{"id":171367,"date":"2020-08-21T18:34:17","date_gmt":"2020-08-21T22:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?p=171367"},"modified":"2020-09-17T10:18:22","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T14:18:22","slug":"sph-embraces-new-hybrid-teaching-model","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2020\/sph-embraces-new-hybrid-teaching-model\/","title":{"rendered":"SPH Embraces New Hybrid Teaching Model"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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August 21, 2020<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\"\"On September 2, many School of Public Health students, faculty, and staff will step foot on Talbot Green for the first time in almost six months\u201424 weeks and 5 days, to be exact\u2014since the COVID-19 pandemic prompted an abrupt shift to remote learning and work last spring. In the last three months, members of the SPH community have worked to prepare for the implementation of the new hybrid teaching model, Learn from<\/em> Anywhere<\/a> (Lf<\/em>A).<\/p>\n

In this university-wide hybrid format, most faculty members will teach on campus, while students can opt to take courses in person, remotely, or in a combination of both formats.<\/p>\n

This dual-modality approach enables the school and university to fulfill BU students\u2019 demonstrated preference for residential education, in a format that prioritizes flexible and equitable opportunities for students, and safety for all members of the community, says Lisa Sullivan, associate dean for education, and who has guided the Lf<\/em>A implementation process at SPH.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing our very best to ensure that every student has access to a place where they feel they can learn best, while following the health and safety parameters set forth by the Commonwealth, City of Boston, and Boston University, as well as SPH\u2019s own best public health practices,\u201d says Sullivan. The school\u2019s decisions are also informed by its SAFER <\/a>working group, led by Ira Lazic<\/a>, associate dean of administration and finance, which has developed SPH policies and safety protocols as the school transitions to this new model of teaching.<\/p>\n

Yorghos Tripodis<\/a>, research associate professor of biostatistics, and students in his Accelerated Statistical Training course are among the first group of people to get a full taste of the teaching model. The three-week intensive course for incoming students in the MS in Applied Biostatistics program began on August 12. Tripodis says the class, which includes 8 students in person and 11 learning remotely, has run smoothly and that students are thrilled to be in the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students on campus really seem to enjoy the interaction, which is particularly helpful to them for networking and mentorship,\u201d says Tripodis. \u201cAll of the students have set up their own study groups, and are able to talk to each other easily.\u201d Occasionally, he says he has to repeat comments by in-person students if a remote student didn\u2019t hear it, but for the most part, everyone can hear each other well and is able to follow the live chat conversations with assistance by the class moderator.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a new learning experience, and we all have to adapt to do our jobs better,\u201d says Tripodis, adding that it is important for faculty members to ensure that remote students are connected with the mentorship and other resources that are more easily accessible to their on-campus peers. He says recordings of all class sessions are uploaded online immediately, so that international students in different time zones can access them at their convenience.<\/p>\n

Sullivan says that SPH has put a lot of thought into classroom logistics and technology related to group work, given the centrality of collaboration in public health. As one example, the school will provide earbuds to students who forget or misplace their own, which helps reduce the background noise in classes for people who are listening remotely.<\/p>\n

Amanda Ignacio is an MS student in Tripodis\u2019 accelerated course who decided to attend the program on campus, as she pursues a career in data analytics. She was drawn to SPH\u2019s program, in part, because Boston is a hub for the field of biostatistics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always said that if classes were being held on campus, I would go,\u201d says Ignacio, adding that she probably would have reconsidered if she had any underlying health conditions. \u201cI do feel safe because we all get tested weekly, and on different days, so if someone were to test positive, we would know pretty quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her classmate Jamie Kmak also decided to attend the program in person, but switched his status to part-time so that he can continue to work while pursuing his degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, some of the greatest strengths of my program include the small MS cohort and collaborative nature of the program, and the community feel that comes along with that,\u201d says Kmak. Being on the medical campus surrounded by doctors, nurses, and other professionals who are considered higher risk can be unnerving at times, he says. \u201cBut these are also people who, perhaps more than most, understand how important it is to follow the\u00a0safety\u00a0precautions BU and the greater Boston area has put in place, and there’s comfort in that,\u201d says Kmak.<\/p>\n

Xiaojing Peng, an MS student learning remotely from China, has watched both the live and recorded class sessions, despite the 12-hour time difference. She says she considered deferring at one point with concerns about the quality of online education, but decided to move forward with the program after receiving frequent updates from SPH over the summer on the school\u2019s actions to ensure students in any learning format would receive the same academic content.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this difficult and challenging time, I feel that there are opportunities in crises,\u201d says Peng, and she hopes pursuing the MS degree will accelerate her success in a data analytics career. \u201cI\u2019m also grateful to Professor Yorghos and all of the lecturers for their timely responses to emails, even when I forget about the time difference,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Tripodis says he is really happy to be back on campus, interacting with students and helping them take the next steps in their careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an important part of why we do this job, and I really enjoy it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Recognizing the unique and collective challenges and emotions that people are experiencing, Sullivan says she is privileged to work with faculty, staff, and students who has embraced many changes over the past six months and are working hard to adapt to the Lf<\/em>A model. The Lf<\/em>A Teaching sessions, which have provided practical training on topics such as trauma-informed teaching to using Zoom and other classroom technologies, will continue throughout the semester. SPH\u2019s Lf<\/em>A Guide<\/a> also provides comprehensive information about the implementation process, and the school\u2019s Return to Campus Q&A<\/a> is a living document that will continue to be updated.<\/p>\n

“I am so excited to get back into the classroom to work with students,” Sullivan said. “It is the best part of my job and truly a privilege to work with our amazing students.”<\/p>\n

\u2014Jillian McKoy<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students in the Accelerated Statistical Training course that began in August say the blended modality format called Learn from Anywhere has worked smoothly for both in-person and remote learning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15205,"featured_media":171375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[503,3434,2728],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3519,3521,3526,3528,3531,3541],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/171367"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171367"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/171367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":172722,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/171367\/revisions\/172722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171367"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=171367"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=171367"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=171367"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=171367"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=171367"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=171367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}