Online Small Groups and Student-Faculty Connections
In this recent poster, I presented some results from implementing a novel teaching practice during COVID-19 restrictions.
In this recent poster, I presented some results from implementing a novel teaching practice at UNLV's Best Teaching Practices Expo.
PBH300 - PreCapstone in Public Health is a required course for public health majors. Students in the class have expressed an interest in further career development and workplace preparation for their internships and future professional positions. UNLV Career Services has developed a helpful resource, their Career Readiness and Life Design Program, which is available through the Student Resources menu on WebCampus. I integrated this program into PBH300 to leverage existing university resources and help my students develop their career skills and professionalism.
Students are required to earn six Knowledge Badges in Communication, Professionalism, Cultural Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, Critical Thinking & Problem Solving, and Leadership. Once they earn a badge, they upload it to their Badgr Backpack and submit a screenshot to an assignment in WebCampus. The badge content is offered through LinkedIn Learning, so completing the courses also helps students develop their professional presence on LinkedIn before graduation.
I surveyed students in my Fall 22 section of PBH300 about their experiences with the Career Readiness and Life Design badging program and offered a minimal amount of extra credit to students who responded to the anonymous survey (n=26). Responses were structured on a 5 point Likert scale (Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree). “Agree” and “Strongly Agree” responses are reported here as positives.
65.4% of the students thought the requirements to earn the badges were reasonable and attainable. 22 of 26 students reported that the content in the courses was relevant and valuable as they prepared to enter the workplace. 69.2% of the students though that the courses and quizzes provided new information. In open ended comments, the most commonly reported concern was that the number of points available for the badges was low considering the amount of time they took to complete.
The Career Readiness and Life Design program is available through the "Student Resources" menu on WebCampus. More information is available from Career Services (https://www.unlv.edu/careerservices) and UNLV's Office of Online Education (https://www.unlv.edu/provost/online-education). Badgr (www.badgr.com) is a global platform that allows users to collect, store, and share badges that represent accomplishments or experiences. Students and other users can access this service for free. LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda) is a professional learning platform that provides training on a wide variety of topics (www.linkedin.com/learning). UNLV students and employees receive free access to LinkedIn Learning with their ACE accounts.
Other UNLV instructors should consider this practice if they teach a course that emphasizes professional development. The Office of Online Education offers a guide to the badging program for students and instructors. To manage the administrative side within the course, consider creating an assignment for each badge with a file upload submission format. Badges in my course are currently worth 10 points each, with all 6 badges representing 26% of the points available in the course. Based on current student feedback, instructors may want to consider increasing the point values for these assignments.
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