Pedagogical commentary: Teaching through a pandemic

Abstract

This commentary considers best practices for teaching in synchronous online spaces through examining pedagogical moves taken within an environmental studies course taught during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, an assignment designed to promote student agency will be examined via an action research approach, which draws upon observation and reflection in order to analyze how theory informed teaching can engage students in intellectual work that treats learning experiences as sites of inquiry and learning. This commentary offers a natureculture (Clary-Lemon, 2019) approach that emphasizes thoughtful and reflexive learning processes both inside and outside the classroom. While online learning, particularly synchronous learning, has been studied widely (Serdyukov, 2020; Zydney et al., 2019; Dlab et al., 2020; Baker & Hjalmarson, 2019; Mahoney & Hall, 2020; etc.) the approach offered herein differs in its attention to the ways that frontloading nature can cultivate student agency (in the classroom) and human agency (outside the classroom).