Humanized Online Teaching Showcase
Mark Mavis, Math Instructor, Butte College
This site provides examples of instructional resources created in the Humanizing Online Teaching Academy, a professional development program at Butte College, funded by the Culturally Responsive Pedagogy & Practices grant from the California Community College Chancellor's Office.
Reflections
Where I was.
I had a very dry online class. My recorded lectures were fine. I used Zoom and OneNote to make student-friendly lectures that were equivalent to what they would see in my face-to-face class. But I didn't do anything that offered my personality. I didn't even have a picture of myself!! I would send emails to the class on a regular basis, but that was my only way of communicating with them.
Where I am.
The students in my next online class will know what I look like!! My Homepage and Syllabus will have a picture of me as well as a welcoming video. I plan to record a weekly video of myself that will summarize what happened in the past week and what they can expect in the coming week. I also hope to share a bit of myself like I would in a face-to-face class.
Where I am going.
I've been exposed to online tools I never knew existed. . . Google Sites, Flip, Adobe Express. Each one of those was a struggle when I was completing an assignment, but I want to revisit each one and ask how it could enhance the learning experience for my students.
Liquid Syllabus
I will provide the Liquid Syllabus a week before our class starts. I hope they will get a feeling that I'm a real instructor and want to be "hands on" as best as I can for an online class.
I want them to feel like they made the right choice by signing up for my class and they have a clear picture of what they need to do in the first week to be successful.
Course Card
Word Clouds are a fun and colorful way to convey what the students will be getting ready to learn.
I think it's playful.
Homepage
When students start on the Canvas page for our class, they will see this inviting Welcome!! It includes my picture so they know I'm real and what I look like as well as contact information and links for how to get started Week 1.
Getting to Know You Survey
I always give a survey in my face-to-face statistics classes. It gives students a chance to share some personal information as well as a chance for me to gather real data that I can use as examples later in the course.
I've included a few new questions that give students a chance to reflect on their feelings about the course and to consider challenges they may face early on while taking an online class.
Ice Breaker or Wisdom Wall
I start by explaining the purpose of the Wisdom Wall; to share an experience from our course with a future student. The purpose is to provide encouragement to the next semester's statistics students.
I also include my own experience taking statistics and how often I was in my professor's office hours.
Bumper Video
This Bumper Video used a new-to-me tool: Adobe Express. It was a fun way to share a quick summary of an important feature of the TI-84 graphing calculator.
I will share this near the end of Week 3 when they have been learning a lot of descriptive statistics.
By following these instructions, students will be able to summarize any data set with the terms we've learned at this point in the class.
Microlecture
I have gotten used to recording lectures on Zoom while using OneNote as my whiteboard. Students can see me, hear my voice, and watch me write just like our face-to-face students get to see.
After viewing this Microlecture, students will be able to draw, label and find the area under a Normal Curve by using their TI-84 graphing calculator.
This will improve their learning experience because it summarizes the three ways area can be found and uses one tool to bring those three ways together.