Professors learn to adapt and innovate with online classes
This semester, Matt Saunders launched the biggest studio art class at Harvard. The class of 72 students in “Painting’s Doubt” met weekly to learn figure drawing and paint from still life. When the coronavirus outbreak forced Saunders to move the class online, he faced some fundamental problems. “We lose a lot of the value of having students all together because an important part of learning in this class happens through the peer group,” said Saunders. For the first half of the semester, he framed each session and gave pointers about how to approach rendering the subject, but “students [could] see each other’s solutions, so we’re trying to figure out how to capture that energy.” Saunders, Harris K. Weston Associate Professor of the Humanities and director of undergraduate studies in the Art, Film, and Visual Studies Department, is one of thousands of faculty members who had to adapt and innovate their courses to...