What I Wish I Would Have Known: Lessons I've Learned as a First-Time Teaching Assistant in our "New Normal"

The new era of COVID-19 social distancing has manifested in higher education in the form of remote teaching, learning, and research. Remotely engaging in these ways has presented various technological, logistical, and pedagogical challenges particularly with respect to access, time management, and student engagement. Florida International University (FIU), located in Miami, FL, has encouraged educators to respond by capitalizing on the Canvas ™ learning management system and the Zoom ™ video conferencing software. However, these platforms are not necessarily a one-size-fits-all solution nor do they inherently provide the development of best practices to navigate a virtual educational space. Teaching assistants (TAs) in the earth sciences, usually graduate students, must now find ways to bring three-dimensional content to a two-dimensional environment. These circumstances are not likely to inspire confidence among new graduate TAs, especially as they concurrently contend with the demands of their own remote learning and/or research. However, as Miami, FL is reported as the next epicenter for COVID-19, almost certainly requiring an extended period of remote academia, there is an opportunity to be mindful and reflective in order to collect thoughts and share lessons learned from our "new normal." This presentation will execute on that opportunity by addressing in hindsight what we didn't have the luxury to adequately prepare for. It will report on the experience of remotely assisting in the teaching of the Fall semester of an earth science course at FIU and on some strategies for teaching on remote platforms, both from the perspective of a graduate student who is involved with geoscience education research and a first-time TA. This presentation will include topics such as: issues related to digital communications; tips, tricks, and tools (websites, apps, etc.) to convey course content/information and to promote student engagement; and making accommodations for coronavirus-related student circumstances (economic hardship, illness, caretaking responsibility, etc.).