Lincoln College Professor Ron Keller finds online ways to bring history to life
 

[April 15, 2020]    As colleges around the state had to move to online teaching a few weeks ago, faculty have been working on various ways to stay connected with the students and keep them focused on their learning.

Apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams enable faculty to “chat” with their students in real-time and even provide something of a face-to-face connection. Video lectures are another option some are utilizing through apps such as YouTube and ScreenCast.O.Matic.

Lincoln College Associate Professor of History and Political Sciences Ron Keller is trying to find various ways to engage the students while teaching online. Recently that included dressing like Davy Crockett for a presentation.

Keller has done that with various other characters for his classes and said it is “honestly partly for entertainment value.”

As Keller said, “It cannot be very exciting on their end to sit in front of a computer all day and do the same type of activities. We have to be creative and entice them even [by doing] something as simple as corny jokes or dancing for them.”

Both part time and full-time faculty are working harder than before to prepare lessons. Keller said, “I have had to forfeit some coverage of different concepts I typically cover for the sake of going deeper. I am sacrificing breadth for depth.”

Keller said, for instance “in my Political Science class instead of covering the difference between a Liberal and Conservative, I have challenged them to find videos of each.”

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In addition, Keller has challenged students to ask their parents why they are politically what they are. He is also asking them to find out why the Republican and Democrat responses to covid-19 have been different.

In his History class, Keller said “instead of merely discussing the JFK assassination, I challenged to find various reactions and have them ask someone old enough what their memories were. If they’re at home, I’ll have them use those resources.”

Keller said preparing his lessons to be presented online “has taken time.” He has heard some faculty say they are bored, but said he is looking for more time.

As an example, Keller said, “One 15-minute video I made took me about two or three hours to make.”

For Keller and likely others, the online teaching and learning is not ideal. In fact Keller said, “I would go back to the classroom in an instant, but I’ve tried look at the positive and it hasn’t caused me to re-evaluate my teaching. We’ll get through this and we’ll be better in the end for it.”

[Angela Reiners]