How ANova is Transitioning to a Remote Semester
This school semester, ANova has had to face many of the same challenges that teachers are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the temporary transition of the schools we teach from in-person to online. With one of our club’s main goals as providing computer science education and mentorship to marginalized communities, our members faced the difficult task of creating and teaching an enriching curriculum that would be taught completely remote and would be just as interesting to students. In addition, our community took a hit as well with the inability to have in-person socials or meet-ups. Through the process of transitioning to online teaching, ANova has had to shift priorities and focus on new goals compared to previous semesters to tackle the new challenges we face.
New Member Recruiting
Before the semester even began, we decided that recruiting for this semester would simply not be possible. Due to the abrupt change to online last semester, site was, for the most part, cancelled. So, this semester was the first time many of our members participated in online learning as teachers rather than students. Because of the uncertainty of how many schools were interested in an online CS curriculum and how remote learning would work out for our students, we made the decision to hold off on recruiting this semester. That being said, by spring, we will definitely be on the lookout for new members. Join our mailing list to stay connected, hear about opportunities for the semester, and be notified when applications open in the spring!
Sites
In accordance with the schools we serve, ANova is holding site over Zoom. Once a week, a group of mentors teach a Zoom class of several middle or high school students. Holding classes online has been fairly convenient, especially for our mentors, as some of them no longer have to make the 30-minute Uber ride to their site. Instead, it is simply a click away, and mentors are able to get started a lot more quickly when class begins without having to first set up our laptops in a teacher’s classroom. Using Zoom’s breakout rooms, our mentors are also able to each work with a smaller group, and students are split up based on their experience level and interests. This is not much different than what was being done in-person before.
There are, however, still challenges we continue to face. How do we maintain a quality of education and mentorship with remote learning? How do we continue to keep our students engaged? Our Curriculum and Site Leader committees work together to create fun lesson plans for our students, but they also assign a curriculum and site leader member to each school. We also ask for feedback from our students after each class and each group of mentors meet up weekly to discuss roses and thorns from the last site. Using the constant feedback received, our Curriculum and Site Leader committees are able to continuously adjust our teaching schedule and cater to our students.
Club Community
The ANova community is also slowly adapting to an online semester. While we normally hold socials, study groups, and general retreat in-person, we are seeking to bring everything online this semester. The Community committee has already held multiple events dedicated to bring members together and hang out over Zoom, as well as #donuts through Slack, a bot that randomly pairs up two people for the week as a ways for each member to spend time and learn more about others in the club. As a whole, ANova is utilizing our social and collaboration platforms more than ever. We are placing a bigger emphasis on checking Slack for club updates, Messenger to connect with fellow members or schedule spontaneous meet-ups, Discord for study rooms or gaming sessions, and Notion to find club and committee-specific information.
So what’s next? There’s still a lot to do. As of now, ANova is focused on maintaining high quality and fun education and mentorship to our students and strengthening our tight-knit community. We are hoping to bring even greater transparency within our club, and have already done so by allowing members to view information on all committees and releasing anonymous feedback forms so that every member has a voice in how the club functions. With the uncertainties that lie with this unique semester, members have learned to stay on those toes, and as new challenges arise, we will be sure to be prepared to adjust and adapt accordingly.
