I've taken the past week to consider what I would do if I should ever not be able to make it to campus to teach a class. I think there are opportunities that we've already discussed in class, such us Wimba, or even the chat room on a learning management system. I think these tools are best used in discussion with some student interaction, especially if using Wimba. However, in teaching many labs, neither of these tools would work for my students.
Twice I have taught for two of my fellow TA's, one who attended a conference, the other while he took his written comprehensive exams. Both times, I had been given enough advance notice to learn the lab and effectively teach for both TA's. It helps that I had already taught both labs. I think that if I found myself in this same position that I would choose to find a "substitute" to teach a lab. Another option would be to bring in a guest speaker who could talk to some extent on whatever the topic would have been for the day.
If I were teaching a discussion or lecture class, I would tend to favor the "guest speaker" approach. I think the students can sometimes benefit from having a change in instructor, though, it greatly depends on the quality of teaching from that guest speaker.
I'm not convinced these are my only options, but they are certainly the first that come to mind. Thoughts?
I think the "sub" approach is a great way to go. In many cases, students like the new perspectives and style a different instructor brings. I try to help out whenever I can as a fill in, hoping that my friends will eventually return the favor.
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