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.
On March 20th, 2020, the school campus at Cuyamaca College suddenly shut down due to COVID, and we, as faculty, were informed to teach remotely from home using Zoom for our lectures and classes. Prior to that, I had very little knowledge on how to use different tools when it comes to technology and teaching online. The next semester, I had the opportunity to take an online class called Teaching Online Course (TOC) to help with remote teaching and designing our Canvas courses to support students who are learning from a distance and not being able to meet in person.
The class was very informative as it enhanced my teaching abilities and provided me with some new tools to make my course better and to serve online students. However, the class did not teach us how to create videos, use Canvas Studio, or any other type of media. I have never recorded or made captioning for a video on YouTube prior to this course. I have also never used Adobe Express or Flip software and have not once incorporated a survey such as the “Getting to Know you Survey” or created a liquid syllabus.
Last semester, I heard from a few math faculty members in my college, who took the Humanizing STEM Academy, that this course is an excellent and very informative course. I anticipated that I would be able to learn many new things and apply it in my online courses. I would also be able to add many humanizing elements to make it more welcoming, accessible, and inclusive. Recognizing the opportunity for further improvement, I enrolled with a heartbeat in the course in the hope of learning new strategies and transforming my courses.
After taking this class, I am now equipped with a lot of new cool tools that will help me HELP my students to be successful.
To be honest, at the beginning of the course, I was nervous and scared. The first week, I was intimidated by this course and afraid not only of the amount of work it requires but also afraid of the content and the new tools I would learn about. But this class provided me with the space to be creative. I am confident in using the tools, and I am confident in my abilities to apply all the skills, ideas, concepts, and techniques provided to me as a student in this Academy.
This course is transformative and excellent. I greatly benefited from this course. It is one of the best training experiences I have participated in so far. I learned about Adobe Express, which is a great tool for online teaching. In that module, I created multiple videos with creative elements. I had an option to choose the colors, videos, themes, music, and images. Additionally, I had the chance to learn how to create a liquid syllabus that serves as a first contact tool to welcome my students to the course the week before the semester begins.
I am now confident in applying a wide array of new tools in my own teaching and learning. When I look back now to the start of the course, I say “Wow”, I did it! This course freed me from my anxiety about applying technology in my teaching practice and allowed me to be creative and challenged me to have a final product that I am proud of. I will keep revising and refining my work as learning is a continuous process for me.
My experience enrolling in the Humanizing STEM Academy has been so beneficial and transformative. I have acquired many valuable insights and strategies in making my classes environment safe, welcoming, and supportive. I have gained a lot of knowledge on creating various activities that engage the students and enhance their interactions with each other, and with me, as their instructor. What I appreciate the most about this course is the amount of support and step-by-step instructions and guidance with every assignment (even though it was time-consuming 😊, but it is worth it). Without these clear instructions, information, and weekly instructor contacts, I do not think I would have made it to the end. Having a toolbox of valuable humanizing elements that send kindness cues to my students such as you are welcome, valued, supported will help me to foster a class community that allows students to thrive and achieve their potential. I strive to grow professionally and keep refining my STEM courses to be able to eliminate the equity gaps that are persistent in online courses and eliminate all the barriers that prevent students from succeeding in their classes.
My liquid syllabus serves as a first contact tool to welcome my students to the course the week before the semester starts. This syllabus is mobile-friendly, and it displays an overview of the course. I included a welcome letter and a welcome video to humanize myself and to give students a first impression about me that - I am approachable and I care about their learning before even the course begins. Additionally, the liquid syllabus serves as a brief introduction to the course, and it sends warm greetings to students using encouraging and welcoming language.
The syllabus includes several elements such as "Our Pact", a list of mutual expectations between the instructor and students, my teaching philosophy, Week 1 Success Kit, and course information and student learning outcomes. My teaching philosophy conveys to students that I have high expectations for them, and I believe that they have the capacity to succeed if they invest in their learning, put in effort, and work hard to learn the material. Finally, I included a few links to resources at the college to support the students and give them guidance on how to navigate through the different venues in the college to be successful.
My rationale for selecting this course card image is that I love the positive message that this imagery sends to students of being capable of succeeding in this class when they practice, put in effort, and when they have growth mindset and motivation.
The tree symbolizes the growth in each of these “ingredients for success”. That growth mindset is so important in learning as it allows students to persist and achieve their potential. It also illustrates that these ingredients are essential components to students' success.
My Calculus II Homepage serves as a place for students to find important information on how to be successful in the course, especially at the beginning of the semester. I included a friendly banner at the top with colorful imagery that is inviting and cheerful with the words “Welcome to Calculus II”. Under that image I have a bitmoji of myself welcoming the students to the course assuring them I am excited to meet all of them and support them in this class. Additionally, I have included Weekly Modules containing week 1 orientation module and syllabus link. Underneath it , I have Quick Links, and Instructor Contact Information with various options for students to seek help, and there is a friendly picture of myself at the top. At the end of the Home page, I included a few buttons to allow students to navigate through the course easily.
In summary, my Homepage serves as a “kindness cue” of social inclusion for students and sends a message to them that they are welcomed, cared for, included, and will be supported by your instructor.
This survey is assigned during the first week of the semester. I developed 10 questions that will help me to get to know my students right from the start, identify areas where they need support with, build community between the students and the instructor, and learn about what their preferences are when it comes to online teaching and learning.
Gathering a little bit of information about my students is a good practice that helps me to recognize which students need more attention by providing them with individual and personal support. Additionally, this humanizing element shows that I care about my students, and I value their individuality, their backgrounds, and cultures. I give them a chance to express their fears, concerns, and consider their suggestions and feedback on aspects associated with the course. This survey "serves as a kindness cue of social inclusion for students" [Humanizing STEM cohort 10].
Some of the questions I included are:
What are your fears about this class? What is the one thing that is most likely to interfere with your success in this class?
If people would describe you with one word, what would that word be and Why?
My icebreaker activity is called “In Two Words”, it is designed in a meaningful way using Flip. The objective of this assignment is to have students share something about themselves using two words, have meaningful replies to their instructor and their peers which empowers the student-to-student interaction component.
Flip does not only bring the power of the social presence with video but also it is a transparent activity that encourages students to share something valued and significant about themselves. When students listen to their peers’ stories or shared information, this fosters empathy among the students and makes them vulnerable.
To emphasize my social presence, I included two recorded videos of myself in Flip. The first video, I briefly summarized the prompt to my students, and in the second, I provided the students with a sample response to the prompt to guide them through the process on how to complete the assignment successfully. Sharing information about our lives and some traits people describe us with; we are having an opportunity to get to know each other better and feel welcomed and included. Finally, this activity demonstrates my commitment to valuing community, diversity, and sense of belonging.
This bumper video is a great humanizing element to add to my course. It was made to help students untangle a sticky point -- the indeterminate form “zero over zero”. Many times, students would have a misunderstanding about this ratio when evaluating limits of functions. Therefore, to help them recognize that this ratio is not 1, 0, or infinity, I recorded this short video to remind them about their misconception regarding this form. I included one detailed example in the video to show that even though the function has the form 0/0, yet its limit exists. Students can pause the video and re-listen as many times as they need.
This concept is very important as it reminds the students about the Direct Substitution Property which is the first step in evaluating the limit of a function. If students mess up in this step, this leads to an incorrect solution; they end up with the wrong limit. The concept can be unclear for some students, so I hope the video can clarify a bit of that sticky point and confusion.
Thus, this bumper video serves as a scaffold to provide my students with the extra support they need to succeed in this class.
A microlecture, according to the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, is "a short, recorded audio or video presentation on a single, tightly defined topic." In this video, I chose to discuss and review how to apply the substitution rule to find antiderivatives of composite functions. This concept is one of the important skills needed in Calculus II. In this video, I wanted to remind my students about the learning objective – Apply the substitution rule to find indefinite integrals. This allows the students to know what the video is about and how it will benefit them when the semester starts.
My goal is to include this microlecture video in my “Week 1 Success Kit” to allow students to review this concept (which is a Calculus I topic) during week one before we start with the new integration techniques. This video will serve as a powerful component to their learning; it will help students to have a good review and solid foundation and start with the new material in Calculus II. Students need this skill in Calc. II as this type of integration technique happens to appear in every question they solve when we apply NEW integration techniques. Additionally, I am planning to incorporate these types of videos in my teaching practices and in my other classes such as Calculus I, Calculus III, and differential equations since integration is a topic that students continuously use and apply in upper division math classes.
Finally, “Microlectures are also more student-centered than a classroom learning experience because they support different rhythms of learning” [Humanizing STEM/create a microlecture page). After viewing my microlecture, students should be able to master the learning objective and the concept that was discussed in the video. Students can watch the video, pause it, and re-listen as many times as they want. Thus, this humanizing element is a good resource for them to enhance their learning, and it sends them the “kindness cue” that I am supporting their learning!
