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.
Teaching online was never necessary before 2020. In the last four years, when our campus gradually re-opened, I only wanted to teach in-person classes and was skeptical that only students who wanted to cheat would take an online course.
After this academy, I realized the equity and accessibility that online learning can bring to students. What I have learned in the last six weeks shows me the proper role of an instructor in an online learning community and puts me back in the driver's seat to lead my students online.
In the coming semester, I will zero the distance between me and my students by showing my video appearance, listening patiently and carefully to my students, and saying kind words from my heart. After all, it is not the content I teach that matters; it is the trust that we, my students and I, build together.
This liquid syllabus does not replace the course syllabus. However, it offers a warm welcome front page, establishing my tone to the students and presenting myself as approachable and caring. The link to the liquid syllabus will be included in all emails and announcements for the first two weeks of the course. There will be a low-stake quiz with unlimited trials on the syllabus's contents.
In the past, my criteria were finding a fun picture containing some key concepts in the course. I never thought of a course card as my students' first impression of the course. The course card to the left is for my Discrete Mathematics course for math and computer science students. I selected this picture about a minoritized student (a female African American) performing high-tech computer programming. The picture sends a positive message to females and students of color that they belong to the field, and they can do it. One shortcoming I want to improve is finding a picture with more people to emphasize the spirit of teamwork in the STEM field.
It is essential to inform students that I am on their side from the very beginning of the semester. The language used on the homepage and closed captions should be carefully crafted.
I always emphasize the usage of "we" and "us" versus "I" and "You."
The main concepts are reducing the students' stress in the first weeks and building inclusion so that students feel they are recognized in an online learning community.
I have adapted the entire survey in our assignment as my survey. My rationale is that the questions are so helpful in demonstrating my genuine interest in my students' success and my attempt to understand them as much as possible. If I see fit, I am open to revising the survey after a couple of semesters.
Even though the questions are the same as the sample set, I have customized the instructions page with my office number. In addition, for those questions that students can record audio or a video of their answers to, I inserted the recording icon (with the Alt Text: Record/Upload Media) to enhance accessibility.
In the video, I walked through my Ice Breaker assignment to my students asking them to reflect a memory involving science, technology, engineering, or mathematics.
In particular, I explained to the students that the purpose of this assignment is to share and respect the diversity background of each and everyone, and to build safe and positive online learning community.
The video covers the truth table of a conditional statement in logic. This is the topic after introducing the truth table about conjunction, disjunction, and negation. Students understand the first three truth tables well, but many are always confused with the one on the conditional statement.
Instead of tote memorization about the order of True and False in the table, I present four scenarios to identify the correct implementation of the statement's logical state.
The video clip that associates with each logical state projects a visual picture for students to comprehend the reasoning of each state. It will leave them with a more profound impression on the topic.
The topic I introduced in the micro lecture is the tenth chapter in the course. The learning objective is to identify the difference between the Product and Sum Rule of Counting and solve the problems using the rules. The textbook used is Discrete Mathematics by Sandy Irani. Students have access to the textbook, which is web-based text-only. My video supplements the students' understanding with audio and visual explanations.
Upon watching the micro lecture, students can proceed to finish their auto-graded activities on zyBooks and hand-written assignments on the topic. Successfully completing the assignments helps students master the topics and prepares them to demonstrate their mastery in exams.
