By Ruchi M. Watson

It goes without saying that the happenings of 2020 (and now 2021) have influenced and changed all of us in many ways – including in how we work.  You’ve no-doubt seen the numerous articles on virtual work, Zoom-fatigue, and online learning; all of those relate to what we do here at the Goff Strategic Leadership Center (Goff SLC).  While our Goff Scholars class, taught by Professor Bonita Austin, remained an in-person course this year, we also introduced a brand-new course for undergraduates at the U – Goff Trailblazers – which was taught fully online.  This is the story of how I developed and delivered Goff Trailblazers as an online course in Fall 2020.

First, a bit of context.  Goff Trailblazers is a 1-semester course, open to all majors at the University of Utah, which focuses on teaching Goff SLC’s 6 Principles of Strategic Leadership as students engage in a real-world project.  Students work in teams throughout the semester to find and formulate problems, analyze and explain data and insights, and propose recommendations to a real client.  In Fall 2020, the course was run online in a synchronous format, meaning all students met via Zoom at the scheduled class time.

While I have taught similar courses to this in the MBA program, they were all in person and for a graduate audience.  Teaching to undergraduates online during a pandemic was a new endeavor (as things have been for many teachers and professors this year!).

How did I approach this new unknown?  By living our 6 Principles of Strategic Leadership, namely:

  • Identify and align resources to generate value: This was one of the most critical pieces in my journey to develop an effective online course.  I alone did not have all the knowledge and skills I needed to be successful.  So, I did what we teach students to do:  define what I needed to learn and efficiently seek out resources that could help me get up to speed quickly.New online trainings, workshops, and articles were popping up every day, it seemed, and I took advantage of many of them.  Facebook groups of higher education instructors, podcasts on best practices in online pedagogy, and Zoom workshops on how to engage students via technology (one I loved was called Ok, Zoomer!) were invaluable in my quest.  I also leveraged other faculty members and especially the amazing MBA Online Team at the David Eccles School of Business to provide feedback on my syllabus, to record video lectures in the studio, and to set up my Canvas LMS to ensure our Goff students were engaging in a thoughtfully designed course.
  • Cultivate self-awareness, personal agility, and continual growth: All of the above was made possible because I recognized I was not going to become the world’s leading expert on online pedagogy overnight.  In order to add value to students via this course, it was more efficient to honor what I was good at (leading and guiding consultative engagements, having a powerful network of strategic leaders, facilitating discussions/interviewing those leaders to generate insights, etc.) and what I wasn’t (like mastering the functionality of zoom).  I also knew I’d learn things as I went and would need to be open to adapting my course.  So, I got feedback from students in real time from which I made changes during the semester; the things I couldn’t change during the semester, I’ve incorporated in my class this Spring.
  • Deliver results with strong personal ownership: At the end of the day, what I learned was that what is most important in developing an effective online course are two things:  Consistency and Communication.For me, that meant having a structured course where students knew what to expect each week.  It also meant getting my syllabus done early enough for students to understand that structure, communicating it via multiple channels (for example, I did a video bio of myself as well as a video overview of my syllabus), and communicating FREQUENTLY.  I scheduled weekly announcements that would summarize upcoming To Do’s, follow-up on any discussion items in class, and reiterate resources for students to be successful.

Communication from me to the students wasn’t the only thing that was important.  Many students (and even me) had concerns about how we would build camaraderie within the cohort via zoom.  But, by the end of the semester, these students were so close – several of them have even banded together as leaders of the new Goff Club.  This connection, while pleasantly surprising, was a result of being thoughtful about our interactions.  We created a shared Spotify playlist of our favorite tunes, did multiple get-to-know-you icebreakers on zoom – via chat and by playing a game with the camera function, and perhaps most meaningfully of all, students had an opportunity to connect in small groups every single week.

Successfully engaging students meant implementing what I learned and taking ownership over getting it done right.  I could learn all I wanted, but if I didn’t put into practice what I was learning, then it was all for naught.  Was it more time to do some of these things like engage with students 1-on-1 to understand their individual needs, record lectures ahead of time to save class for more engaging activities, or thoughtfully comment on students’ assignments to maximize their learning?  Sure, it was.  But, I made a commitment to delivering results for these students – a commitment which Goff SLC believes in for all those who engage with us.  If I was going to expect students to show up each week and give it their all, I was going to expect the same of myself (it also meant that if I was going to give them a break, I was going to give myself a break once in a while, too).

In the end, the feedback on the class was great, and the students learned a ton – so did I.  But, you don’t have to take my word for itâ€Â¦

All I can say is THANK YOU! I have learned more in this one semester than all of college it feels like. I feel much more equipped to enter the real world now.
– Biomedical Engineer

I loved this team, it was one of the best experiences of my life. I have never had a productive, well communicative, and understanding team to work with. It was such a great experience and I do not have one bad thing to say.
– Finance major

Thank you Ruchi ! Seriously can’t thank you enough for teaching this class! It’s been by far my favorite class of the semester along with learning by far the most in this class compared to my others this semester.
– Transfer student