This Instructor Spotlight installment features a video interview that Jeremie Smith, ASC Distance Education Coordinator, conducted with Dr. Naomi Brenner.
Dr. Brenner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Near Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures. Her areas of expertise include Modern Hebrew Literature and Culture, Modern Yiddish Literature and Culture, and Literary Multilingualism and Translation. She has recently taught the undergraduate courses, NELC 1125: Stories of Belonging and Difference in the Middle East and South Asia, Jewish Studies 3245 Israeli Film and Society, and Hebrew 3704 Women in the Bible and Beyond. Her book, Lingering Bilingualism: Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literatures in Contact, published in 2016, examines early twentieth century transformations of Ashkenazi Jewish life and culture through the lens of Hebrew-Yiddish bilingualism.
In this interview, Dr. Brenner shares her experiences converting her courses to online instruction during the pandemic emergency online instruction era, insights she has gained from teaching online, the pedagogical strategies she has found most effective when teaching in a virtual learning space, as well as her advice for instructors interested in increasing the effectiveness of their instruction in distance learning courses. Dr. Brenner also describes her experience collaborating with instructional design specialists to redesign her courses to harness the strengths of online instruction, and the ways in which this partnership added to her instructional toolbox and understanding of educational technologies.
We want to express our gratitude to Dr. Brenner for agreeing to participate in our Instructor Spotlight series. Dr. Brenner was also featured as a panelist in our teaching forum event “Designing a “Curated Experience” Model of Course Organization”.
If you are interested in nominating an outstanding instructor who has invested in developing and delivering online courses, please feel free to email ascode@osu.edu using the subject line Instructor Spotlight Recommendation. Explore the full catalog of Instructor Spotlights here.
This feature was designed and edited by ASC Office of Distance Education Instructional Designers, Sarah Dove, Jessica Henderson, and undergraduate office assistant Zoey Nott.