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| FOUR QUESTIONS FOR |
| Bob Sutton |
| Last spring, as US colleges were embarking on a remote-teaching odyssey, the Shortlist talked with Bob Sutton, a best-selling author and professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University, about what it would be like to teach remotely. We recently checked back in with Bob and his co-teacher and PhD candidate, Ryan Stice-Lusvardi, to see what they learned.
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| When we talked last year, you were realistic about the shortcomings of remote learning, but also optimistic that most students (and you) could adjust and thrive. How has that played out? |
| Stanford Engineering has been offering distance learning for at least 50 years, so I knew we could pull this off. Of course I missed the face-to-face element of teaching, but overall we managed to replicate as much of the classroom back-and-forth as we could. |
| This year, I taught an introduction to organizational behavior with about 60 students, and a much smaller management and engineering seminar with juniors and seniors. We made it clear from the beginning that we were going to be patient and kind with one another. Students are going through a lot, and we wanted to be supportive. I basically told them, “I’m going to assume that you’re not going to screw up, and if you’re not engaging, we’re going to figure out what’s going on in your life.” |
| We usually started class with a warm-up exercise—for example, we would ask students what gave them joy last week. And they would engage pretty quickly. We had one student logging in from Saudi Arabia who had perfect attendance, even though class was at 1:30 in the morning his time. He talked a lot, he responded to other students, and he added thought-provoking comments in the chat function. |
| That channel became a way for students to take care of one another, in addition to the class work. In a live class that side chatter would have been hugely distracting—the equivalent of passing notes while the professor is speaking—but in remote learning it augmented the experience rather than undermining it. |
| What did you learn about how to get students to engage? |
| One thing that struck us was how different it is to “nudge” people in a remote model compared with a physical class. |
| Video can offer a clearer signal that someone is struggling, which may sound odd but that’s what we found. If someone has their camera off or looks unhappy or disengaged, that comes through, and you can send them a private chat asking if things are OK. In some ways, you can be softer and more supportive than you can be in person.
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| In terms of engaging on the curriculum, you can ask more reticent students to submit questions beforehand or give them encouraging feedback privately. You can also say, “I’m going to call on you next,” giving them time to prepare. You can’t really nudge the same way in a classroom; it comes out as much harsher because you are putting students in the spotlight. |
| At the same time, there are drawbacks and real differences with in-person interactions. For example, the conversation with our expert guests probably would have been more emotionally complex in person, and maybe we would have had more constructive engagement. It’s also easier to address tensions or repair things when they go south in person. |
| What teaching techniques or practices worked the best? |
| We designed the classes to be a mix of live lecture, some recorded material, guest speakers, case studies, and breakaway sessions for small groups. Our mantra was, you are not watching a movie, we are making a movie together. At the start, we tried to speak for no more than about seven minutes before switching things up. Then we reduced it to five minutes or so. Talking for shorter and shorter spans, then posing a question for the students to go discuss themselves, was a good formula for continued engagement. They built great communities in the breakout sessions. |
| Are you excited for a return to in-person classes? |
| Yes, we are going back in the fall. We made remote classes work through preparation and innovation, and we were surprised that there were so many upsides. But there’s really no substitute for being together, and I’m sure students will be thrilled to get back to all those crucial interactions of college life—dorms, sports and clubs, office hours, and just plain running into people. |
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| BACKTALK |
| Have feedback or other ideas? We’d love to hear from you. |
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