted their classes to be more fitted to a virtual environment and has been accommodating to every student as well as they can.” Madi McIntyre ’22 (biology, anthropology) is in agreement: “I have to say I am surprised how well remote learning is working as a science major.” “Dickinson has done a much better job [than my high school] of implementing different learning techniques and making us feel like we’re actually in the classroom,” says Ben Tomick ’24. “Whether that’s breakout rooms, videos, open discussions or some other online interactive assignment, it works. I definitely feel like I’m learning now and am at school rather than just waking up and logging on to a mandatory meeting.” But there are two sides to the remote-learning coin, of course. Students cite the lack of real social interactions and how much they miss fieldwork as major downsides of the remote semester. Some feel like they’re always on an academic schedule, finding it hard to break away and keep different facets of their lives separated. Then there’s the isolation of being a physical class
of one, at their dining room tables and in their bedrooms. And don’t get anyone started on studying abroad. Another issue exposed by the online semester—experienced from grade school to graduate school worldwide—is what could be called an unlevel playing field. “Remote instruction has heightened faculty sensitivity to issues of inclusivity and equity among students,” says Neil Weissman, provost and dean of the college. “The online context reveals significant disparities in access, technology, study space and family circumstances that affect student performance— many of which are normally at least partially attenuated by the leveling effect of campus residence. But we are working to provide all students the support they need.” So while everyone is striving to make the best of a challenging situation, and students and faculty have remained safe—thereby helping to keep the Carlisle community safe as well—all the Herculean efforts on Earth can’t replace what Dickinson is at heart—an immersive, residential, tight-knit liberal-arts experience, as much community as classroom. But for now, there’s been a real silver lining to the dark clouds that got us all here. dson.co/remotefall20
Photos provided unless otherwise noted. From top: Maya Peck ’22 at Dickinson; Sara Soba ’21 in Sandy Springs, Georgia; Ben Tomick ’24 in Bethany, Deleware; Olivia Cox ’24 in Kennebunkport, Maine; Tao Xu ’21 at Dickinson. Peck and Xu are among the 160 students approved to live on campus this fall.
Joe O’Neill
“The challenge of the liberalarts education is that students want a personal experience of a small community and connection with peers and faculty, yet that’s incredibly difficult to do when we’re spread out throughout the world,” says Sara Soba ’21 (environmental science), also taking Biology 314. “But the fact that we can see how much the professors care about their students and the lengths they are willing to go to ensure they can teach their content well is honestly very inspiring.”
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