Humanizing Online STEM Showcase
Chris Palmarini, Instructional Technology Specialist - Butte 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.
Reflections
Where I was.
I have been working with faculty on various aspects of course design for a long time, but the vast majority of the questions usually begin as something more mechanical ("How do I...?"), and when we work on something more instructional, I typically let the instructor dictate the level of "human-ness" they bring to the course. I may help them craft instructions, or build a quiz, but only in the past few years have I encouraged a more student-centered approach, and adding more of "themselves" into the course.
Where I am.
I have a much better understanding of several aspects of humanizing, including the need for it, and the value it brings. It was helpful to see actual data about the impact of humanizing strategies, and how STEM fields are particularly in need of improvements. Clearly, all of these techniques are simply good online teaching in any field, but I can see that there are reasons that some areas need more attention, and I will be particularly aware of this when working with STEM faculty.
I also came to the realization that much of what "humanizing" requires falls into two broad categories: personal awareness and content creation. It begins with an awareness of students as people, and manifests in things like the language we use, how and when we communicate, the sorts of rules and boundaries we require, the level of flexibility we provide, etc. But adding a human element online also means using technology tools to do so. Specifically, things like recording audio or video, or other more media-rich elements, can have a huge impact on how students relate to the teacher, and how they feel in the class. But this takes time, and some skill and practice.
Where I am going.
I feel empowered to talk with faculty more deeply about their teaching styles, and how they might bring some of the humanizing elements into it, and why it matters. Our department will be working with the faculty who have also completed the Humanizing Online STEM Academy, and we expect to collaborate on ways to promote the concepts and practices.
These techniques take some time and effort to learn and produce, and frankly, not everyone is up for it. The challenge will be to encourage faculty to take at least small steps toward incorporating more humanized elements in their online courses.
Liquid Syllabus
The liquid syllabus serves as a way to present welcoming and helpful information early on, before the student has actually started work in the class. I made an effort to provide an inviting tone, as well as a sense of where I'm coming from as an instructor, and what students can expect from me.
An online course can seem a little mysterious and confusing at first, so the liquid syllabus also includes several sections of support, like how to get help from me or Canvas Support, some advice for success, and what to do first once the class begins.
Course Card
Astronomy, like so many sciences, suffers from a lack of women and minorities in the field. It also involves a lot of complex scientific equipment, and something like a giant radio dish might look impressive, but can seem abstract and even daunting to students in an introductory level course.
I used the combination of a young, contemporary astronomer (Karlie Noon, from Australia) with a small ordinary telescope to convey a more accessible image of the field, rather than a stereotypical male figure, or large intimidating tech equipment.
Homepage
This initial "Week 1" home page serves as a template for variations throughout the semester, based on the flow of the course (not necessarily weekly). To remain accessible and inviting to students, it only includes a summary of information for the current content, a link to the current module, and relevant support resources.
As the front page to the course, it should generally present a welcoming and helpful entry point. However, home pages can quickly become a stale obstacle unless updated regularly to be relevant and timely, so this format would be updated regularly with information related to the current course content.
Getting to Know You Survey
The "Getting to Know You" survey is part of the first course module, "Welcome and Getting Started." I prefer to keep the survey fairly brief, with a combination of technical and personal questions that will hopefully help me identify students who may have particular challenges during the course, and get a better overall sense of this group of students.
For example, one of the questions is, "How do you plan to access Canvas?", with a choice of devices they may be using. I especially want to identify students who might plan to take the course entirely on their mobile phone.
A more personal question is, "What is the one thing that is most likely to interfere with your success in this course?" Most students have a fairly busy life, and I would like to know in advance which of them might have a significant need for a little more flexibility or communication.
Ice Breaker
Astronomy can be a fairly unfamiliar topic for many students, but they generally have experience looking at the stars, or a full moon, maybe seeing a "shooting star." For the class ice-breaker, I asked students to share a personal story related to the night sky, whether it be a memory of something that happened, or an interest in a constellation, or any other connection they care to share.
By revealing personal stories about the stars and the night sky, my hope is that students will feel a common connection the doorway into what we will be studying in the class: looking up.
Wisdom Wall
The "Wisdom Wall" is a great idea! Reflecting on their challenges and successes compels students to put into words what they experienced in the class, and hopefully helps them gain a deeper understanding of what they learned, as well as their own learning process.
Using a media tool like Flip makes these bits of wisdom much more accessible and relatable, and it reminds students that other people just like them have already gone through this journey.
Bumper Video
This video is intended as a warm up to the idea of outer space and astronomy by talking about our nearest exposure to it, and hopefully to pique the interest of students who may not have thought much about the idea of space travel other than science fiction.
I focused on the International Space Station as an example of something current that might be at least a little bit familiar to many students, as it is occasionally in the news, etc., and as a hopefully interesting idea that turns their attention toward space.
I approached this video a bit like the colorful sidebar next to the dense reading in a textbook!
Micro-lecture
Learning Objective: Illustrate the basic Heliocentric Model of the solar system, including the position of Earth, and describe how this affects our observation of space.
This micro-lecture is intended to illustrate two related concepts: the Heliocentric Model of our solar system, where the planets revolve around the sun, and how our position in the solar system affects the observation of other objects in space.
The concepts require images and animation to convey, and I attempted to present a series of illustrations and descriptions to communicate the ideas and make it engaging for the student in a way that will help them retain them as they move on to related concepts next.
NOTE: This is a "mock" micro-lecture for demonstration purposes only. I am not an Astronomy teacher!
This site is by Chris Palmarini and is shared with a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 license. Creation of this content was made possible with funding from the California Education Learning Lab.