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.
As a relatively new instructor working part-time, I did not have many tools to humanize a course. Throughout my two years as a college professor, I've learned a lot using Canvas for my online classes, and I've learned how to make my classroom inclusive. However, I did not have the tools to make myself more personable. I was also not taking enough time to create and implement videos to show aspects of my personality and make my online classes less robotic.
After completing the Humanizing Academy, I've learned the importance of using kindness cues as well as taking time to provide valuable and wise feedback. I experienced firsthand how it feels to be a student receiving the feedback that this course's instructors have provided me. It has made me feel more engaged, safe, and excited about learning. I now know how to increase belonging in my online courses as well.
I'm currently about to begin my first full-time assignment as an instructor, and I took this course just in time. I'm very excited to practice using the tools and skills I've gained from this experience. I enjoyed making my liquid syllabus and welcome video, and I'm very excited to incorporate these for my upcoming courses! My favorite tool was learning how to use Adobe Express, which I'll be making a lot of course content with to make my students feel more engaged, included, and related to.
I will use my Liquid Syllabus as a warm and friendly welcome to my course. I plan to publish it about 7-10 days before my course begins to give students a positive introduction. It will make students feel supported by me, and with my welcome video, students will feel more connected to me. It will also provide guidance to students and make the transition into a new semester a little bit easier. Knowing what the expectations are the first week and what resources are available to them helps build a class community full of trust and connection.
I selected this course card image, because I believe it has a welcoming tone. It makes students feel represented in STEM and increases their feeling of belonging. It also represents community and working and learning together. This will increase their engagement and self esteem in the class and lead to more academic and personal success.
My homepage creates a fun and welcoming tone with the attention-grabbing banner. Anatomy can be intimidating, but my banner image makes it fun and exciting! A welcoming smiling photo of myself allows some human connection as well as a human presence in the course. I provide links to important aspects of the course with some explanation. My homepage also provides direction for where to go to begin the course, which will support student success right from the beginning! My contact information and availability also provides a welcoming tone for students to engage and makes them feel part of this learning community.
This survey allows me to get to know my students so that I can meet their needs. It also helps students feel heard and understood. In this survey, I ask if they have ever taken an online course before and their feelings about it. This lets me know their level of experience so that I know how to help them along the way. I also ask if there is anything that could interfere with their success in the class. This is very important, because it allows me to get to know my students, for example if they work full-time. This not only makes them feel heard, but it also helps me understand them so that I can be there to support them in their success, such as with deadlines, feedback, and types of media.
My ice breaker assignment is called "In Three Words..." It requires students to ask three people close to them for a word that describes them. They then reflect on those three words, answer a couple of prompt questions, and share with their peers using Flip video or voice comment. They then must reply to two peers with which they share the same or similar word with. This actvitity helps students connect to one another, find things that they have in common, and connect on a personal level outside of the traditional lecture curriculum. This increases sense of belonging in the course and helps build this positive community. The video and/or voice comment aspect brings life into the course as well. It allows students to feel more connected compared to reading text. It provides emotion and kindness cues.
There can be some difficult concepts and practices in biology and in STEM. When students are focused on understanding these complex ideas, the focus can sometimes shift away from being more present and taking extra steps to help students succeed outside of the typical weekly lectures. This bumper video introduces an important practice in lab: how to use a micropipette. The video allows me to be more present in my course, show students that I'm here to help them along the way, and ensure they succeed in the course.
Understanding biology and anatomy requires learning basic concepts and then building on them weekly throughout the course. This microlecture provides students with the foundation to succeed in more difficult concepts later on. It is also short enough to retain students' attention. The learning objective it is aligned with is: Discuss basic concepts of chemistry as they relate to the human body including atoms, and organic/inorganic molecules. This microlecture will allow students to build a simple foundation so that when more difficult material comes along, they will be prepared for it and succeed.
This site is by Natalie Pilikian 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.
