By Jill Graziano Laiacona ’04 Professors often spend their breaks on scholarly research, but last summer dozens of UMW faculty members went back to school instead. Through a faculty learning community called Compelling Courses, representatives from nearly every academic department taught one another how to deliver dynamic virtual lessons and incorporate the best of the UMW experience into distance learning. When the pandemic hit last March, UMW professors – many of whom had never taught online – abruptly had to shift to a new method of teaching. The succeeding months gave instructors time to tinker with tools so that they were fully prepared to teach fall courses virtually or in combination with in-person meetings. “We believe teaching can be excellent regardless of medium,” said Professor of Economics Steve Greenlaw, who launched the group with Professor of Communication Anand Rao. “It all depends on how you design the course.” The community was an offshoot of the ongoing … [Read more...]

Future academics may study the COVID-19 pandemic, but UMW’s professors didn’t wait to learn from hindsight. As the coronavirus swept the United States and the world in late spring, the College of Arts and Sciences devised an online course to examine the pandemic in real time, from multiple academic perspectives. In June and July, UMW’s COVID-19 in Context lecture series explored every aspect of the pandemic, from the science of the coronavirus itself to its economic, social, political, and artistic impacts. Created as a for-credit student class but offered for free to all, it quickly became UMW’s largest course ever. More than 1,900 people participated from 39 states; Washington, D.C.; and foreign countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Japan, and Ghana. “It’s an amazing opportunity to showcase the university at this very critical time,” said College of Arts and Sciences Dean Keith Mellinger, who facilitated the course with Anand Rao, chair of the … [Read more...]

By Neva Trenis ’00 After doing their best to teach remotely for three months due to the global pandemic, Virginia’s K-12 teachers got word in June that they likely would return to teaching for the fall semester – and at least some of it would be online. The sudden switch in spring had been hard enough; few of the state’s teachers had been trained in remote education or in keeping off-site students engaged. They needed help. That’s when the University of Mary Washington’s College of Education (COE) stepped up. In collaboration with Continuing and Professional Studies (CPS) at UMW, a Summer Virtual Teaching Series quickly emerged. “It has been an exciting opportunity to share the experience and knowledge of the College of Education faculty with local schoolteachers,” said Kristina Peck, UMW director of clinical experiences. In just four weeks, based on local educators’ input, UMW prepared six one-credit professional-development courses providing best practices in online … [Read more...]