Roteliuk adapts, creates success
By Amanda Duchsherer
Digital Communication Specialist
amanda.duchsherer@minotstateu.edu
MINOT, N.D. – When Minot State moved to online learning for the end of the Spring 2020 semester, Lisa Roteliuk felt she was failing her students.
They thought otherwise, nominating her as the University’s top faculty member at running online classes.
“I felt like I was bombing it,” she said. “It was definitely nice for the students to choose me but truly, there were so many times I felt like, wow, they must have given me some leniency because there were times where I felt like I must have really messed that up.”
It was that authenticity and honesty that connected with students, as well as her classroom setup. The communication sciences and disorders assistant professor recorded all her lectures while still holding weekly live meetings.
“For the graduate class, there was several therapy techniques that I needed to demonstrate and talk them through what to do and have them practice, so we did those lectures live. Within that live lecture, too, I always made sure we had time for a question session. I called them my live debriefings,” she said. “For the undergrad class, same format. I introduced them to all types of different speech pathology and audiology related topics so that was easier to record as a lecture. I put observations online for them to watch and then in our live sessions we discussed what the clinician was doing.”
Roteliuk also made sure she was available to students during their scheduled class times via email or remote chat. The first two weeks found her in many live meetings. As students found their rhythm, they began to utilize email more.
“Technology has changed a lot. When I was in undergrad and grad school at Minot State, you went to class or you didn’t get the notes. You didn’t get the lecture. Everything was by hand — we wrote everything,” the ’97/’99 alumna said. “I think another big difference is the understanding that things happen. And I think with technology, we’ve had to move to that model because we don’t know when someone’s computer is going to crash, we don’t know when someone is going to have trouble logging on. We’ve had to make adjustments and become flexible.”
In addition to adapting her classroom to a remote setting, Roteliuk also shifted clinical work from in-person to teletherapy.
“I’m biased, I love face-to-face. I get so attached to my clients and my clinicians that it was hard not having them right there, but it went okay,” she said. “The clients were aware we wouldn’t have access to everything when we went online. They still wanted to do it because it still made them accountable and kept them practicing at home.”
Regardless of the changes, many of the communication sciences and disorders department’s standards have remained the same over the decades.
“We have the same expectations for doing observations and clinic before gradually increasing independence in clinic. That model has been the same because we’re one of the few universities across the nation who has undergrad clinic; it is one of the strengths of our program,” Roteliuk said. “We have high expectations for our students. We know that they can, and they will, achieve big goals.”
About Minot State University
Minot State University is a public university dedicated to excellence in education, scholarship, and community engagement achieved through
rigorous academic experiences, active learning environments, commitment to public service, and a vibrant campus life.
| Published: 05/27/20 |
