Humanized Online Teaching Showcase
Tanya Kieselbach, MA Anthropology, 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.
Where I was.
I was already really excited about online teaching long before the covid pandemic hit, but there were no opportunities for me.The covid pandemic was a catalyst for all of us to rethink workspace, and I so appreciate that I was then able to learn about online teaching and to teach online as a result. Participating in POCR programs was immensely helpful in improving my course design. I felt good about my online courses also because I always make a point out of monitoring them closely and reaching out to students as soon as I got the impression they needed help. Having said that, the Humanizing Academy was a huge challenge for me because of the emphasis on video in creating interactive assignments and instructor presence. The challenges were associated with connectivity issues - apps like flip need adequate bandwidth - and with my reluctance to use platforms like youtube. I don't like having videos or even photos of me posted online anymore because of the dubious uses of facial recognition software and inappropriate uses of photos or videos of persons without their knowledge and consent. I don't trust the cyberspace platforms to keep information safe, and in recent years, I only uploaded photos and videos to sites directly affiliated with colleges. I hadn't used Adobe Express before, either. So, just about everything in the course was new to me!
Where I am.
I don't see online teaching and learning as separate from remote work in other industries, and so many people across the board want to work online. And there are solid reasons why! Online teaching, or other remote work, can be a real equalizer because its flexibility allows caregivers to participate with less stress, and it allows people for whom the in-person work environment is not a source of joy to learn and work without having to deal daily with the power struggles and politics at their work place. In other words, it can create a much more peaceful work environment. Plus: not having to commute is a blessing for people and for the planet. Remember the brief rewilding that begun to take place during the covid lockdowns? And the dip in carbon emissions? I'm not saying we should have more lockdowns, but since we are in a budding climate crisis and a time of mass extinctions, any kind of remote work has to be promoted. This includes online learning options.
Where I am going.
The better our online courses are, the more we can promote online learning and the more we can help our students succeed. I'm totally on board with creating better and better online learning environments. The challenges I encountered when taking the Humanizing Academy course made me more aware of the challenges my students might experience in taking online courses, such as bandwidth issues and learning about new platforms or online environments. I still want to know more about how to protect our identities when we integrate platforms in order to post photos and videos in discussions. Our online learning environments have to be safe as well as feel safe. Along with this, I want to know more about the new challenges we face teaching online courses: bots and AI-generated content in assignments. I had to evict four bots from one of my courses this semester, and I updated my syllabi to include a statement about AI generated submissions. Having said all that, making online learning environments inclusive and inviting remains a huge priority, too. My goal is to make online courses safe, productive, and welcoming.
Liquid Syllabus
The link to this syllabus can go out in a welcome email that I can send to students before the start of the semester. In this liquid syllabus, I welcome the students and I introduce myself. I tell them a little about myself and about the course. The syllabus lets students know what to expect, which is important because not knowing what to expect causes stress, and most of us have enough stress, already. Providing this information helps students be less apprehensive. Reaching out to student in this informative and welcoming manner lets them know that I care about them.
Course Card
I chose this image for the course card because it shows students studying in a relaxed atmosphere. The persons in this photo look at the camera - and therefore the viewer - in a friendly and inviting manner. I find that this photo conveys an impression of welcome an inclusiveness.
Homepage
This landing page wecomes students and gives them a clear starting point for the course. The landing page links to resources that students can explore right away. This makes students more confident because they know at a glance what actions they need to take.
The landing page also encourages students to contact me and provides them with a resource for doing that. I explain that I am here to help them. In this way, I reach out to students and let them know that they are important to me.
Getting to Know You Survey
The "Getting to Know You" survey is set up to discover the individual student's needs for their learning success, and it lets them know that I care about them as students and as individuals.
Ice Breaker or Wisdom Wall
The ice breaker discussion group is an opportunity for students to interact and to share what they already know about learning, or about the topic of the course. Sharing a learning experience is forgrounded and sharing about Mesoamerica is an alternative. With this assignment, students can support each other while they learn from each other, and get to know each other better, too.
Bumper Video
This video introduces the module on ancient Mesoamerica's superstructure. It gives a quick overview of the subtopics and explains what types of sources we can use to understand something as elusive as the thoughts and beliefs of an archaeological population.
Microlecture
This microlecture supports students in accomplishing mastery of SLO B. for this course: analyze, synthesize, and comprehend materials associated with various time periods associated with specific precontact Mesoamerican traditions (e.g. archaeological information on the Paleo-Indian period, Archaic, Preclassic, Classic and Postclassic periods, and in such areas as central Mexico and the Maya area.) This lecture focuses on Tenochtitlan, the capitol city of the Aztecs, its layout, engineering challenges, and mythical dimension. The lecture enables students to evaluate and appreciate the tight connection between the sacred and the mundane in the Aztec understanding of the world.