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 Humanizing STEM, I had little to no experience creating video content. I also had a limited understanding of terms like "impostor syndrome". My hope and intent was to take advantage of this opportunity to learn new software tools and techniques for content creation, as well as the theory and best practice, behind applying these within the online classroom.
I am delighted to say that my hopes were met and intentions realized through the Academy. I am quite comfortable with multiple new tools, and learned new features of tools I'd already been learning (Zoom, for example). I have a deeper understanding of the need for intentional, active evaluation of my content and my classroom to ensure I am stimulating the affective as well as the cognitive side of my students' learning.
I will be continuing to explore Adobe Express, and will possibly check out some additional tools should my needs expand! I am also keen to share my perspective on the concepts shared by the developers and presenters of this course on cultural context and kindness cues, in particular. The review of metacognition will help me as I consider my own further learning in addition to that of my students.
My liquid syllabus will be an accessible and lighthearted introduction and touchstone for the detailed technical subject matter and activities covered over the semester. The idea of liquid connotes something fluid; I intent to capitalize on this idea with periodic updates to the syllabus, featuring check-in messages.
I used a light-colored background to suggest a light-hearted, sunny, and open learning environment. I chose to feature a variety of individuals collaborating around a laptop to foster a sense of a learning community. This is also a good illustration of the balance I aim to bring to the classroom!
Note that this image was created using Midjourney, a generative artificial intelligence tool. This will provide an excellent conversation starter for my students interested in AI!
As stated in the video tour to the left, the warm, welcoming visual elements and quirky humor I employ in my introductory video are genuine glimpses into the kind of support and camaraderie I promote among the participants in my class. The welcoming laptop further reinforces this message.
My survey mixes lighthearted questions, including "What is your favorite food?", with more probing questions that will help establish safe and effective communication. An example of the latter is:
If I sense you could use some help on your overall performance, or a specific assignment, would you welcome an email or Canvas Inbox message from me checking in, or would you prefer to contact me if you have questions?
I feel that a question posed this way ensures the student that communication can be expected, and also supports their input into how I can adapt my communication style to meet their individual needs.
This Ice Breaker focuses on the idea of one's values being "treasures". It connects students in that they are all encouraged to not only identify something that they share (personal values), but gives insight into their classmate's approaches to relpresenting those values as physical treasures.
The idea of treasure, as the activity indicates, can apply to relationships just as it can to goods, and my hope is that some of the students may even develop some treasured connections with each other through their shared academic experience.
This video fits into the course in that it provides a new take on an old standby: the online discussion. This highlights the importance of new thinking not only in technology advancement, but instructional approaches that support this new knowledge. The instructional purpose it serves is to enhance question-asking and collaboration skills, and I expect it to continue to inspire students to enhance their knowledge through sharing it with others.
The Microlecture I featured is a departure from the bits and bytes of information technology, and focuses on the importance of citations and references in academic writing. It fits into the design of my course in that I foster holistic growth, including skills like research and writing, which may often be overlooked in technical disciplines.
The learning objective of this assignment is as follows: At the completion of this lesson, students will affirm the need for citations and references in written work for our class, and will apply a four-step process to generate, evaluate, and incorporate citations and references.
I expect students to gain practical skills and comfortability with the important process of crediting the sources of their academic work through this exercise.
