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 have previously engaged in profession development opportunities that have helped me look at student equity gaps, discuss strategies for better reaching students, and developing course materials to achieve these goals. I haven't always been satisfied or left with things that could be implemented in my courses. I would go so far as to say that, given the anti-science mentality of many members of my campus community and the ineffectiveness of equity efforts on my campus, I was losing my interest in engaging with others in efforts to improve equity and revitalize my teaching. This is not to say that I didn't value such ideas or wish to engage in continuous improvement; but rather that I was in a place where I felt is was best to go it alone.
My hope has been somewhat revitalized. There are still difficult tasks ahead at the campus level, but having this course focus specifically on STEM and bring together STEM instructors has led me to believe that we can make real, positive impacts to our classes within our Science Division at Ventura College. I have a renewed feeling that STEM is valued and that STEM instructors care about students, equity, and improvement. I have learned some new tools. I've had some struggles with Flip, particularly with lag or a lack of sync with video and vocals on occasion, but hope to integrate that into my courses as the positives outweigh the negatives. I had never used Google Sites but find it intuitive and useful. I think I am most enamored with Adobe Express, learning that its limitations force you to keep things simple and that it has a particular place in my courses. Adobe Express provides something that was lacking in my classes rather than slightly tweaking things I was already doing.
I am embarking on a phase where I take the skills and tools I've learned her and employ them in all of my classes. I'm looking forward to employing the new tools I've developed in my classes. I think that my new Liquid Syllabus in Google Sites is better and more useful than the one I already had in Canvas. I look forward to modifying it for my other classes. I'll be adding video/audio to student-student interactions using Flip. I am going to be making videos. I'll make bumper videos for unit introductions and announcements. I'll make micro lectures part of my new model as I revise lectures for future semesters. Mostly, I'm excited about thinking about how to best utilize these new tools and strategies and experimenting with my courses. I think that such experimentation is an important value that we sometimes lose and need to revitalize. I hope I can spread this experimental spirt, and the specific tools that allow it to be implemented, within my department and division.
My Liquid Syllabus will allow me to establish trust and demonstrates that I care about my students' learning before my course begins. I really like moving my Liquid Syllabus from Canvas to Google Sites. I hope to build versions of the Liquid Syllabus for each class and to have the URL included in the course notes on the schedule of classes as well as appearing in my Welcome Letter to students prior to the start of the semester.
I think my Liquid Syllabus does a good job of presenting me as a real, caring person and of providing helpful resources. Of course the former is the most essential aspect of the Liquid Syllabus, its role is to get students to see me as someone they can approach who is invested in their success so we can begin the semester with good communication and trust. I think my new Liquid Syllabus is eye catching and reaches out to a variety of students to make they feel seen. It also clearly lays out how the class works so that any stress the student is bringing in may be allieviated.
I selected this particular image to use as my Principles of Biology course card because I took the photo at the Carpinteria Salt Marsh during a class field trip. This therefore represents local biology, my interest in being active in nature, and an activity we've done in biology classes at Ventura College.
I will likely work on a few other course cards and try to make each of them make a statement about the semester to come.
My homepage is welcoming to students because it provides simple access to what they most need and includes welcoming, personal touches. My homepage has the most recent announcements and modules easily available so students can quickly review important information, contact me, or get to work. I've provided a welcome message that lets students know I'm excited about the class and I've reinforced that with my personal fotos.
The key thing the homepage will do is direct students to the modules where they will do most of their work, but it does so in a manner that is inviting.
My Getting to Know You Survey is a key feature of the beginning of my class. By the time students have navigated to this survey they should have seen my Liquid Syllabus and Welcoming Home Page. Hopefully, they've started to develop a level of comfort with me as a result and will recognize that I am asking them questions that will help me help them.
I will use your students' responses to adapt my teaching by working to cater to student interests and concerns in my announcements and bumper videos that I will be developing each semester. I will also be able to identify students that may benefit from more intrusive intervensions such as regular check ins.
Here are a couple of questions I ask:
What are your aspirations in life and how is this class part of that plan?
I would prefer for you to address me as Ty (no $ 😂). While I've lived a lifetime with this name, sometimes people aren't sure how to pronounce it. It sounds like "tie" and "Thai". You can also hear it here: (I provide an audio file).
What would you like me to call you?
Do you have any pronunciation tips for saying your name?
I look forward to implementing a Wisdom Wall. In particular, I hope it will help my in-person Human Anatomy lab students quickly create a sense of community that can carry over into the online lecture.
I feel that the Wisdom Wall serves two primary purposes:
It allows students who contribute to the Wisdom Wall to evaluate their personal growth during the semester. I think this will be particularly powerful in Human Anatomy where students often start out struggling but alter how they learn and become successful allied health students.
It allows future students to connect their concerns, fears, or aspirations to those of students who have already been in their shoes. I'm hopeful that this peer advice will have an early, positive impact on students and help them develop successful strategies early in the course.
I've added this video to the page that introduces the unit containing photosynthesis and cellular respiration. The video serves the purpose of introducing these key concepts of the unit and preparing students to learn the concepts in more detail.
I expect that the video will improve the student learning experience by providing the direction in which we are headed and providing a heads-up as to what to focus on as we dig deeper into these concepts in the unit.
I hope to add more bumper videos to fill this role as well as to prepare students for, or excite them about, various activities (discussions, field trips) taking place in my different courses.
I chose to create a micro lecture on Natural Selection. Natural Selection is the main focus of my normal lecture on the mechanisms of evolution. I believe that separating it out draws attention to the concept and will make it easier for the students to remember the three requirements. I hope to refine the micro lecture to better achieve these goals.
This micro lecture contributes to:
Learning Objective "Describe natural selection and outline its requirements"
Course SLO "Students will be able to illustrate how evolution is the unifying theory of biology using diverse examples"
program SLO "Explain the characteristic themes and concepts that unify the discipline of biology"
