 Hello everyone, my name is Ian Wilson, I'm a senior lecturer at York St John University and I would like to talk to you today about how we use technology to support and build an online community during the pandemic. In the pandemic hit we were thrown into a world of uncertainty and worries and in a lot of cases isolation as well. So what I would like to talk about today is what I or what we did and why we did it with it over the course of the pandemic. How this linked to more than just learning and then also just to sort of like sum it up to bring it back to how this relates to going back to the so-called normal. The initial teacher ed program degree program is an intensive program that has a lot of face-to-face teaching and the first years had enjoyed this community, supportive community that existed within the classroom and within the campus. Unfortunately they weren't allowed to go onto placement and so they entered the second year without any teaching experience within the classroom from their first year and they had migrated from a really face-to-face intensive modules where everybody was seeing each other on a regular basis to a situation when they were cast out into their own houses, some had gone home, some were just living alone with other students within student accommodation. One thing that we decided to do was to set something up that not only supported the students academically but also contributed to their positive mental health and their social interactions and we wanted it to be something that was organic and developed by itself rather than us actually imposing something onto the students. So one of the things that I really wanted to ensure happened was that I wanted to make sure that the area on Teams was not for me but was actually for the students and I wanted them to lead it. So initially what happened was that I created the Teams area with just the bare minimum of channels. I think we started off with general announcements and that was it. And what I wanted to do was allow the students to contribute to it to make it their own. So rather than just sort of like saying, okay, I've set up this environment, this is my community, come and join my community, I wanted them to feel that it was their community and it was for them to actually engage with and participate within the social area of the Teams. You might have noticed that as the channels and the community progressed, the students started to ask for more and more areas that they could actually contribute in. So the idea of the placement came from the students when they were concerned about what would be happening for placement. Notice that it says questions for Claire. So Claire is our academic librarian and the students were keen to talk to her and pose her questions and Claire very, very nicely gave up her time to sort of like participate within the community. And finally down there at the bottom you can see recommended books. And this was after an EAL lecture that the students were having online. And they started in the online environment to recommend books that they have read and used with the class. And what one of the students contacted me actually in the meeting and actually said, you know, Ian, it would be fantastic if we can have these books in the community area. And so that was actually created as the community grew. I wanted it to be not only an academic space but also an area to support the children students. And one of the things that came up was this idea of a chill space. And this was a new area on teams that was actually created. And it was seen as a place that would be less academic but more about just actually talking about random things. I wanted the chill space to be an area that was as far removed from academic work as humanly possible. And I wanted it to be an area where the students could interact, they could use contractions, they could talk in their language, but also to be incredibly honest, knowing that it was a space that was free from judgment. The other thing that I would strongly recommend to anybody is this idea that learning communities online, no matter whether or not they're academic or social, do not just perpetuate themselves, they don't grow by themselves. What is needed is somebody to take the lead. And one of the things that I really had to do was provide opportunities to facilitate conversations. I had to sort of like think, okay then, what can I put in this area that would promote discussion and get the students engaging and talking about things. One of the things that quickly happened was that I decided that I actually needed to promote the social aspect more. And after discussing with the students, and I have to say at this point it was a case of me saying what would you like, I was facilitating the growth of the community by suggesting things and the students would respond. And one of the things that they sort of like came out and I suggested to them was could we have some kind of online get together once a month. And this turned into the online quiz that happened. So what I did that once a month from the seven o'clock to eight o'clock at night. So I thought that might be also a time that certain students might not be, they might feel very isolated or alone at that point. And I created these quizzes throughout each month and we had a pub quiz when we just asked questions. We had another quiz that had an online drawing board and the students could draw. They got a word that nobody else could see and they had to draw. We had to guess what is a bit like picturing. Then at Christmas we had our Christmas quiz. And the interesting thing about all these online communities, they number one got really good responses about appreciation about having them. And the second thing was people sometimes came sometimes and didn't come. They didn't have to put their cameras on. They could just participate. I wasn't asking specific questions. Every time different people, the same people were there, but it really contributed to this community. And we felt that me included felt that we were part of this online community that was supporting and engaging with each other. So while the students were on placement, I wanted to continue this connection with them, but recognize that they might not have the time to actually participate in an online community. So what I did was that I created a weekly podcast. And initially this was just me chatting about school, etc. And the students sort of like said it would be really beneficial if we had an outline of what was going on, what the task they would have to do during school. And also I answered any questions totally anonymously, of course, in that podcast. I also gave them a teaching idea that was highly adaptable for all levels of all year groups in primary ed. And also I gave them a general motivational segment where I try to boost their confidence and say, you know, we are in this together. We can do this. I just want to quickly wind up and talk about returning back to normal. And I wrote a blog post about how I don't want or I didn't want to return back to normal because I felt that there was so much that we had learned during the pandemic that I would like to keep in place. I have recreated the teams this year, but they're not as engaged with as much. And I think this goes back to the point I made earlier that technology responds to the needs of the users, and it's not actually applied onto them. And they no longer need that online community, but you know, it still had worth then and was actually something that was very well received. And you know, what I propose that I do all the time is I listen to the students needs what they want to do what they're really needing at that time to see how technology can then support them or promote that. I'm not the sort of person that is going to send out questionnaires or anything like that. I think what we all need to do is listen to what the students need and then respond to it. Hope you've enjoyed this brief presentation. Yeah, if you have any questions, then do get in touch or I think I will be available for and to answer your questions in the future. Okay, it's been lovely talking to you. I hope you find the presentation useful and I'll see you all later. Bye.