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.
Prior to starting this equity journey through online learning, I was a face-to-face instructor. COVID changed all of that and placed you in this odd virtual space where you tried to humanize and connect with your students at a very confusing time. One good thing is that the students at that time were learning to navigate through the same virtual space as you were. Now we are in another odd space that you are trying to figure out: are you connecting with the student, are you equitable enough with your assignments and videos, and are the students learning? That brings me to the present and the reason for taking this course: to make sure that I have the right tools and techniques to be successful.
After completing the Humanizing Academy, I feel better about being on the right track. It gave you ideas and allowed you to explore different technologies and applications that you could customize and fit into your curriculum. It provided data and research to support the techniques and made sure that this pathway worked and that students succeeded in this learning style. I am moving forward with more videos that are little snacks. So the students can get bites of information instead of too much information at once. Choosing to be kind and understanding and making sure that assignments fit all learners.
The future for me is the creation of welcoming pages for the dental assistant program. This will provide an amazing platform to get the information to the new cohorts so that they can be organized and prepared for the program. I have shared the information with other colleges to make sure that we welcome students from our pre-requiste course so they can feel the support prior to the start of the program, during the program, and when they leave the program. Creating that sense of belonging allows the student to be successful, to come back, and to mentor other students in their journey.
I will use the liquid syllabus as a welcoming component to our program. The first introduction to the program would be me and my supportive and encouraging video. It gives the student the sense that I hear them and see them. I think this is a great way to really provide information and start the path to trust for the student. By being consistent across all the classes, it would be helpful to remove confusion, anxiety, and the fear of the unknown. Creating that solid platform of knowledge will allow the program and the students to grow together to create better outcomes. This should help support the student in creating a safe space and a sense of validation that they made a good decision in their educational journey.
The image that I chose for the course card is of prior students mixing dental material and applying the skill set of taking an impression. New students seeing other students perform what they will be soon ties it all together.
When a student clicks on the course card, they are directed to my Humanized Homepage. This page is intended to be welcoming but not overly informational. I want the students to know that I'm delighted to have them in my class, and I intend to excite them about both.
This survey will be the first thing the students complete in the course. By doing that, I can gather information so I can make sure that I am inclusive of all the students personalities and learning types. The two questions that I will use to gather this information are: What is your social-emotional learning power? and what is something people don't know about you that you wish they knew?
This will allow me to get an idea if they like to work in groups or by themselves. Are they interverts or extraverts? What learning style suits them best? All of that will help the student buy into the learning and create a safe space to grow with the knowledge.
A Wisdom Wall is a collection of "learning stories" recorded by prior program participants and listened to by current program participants. Students listen to past students' advise at the start of the program, and at the end, they post their own. Students are encouraged to contribute to the Wisdom Wall by sharing their success tips with future students. A student focuses on their progress throughout time and analyzes what they did to overcome the program's challenges by documenting their recommendations. Then, by listening to other students, they understand that other students are having similar problems and may be able to relate to them.
A course bumper is a small (1-3 minute) visually-oriented video that serves an instructional purpose in your course. I chose the idea of dental etching and bonding techniques, which are common in dentistry. The video explains the two types of etching and bonding technologies available. Breaking down this material so that the student may apply and utilise it in the appropriate situation. Etching and bonding systems can be challenging for some students, so I hope this video helps to clear some of that up.
How the microlecture fits within the course is that it gives a little snack of information to the student. By creating this snapshot of information, it helps the student pull out the important information from the lecture. By using different ways to engage the student, it will allow the student to apply the information or concepts. These little videos of information will help the student break down concepts and ideas to help humanize the online learning experience. Keeping it simple and clean with what is expected and the objectives of the assignment is key. Sometimes we get too elaborate with the presentation of things, and information gets lost. By doing this, you will help the student be supportive throughout the course.
