Creativity and Remote Teaching in Pandemic Times: From the Unpredictable to the Possible

The COVID-19 pandemic imposed a new agenda for humanity. In a very rapid and improvised way, we were invited to give new answers to everyday practices and experiences, challenged by a context of social isolation unprecedented for a globalized world. The resources that allowed us to build and innovate in the face of such a scenario were mostly derived from communication technologies. In a very short time, the contexts of work, schools, social practices migrated to computers’ screens, cell phones, and so on, transforming them into learning tools mediating social relations. People have long used technology to study, to work and to relate to each other. With COVID-19, we need to face unpredictable situations, requiring rapid adaptation, and the urgent creation of remote relational contexts as a way to respond immediately to the challenges and problem situations emerging from the pandemic. In this article, the remote teaching experience of an undergraduate class at a Brazilian university will be discussed, considering the students’ self-perception about the dynamics of their creative processes in this period. Through a “Free Talk” session carried out in an undergraduate class, we will discuss technologies and teaching, differentiated educational practices and their impacts on the learning processes and, in particular, we will reflect on creativity, the fragility of its development in difficult times and its power to deal with unpredictability, transforming human paths into new possibilities.

Adapting a Classroom Simulation Experience to an Online Escape Room in Nutrition Education

Due to the COVID-19 emergency transition to remote learning, an undergraduate class in nutrition and dietetics modified a face-to-face experiential “escape room” assignment into a comparable online experience. The online assignment was structured so that students had to use knowledge and clues to move through each step of the Nutrition Care Process; students proceeded through the escape room individually until each successfully “escaped.” An important component of this assignment was the postactivity debriefing process, which took place via video conferencing in small groups. Students indicated that they were pleasantly surprised at the effectiveness of the online assignment. However, analytics showed that students progressed through most of the steps fairly quickly; thus, instructors plan to improve future deployments by using a variety of interactive assessments and adding more layered criteria and clues within each of the escape room steps.

Towards Digital Laboratories

This chapter discusses key elements when devising a transition from traditional laboratory classes towards a digital platform. First, an overview of the types of online and digital chemistry laboratory teaching methods is described. Then it is analyzed a specific case of an abrupt transition of curricula of a practical chemistry undergraduate class. The assessment will be argued with a series of tasks that aim to identify challenges using a real-life laboratory transition. This will be done by outlining the major influences of teacher's transition outtakes.

Authoritative Mentors

Think of a mentor you've never properly thanked. Write them a letter expressing what they mean to you and, if you have the courage, read it to them aloud. This was the task I recently assigned as homework in the undergraduate class I teach. Some of my students wrote gratitude letters to their mom or dad. Others thanked a coach or former boss. As in past years, the majority of students chose to thank a former teacher. Afterward, I polled students, asking them to characterize their mentor using two dimensions: support and demand.

Ask, Don’t Tell

This is the problem: You can't listen and talk at the same time. This is my problem: I talk too much. For instance, each week when I prepare to teach my undergraduate class, my slides and the notes that go with them grow longer and longer as I think of more and more ideas it feels urgent to share. By the time I meet with my students, I'm a fire hydrant of facts. Nervously, I glance at the ticking clock, talking faster and faster in an attempt not to leave anything out. At the end of class, if I've delivered everything planned, it feels like a small victory.