The Humanizing Online STEM Academy

How can supporting the affective dimensions of learning improve the STEM academic pathway for all students?

To interrogate this guiding question, participants will:

1. Evaluate data that demonstrates how STEM disproportionately impacts Black, Latinx, Indigenous and women students.

2. Identify the role that culture, emotions, and cognitive underminers play in a student's ability to achieve their full academic potential.

3. Evaluate your course through the lens of students who are minoritized.

4. Create a course card that provides a warm invitation to your students.

5. Create a visually appealing course homepage (with an accessible course banner) that serves as a kindness cue of social inclusion for students at the start of your course.

Why is your imperfect human presence so important to your online students' learning?

To interrogate this guiding question, participants will:

1. Reflect on the opportunities that your imperfect, human presence provides for establishing psychological trust at the start of your online course.

2. Increase your instructor presence by creating an accessible, mobile-video creation workflow.

3. Humanize pre-course contact with a Liquid Syllabus to foster trust and model yourself as a learning partner.

How does warm demander pedagogy encourage students to apply themselves at a higher level and build intellectual capacity?

To interrogate this guiding question, participants will:

1. Employ a survey to identify high opportunity students who will benefit most from high-touch interactions.

2. Prepare your online course to support warm demander pedagogy.

3. Reflect on the components of warm, wise feedback for diverse students and consider how they will impact your future teaching.

4. Provide warm, actionable feedback on a peer's Liquid Syllabus.

How can student-student interactions be used to mitigate threat and build community?

To interrogate this guiding question, participants will:

1. Improve your Liquid Syllabus by applying peer feedback.

2. Examine opportunities for integrating student-student interactions in STEM courses.

3. Design two assignments that foster connections among students, encourage metacognition, and improve students' internal narratives about their abilities.

4. Identify a person who has taken at least one online asynchronous course that you will interview in Module 5.

How can brief instructional videos be used to foster your teaching presence and support the learning needs of more students?

To interrogate this guiding question, participants will:

1. Identify the essential tools and equipment for recording and hosting effective videos.

2. Create an Adobe Spark video and discuss two key findings from an interview with online students and reflect on the findings of your peers.

3. Create a brief, imperfect welcome video that greets students and shares your personal warmth.

4. Create a course bumper video that is less than 3-minutes and serves one clear, instructional purpose in your course.

What have you learned over the past six weeks and how will your online course change?

To interrogate this guiding question, participants will:

1. Create a microlecture video that is less than 10-minutes and is aligned with at least one measurable learning objective in your course.

2. Develop a showcase of your eight humanized online teaching practices and share it with an open license.

3. Reflect on your overall experience in the Humanized Online STEM Academy by sharing at least one insightful reflection with peers.

4. Provide feedback to improve future Academy offerings.