Art History professor tapped to speak on the shift to online learning

Art History professor Gretchen McKay shared her knowledge and experience in teaching in an online environment during a virtual symposium focused on leading during the pandemic. The session for department chairs, program directors, and academic leaders from higher education institutions across the nation was organized by DeverJustice LLC and Ithaka S+R in partnership with The Chronicle of Higher Education.

McKay was selected to participate on a three-person panel focused on curriculum and faculty issues related to the shift to online learning due to COVID-19. She had the opportunity to discuss why high-quality online teaching does not necessarily have to mean Zoom and offered her experience on the benefits of asynchronous online instruction.

“Even before COVID-19, it was important for faculty to explore innovative ways to deliver their courses and incorporate new technology to reach their students. There are a lot of myths out there about online course delivery, but at the end of the day, it really comes down to course design to enhance quality instruction,” McKay said.

“Online teaching can be engaging if done the right way,” added McKay. “Equating online teaching to face-to-face is like comparing apples and oranges. There is more to online instruction than what many experienced during the emergency Zoom spring. But the challenge is how to get that across. It really is imperative that all educators are equipped with the knowledge to be able to teach in any environment.”

McKay is a proponent of asynchronous online instruction and believes that it levels the playing field for students to be able to have the flexibility to work at their own pace around work and family obligations. She has found this to be especially important now with students juggling many different demands due to the coronavirus pandemic.

She also feels this type of learning can be even more engaging than what students experience during an in-person class. “There are a lot of ways to design an online course to provide student-to-student and student-to-faculty interaction that you can’t replicate in a regular class,” she said. “The key is that the course needs to be designed to allow for this, which means faculty must embrace what it means to teach in an online environment. It is not just about teaching a traditional lecture-style class virtually on Zoom or some other kind of program.”

McKay is known for her innovative classroom activities and student engagement across instructional platforms. She participated in the Council of Independent Colleges’ inaugural Consortium for Online Humanities Instruction from 2014-2016 to develop and implement upper-level online humanities courses and stayed on as a mentor for the second group. This experience made her rethink every class she teaches to find ways to incorporate active learning in the classroom.

She was awarded the Ira G. Zepp Distinguished Teaching Award from McDaniel in 2015 and is currently a Charles A. Boehlke, Jr. Engaged Faculty Fellow. In addition to teaching in the History and Art History Department, she serves as the faculty mentor for the Green Terror football team.