How Pivoting Courses Online is Reinventing In-Person Learning

Professors whose courses have been forced online in the wake of COVID-19 campus closures are having to reinvent their teaching methods and curricula for the small screen. In the best of circumstances, with time to plan and develop new lessons and materials, the transition would be a creative challenge. Throw in the sudden disruption and uncertainty of a global pandemic, and the prospect can be overwhelming.

But as if to demonstrate the time-honored cliché that in every crisis lies opportunity, the following VentureWell Sustainable Design Faculty Grants recipients are using the remote-learning mandate as a catalyst for innovation. They are creating digital experiences—virtual meet-and-greets and online student showcases—that have proven so effective they plan to continue using them once in-person classes resume again.  

A Virtual Showcase for Engineers

For Daniel Riffell’s mechanical engineering students at the University of Colorado Boulder, the annual Engineering Projects Expo is the finish line crossed after a year of hard work. Presenting in a venue packed with students, faculty, family, and friends, the various teams show off their engineered creations—medical devices, industrial tools and machines, scientific instruments, and more—for the chance to win awards and recognition from industry partners. 

This year, COVID-19 shut the door on that day-long gathering, but Riffell and his colleagues came up with a socially distanced alternative: The Mechanical Engineering Projects Showcase.

Like the Expo, the Showcase is “an opportunity for student teams to display and celebrate the hard work and achievements they have accomplished over the past academic year,” explains Riffell, a scholar-in-residence. “It’s based around a website that exhibits our projects and teams in a professional manner and includes project descriptions, team information, videos, and white papers for each project. The overarching goal of this platform is to have a lasting portfolio for students to send to potential employers as well as to family and friends.”

The white papers are a key element of the project, so to give them the appropriate polish, students used the online presentation application Venngage, a free and subscription-based tool whose templates allowed the engineers to focus on content rather than fussing over design aesthetics. “The idea of creating a white paper is foreign to most of our students, so having a series of templates for them to follow is a great way to maximize their effort on producing uniform professional deliverables across forty teams,” Riffell says. 

Creating the white paper was itself a learning experience, Riffell notes, and the results are archived on a Showcase website where they will be reviewed by industry partners and alumni. “Each of our teams will have at least two review sessions with industry professionals from a variety of backgrounds. This is an excellent chance for our students to network with their reviewers and build their portfolios at the same time.” 

Indeed, adds Riffell, “I am certain some aspects of this solution will continue as part of our curriculum in the future.”

Inviting Industry Experts to the Virtual Classroom

University of Florida professor Nancy Ruzycki recently received a VentureWell faculty grant to redesign her sophomore laboratory course, allowing her to focus more on sustainable design principles and innovation and entrepreneurship concepts. This spring, the course topic was the emerging field of bioprinting, with students challenged to create a 3D-printed design using biomaterials and bio-inks. 

Then along came COVID-19.

With her student’s distanced from the bioprinting lab, Ruzycki instead brought the field of bioprinting to her students, setting up Zoom conference calls with leaders at some of the country’s largest biomaterials startups. Among the presenters were entrepreneurs from CELLINK, a leading designer of bio-inks and bioprinters, and from BiogelX, which makes hydrogel-based products, as well as chemists, process engineers, mechanical engineers, materials engineers, and biophysicists. “We were able to bring in expertise remotely that we did not have locally,” notes Ruzycki, “and this allowed students to see the global nature of the field and the different contributors to these products.”

Interacting so directly with these young entrepreneurs also had another benefit for students, Ruzycki adds: “Now they see themselves as entrepreneurs.” 

To find speakers, Ruzycki networked within the university’s innovation and entrepreneurship community, and recommends that others do the same. “Find the best and the brightest in startups, tap into your university innovation hubs and alumni companies, and finally, stay in touch with your amazing students, who are the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

As Professors Ruzycki and Riffell are demonstrating, creating engaging educational experiences for online platforms requires its own considerable level of innovation —but, when successful— the results can reach beyond the screen to impact students in the real world. 

Looking for tips to transform an in-person event into an online convening? Join us for a webinar, Presenting a Virtualized Event, on May 6 and May 13 for pressure-tested tips and ideas! Learn more and register here.

Looking for grant funding? VentureWell is now accepting proposals for Sustainable Design Faculty Grants, offering awards of up to $30,000 to fund faculty and staff who are committed to incorporating key concepts of sustainability and environmental responsibility into their I&E curriculum. Learn more and apply now! Deadline to apply is May 20.