Online Teaching, Questions Answered (and Asked) 线上教学，快问慢答

On 31 January 2020, The Chinese University of Hong Kong announced that online teaching will be provided starting from 17 February. From 30 January to 14 February, the University organized a series of online workshops providing trainings for teachers, students and supporting staff. On 11 February, the Department of Anthropology organized an online meeting to discuss online teaching techniques. On February 17, classes of the Department resumed online as scheduled.

Two months into online teaching, how is it going for us? We talked with some teachers in the Department of Anthropology.

2020年1月31日，香港中文大学宣布将于2月17日復课日开始，改以在线教学。1月30日至2月14日，中文大学举办一系列线上工作坊，为老师、同学及同事进行在线教学培训。2月11日，人类学系的老师及同事于线上会议讨论在线教学技巧。2月17日，人类学系各课程开始在线上进行。

两个月过去，线上教学进行得如何？人类学系的几位老师给出了他们的回答。

How long have you been teaching? Have you taught an online class before?

请问你教书多久了？之前有教过线上课程吗？

Dr. Andrew Kipnis: My first major teaching position started in 1993. Maybe about 25 years ago, I taught something called “television university”. The lectures were pre-recorded and on TV, and afterwards I’d run a live email chat for discussion. But that wasn’t really an online class.

Dr. Leilah Vevaina: It is my first year in the Department, and before this I taught for four years as part of my graduate training. Around 10 years ago, I taught one asynchronous online class: I sent the students readings, they wrote comments and I commented on their comments. I learned a lot, but I have to say I didn’t really enjoy the experience and found it very unsatisfying.

Dr. Gordon Mathews: This is my 26th year teaching…it has been a long time! No, I haven’t.

Dr. Venera R. Khalikova: Four independent years and two years of tutorials. No.

Dr. Wengcheong Lam: I have been teaching at CUHK for 5 years. No online teaching experience before.

黄宣颖老师：教书将近四年半，没有教过线上课程，不过参与过不少线上课程，做过一两次直播。

陈如珍老师：我2009年开始在我们系任职。大概在1998-1999年之间，我有进行过「远程教学」，当时是两班在两个不同校园的同学同时上课。

Dr. Andrew Kipnis

What did you expect before online teaching started? Any surprise?

线上教学开始之前，你的预期是怎样的？有出乎你的意料吗？

Andy: Well, I was really worried. I thought the students wouldn’t participate much and it would be very awkward, and it would be hard to arrange the whole thing. It has definitely worked much better than I thought it would.

Venera: I guess…I was excited? I’m a big fan of technology, and I always wanted to teach online classes.

Leilah: It was so sudden, and I was concerned about just feeling like I’m talking to the computer! But I thought, maybe it’s better than nothing, right. It turns out to be better than I thought it would be, and it has moments of being very satisfying.

Gordon: I am very pleasantly surprised by how well it works. In fact, there is pleasant-mindedness to both physical and online teaching, and you can’t automatically say the latter is inferior!

如珍：刚开始我感到很怀疑。第一次收到信说要用Zoom上课的时候，我心里就想，「这是什么啊……」后来学校开始做一些线上培训，我是参加完之后才真的觉得，「噢，改观。」负责培训的同事的样子很放松，她的展现让我觉得，这件事是能够做到的、让我去想像我在她那个位置的话，应该可以的。于是我就开始去研究Zoom，整天打开来看看，觉得好像很好玩。当然也是因为没有别的办法，不得不做，只好接受它啰。

Dr. Venera R. Khalikova

What are some advantages of online teaching?

线上教学有哪些好处？

Venera: I actually really love Zoom. It has a lot of great functions. For example, you can record the class. For teachers, it’s a good feedback as I can see how I’m performing. For students, it’s very nice that they can replay the whole lecture when they are studying for exams.

Because I am not a Chinese speaker, it’s hard for me to remember and pronounce all the students’ names. Now, because of Zoom, I can see their names and I can address them directly. Similarly, now in tutorials students don’t have to say, “she said, he said”, which is very gendered. I am teaching a gender class, and we are trying to be gender-non-binary, and there is a student who doesn’t identify with either gender. Now people can directly refer to this student by their name.

Andy: I think the students really like to participate via the “chat” function. If you raise your hand in the classroom, it makes students feel like they’re sort of grabbing attention, but the chat function feels very relaxed for them just to put down whatever’s on their mind and it seems to be a very effective vehicle. I have particular points in the lecture when I’ll say, “okay I’m going to stop lecturing now and I’m going to go through all the questions and comments in the chat and respond to them”. It feels more interactive and dialogic that way. And, to be honest, I think currently most students are probably just stuck at home and very bored. So, they are more likely to attend classes than under most circumstances.

Gordon: I always have a problem in tutorials, when some students would never talk. Now, because I can directly see all their names and faces on the computer screen, I can easily call on them. I found out some students who didn’t talk in the physical class, are in fact quite talkative and have interesting things to say in the online class. One reason why ZOOM relatively works well is my class is unusually small this semester. Exchange students did not come due to the current situation. The small number doesn’t help us financially much, but it does make teaching a bit more intimate, so that’s another factor here.

如珍：虽然班上有七十个人，可是对每个人来讲，我都像是在跟她沟通，是一对一的。例如这一堂讲农民工，我会说，「今天要讲民工。为什么学中国就要讲到民工，为什么我要把这个题目放在这里呢？感觉要跟你们交代一下。当然是因为这是我博士论文的题目啊，但是我不能直接这样讲，所以还是要解释……」这些垃里垃杂的。叙事的方式会变得比较personal（个人），比较不像一个public lecture（公开演讲）, 有点像把我的思考讲出来这样子。

做得比较好的时候，因为没有其他的干扰——比如说，我站在那里就像是一个老师啊，在课室里就是面对一群人在上课——这种线上的形式，效果反而会更好。我会和学生说，你可以躺在床上、吃东西或者干嘛，只要不睡著就行，但要把注意力放在听觉上面。一位学生如果真的听得很专心的话，因为其实看不到别的人，可能真的可以觉得我就是在跟她讲话。

宣颖：开始线上教学之前，我录了一个音频给同学听，预告说我们可能会transition（转换）到一个更重视听觉的阶段，想让学生在实际上进入另外一种形式之前，有机会率先体验。

学习效果看的不是学生感觉怎么样，而是他们以后有没有能够更加人类学一些去思考。那么，线上教学有没有可能创造一种新的学习人类学的机会呢？我觉得是有的，这也是我录这个音的原因：我们要把当下「线下—线上」的转换，任何有助于促进人类学思考的东西，都作为一个契机。这是我比较想强调的。但学生不一定接收得到，或者接收得到，但是不知道自己接收到了。也许过了几年以后，当又遇到类似的情况，他们会蛮自然地就想起这些经验，发现能够做一些整理或归纳，那其实就有收穫啦，只是可能没办法很清晰地说「这堂课让我学到什么」，但我相信这对于评估人类学的学习效果，是一个比较清楚的刺激跟反应。

所以我想通过这个开场白，让学生可以去想一些事情。说老实话，到现在为止，我不是很确定学生们transition（转换）得怎么样。我很希望他们能回馈给我，可是写信给我的人蛮少的。有听到的大部分都比较正面，可是我其实不太相信这种表面上说好的印象啦。到底是怎么样，我是想像说还在酝酿发酵之中。我是期待也许到之后，甚至到学期结束以后，也许会有一两个人跟我讲，也不一定。

Dr. Wengcheong Lam

What is difficult about online teaching?

线上教学的困难在于？

Wengcheong: Even though I prefer students to turn on their webcam, most of them don’t for various reasons. For instance, some of them have poor wifi–which sounds ridiculous in HK but is true when you read the newspaper. Some of them don’t have private rooms and turning on the camera will be even more distracting. I cannot even find a quiet place in my house for three hours for lectures, and I have to go to my office instead. Therefore, I don’t think it is possible to require everyone to turn on their webcam. For a big class, it will be quite hard to know the feedback since what I can see is just my screen. Also, some hands-on components, like lithic tools making technique that I am teaching this term, can not be delivered via online teaching.

Gordon: I haven’t encountered any fundamental difficulty. But, as an older professor, I need to rely on a TA’s help to manage the technical part.

Venera: I’m going to have live mid-term exams, and I’m a little worried about that. For one class, I’ll use a lock-down browser in which student can only open Blackboard. For other classes, I’m going to use Zoom and have the students turn their cameras on, so that I can see they are alone and see what they are doing. It’s still a bit tricky, but this is going to be my first experience, and I’ll learn from it.

In general, I think we’ll see this kind of online learning more and more often. If we just psychologically resist it, and keep telling ourselves that it’s hard, it’s anxious, I don’t know what to do…we’ll be stuck. I don’t want to be stuck and I want to keep trying and learning. I guess I’m the person who tries to find the good part of it.

宣颖：线上跟实体的教学，我觉得还是蛮不一样的，可能也是因为我特别想强调不一样吧。学校或者很多其他人，在还没开始之前已经定调了嘛，都是想强调线上教学可以达到一样甚至更好的效果。但我觉得有些事情，不是说它真的不类似，而是说，少数不一样的地方，也许才是最重要的。

我觉得不一样的地方在于，我本身讲课的互动性不是非常强，到了线上，好像会进入一种开机录影的模式，变得更容易一直讲下去。似乎我今天应付的不是只有这群同学，还是一台摄影机。我现在面对这个摄影机，要让这个状态一直保持下去，而不是变得更放松、更开放、看同学的回应怎么样来作一种调整。再来就是学生，大部分是把摄影机关上的，你也很难知道他们的状态是什么。

Tutorial（导修）可能是遇到比较大困难的地方。我带tutorial的方式一向是自由讨论，我的想法是，我在讲课里面已经作了足够的铺陈，接下来就是你们的事。移到线上，大家会比较沉默。这可能也是线上的问题：你会变得比较难忍受沉默，或者广义地说，比较没有办法忍受「不好」。如果是在教室里，我可能会让同学沉默多一点，大家可以互相看一看，可能会有一些眼神，有些人不好意思会笑，会有一些这样的有趣的眼神或者肢体动作。你可以让这个团体的情绪跑一阵子，也许就会有人讲话了。但是线上就可能不会这样子，失去了那种注视的时刻的感觉。比如在教室里，有些人你一旦看他，他就会举手说要讲，有些人一旦被看就会低头，有些人一旦被看就会转头去看别人，哈哈。那这个东西在线上就没办法看到，当然也会看到有些人低头啦。

如珍：我之前蛮认真地准备了怎么样用Zoom上课，比准备要教什么更多。可是上完第一堂课呢，我有点气馁。

一是觉得时间掌握得不好，一直不停地在弄电脑，一下看这个、一下切换那个，Zoom的时间过得比较快。

第二是，因为学生都不开摄像头，只会说话或者打字，所以如果有很多不是文字的信息没有抓到，跟学生的互动就会没有很好。他们在说话的时候有停顿或者语气怎样，可能不是conscious level（意识层面）的，可是如果在心里处理了这些资讯，我会觉得跟她的互动就没有那么模煳。所以我意识到，要把听觉方面的注意力开得非常大，跟学生互动的隔阂感觉就会减少。

第三点是，我刚上完课就立刻有两个学生写email（电子邮件）给我，而且是一下课就写哦。他们建议我不要一直问问题。我上课本来就喜欢跟学生有互动，我喜欢Zoom也是因为互动是可能的，所以我有一直停下来问他们问题，请他们打在chatroom（聊天室）里告诉我呀，或者用投票的功能，或者开白板让他们写字。然后这两位同学就说，可不可以不要一直讨论。

因为他们的反馈，我就明白，线上教学的时候，学生对效率的期望有提高。他们不是要来听笑话、不是要来看同学，也不是只是坐在那里想他自己的事情。学生很想要你全部都讲完，然后有问题的人再去问就好了。如果她觉得无聊的话，就会很想走掉，因为这里不是教室。我猜可能他们的妈妈就在旁边啊、或者很吵、或者网路不是很稳定，如果学生不能很清楚地知道你在教什么的话，我感觉到，他们的焦虑程度会更高。

Dr. Leilah Vevaina

What methods do you use to attract students’ attention and improve your class?

你用了哪些方法来维持学生的注意力，提升课堂质素？

Leilah: I was worried about the graduate course on anthropology theory, because it is so long, three hours. That’s why I got a suggestion from a colleague in another department, and decided to do it like this: First I send students my PowerPoint slides with a 1-hour long audio over it before class, so they can listen to it for the lecture part. Then, I split the class into three groups, and we do discussion during class time in a seminar style. In between, students can send me emails with questions.

I have to say my prep time for the theory course has gone up a lot, as I need to do the recording and I find students podcasts, videos and interviews, all kinds of additional materials. But I just feel like, you know, especially for the MA students, they only have this one year and it’s already been so disrupted. So, I was like “I’ll just try really hard and hopefully get something good out of it.” I feel like I am putting in a lot of effort, and I appreciate that the outcome is sort of matching. I think it’s working, and I’ll see what the students feel and adjust.

Gordon: I insist that everybody turn on the camera and show their faces. Maybe this is more psychological, but I want to see the face, so that I can know that we are having a human interaction. Maybe they are using Facebook and it also looks like they are staring at the screen. Anyway, students are paying attention because they know there’s a pretty good chance that they’ll get called on!

Wengcheong: I integrate different interaction components (chat room/uReply/breakout room) in lectures. But I think when it changes to online teaching/e-learning, it‘s basically up to the students to decide whether they want to learn. Pessimistically, what we can do to keep students’ attention is very limited. However, it may not be a bad thing in the long term. My philosophy is that students should be encouraged to do whatever they want to do, and they need to learn how to balance different opportunity-costs. If they think watching a movie is more important, and if they are smart enough to figure out the teaching contents by using a 2x speed to watch the recorded lecture, then perhaps there are very limited things that we can do to keep students there.

如珍：收到学生的反馈之后，我就跟他们说，我会尽量把课分成一段一段的，但是不会没有互动，因为我觉得上课时学生的思考是最重要的。他们也都接受。因为我第二天也会上一样内容的课嘛，我上完之后就觉得成功了。

我有改变的是要有清楚的段落感，以及用一种一边思考、一边说故事，有点像是声音的表演的方式来叙事。我觉得是有差别的耶，即使隔著荧幕，也可以感觉得到。有一次我用了十几分钟讲我的一位informant（报导人）的一个故事，最后再解释为什么我要讲这么久。我一个人，对著电脑一直讲，学生完全是沉默的，我根本没有任何反馈的线索。可是讲完以后，我有感觉到自己说得很清楚。下课之后，有一些同学来问问题。通常学生比较少会一边思考一边问问题，一般都是有一个很具体的疑问。但是那天，就有些学生一直说，「嗯，怎么讲」、「我要想一想」之类的，有进入一种有在想的状态，才来问我，所以我觉得，这段叙述应该是有达到某一个效果。

我原来上课都会留出improvise（即兴）的空间，现在我发现，线上教学很吃备课，要备得很完整。我原本也很坚持不给同学投影片，但现在我都会先给，还会给一个上课的大纲，解释阅读材料，列出那堂课会讲的几个问题，来降低同学们的焦虑。我希望他们来上课的时候已经大约知道这堂课会是什么，那上课的时候我就比较没有压力，可以比较专注在我的narration（叙事）.

黄宣颖老师

Is there one big thing that cannot be replaced by online teaching?

你觉得平常的教学当中，有什么是线上教学所不能取代的吗？

宣颖：我觉得对于线上教学，我们不能够这么快地去强调说它效果很好。这是一个defense（辩护）, 也是一个denial（否认）.应该要慢慢地去听，对方到底想说什么。我相信很多事情是很难说出来的，所以更加不应该很快地堵住他们。

有些人想来香港唸书，其实是带著一些梦想、期待。来到这里之后，遇到了这么多困难的情况。讲得有点interpersonal（人际）的话，就是要去看学生跟学校的关系是什么，怎样跟学校有一些attachment（依附），然后学校现在说，「其实我们只要透过电脑联络就好了」这样子。要做类比的话，也许会是「分离」或者「抛弃」，这个东西可能很深远。比如说，从小到大，原本以为妈妈会永远陪在你身边，后来妈妈跟你说，你已经三个月大了，我要上班了，就把你丢给托儿所。抛弃跟分离其实永远是人类原始的困难之一，会勾连出很多相关的回忆或情绪，可以发酵很久。如果我们这么快就只关注在技术层面，说「没有问题呀我们每个人都可以下载一个Zoom而且每个人都会用」，这样的话，背后的东西可能很久都没办法处理。

Wengcheong: Definitely the face-to-face interaction and the atmosphere in that setting.

Andy: For the MA students, at least those who come from mainland China and other places to Hong Kong, I think part of what they want to pursue is a more personal relationship with the professors, and that’s sort of shut off for them. I also think that they miss the opportunity to bond in person with their classmates.

Leilah: Like 1000%! I cannot even stress it enough. Even small things like talking to your friends when you walk into the classroom or talking to the professor and all of that interaction, those are really amazing things. And it makes people feel like they’re part of a group. I feel that is really missing, like literally with the social distancing. I know we’re all supposed to do this. It’s for our own health and safety. But I really, I really, really miss that, even just like seeing a colleague in the hallway. And I’m sure the students miss it amongst each other too. A lot of people are like, “oh, is this going to be how it’s always going to be? Are we all going to switch to online?” And I don’t think so. I mean, maybe this is because how much social theory I’m reading, but we are social animals, and we want to be with each other. There is something about this.

Venera: Let me tell you something. I used to be very conservative and felt that only real, physical universities and face-to-face interaction with a professor could be beneficial, could be productive.

But I’ve been living outside Russia for more than ten years now. I know that I talk to my parents, my sister and a lot of friends who are in Russia online, and I know that intimacy and friendship and meaningful connection can also be done online. I feel that a lot of transnational migrants have that. They really realize that technology can accomplish a lot of things. Because of my personal experience, now I feel technology can also be very useful for teaching.

Of course, it’s nice to be sitting next to someone. And I believe it’s a little easier for me to teach this semester because I met my students for three weeks before lunar new year, so I kind of know them a little bit. It’s the same for my family and friends, I know them. I think being present in the same space is foundational in some sense, and you do need some balance. But technology is still doing its amazing job! If technology didn’t exist, now we would be totally devastated. I feel that we are extremely lucky and blessed with all these technologies. That’s why I feel optimistic.

陈如珍老师

Is there any interesting thing that you can share with us?

有没有什么有趣的事情可以和大家分享呢？

如珍：最难的部分是，讲笑话的时候不会听到笑声，因为大家都关麦克风。我想象他们有笑，但那一剎那的感触是很清楚的。平常上课你讲笑话大家是会笑的——讲课不一定有人听，讲笑话是一定会笑的。Zoom讲笑话的时候，习惯性期待大家会笑，可是都没有。感觉我是在跟我的电脑说话。

可是，其实学生比平时上课更不吝于给你反馈。如果我说，「到底有没有人在听啊，好怀疑哦」，就会有人给我拍拍手或者大拇指或者在chat room（聊天室）里面说「有」，而且会很多，可能一次出来三十个这样。

可是你要去问。我觉得你要想象技术是你感官的延伸，要跟电脑变成一体。你想知道的时候你就问，就会有很积极大量的feedback（反馈）。像下课的时候同学都会说「谢谢你」、「很有趣」、「学到好多唷」，这些反馈是以前不会有的。

我感觉自己跟科技的关系改变了。原来可能会觉得，我用电脑就是打字比较快，用email（电子邮件）就是不用去寄信，就只是一个工具而已。现在我比较觉得它不是一个外在的东西，比较接受它变成我的世界或者说我的感官的一部分。

这个我想可能有世代差异。我们系的老师不是有在学校的培训之后，开会讨论线上教学吗，在那之后我有跟Venera再用Zoom讨论了几次。我们两个都很兴奋，她是对技术很感兴趣，我也在想教学到底是怎么一回事。我猜老师是不同世代的人，线上教学的课也会不太一样。

Gordon: During a tutorial, a female student’s boyfriend came in and started talking with the student. This guy walked in while the whole class was watching, and they were actually having a slight argument there, which was quite funny. I usually don’t know how my students live their life, so there’s some personal interaction here.

Andy: I think the funniest thing has probably been me. Maybe I’m funny to my students—at the start of the lecture when I’m trying to figure out how to get everything adjusted on the screen, I go, “oh wait a second”, “Oh, let me start this all over”…

宣颖：线上教学有一种不太一样的放送感。当然也跟我拿了一支麦克风有关系，而且我可以从一个观众的角度来看到自己，好像在一个舞台上面的感觉。我又可以控制我的画面，总是可以把两幅画放进来，一边还有一个有点像沙发的椅子，这个经验还是蛮有趣的。

Dr. Gordon Mathews