Humanized Online Teaching Showcase
Tom Grothe, Faculty, Butte College
Reflections
Where I was.
I was an early adopter of online education, creating and teaching the first online class in my department. I have been teaching online consistently through WebCT, Vista, Blackboard, and now Canvas. I continued to teach online for the flexibility it provided our students and me. At the same time, I believed the online course to be less impactful than the in-person section of the same course.
Where I am.
This Humanizing Academy has provided me with new strategies and tools to implement in my online courses. One of my biggest take-aways will be to incorporate voice and/or video into more assignments and discussions. One benefit of this not discussed in the academy is the ability to lessen the opportunity for students to use ChatGPT or other AI models to complete the assignments for them. Another major take-away is to make my discussion replies more engaging. I have too many discussions with vague reply requirements, such as "write a one paragraph response to 2 classmates' posts." I will change those.
Where I am going.
I am going to make a lot of short bumper videos, in real-time, as part of my daily work as an online instructor. I will cautiously embrace technologies that take the student off the Canvas platform, if there is a significant advantage in doing so, and if the technology is relatively seamless, reliable, and user-friendly. I like Adobe Express for that reason. On the other hand, I don't understand why I should use Flip instead of the video and audio tools within Canvas. To me, the tools are the same. I'd rather save the students from the possible technological frustration of moving to another platform, keeping in mind most students are accessing the class from their phone, and may have poor internet or cellular signal strength. On aggregate, the course content and assignments have helped inform my approach to teaching. My online class will be more humanized!
Liquid Syllabus
The liquid syllabus is a dramatic improvement upon the pre-semester welcome email. The use of a photo of a diverse representation of people and a brief welcome video from me should help students feel they belong in our online space and ease their tension about the class. The liquid syllabus also has some basic information about the class, contact information for me, and a link to get started.
The Learning Pact sets expectations for all of us in a way that is collaborative, not punitive. Lastly, the color schemes, and page layout is warm and inviting.
Course Card
I like this Course Card, as it welcomes students and relates to class content. It relates to students in that the hands in the image have a large diversity of skin tones. These skin tones reflect our student population. Minoritized students may feel a more welcoming image if they can see themselves represented in the course.
This class for this Course Card is Intercultural Communication. The image of people from different cultures embracing our multicultural world fits well with the class content.
Homepage
This homepage serves as a kindness cue of social inclusion for students in many ways. At the top of the homepage is a banner that explicitly "welcome(s)" students. The text below is written in a tone that is caring for the students and enthusiastic about the course content. There is also a video where I introduce myself, my relevant background and experience, and my love for teaching. Lastly, there is specific contact information.
Class Survey
This "Getting to Know You" survey allows students the space to voice any concerns that they might have to the instructor in a confidential, warmly solicited way. The nature of the questions demonstrate that the instructor is concerned about the students' level of readiness; technologically, emotionally, and otherwise.
Ice Breaker
The ice breaker assignment is called "What Matters to You." Students are instructed to think about their core values and find an object that represents them in some fundamental way. In a brief video, students share that object and discuss their connection to it. Then they post replies to 2 classmates discussing their commonalities, thus fostering a sense of belonging by connecting students with each other's real-world experiences.
Bumper Video
This video is made for a course in Intercultural Communication. One of the modules in the course addresses barriers to intercultural communication, such as stereotypes. The instructional purpose of this video is to help students understand the stereotype effect, which includes stereotype lift and stereotype threat. I expect it to improve my students' learning experience by isolating this one concept from the other course material on stereotypes, such as stereotype formation, media representation, etc.
Microlecture
This microlecture fits well with intercultural communication course in that it discusses one of the preeminent models of culture shock. The learning objective is for the students to be able to explain the Revised W-Shaped Culture Shock Model. This microlecture does exactly that. Separating this material from the other major subtopics in the chapter (The ABC's of culture shock, Underlying Factors, & Tips for Managing Culture Shock), should focus my students' attention and improve their learning experience.