Setting Learning Free: Lessons from Pandemic Teaching

Teaching online during the pandemic provided a good opportunity to rethink our approach to teaching in any modality and discover that many activities that have traditionally been synchronous and instructor-paced, can be improved by making them asynchronous and self-paced. Some key points that emerged from the move to online teaching are that giving students more autonomy, emphasizing active learning, and promoting social interactions between students are key to better learning. Finally, recognizing that education is not a conveyor belt where ever student is identical, provides an opportunity to meet the students where they are and improve equity in education.