News and Events

Lake Forest College is no different. This coronavirus pandemic compelled us to pivot to an entirely remote fall semester for the health and safety of our community, and to develop new ways of learning for our students. Though this fall semester looks different than any other in the College’s long history, our professors have worked tirelessly to ensure their remote courses would be of the highest quality. There has been no change in the College’s commitment to providing students with an exceptional education and a full, rewarding undergraduate experience.

The Lake Forest College Way

Planning and practice for a potentially remote fall semester started in May with 60 summer courses and eight First-Year Studies summer courses, all conducted remotely. Feedback from students who took these courses was excellent and student evaluations were very strong. Krebs Provost and Dean of Faculty Davis Schneiderman recently shared how the core principles of the College’s education – the “Lake Forest College Way” – are integral to creating a successful online learning environment. “These three principles, though simple, are very important. With the Lake Forest College Way, we maintain strong student access to professors, the integrity of the academic program, and our commitment to a vibrant campus community. Though we have always believed in upholding these values, it’s never been more important to articulate these pillars than in our current environment.”

Lake Forest College faculty were very quick in their ability to pivot to online instruction. Even though delivery methods changed, the core values of the Lake Forest College Way continue to animate the instruction faculty provide. “Many of us are rightly committed to the way we’ve always done things, especially when it comes to our proven teaching methods. Yet what we’ve all learned throughout this past summer is that we can deliver a strong education with the College’s core values, while keeping students connected and engaged, no matter the modality of the course,” noted Schneiderman.

Navigating and facilitating a remote environment

The College could have never predicted a year like the one we are in now, and remote learning was certainly not on anyone’s radar. Yet, here we are. Rising to the challenge and creating outstanding remote classrooms, our faculty have once again proven they are in a class of their own.

Associate Dean of Faculty and Professor of History Anna Trumbore Jones and Associate Professor of Theater and Performance Studies Chloe Johnston are two of the faculty members who taught remote courses this past summer. Professor Jones pointed out one of the main challenges for our faculty who are newly teaching in a remote environment. “What distinguishes Lake Forest College is knowing our students by name. It is the attention to students and the one on one interaction offered by our faculty. It’s the level of feedback we can give on student work. And, it is the community in the classroom. These are all things that we’ve tried to articulate in the Lake Forest College Way, but it’s also just in our bones as professors.”

Professor Johnston added, “Challenges remain in the rest of the world that our students are dealing with, and many of these challenges are at home. There are little brothers, sisters, and cousins running around and students are sharing wireless internet with other people. They’ve worked so hard to overcome those challenges. From day one, I said, ‘Listen, this is going to be different. Tell me what’s going on and we’ll figure out a way to solve it.’ That’s something that we’re able to do at the College because of our small class size and our personal relationships.”

So how did Professors Jones and Johnston make sure they could still provide the best of Lake Forest College while teaching remotely? Here are a few of the tactics they use:

• High standards: College faculty consistently hold themselves to high standards; they know they must provide students the value they deserve, and this motivates faculty to continue to give it their all. Students enroll at Lake Forest College with this expectation, and this is what they will continue to receive.
• Establishing community: No matter where students are in the world or across the country, it is imperative to establish a classroom community, even while remote. From Hawaii, to Japan, to Colombia, and to Turkey, our students are eager to be together.
• Reliability: When teaching in person, being available for students in a casual setting is easy. But being remote makes “hallway conversations” much harder for students. Professors are actively reaching out to students to talk, and texting or calling them should anything occur. As one quick illustration, Professor Johnston’s students who lost wireless internet connection felt comfortable enough to text her immediately to let her know of the situation.
• Creating comfort: Encouraging students to learn from each other while remote is key. They must feel confident to respond during course instruction, and they also use Zoom breakout rooms to learn in small groups.

Without our outstanding faculty, this semester’s remote learning experience would not be possible. This fall is one for the history books, not only due to COVID-19, but because of the incredible efforts and teamwork of the faculty and staff in our campus community.

Creating successful remote learning courses

Professor of Psychology Matt Kelley is another member of the faculty who taught remote classes in both the spring and summer. He notes the following attributes that aided him in delivering a successful online learning experience for his students:

• Patience: It took time to learn what works best in a remote learning environment, but he soon discovered students were craving interaction and connection.
• ‘Face time’: Created blocks of time for students to sign up to ‘talk’ and they filled up immediately! This resulted in having more face time in seven weeks than Kelley normally would have with inperson learning.
• Flexibility: Rethinking the structure of courses is crucial, especially while using the remote technology. Kelley reformatted his classes to best use breakout groups in tandem with the full class for analytical and critical discussions. Labs also lend themselves well to remote learning as students can still participate in an experiment, analyze data, make decisions about that data, and present to the class.
• Rely on technology: Zoom allowed for a high level of interactivity every day. Many students had never used Zoom prior to COVID; it was very new. Through practice and overcoming nerves, however, Zoom became the new way, and norm, to connect with students in the virtual classroom and lab.
• Embracing imperfections: As an example, two students, one in Mexico City and another in Costa Rica, were in class when earthquakes struck near their homes. They put in the Zoom chat to Kelley and the rest of the class: Earthquake BRB (be right back). And then, about 15 minutes later, they came back! Learning and working remotely is not what most students envisioned for college, but you have to roll with it and remember to laugh.

Professor Kelley concluded, “The first remote class I taught was this June, a First-Year Studies summer course, and I really felt I had to hook these kids. I have to show them the best of Lake Forest College. It was quite possibly the best First-Year Studies course I’ve ever taught and I’ve taught this program 10 times! The students were amazingly engaged and we had the best discussions that I can remember. They did all the reading, all of the work. They were in it to win it.”

Looking ahead

Whether it’s realizing how classes can improve, that a strong student community is imperative, or the importance of embracing and learning about the remote teaching process, the College will always strive to create an academic experience for our students that instills the core values of the Lake Forest College Way.

No one can know what the future may hold. What we do know, however, is that even in remote courses, the College can provide students with an exceptional education. While we look forward to resuming in-person classes, the current remote instruction experience strongly reminds us that educational excellence will forever be Lake Forest College’s top priority.