Quick Guides

This page provides quick reference for current discussion topics among faculty.
Use the green bar menu at the top of this page to jump down to your topic of interest.

Responding to Racism

The MGH Institute recognizes that structural racism negatively impacts the lives of our students, our faculty and staff, and, ultimately, the health of our communities. Although much work remains to be done to dismantle the systems of oppression that perpetuate inequities, the MGH Institute would like to make resources available to support faculty in creating a learning environment conducive to open dialogue and critical reflection.

The psychological toll of social distancing, racism, and xenophobia is in our hearts and on our minds. You may be wondering how to acknowledge this with colleagues and/or students. One way to open the conversation could be: “I want to acknowledge that there is a lot going on in our society right now (and a lot for us to be upset and angry about, including systemic racism in our country). I know that I personally need time during the day to pause and process, so I know this may be on your mind too. If you are struggling or just want to share how you are feeling at any point, please know that I am here to listen.”

The first set of resources addresses the vicarious trauma that students of color may experience that detracts from their learning. The second set of resources offers guidance to faculty on how to conduct authentic conversations with their students about racism.

Mental Health

EAP/SAP

Counseling [1](mental health, financial, grief, addiction, more) - (866) 724-4327 to schedule an appointment

General

McLean Hospital COVID-19 Mental Health Resources [2] (articles, live and recorded webinars)
Mental Health Resources for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color)
- Therapists in Boston area [3]
- Massachusetts General Hospital list of resources [4]

Response to Racism/Unrest

Grief is a Direct Impact of Racism: Eight Ways to Support Yourself [5]. The Conversation, n.d.
Tips for Self-Care: When Police Brutality Has You Questioning Humanity and Social Media is Enough [6]. The Root, 7/8/2016.

Meditation
Mass General Brigham have made two clinically vetted apps available to all employees and students during the COVID-19 crisis. You’ll just need to register using your IHP email address:

Headspace [7]- an “entry-level” mental health app focused on mindfulness, relaxation, and meditation.
Evermind [8]- the next step up. It is for people feeling more acutely stressed, anxious, and depressed.

Faculty Development

What does Trauma Informed Teaching Look Like? [9] Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/4/2020.
Racial Equity in Schools: The Roles and Responsibilities of White Educators [10] [Video]. Vermont Higher Education Collaborative and Equity Literacy Institute, 1/6/2020.
Disaster Response: Psychological First Aid [11]. SAMHSA, 1/2005.
Recognizing and Helping Students in Crisis [12]. MGH IHP
'We Can't Ignore This Issue': How to Talk with Students about Racism. [13] Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/18/2020.

Lists of Additional Resources

Conversations and Allyship resources from our Genetic Counseling program [14] (Padlet)

IHP Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion resources [15]

Teaching Psychomotor Skills Online

Based on lesson plans developed by the IHP Physical Therapy Department faculty, this guide outlines one model for teaching psychomotor skills to students in an online environment. The guide also includes links to sample documents from the Physical Therapy faculty as well as how-to guides from our instructional designers and technologists.

Assignment Progression

(based on Colorado Mesa University’s coaching model [16])

1. Assignment 1 (sample assignment [17])

Readings and/or videos to explain and demonstrate skills (see the Bellack Library’s collections of clinical skills videos [18])
Ask students to begin practicing on their own.
Synchronous 1:1 session with faculty and lab instructors to practice skills. During the session, students should have another person on which to perform the skill or video of themselves performing the skill (sample schedule [19]of coaching sessions)

2. Assignment 2

Ask students to post a video to the discussion board of themselves demonstrating one or more skills (see OIT’s instructions for students for using Video Note [20] to create and post videos).
Ask students to provide peer feedback on the discussion board.
Ask students to post a reflection on the feedback provided.
Students are graded on their feedback and reflection (sample reflection rubric [21])

3. Assignment 3: post a final video for grading.

Tips on creating a successful assignment

1. Be explicit about your expectations for each aspect of the assignment (see Tony Sindelar’s video about Transparent Assignments [22]).

Content –
- Video – detail the skills that need to be demonstrated and those that do not. For example, do students need to show proper hand washing along with the discipline specific skill?
- Feedback – are there particular elements the feedback needs to include?
- Reflection – perhaps provide a prompt to help students get started
Tone
- Do students need to show professionalism, appropriate dress?
- Guide students in the tone of their critical feedback.
Logistics
- Dates and times for assignments need to be specific, including time zone
- Provide specific locations for postings
- If you’d like postings to be named in a certain way, provide an example

2. Provide rubrics to help students be successful (sample rubric [23]).

Additional Factors to Consider

Will you have additional instructors providing feedback or even grading assignments? You may want to develop instructions for them so that feedback and grading is consistent (sample instructions [24]).
Some students may need flexibility with timing, depending on their health, living situations, or if they encounter technical issues. Consider building flexibility into the assignment or, if not, prepare for that eventuality by identifying places/times where you could provide flexibility.

More Resources to Support Teaching Psychomotor Skills Online

“Teaching Movement and Arts Disciplines Online [25]” (a video from D2L and Colorado Mesa University, a more in-depth exploration of the coaching model referenced above)
AAMC’s Clinical Teaching and Learning Experiences without Physical Patient Contact [26]
MedEdPortal’s Virtual Learning Resources to Supplement Clinical Teaching [27]
Bellack Library’s Streaming Video Collections
- International Clinical Educators (ICE) Video Library [28]
- Physical Therapy Health Library [29]
- Bates’ Guide to Physical Examination [30]
- Acland Atlas of Human Anatomy [31]

Zoom Etiquette

These days, we are all spending quite a bit of time on Zoom in classes, meetings, and one-on-one consultations. Tony Sindelar developed these pointers to help make that time a bit more pleasant. Please feel free to share this with your colleagues and students.

Get Set Up

Set up your physical and virtual space in a way that will be conducive to your learning before your Zoom session starts. This might mean having a notebook or textbook handy, getting documents opened up in D2L, or just adjusting your desk chair to be ergonomically comfortable.

Punctuality

It can take a little time to get into a Zoom session, don’t wait until the start time of the session to open up your computer and start looking for that Zoom link.

Muting

Perhaps the most important etiquette for Zoom meetings is being aware of when you are and are not muted. Try to keep yourself muted when not speaking as overlapping background noises from you and other participants can be distracting. When it is your turn to talk, remember to unmute, or use the Space Bar hotkey to temporarily unmute yourself.

Chat

The Chat tool is a convenient text based tool to ask questions or converse with your classmates. Your instructor might use the chat as a way to check in with you, solicit questions, or solicit answers to questions they pose.

Hand Raise

The Hand raise button in Zoom is one way to signal to your instructor that you have a question or contribution that you want to share via your audio. The “Hand Raise” button is visible on the “Participants” panel.

Verbalize the Non-Verbals

When you’re speaking, a quick “thanks” or “I’m all set” can signal that you are done talking in ways that would be more obvious if we were all in the same room but sometimes get lost in the video conference world of Zoom.

Interruptions

Be extra mindful of talking over or interrupting other speakers in small group discussions, this potentially rude or distracting behavior is even more challenging for other participants in the Zoom session with your audio conflicting.

Watch vs. Listen

Participating in lengthy Zoom sessions is fatiguing, especially on your eyes. There might be some sessions or parts of sessions where you can listen and give your eyes a break from focusing on a glowing screen (while still following along with the audio!)

Video

If you choose to share your video, be mindful or your appearance and potentially distracting backgrounds. Be respectful of other people's privacy, technology, and bandwidth should they not wish to share their own video.

Behavior

Remember: how you present yourself in Zoom via audio, video, or text based communications reflects on your professionalism. Though we are all conversing from our homes - the Zoom meeting is our virtual classroom environment and you want to conduct yourself as you would in the IHP classroom.

Tasks for Your Online Teaching Assistants

Jointly review these common tasks to determine areas of interest, comfort, and skill with your teaching assistant(s) before you “go live” with your course.

Facilitating Teaching & Learning

Monitor the chat area of Zoom and read aloud or summarizing student comments and questions at mid and endpoints in lectures & activities
Coach discussions with well-timed comments on readings and other assignments, pointing out areas of confusion or consensus, etc.
Organize study and review sessions with students in Zoom breakout rooms
View and comment on student submissions/assignments

Building Community

Model good Zoom & D2L etiquette in discussions and group interactions
Hold informal discussions five minutes before and/or after Zoom sessions
Serve as a friendly resource for student questions (Zoom office hours)
Send timely messages to students through D2L announcements such as reminders of due dates, links to resources, team meeting instructions, etc.
Reach out to students for 1:1 check in sessions at critical points in the course such as midterms, finals, major projects or presentations, etc.

Instructional Enhancements

Suggest ways to better organize or revise course content based on student questions, feedback and usage patterns
Edit and or modify rubrics, checklists or other assessments to save time and/or enhance teaching and learning of assignments
Identify add-on tools to enhance student engagement with content such as Padlet.com, Miro.com and/or online games such as Kahoot.com

Course Management & Logistics

Send students the Zoom link 15 minutes before the starts of each session and/or troubleshoot any last-minute student login issues
Manage Zoom breakout rooms by organizing and uploading student rosters in groups or teams or randomization
Download class rosters in D2L to check attendance during Zoom sessions
Create, edit or otherwise manage asynchronous discussions in D2L
Record Zoom sessions and save them to the cloud (then send you the link)
Track student participation (and questions) during Zoom sessions
Set up and/or administer polls in Zoom
Upload/download course materials in D2L as needed
View, capture and send you D2L analytics & usage snapshots and reports (student participation, grades, etc.)

Active Learning Online

Keeping our students engaged and motivated is more important than ever before due to the stressors of being a student in the age of COVID. Active Learning techniques encompass a range of teaching and learning strategies and have been widely adopted at the IHP for their potential to engage students and involve them in the types of hands-on learning we value in the health professions.

While online learning can sometimes be an isolating and demotivating experience, good use of active learning techniques and tools can help avoid that. The challenge of doing active learning online is that communication and spontaneity can be harder to do in the online context than in the classroom. Here are a few classic active learning techniques and associated tools that you can use to engage your students online in synchronous and asynchronous modalities.

Examples of Active Learning Techniques Done Online

Muddiest Point

A quick monitoring technique in which students are asked to take a few minutes to write down the most difficult or confusing part of a lesson, lecture, or reading.

Chat in Zoom [32] to gather quick responses & reactions
D2L discussion board [33] for asynchronous collection of responses
D2L Video Note [34] for faculty or student short comments and/or responses
D2L survey [35]for anonymous responses

Focused Listing

Students are given a short amount of time to generate a list of terms or ideas relevant to a presented topic/prompt. Lists can then be shared and compared.

This could be quickly done in an informal way using Zoom chat [32]
Zoom whiteboard [36] where multiple people annotate
D2L survey [35] for more formal collection of lists, then use the data to create a visualization

1-Minute Paper

During a one-minute paper exercise students are given one minute to write a response to a prompt or question posed by the instructor. Minute papers can segue into a discussion or simply be collected for review by the instructor.

Zoom group discussion and optional screen sharing of student thoughts
D2L discussion board [33] for asynchronous collection and sharing with the class
D2L assignments for materials that only go to the instructor

Think-Pair-Share

Faculty present a question or challenge, students reflect quietly and then partner with someone to discuss. A think-pair-share session could be 5 to 15 minutes.

Randomized Zoom breakout rooms [37] is the quickest way to do this synchronously
D2L discussion board [33] with small groups for asynchronous

Jigsaw

Students do individual research on a subset of a given subject area, and then piece together their research with other students “to build the whole picture”. Jigsaw exercises challenge students to engage in reciprocal teaching and can be a popular activity for courses that rely on heavy transference of information.

Zoom breakout rooms [37] for live collaboration work and presenting of results
D2L students record presentations with Video Note [34] and share in discussion board
D2L discussion board [33] with assigned groups for asynchronous collaboration

Quiz Show Review

Jeopardy and other game show formats are an engaging way to hold review sessions before an exam. Using game elements that can include points, scoreboards, music, and/or prizes is a playful way to make sessions interactive and low stress.

Zoom review sessions. Breakout rooms [37] can be used for team activities. Consider a “pub trivia” model where teams have time to consult on and answer vs. first to respond gets points.
D2L asynchronous review and exam preparation. Consider the role of practice quizzes [38] in D2L combined with a document or video that clarifies what topics will and won’t be assessed.
Zoom polls [39] to collect student responses with multiple-choice/select questions.

.....

Process Notes

Remember to think about your goals
- We use active learning techniques to meet specific teaching goals and course objectives. A particular technique may have been very successful in the classroom, but a different version of that technique may be even more successful online. Don’t force square pegs into round holes.

Consider additional technology tools that might help you
- While Zoom and D2L have a variety of functions that can support both asynchronous and synchronous activities for your students, faculty and staff at the IHP/MGB continue to innovate with additional technology tools to support active learning here. Here is a list of some tools [40] to consider.

More Zoom Help Pages: Breakout Rooms, Whiteboards, Polls, Chat & Reactions

General Help [41]
Pre-assigning Student in Breakout Rooms [42]
Using Annotation Tools on a Shared Whiteboard [43]
Zoom features for non-verbal communication [44]
Zoom features for reactions [45]