I created this blog in February 2020 so a month or so before we entered lockdown and started working from home and it’s taken me until September to revisit it! I settled well into the working from home part, I had previously worked from home for around 18 months in a previous role and have my own office and reasonable technology set-up (decent work laptop, old but useable Mac with large screen, keyboard and mouse, and mostly reliable although sometimes intermittent broadband). The main difference this time was the requirement to stay at home with only 1 hour a day outside exercise allowance. I’m making a note of this because even now (early September 2020) this sounds bizarre and very restrictive! Things have eased off since then although I’m still being fairly cautious which seems reasonable given that some restrictions have been re-introduced for residents of Glasgow and the surrounding areas.  I live just outside this restricted area although it still seems very close to home.

I started this post to reflect on work related activity in response to the online pivot, referred to as remote teaching in the University of Edinburgh where I’m based. During April and May 2020 I developed and co-delivered a number of online  sessions which were well-attended and offered colleagues a light touch introduction to online teaching and digital assessment approaches.

Each session lasted for around an hour (many ran over as result of ongoing discussions), and they gave colleagues the opportunity to share ideas (and concerns) as well as some practical advice from me and my colleague Neil. I was asked to reflect on these sessions recently at a regular departmental online meeting which has prompted this post.

This is a place holder for me as I intend to write another blog post about the online course I’ve developed and delivered over the summer and I’m now in discussions with colleagues about support for the hybrid teaching approach which is being adopted for AY 20-21.