College of City and Regional Planning

Training Course for Staff Members of the Spatial Planning Dept. 2020-2021
July 6, 2021, 12:26 p.m.

TEACHING IN A VIRTUAL CLASSROOM
| INTRODUCTION
The covid-19 pandemic is forcing global experimentation with remote teaching. Suddenly academic staff
members are faced with an increased digital work environment, which poses challenges. Questions like
how to best transfer academic knowledge, engage students, and evaluate online learning are very common.
Virtual classrooms function a little differently to in-person sessions: it is more difficult to build a personal
connection with students, to stimulate them and get them into a productive working flow. In response to the
changing education environment, we have developed a course for academic staff to cultivate e-learning
practices. This course is a 3-part semester-accompanying workshop series with the following objectives:
▷ Identify the challenges of e-learning as opposed to in-person teaching;
▷ Equip teaching staff with tools to facilitate online teaching;
▷ Enable teachers to support students and establish a positive, stimulating learning environment;
▷ Introduce ways to evaluate e-learning.
The workshop series will be held during the fall semester of 2020. We will hold 8 4,5 hour sessions on
Saturdays from 1 pm - 5:30 pm (with the exception of session 1 and 3 - these will last 2,5 and 2 hours
respectively)

PROGRAM
PART 1 | DIGITAL TEACHING 101
How to become comfortable with a challenging teaching environment.
There’s a lot to think about when it comes to moving teaching online. In this part of the workshop series we
will offer:
● an overview of possible challenges and how to tackle them;
● 6 practices for teaching online;
● examples and exercises.

PART 2 | METHODS, TIPS, AND TRICKS
How to adapt to the virtual classroom.
There’s a lot that can be done to make moving teaching online easier and more interesting for both
teachers and students. In this part of the workshop series we will offer:
● examples of how to work with the 6 practices;
● tools for visualisation;
● examples and exercises.

PART 3 | EXAMS AND EVALUATIONS
How to examine and evaluate in a virtual setting.
There are several ways to have students evaluate online teaching and for teachers to evaluate how students
perform. In this part of the workshop series we will offer:
● tools for evaluation;
● an overview of possible exam-types;
● suggestions on how to prevent cheating;
● examples and exercises.

ASSIGNMENTS
For this course you will have to complete several assignments. I will upload them to our course Moodle
every week. When doing these assignments I strongly encourage you to keep an upcoming online seminar
that you will teach in mind. That way you can optimise the time you invest in this course: by participating
and completing your assignments here you will have laid the foundations for your own online seminar!

SCHEDULE
Hours: 1 pm - 5:30 pm | all times are in Duhok local time (GMT +3)
Blocks : 3 x 1h15mins
Schedule
1 pm - 2:15 pm - block 1
15 min break
2:30 pm - 3:45 pm - block 2
30 min break
4:15 pm - 5:30 pm - block 3
end of workshop day
SESSION 1: October 3, 2020 - 1 pm - 3:30 pm
PART 0 | INTRODUCTION
SESSION 2: October 10, 2020 - 1 pm - 5:30 pm
PART 1 | DIGITAL TEACHING 101
SESSION 3: October 24, 2020 - 1 pm - 3 pm
PART 1 | DIGITAL TEACHING 101
SESSION 4: October 31, 2020 - 1 pm - 5:30 pm
PART 2 | METHODS, TIPS, AND TRICKS
SESSION 5: November 7, 2020 - 1 pm - 5:30 pm
PART 2 | METHODS, TIPS, AND TRICKS
SESSION 6: November 14, 2020 - 1 pm - 5:30 pm
PART 2 | METHODS, TIPS, AND TRICKS
PART 3 | EXAMS AND EVALUATIONS
SESSION 7: November 21, 2020 - 1 pm - 5:30 pm
PART 3 | EXAMS AND EVALUATIONS
SESSION 8: November 28, 2020 - 1 pm - 5:30 pm
REPEAT | PRACTICE | EVALUATE

ABOUT THE TRAINER
Paloma Rodríguez Carrington believes in creating spaces for communication across and within cultures.
She places her academic and professional background as an anthropologist and certified mediator at the
service of individuals, teams, and institutions, providing inclusive, tailored training, mediation, and coaching.
Services include (digital) curriculum development, e-learning course design, cultural communication training
and consultation, creating conflict management structures for public and private bodies, coaching for
teams and team development, and support provision for marginalised communities. Her approach is
heterodox, combining cutting-edge insights from communication and social sciences with non-judgmental,
personalised environments to ensure that organisations and people can negotiate the complex
circumstances they encounter in work and life.

Degrees:
Certified Mediator
MA: Cultural Anthropology with Honors at the University of Amsterdam | The Netherlands
BA: Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at the University of Amsterdam | The Netherlands
| CONTACT
Trainer :
Paloma Rodríguez Carrington
+49 176 387 322 64
paloma@mediators.berlin
Assistant :
Mohammad Bashirizadeh
+49 157 313 407 22
mohammad.bashirizadeh@tu-dortmund.de