Presence and Integrity in Online Learning
That principle of integrity and the way it was articulated in the accreditation process stuck with me, even long after I had left senior leadership.
Grush: Later, did you bring that idea of integrity to the teaching and learning process as well?
Campbell: Yes, I soon began thinking about it in terms of teaching and learning.
There was one aspect of this that I was familiar with, which is the aspect of integrity that says don't cheat. Make sure that the work you hand in is your own. Learn how to cite others properly. That all comes under the broad heading of academic integrity.
And, of course, we've heard a lot about issues surrounding academic integrity in the age of generative artificial intelligence and all the other things you read about in the headlines.
Grush: Please tell me your thinking goes well beyond those headlines, into the bedrock of effective teaching and learning!
Campbell: Of course. But it's important to acknowledge that those issues involving cheating and various forms of academic dishonesty are still with us, and as some would say, are being fostered in certain cases by companies advertising "study help" and the like.
But I also know there is already a lot of press coverage of those issues. So, okay, Mary, I'll talk a bit more here about the differences the idea of integrity can make in how we interact with students and design our classes for the best learning experience.
When I began teaching fully online consistently, which was during the pandemic lockdown in the spring of 2020, it was clear to me from what I was reading and even just from the situation around us, that there were aspects of fully online learning that brought out this idea of integrity in very basic ways.
As a simple example, if a you are a student logged on to Zoom to be in class, are you really there? Or are you distracted by things in your environment or simply mentally tuned out? Perhaps worse yet, did somebody else log in to the Zoom meeting on your behalf so that you are giving the class the illusion of your attendance?
Or, could being quiet on the call otherwise mean that you are really immersed in the meeting, but simply shy?
So I considered: How can students be truly present with peers in the Zoom? How do they become learning colleagues? It takes more than technology.
Grush: Getting back to what you were referring to early in our conversation, what are some of the ways you are trying to incorporate the idea of integrity in your classes and in interactions with students, to promote a better learning experience? It sounds like supporting the students to become present, or to learn to become present is part of this…
Campbell: Yes, it is. I should say that my online teaching is synchronous. I think that's very important. There are other ways to do it, but this is important to me because I want us to be present with each other in the moment. And I want that moment to have integrity as a learning experience.
Grush: How can a learning moment have integrity?
Campbell: It comes down to a developmental aspect of learning that is often neglected: Learning is not simply information delivery. It's not just a transaction. It shouldn't be "Okay, I'm here; load me up." Instead, as a student and class member, you are building your own capacity to learn and engaging with others so they also build their capacities to learn. We used to call this "learning how to learn," but I think it's even bigger than that. And the integrity of the learning moment is how, through the presence of the class — all present with each other — every student may build on their own capacity to learn.
The integrity of the learning moment is how, through the presence of the class — all present with each other — every student may build on their own capacity to learn.