Humanizing Online STEM Showcase
Elise Hazel, STEM Specialist Instructional Designer at Cal Poly Humboldt
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.
Where I Was
Before Humanizing, I was a newcomer to the instructional design scene. Since I began this career in June, I have learned a lot very quickly and have been a part of some amazing projects and professional developments that gave me a lot of useful tools to do my job well. It felt overwhelming knowing that even though I was starting to get ahold of certain things, that there was still so much to learn.
Where I Am
I am now in a place where I know which tools are essential for me to create accessible and high quality content. Many of the overwhelming feelings have diminished because while there are multiple tools to use for actions such as creating captioned videos, making a presentation, or creating a survey, I have been given the opportunity to hone in on which of these multiple tools works best for me and for my audience in terms of accessibility. This experience has given me a lot of insight into how seemingly small elements of a course or course materials can make a huge impact on how people are perceiving my course, myself, and my content. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to receive feedback on my work from other instructional designers, professors, and my Humanizing facilitators.
Where I Am Headed
I see myself taking on a lot more instructional design responsibility in the next year. I have more confidence in my pedagogy and my craftsmanship of courses and course content after working through the Humanizing course. I want to use what I learned in tools like Adobe Express to create exciting new content for faculty and for my department. I also want to use the knowledge and empathy I have gained towards students as a key component of assisting STEM faculty in their course design or redesign. My hope is that if I keep humanizing at the forefront of my work, that students can benefit from it drastically.
Liquid Syllabus
My liquid syllabus is likely to be one of the first materials students interact with in my course on Facilitating Mid Semester Feedback. The liquid syllabus communicates positively, and has welcome messages throughout. Our coordinator bios sound personable and give students insights into who we are as people-not just professionals! The MSF process and the expectations for them facilitating are clearly communicated clearly and with kindness. Lastly, my liquid syllabus attempts to communicate that their learning and experiences are in partnership with me, by conveying that I am more of a mentor and guide to them than I am an instructor, and that collaboration and support in this process is what makes it successful.
Course Card
Mid Semester Feedback relies on student voices to provide faculty member with insights into how effective their teaching is. I chose the image of the hands offering word bubbles because I want students to know that all of their voices and experiences are important. My goal is that this course card (and other items in this course) convey to facilitators that their contributions are appreciated, and this program would not be successful without them!
Homepage
This serene and welcoming homepage includes kindness cues in the welcome message that is intended to extend gratitude to new facilitators for signing up for this program. Included are many affirming messages, anecdotes from the coordinators about their experiences , and it does not contain too much information that may give students cognitive overload. My hope is that newcomers feel welcome, and a sense of ease when beginning the process of mid semester feedback facilitation.
Getting to Know You Survey
The two questions from this survey that I feel will best help inform my teaching/mentorship are:
8. "Is there anything you anticipate needing extra support on during this semester as a MSF facilitator. "
For question 8, I can use student data to ensure that students have what they need going into the process. Additionally, I will use question 8 to get a better understanding of who my mentees are and what they may need extra support with.
10. "Do you have any questions or curiosities about the MSF facilitation process? If so, list them here!"
For question 10, I will look for commonalities in the responses of student data. If I notice an alarming number of similar items, I will make sure that those are addressed in our meeting, or if the responses are more personal in nature, I will ensure that I reach out to the student to make sure their questions are answered before they are expected to get underway with the MSF process.
Wisdom Wall
The wisdom wall will function as a place for those who facilitated Mid Semester Feedback in the Fall semester to tell stories or offer advice that they feel would be useful to newcoming MSF facilitators. Everyone that facilitated MSF this fall had different experiences, and didn't require a lot of collaboration with eachother. It would be useful for there to be a place where reflections, trial and error, and funny stories could be shared to ensure that those who are entering the MSF facilitation process in the Spring can learn and not feel as alone or nervous about conducting the MSF process on their own. My hope is to also encourage mentorship with this wall, as some MSF facilitators may be returning in the spring to participate again. I would like it if those entering the training program could recognize some friendly faces that told the stories, in hopes that they may feel a connection with them before Mid-Semester Feedback kicks off.
Bumper Video
This video walks through the importance of communicating results of the MSF process positively to faculty. I included this video to demonstrate an example of how feedback needs to be delivered with care. I felt that it was important to make this video due to experiences with myself and other facilitators who received significant amounts of agreements on aspects of the course/faculty member that they were providing feedback on that had a really negative affect. This video was intended to show an example of how to communicate constructively without compromising the integrity of the report or the data collected in the classroom.
Microlecture
This microlecture fits with my course because it goes over the different aspects of conducting Mid Semester Feedback in courses of all modalities: asynchronous, synchronous, and face to face. I expect it to improve the learning experiences of new Mid Semester Feedback facilitators by highlighting the differences to be considered when conducting MSF sessions in classes of different modalities.