Humanizing Online STEM Showcase
Nicole Hardaway, Economics Professor, Saddleback 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 did not have extensive experience teaching online when I started this course. That said, the few online courses I had taught proved to be difficult to make engaging and friendly for students. Even as I was creating the learning materials and assignments to the best of my ability, it all felt a bit sterile and cold - NOT what I wanted for my classroom environment, in-person or online! When I saw the opportunity to participate in this humanizing STEM course, I jumped at the chance to improve my course and create a more student-friendly online classroom.
Where I am.
As I worked on the assignments these past few weeks I have absolutely been challenged, both in teaching philosophy and also in practical skills as we learned new platforms (such as Flip and Adobe Express). I can truly say that I am far more prepared to teach online after taking this course and I am so excited to implement this new knowledge and the tools I gained into practice in my next online course. I feel much more confident in how to use Canvas, YouTube, and the other new tools I learned in this course to create a friendly and engaging online class.
Where I am going.
I plan to continue to develop my skills to create more and more engaging activities and assignments for my students. I also plan to continue to develop my liquid syllabus and make it as accessible and easy to navigate as possible. Additionally, I plan to create many more "micro-lectures" and other videos to sprinkle throughout the online course, especially videos showing my face to remind the students that I am human and right there with them all the way through.
Liquid Syllabus
I really enjoyed creating a liquid syllabus and had not heard of this concept before taking this course. I think the liquid syllabus will alleviate a lot of anxiety and apprehension students may have prior to taking the course because they are able to see a friendly face and read about the course before the first day. I think it is a friendly welcome for students and breaks down the barrier of taking an online course with no idea what to expect.
Course Card
My rationale for selecting this course card image was first to create something that showed teamwork to help the students feel included and not alone. Economics can be an intimidating subject, especially if it is your first time taking it, so I wanted to be sure the students felt like they weren't alone in taking this course. The hands in the picture also depict diversity with the different skin tones. Of course I also wanted the course card to depict what the students will be learning about so I included the globe as we talk about international trade, I included a balance to symbolize equilibrium that is reached in markets, and the last icon I included is a coin to symbolize currency which we cover as well in the course. I think overall the combination of elements in this course card are a welcoming and kindness cue the students see each time they log into the course.
Homepage
I feel this homepage serves as a kindness cue in the course because it is warm and welcoming! I tried to use calm, warm colors in my welcome banner as well as a warm, friendly welcome "note" to the students. I wanted the homepage to be a mini liquid syllabus with the intent of not being overwhelming but friendly and concise. I link two items: the orientation module and the announcements tab. I chose to only link these two to keep things straightforward and simple. I feel too many links can be overwhelming and the Orientation module houses tons of great information for the students to check out so it is a good starting point.
Getting to Know You Survey
I feel this survey serves as a kindness cue for students because it shows them that I truly care about them and their opinions and feelings from the get-go. Especially in an online environment, the instructor can feel almost like an emotionless robot who is just using a rubric to give out points. This survey signals to the students that they are cared about as a whole person, not just a student taking a specific class. It also allows me as the instructor to tailor that specific course to the specific students taking the class. Each class will and should look a bit different because there will be different students enrolled.
Ice Breaker or Wisdom Wall
I absolutely love this assignment and am very excited to have it in my future courses. I feel that it creates a sense of community among the students because the values that each student chooses likely resonate with multiple other students in the course as well. In addition, I feel that creating and viewing videos of the students' peers from the beginning of the course will create a welcoming and humanized environment which will encourage engagement in the online classroom.
Bumper Video
This bumper video was created for a very important module in my course. The model introduced is a cornerstone model that we continue to build on throughout the remainder of the semester so I really want students to understand it well. In this video, I introduce the model and talk about the basics. I also stress to the students how important it is that they understand this model well and they should ask any and all questions they have now so they do not struggle through the subsequent modules.
Microlecture
This microlecture captures a crucial topic that we cover in this course. The reason I chose to make my microlecture for this specific module is because in my experience, this is a topic that often confuses students. It is meant to walk the student through a detailed example so they can reference it as they work on their on studies.