Solving for M-Theory: Playing with time and space during the pandemic

Keywords: course design, creativity, COVID

Abstract: Higher education, especially at the undergraduate level, has traditionally used a “fixed in time and space” model of instruction. However, the COVID pandemic, with its attendant reduction or elimination of on-campus face-to-face instruction, presents a frame-breaking change (Tushman, Newman, and Romanelli 1986) that has forced educators into reconceptualizing the very foundations of their course designs and instructional methods. Some faculty have looked to replicate the traditional experience using synchronous Zoom sessions. We instead have reviewed our own mental models of time and space constraints, expanding those limitations of a “fixed” model, as M-Theory in physics asserts we can (Bars and Terning 2010). We invite this session’s participants to share how they have reimagined their instructional approaches to break free of the traditional fixed time and place constraints, providing experiences that not only improve learning during the pandemic but are improvements that will endure post-COVID.