Humanized Online Teaching Showcase
Nate Steffen, Political Science 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.
At the outset of the Humanizing Academy I felt like my online classes were in fairly good shape. I had video recorded lectures for each week, ways for students to interact with me as the instructor and other options for students to connect with me via Zoom meetings. What was really lacking was students being aware of who I was and that's exactly where the humanizing element came in! I honestly did not know exactly what to expect from this Academy, but I feel like as I reflect and look back on my six weeks I have gained a ton of knowledge and tools to add to my online teaching tool belt! Prior to the Academy I was a bit intimidated with all the videos we would have to be creating, but the instructors for the course really helped out so much by easing those worries. I had never created a YouTube clip prior to the Academy and now I feel like it will be something I am doing all the time for my courses!
Where I am.
As we move through the month of August and begin to really consider and ponder how to approach online teaching I feel a new sense of urgency to put these tools to use. I really enjoyed learning about the liquid syllabus and the ways in which it can assist students in both priming the course, but also learning a bit about me. It's an opportunity to open up a dialogue with students and as good to know that it isn't a replacement to a more formal syllabus for the course, but simply gives an additional layer of creativity and helps to make the course much more dynamic.
Where I am going.
I am certainly going to be implementing these practices and tools into my online POS 2 course for Butte Community College this Fall term. I enjoyed learning about the Self-Affirming Ice Breaker and is definitely something I would like to take advantage of in terms of lending itself as an opportunity to learn more about the students in the class. The fall term is right around the corner and it's a great time to put these skills I have learned and acquired over the last several weeks.
Liquid Syllabus
I plan to use the liquid syllabus as a place for students to gain information about me and the course in a fun and fulfilling way. It is intuitive, easy to navigate, and connects with students on a personal level. As students learn a little bit about me they move further down to learn all about what the course is about. I discuss a little bit about attendance and how the class works. The Week I Success Kit is a great way for students to get going in a positive direction once the semester begins. What I believe really helps to gain the trust of students is where I lay out the pact expectations and the learning partnership. In part this is where I give students at least five different and distinct items that they can expect from me.
Course Card
I choose this course card because it fits some of the criteria for social inclusion. It is colorful, warm, welcoming, and showing people of all races and background. In addition it goes beyond a representation of the subject matter of the course.
I believe my humanizing homepage is an excellent kindness cue of social inclusion for students particularly because I have embedded a video I made from YouTube welcoming students! It's a space where students can feel welcome learn a little more about the course, myself, and know they have landed in the correct place. I include a few recent pictures of myself in the welcome video and that helps to add a personal touch so that students know that I'm not some robot teaching the course and that I have a life outside of studying political science!
I choose to go with an ice breaker in Flip. In this ice breaker students review the list of values provided below and select 2-3 values that are important to them. On their own, they write about how these values come into play in your life.
creativity
community/relationships with family and friends
connection with nature
political views
independence
kindness
learning and gaining knowledge
love of animals
money, wealth, or status
your social/cultural/racial identity
honesty or integrity
I believe this is a healthy list of items for students to choose from and hopefully students are able to find two or three of them that will resonate with them. It gives them agency and helps me to learn a little bit more about what matters to them!
I choose to create a bumper video that would showcase the course concept of federalism. The instructional purpose of this video is for the notion of federalism to come to life for students in a highly impactful and interactive way. Political scientists love to use all sorts of analogies and using a cake to describe both types of federalism from the past and present is no exception. I expect students to have a stronger grasp on the concept of federalism (which shows up in Ch. 3) and to be able to connect with some of these images so that it truly sticks! It's not the most exciting topic to cover so my hope is that through this bumper video I have given it some life.
My micro-lecture was on Federalism, but goes into a few of the finer details which differentiates it from my bumper video. It fits within the design of the course because it is a key course concept that is applicable across many of the future chapters we cover. It identifies federalism by first discussing what it is. Second, it places the political and historical events that led the founders to design a system of federalism (with which I provide some key examples). Finally, the video looks at some of the challenges that federalism is up against in the present day. Through this last part I hope and expect that students will see federalism working in their everyday life.