Marlow Lemons: Adjunct Professor at Compton College
This site provides examples of instructional resources created in the Humanizing Online STEM Academy, a professional development program funded by the California Education Learning Lab and administered by the Foothill DeAnza Community College District.
Before taking the Humanizing STEM course, I thought I was an expert in making Canvas course sites simply because I knew how to set up a front page, posted my notes in the Modules, and made my own self-graded assessments in the Quizzes sections. Then, I just made myself available to students in my office hours.
Now, I am at a place where I realize that making a robust syllabus and a perceived 'structured' Canvas site is not enough to get my students engaged. I realize that my students need to know that I am not a robot, nor am I a professor that is disengaged with their learning process. I know how how to make a course that helps students see that I am human just like them, and that I want to see them succeed. Moreover, I know how to better assess my students' performances and provide them with positive feedback that promotes student growth mindset.
I will say that I was not initially a fan of Adobe Express, but I am going to practice with it more because I see tremendous benefits of using it to enhance my online course sites. I really enjoyed using Google sites. It is incredible! But most importantly, I learned how to think like a student and understand how they struggle and persevere. I also learned equity-based practices to help my Black and Brown students succeed.
What I love about my liquid syllabus is that it is warming, accessible, and interactive (containing videos). It also starts with detailed instructions to help students start my course on a good start and a good foot. I plan to make a liquid syllabus for all of my online courses now. I will also mention in the PDF of my formal syllabus to visit my liquid syllabus.
I chose this course card image because is shows a college student of color completing what appears to be mathematics. Teaching at a Hispanic-serving institute, I have a vested interest in seeing my Black and Brown students succeed. So, I wanted to use a picture that would inspire them to learn and succeed. I chose the yellow fade only because yellow is my favorite color.
The top of the course site welcomes all of my students to the course. I believe that simple is modern. So, I reduced the options on the middle sidebar to just those options used in the course. Below the title is another welcome showing gratitude that they enrolled in the course. Finally, the video allows them to see me and my personality rather than a picture. Plus, it encourages them to do their best and allows me to say that I am supporting them in their journey to pass the course.
My "Getting to Know You" survey asks eight questions. I chose 8 questions because I did not want to make it too long and they lose interest in answering the questions. Also, I made sure to ask only the questions that I was interested in to get to know my students better. An important part of the online classroom environment is creating this "community of learners" environment in which they learn from me, I learn from them, and they learn from each other. Thus, it was important to ask (as one of my questions) what expectations they have of me as their instructor. This, in my opinion, shows kindness and social inclusion of my students.
I chose the Wisdom Wall. Creating this assignment allowed my students to give advice to future students so that they do not feel nervous about taking the course. This allowed the students to support each other just in case they did not believe me that they can make it through the course. To the students, it helps remove math anxiety which is common in non-traditional students who have not taken mathematics in a long time.
I loved this activity because it served two purposes. First, it allowed students to identify their easiest and most difficult concepts of the course. This can serve as an appreciation-mentioning or a venting opportunity. Second, it lets me know what sections I need to put more focus and care to... perhaps, making a microlecture on to make those concepts easier. I enjoyed this activity, specifically, because it allows me to reemphasize the theme of my statistics courses. It allows me to ask how they see their careers categorized: either as a data collector, a data analyst, a data presenter, or a data decision maker.
This microlecture fits well with my course because it provides a convenient introduction lecture into probability before it gets into its more complicated concepts. Microlectures also emphasize important milestones in the course that future concepts will connect back to. The video allows students to refer back to this for reinforcement.