Looking back over the blog posts published on Futures over 2020 tells an interesting story, and not exactly the one we might have anticipated. This year, the blog hit a new record with more than 200 posts – and for that, we want to say a huge thank you to the UTS learning and teaching community. We’ve had so many fantastic contributions, some from first-time Futures authors and others from long-time contributors. We’d also like to thank all of our readers and subscribers, for choosing to visit our site, read and share our content and offer comments.
We’ll be taking a break over the holiday season, but we’re very excited to return in January for another year of learning and teaching content with you all. So without further ado, here are 20 of our most popular posts from this year. And seeing as we’re in the festive season, we’ve added a suggested song for each section.
Your mute is on!
Song: Helen Reddy, ‘I Can’t Hear You No More’
How Zoom zoomed in as our most popular topic of the year from March onwards.
1. 6 tips for controlling student behaviour in your Zoom class
2. Do I really need to Zoom? 5 questions to ask yourself before teaching with Zoom
3. Zoom Ghost Busting
4. How academics are using Microsoft Teams
5. A Zoom of one’s own – change the scenery of your video classes
Connection in a remote capacity
Song: Phil Oakley & Giorgio Moroder, ‘Together in Electric Dreams’
Remote teaching innovation and maintaining wellbeing
6. Two months in – the pivot to remote tutorials
7. Lessons learned during COVID-19: stories from Atieh Fallahi and Donna Rooney
8. The importance of teacher presence in delivering the best student experience
9. 7 springs in our step – insights from student experiences of Autumn session
10. Learner to learner interaction online
11. Save time and create connection – take the video feedback challenge!
12. Let’s discuss: how 4 academics increased student engagement on discussion forums
13. A framework for mindful teaching
Partnerships and collaborations
Song: Al Green, ‘Let’s Stay Together’
Write-ups of new strategies and learning activities trialled in subjects, from academics and professional staff around UTS.
14. 360-degree immersion: putting students at the scene of the crime
15. Supporting a compassionate community in higher education using play
16. 5 simple ways to improve assessment in your subject
Enduring classics
Song: Diana Ross & Lionel Richie, ‘Endless Love’
Posts written before this year that started trending again.
17. Ten books by Indigenous authors for summer reading
18. My students don’t talk!
19. Transdisciplinary innovation and design
20. How to design a good open book exam
Special mention: LX Resources
Song: The Cars, ‘Just What I Needed’
After the launch of Collections on LX Resources, many readers have been making use of the guides and advice written by the LX.lab team. Here are three of our most popular resources.
1. Teaching during COVID-19
2. Use breakout rooms in Microsoft Teams
3. Zoom vs Teams: Which tool is best for my online teaching?
Happy holidays, see you next year!
Feature image by Kelly Sikkema.