Sharon Oxford, Instructional Technologist/Designer,
Ventura 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.
I was excited to start this journey with ways to connect to online students in STEM. My background includes Tutoring and Supplemental Instruction in Math and Sciences. I have seen firsthand how creating a personal community connection for a high-impact course that requires a lot of study can help students struggling become confident learners. It was amazing how little connections in the classroom make big waves for first-generation students.
I entered the humanizing STEM course wanting to learn more about interaction tools to help students succeed even more and make more connections online. I was very excited to learn ways to provide little empathetic nudges to encourage students in STEM.
The last three years have taken a toll on my perception of new tools. I had gotten to the point where I was asking constantly the effectiveness of each new tool and if we already had something that did what was asked. Although I love playing with new tools, the thought of learning new tools was the area that I approached the course with the most trepidation.
I feel more comfortable with other tools for connecting students. I thoroughly loved getting to be a student and play with the tools, I spent hours just exploring the different options. I enjoyed using Canva, FLIP and adobe express. Adobe Express is now one of my go to tools for quick video creation. I enjoyed seeing how Canva has made it even easier to create custom banners and add a little more familiarity to the homepages and cards. The video sessions helped me keep grounded in the importance of authentic video for reaching students .
What impacted me the most was the research and resources that were presented during the course to help build a culture of warm demanding. I was amazed to find how well students due in a mixed environment of online and in person classes. It empowered me to be a more thoughtful educator. I am excited to have been introduced to some great easy to implement high impact practices that I was able to start immedietly in all my classes.
I am excited to continue with these high impact practices within all of my classes. I will be sure to have a liquid syllabus, inviting homepage, bumper videos, and microlectures embedded throughout my courses to build a sense of community and belonging.
I am encouraged and ready to find ways to empower others with these skills.
This Liquid syllabus is used for the Tutor Training class and have enjoyed that students can see what will occur in the class before it starts.
I have worked with our Tutoring Coordinator to have the syllabus link available to students with their online application packets for tutoring. This allows them time to get to know me and what to expect in their first semester.
Setting up warm messages of support and engagement before the semester starts helps set the tone for the full semester.
This warm course card with an image from our own VC tutoring center takes away the annonimity of an online class.
I chose this image because it captures tutoring for the students. When looking at this image, students see tutoring occurring inside the VC Tutoring center. It creates a welcome image.
In past semesters I have allowed new tutors to choose the next course card for incoming tutors. This allows the veteran tutors to talk about the course with new tutors and give insights and ownership over the content of the course.
A warm homepage with messages of support as with the syllabus and course card establishes trust and demonstrates that I care about students' learning before the course begins.
The Getting to know you survey in easy to implement high impact tool that added just a bit more connection. My students enjoyed answering these questions and sharing a bit about themselves. Below are the two questions that helped me provide a more successful semester. With the responses, I was able to use the gradebook Notes feature to add custom feedback and messages to the students throughout the semester.
How do you see my role in helping you b,ecome a better tutor?
What can I do to support you?
This IceBreaker Assignment follows the Getting to Know you Survey to allow students to share with each other and learn from each other to foster a sense of belonging by connecting students with each others' real-world experiences.
The Wisdom wall fosters metacognition by connecting students with spoken reflections of their learning and portrays ability as a growth process, as opposed to a fixed characteristic. Students starting out in the class are able to take tips from past students and realize that they too can make it through the class. At the end of the course, the same students are able to reflect on where they were and where they are going.
A bumper video is a great way to introduce a sticky topic and students interested. This bumper video is not really of a sticky topic. However, it works great as a quick introduction to a module.
This bumper video is used to introduce tutors to the importance of modeling Study Skills in helping students.
Objective: Develop an outline for VC scholarship essays using an past/present and future model.
This Microlecture is about helping the student in writting their scholarship essays. I chose this topic because this is the one topic our students come and ask for assistance with every semester at the Tutoring Center. For some students this is the first essay they have written about themselves. Providing these tips help the student stay on track with outlining and writing their essay.
