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About This Site
About This Site
Welcome to the Humanizing Online STEM Academy! In this 6-week course you will explore strategies to help all students -- especially students who must overcome biases and institutional barriers -- succeed in your online STEM classes. We’ll show you how to humanize the online course environment so students can more easily relate to what might be an otherwise difficult learning experience. The practices you’ll see also help students to stay motivated to complete the work and to feel they belong both in your specific class and in STEM disciplines. Let’s get started!
don't be a robot
Welcome from Michelle, Mike, and Kim
Welcome from Michelle, Mike, and Kim
We will serve as your course facilitators and ... we are not robots! We are California higher education educators, just like you, with a commitment to improving the inclusivity in online STEM courses to support the success of more students.
You'll get to know us pretty quickly in the first week of our course. For now, please take a few moments to view our video so we can extend a warm greeting to you. See you soon!
Michelle, Mike, and Kim
ESSENTIALS
ESSENTIALS
Course Outcomes
Course Outcomes
The assignments you complete in this course are designed to scaffold your learning to support your professional growth and achieve our course goals. This will be done through hands-on course design, content creation, discussions with your peers, and critical self-reflections.
Through the successful completion of this course, you will:
Critically examine the need to support the non-cognitive components of learning in online STEM courses to create a sense of belonging for all learners.
Examine the potential of culturally responsive teaching to support more minoritized students through the STEM academic pathway.
Critically reflect on your teaching practices as you evaluate culturally responsive teaching pedagogy.
Redesign an existing online STEM course with eight humanized online teaching elements that support the non-cognitive components of learning, foster an inclusive course climate, and provide a more equitable learning experience for all students.
Use digital technologies to construct social presence online and foster meaningful interactions.
Contribute to fostering a culture of learning in STEM teaching by openly sharing eight humanized online teaching strategies with a CC-BY-NC license.
Our Pact
Our Pact
The successful completion of this professional development course involves a partnership between you and us. As we enter this course together, we must be mindful of the expectations that each of us will uphold. Please take a moment to read them now and mentally commit to them as you begin this course.
What you can expect of us:
As your facilitators, we will be actively present in your professional learning experience.
We will respond to your questions within 24-hours and provide individualized support in response to your needs.
We will provide feedback on your assignments within 72 hours.
We will create a positive and supportive environment where you will feel safe to experiment.
As educators ourselves, we understand that you are busy and that you have many competing priorities. When needed, we will be flexible to support your successful completion of this course.
What we will expect of you:
You will log into our course each week no later than Monday evening to evaluate the work and due dates in the current module.
Each week, you will invest about 10 hours of time to the coursework and assignments.
You will submit all assignments on time. If you identify a concern with meeting a due date, you will contact us directly early in the week to discuss your concern and come to an agreement about an extension if needed.
If necessary, you will apply feedback to assignments and resubmit them to earn a completion.
You will challenge yourself to try new things, keep an open mind, and recognize that mistakes are a vital part of the learning process. We all make them and we will celebrate them together.
You will be thoughtful in your interactions with peers while taking extra care to respect diverse perspectives and support the professional growth of educators with varying years of experience.
Our Teaching Philosophy
Our Teaching Philosophy
This class is a community. You are not in this alone. To be a successful community, each member must be regularly present in this course, be curious, have a positive attitude, and a willingness to help one another. Each member of this community is different and those differences will strengthen your learning by yielding unique insights drawn from diverse experiences.
Moving outside of your comfort zone is necessary to learn and grow. Keep in mind that when you feel struggle, it is a sign that you are learning. We will celebrate that feeling. When mistakes happen (and they will!), we will recognize them as learning moments that contribute to our growth.
Let’s work together to make this learning experience for everyone!
Have A Question?
Have A Question?
CONTACT US THROUGH THE CANVAS INBOX.
CONTACT US THROUGH THE CANVAS INBOX.
If you contact us Monday-Friday, one of us will respond within 24 hours. We do our best to reply on weekends but we are human too and have been known to take breaks. :)
ASK A PEER IN THE Q&A DISCUSSION
ASK A PEER IN THE Q&A DISCUSSION
If you have a general question about the course, please ask it in the Q&A Discussion. Your question will be seen by your peers and if anyone has the answer -- by all means, answer it!
WEEK 1 SUCCESS KIT
WEEK 1 SUCCESS KIT
Online courses move quickly and getting off to a good start is the best way to prepare yourself for success. Read this section carefully and you'll have all you need to start this course on the right foot.
This is a fully online course. You will use Canvas to log into the course (log in link is in the footer of this site) and all of the course content.
This 6-week course is organized into five modules, preceded by a Getting Started module. Modules 1-4 are one week long and module 5 is two weeks long.
Each module will officially begin on Monday. However, we will open each new module on the preceding Saturday to accommodate those of you who wish to work during the weekend.
Each module will have assignments with staggered due dates.
What You Will Need for Week One
What You Will Need for Week One
A Humanizing Sandbox - This is a Canvas course hosted on your institution's instance of Canvas containing the content of the online course you will be humanizing. If permitted by your institution, please set the course visibility to Public so you can submit links to course pages for our review. In Canvas, the Public setting functions like an Unlisted YouTube video – only those who you provide the link to can access it.
Access to a computer with a webcam
A free Google account*
A free Canva account*
*If you don't have one, you may create one now or wait until prompted to do so in week one.
Week 1 Due Dates
Week 1 Due Dates
In week one, you will complete a brief "Getting Started" module and Module 1. A list of the week one assignments and due dates is provided below. We recommend that you add these dates to your calendar now to support your week one success.
By Wednesday at 11:59pm:
Participate in the Ice Breaker (Getting Started Module)
Submit the Getting to Know You Survey (Getting Started Module)
Complete the Getting Started Quiz* (Getting Started Module)
*Once you complete the Getting Started Quiz, Module 1 will be automatically unlocked for you.
By Friday at 11:59pm:
Complete the Classroom Cultural-Context Inventory (Module 1)
Participate in the Course Card Discussion (Module 1)
By Sunday at 11:59pm
Submit Your Humanized Homepage (Module 1)
Share Your Homepage in VoiceThread (Module 1)
Complete the Module 1 Quiz (Module 1)
Participate in the End of Module 1 Check-In (optional - Module 1)
HOW GRADING WORKS
HOW GRADING WORKS
Our Grading Philosophy
Our Grading Philosophy
There will be no grades in this course – well, almost no grades.
Quizzes and surveys will have a percentage score (this is a requirement in Canvas), and you need to get 100% on all of them. The good news is that they can be taken as many times as you need to earn 100%. We think of quizzes as learning activities, not as summative assessments.
For the assignments, you will be provided with clear instructions and a clear rubric. You will use the rubric to identify the success criteria and guide your work. After you submit an assignment, we will review it using the rubric. All areas in the rubric need to be marked "Bravo!" (our word for "complete"!) in order to earn a Completion for that assignment. If it is not complete ("Almost There"), you will have the opportunity to review our feedback, revise your work, and resubmit the assignment to earn a Completion.
This transparent grading strategy is incorporated to support your growth and create a safe, trustworthy environment for experimentation.
Digital Badge
Digital Badge
If you successfully complete all assignments and earn 100% on all the quizzes in this course, you will receive a digital badge that you may access and share through Badgr, a digital badging platform. More details will be provided later in the course. Remember, all activities can be repeated and revised until they are complete! Our goal is always to help you become confident with the concepts and practices of humanizing.
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