NEWS

Faculty, staff encouraged to join ‘Friday Q&A Café’ online Friday

Mar 19, 2020 | Faculty/Staff, General News, Innovation

Between moving classes online and being encouraged to practice social distancing, teaching can be frustrating and lonely right now. A brown-bag lunch among faculty and staff to discuss challenges from the present pandemic would be ideal, but that’s not currently possible or prudent.

training session

Louisiana Tech faculty members learn how to use e-Learning tools before moving courses online.

​So Louisiana Tech’s Center for Instructional Technology (CIT) and the College of Education’s HUB have planned an opportunity for faculty to interact and support one another in a way that reinforces the University’s current practice of social distancing.

The virtual meeting, “Friday Q&A Café,” will be held as an online Zoom session at 10 a.m. March 20.

Friday’s Q&A Café should help as faculty and staff can discuss challenges involved in moving to online teaching, strategies for overcoming them, and sharing ways that have already proven to be helpful. CIT and the HUB, which specializes in providing creative ways to enhance educational experiences, are teaming up to facilitate the event.

For now, this is planned as a one-time event. If the meeting proves helpful, it could become a regular occurrence as the campus community walks through this new-to-all landscape.

“Because of all that’s going on, we were trying to develop a time for the faculty to share ideas,” said Tom Hoover, who in January joined the University as its Chief Information Officer (CIO). “This is a chance for all of us to hear ideas, what is working and what’s not, and how we can focus moving forward.”

Information Technology Coordinator Chris Coleman and HUB director Lisa Dick were Wednesday talking about a presentation she was working on related to teaching online.

“She had concerns about having a stable enough internet connection to have a webinar, and as we talked through options and a workaround — the Q&A Cafe was born,” Coleman said.

The CIT is working on a survey to send to faculty and staff that will provide data concerning what is working and what is not in the current climate. Also, the department is investigating the possibility of a similar Café for students so questions can be asked and more information shared.

“We’re hoping our discussions result in a resource to help ease student anxiety about our current situation,” Coleman said.

For more information, contact Hoover (thoover.latech.edu) or Coleman (ccoleman@latech.edu)

Instructions on joining the Friday Cafe

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https://latech.zoom.us/j/729919360

Meeting ID: 729 919 360

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Meeting ID: 729 919 360

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