Through the process of creating a liquid syllabus, I fully realized the importance of how information is presented to students in the weeks leading up to the start of the course.  Creating a pack with my students, giving them a success kit for week # 1 and links to student services will allow my students to feel more confident moving into the first week of the course.  In the past, I have struggled with inspiring students to utilize the information within the course syllabus.  I strongly feel that using the liquid syllabus moving forward will result in more students accessing the syllabus prior to the start of the course as well as throughout the semester.  I look forward to utilizing this tool in future semesters.

Through the process of creating humanizing course cards, I searched for images that would give students a warm welcoming to the course and also convey a message about some of the content that we will explore over the semester.  This also helps me identify each course when I first open up my Canvas homepage to quickly get to the course content that I need.

Through the process of creating a humanizing homepage, I realized the importance of creating a landing spot for all of my courses that will provide students with important information about how to contact me for assistance, how to access the course Modules, announcements, office hours, zoom, etc.

I created a Pre-Course Survey for students to complete during Week # 1:

Two example questions from the survey:

1. What would you like for me to call you?  What are your preferred pronouns?  

2. We have all experienced obstacles to learning lessons in life and in the classroom. What obstacles do your currently face or have faced in the past that have hindered your ability to learn?

Public Link to Canvas Studio Video

Reflect. Anthropology is the study of what makes us humans. Select your top 2-3 traits from below that you feel are the most important elements of what makes humans unique.

• Intelligence / Large brain size.

• Material culture / Use of tools.

• Language.

• Creativity / Ingenuity.

• Religion / Spirituality.

• Connection to the natural world / environment.

• Building strong communities that support each other during difficult times.

• Forming alliances with those in your social group.

• The emergence of leaders to guide the community

Public Link to Canvas Studio Video

This was one of the most valuable skills that I learned throughout the process of this course.  I used Adobe Express to create a short video highlighting the key cranial features of the the hominin species Paranthropus boisei I enjoyed this process so much that I have started making these short bumper videos for all of the hominin species that we have in the lab.  These videos have already been immensely helpful to my biological anthropology lecture and lab students.

Learning Objectives for Microlecture:

• Identify the key traits anatomical and behavioral of Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis and Homo neanderthalensis.

• Demonstrate an understanding of how the features of later members of genus Homo differ from early members of this genus and the Australopithecines