CHAPEL HILL – When word came that UNC-Chapel Hill would move all classes online due to the coronavirus, Associate Professor Steven King didn’t hesitate.

King shipped virtual-reality headsets to the 28 students in his class on emerging technologies in journalism. They now meet in a virtual classroom where everyone appears as an avatar with their name over their head. King, as the leader, shows up as Iron Man.

The technology is so flexible that students can retreat to a corner for a one-on-one talk without disturbing the rest of the class.

And students appear to love it.

“I am not working past midnight because this project is due tomorrow or because my collegiate schedule is chaotic,” one posted on LinkedIn. 

“I am working bright-eyed and bushy-tailed because this is FUN, and what we have been learning about regarding emerging technologies is arguably more relevant now than it was just a couple of months ago.”

The technology produces amusing moments. When one student showed up with a virtual cheeseburger 3 feet in diameter and offered it to another, the entire class burst into laughter.

“That could have never happened in a traditional classroom,” King said.

King, who won Emmys as leader of a Washington Post digital team that focused on new ways to tell stories, and his students are obviously comfortable with technology. 

But he senses the university’s sudden immersion into digital instruction will change teaching in unpredictable ways and expose students to the future of work.

“You’ve basically exponentially grown the number of experiences out of necessity,” he said.

The technology can transform instruction. King has a joint appointment at UNC’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media, where he leads the Reese Innovation Lab, and the Kenan-Flagler Business School. 

At Kenan-Flagler, he has placed students on board a virtual version of explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance that was stranded in ice on an ill-fated journey to Antarctica in 1915.

“They’re forced to make decisions in a high-stress situation,” he said.

PROFESSORS WHO STUDY remote learning say it takes structure and accountability to keep students engaged.

Dr. Kelly Hogan teaches a 320-student Biology 101 class where students already did reading and responded online to guided questions. But then she shifted the entire class online and introduced 5- to 15-minute videos.

“The videos have places for students to pause and write out answers to questions I’ve posed to them. They then poll into a live survey to answer the questions, to mimic active learning in the face-to-face classroom,” she said. “I’ve tried to keep the videos as interactive as possible.”

Lab experiments can be challenging to share, Hogan said. But because science often involves failing and trying again, some professors recorded videos where they made mistakes in an experiment on purpose so students can discuss what went wrong.

“There are a lot of ways to reach those outcomes whether the student touches equipment or not,” she said.

Dr. Viji Sathy, a Teaching Associate Professor in UNC’s Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, says it’s important to engage online students with frequent “polling” questions that everyone is encouraged to answer.

“It’s not enough for me to throw out a question and wait for a few brave hands,” she said. “If I’m just talking for 75 minutes, I’ll never understand what they don’t know.”

Sathy acknowledges instructors are adapting to an unprecedented situation and building the plane as they fly it – “pandemic pedagogy,” some call it.¹ 

“This is not the ideal learning situation for anyone,” she said. “This is something we didn’t get training in.”

But she and Hogan, both instructors in UNC’s College of Arts & Sciences, sense professors across disciplines are discussing teaching methods in ways they never have.

“I’ve never seen so much collaboration around teaching before among so many colleagues,” said Hogan. “Our teaching mission will be even stronger because of this experience.”

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¹https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/03/30/this-is-emergency-remote-teaching-not-just.html.