Re-Thinking the Classroom

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Claire Garrido-Ortega
Lecturer, Health Science

Research Area
Specialization in Community Health Education from California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist with The National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc.

Describe a teaching or learning challenge that made you rethink your model or try something new: 

In HSC 421, students learn about health behavior theories and how to apply these theories to help others change their behavior. One of the assignments requires students to choose a health-related behavior to change over a 4-week period. The assignment required students to type and submit a 3-page journal. In the spring semester of 2019, I modified this 3-page Health Behavior Change Journal to a 5-minute digital story.

How did you address that challenge (if applicable, what technology, learning strategy, etc. you integrated to do so)?  

I changed this assignment to a digital story because I wanted to give students an opportunity to use their own voice to create a personal narrative of their health behavior change; to tell their story through the traditional processes of selecting a behavior to change, conducting research, writing a script, and developing an interesting story about the behavior change.  The new digital story format provided students with an opportunity to tell a story using a mixture of digital media including text, pictures, recorded audio narration, and video.  I created my own digital story and used it as an example for my students.

How did your students respond?

Students were very receptive to this assignment because it provided them with an opportunity to tell their story using digital media. Some students were not aware they could use their smart phones to complete this assignment.  Some students have never edited a video, so providing them with a list of free video editing resources is helpful.

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Stephanie Dingwall
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry (UCR)

Research Area
Enzymology, Physical Biochemistry, Biochemical Education

Describe a teaching or learning challenge that made you rethink your model or try something new:

The “Elementary” moniker is misleading: it is a rigorous 10-week sprint through the year-long majors’ series. Due to this condensed format, many students struggle with the sheer amount of material in such a short period. In addition, it is a survey course where students cover many different topics, and so must learn different approaches to each topic. Frequently, students don’t know where to start, how to study, or have difficulty transitioning quickly from one topic to another. Biochemistry has an infamous reputation of being one of the hardest classes at the university (previous fail rates – before me – were quite high). Retention of course content was low: memorization/regurgitation, little to no concept connection.

How did you address that challenge (if applicable, what technology, learning strategy, etc. you integrated to do so)?

I created blank templates for metabolic pathways to show students how to study, understand, and retain the material – active learning IN class, as I drew the pathways with them on the document camera.

Perhaps one of the most effective methods used thus far is online office hours using the Zoom.us web-conferencing platform. Students type out their questions via the chat function, and the instructor responds by means of microphone and the whiteboard feature in Zoom.

I started recording weekly vignettes (~2 minutes long) to preview what we would cover that week. This precluded announcements – and thus precious time taken away – in class. These vignettes often included study tips, exam information, and anything else that might be course-relevant.

How did your students respond?

Students have openly accepted the implementations, raving about the templates. This type of active learning shows students not only what to study but how and why.

Students who attend online office hours are very appreciative of time outside typical school hours, during their “study time,” where they can ask questions and get immediate feedback.

Students were very appreciative of the weekly vignettes, because they knew what to expect. I have several pre-recorded videos using the UCR Learning Glass, and students have indicated that they would like more, perhaps on a weekly basis.

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Birgit Penzenstadler
Assistant Professor, Computer Eng/Science
(Chalmers University of Technology)

Research Area
Environmental sustainability in software engineering and for being one of the founders of the sustainability design initiative, which seeks to advance the research on sustainability in technical disciplines such as computer science and software engineering. 

Describe a teaching or learning challenge that made you rethink your model or try something new:

We always try to improve our skills. I know what a hard time I have following long lectures, so why should I do that to my students. Instead I think about how I would learn best.

How did you address that challenge (if applicable, what technology, learning strategy, etc. you integrated to do so)?

I use mixed media. I try to teach without technology in the classroom, and I use very simple technology when teaching remotely. I love the learning glass to record videos, and I have gotten a lot of positive feedback on youTube (yes, also on my skill of ‘’writing backwards” ). 

How did your students respond?

They love it!

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Yousef Baker
Professor, International Studies

Research Area
The political and economic development models deployed in Iraq during the U.S. occupation, and the effort to gain consent for these models from Iraqi civil society.  Much of the current research on Iraq draws from either geo-political or conjunctural analyses of the war, while this study utilizes a systematic structural analysis.  

Describe a teaching or learning challenge that made you rethink your model or try something new:

Every course has intrinsic challenges with the content that is being discussed. Let me list, however some challenges that I faced that were more particular to the online medium:  

1. Each week, I assign readings and I have lectures. In addition, some weeks I have additional videos created by others (eg., news clips, documentaries, etc.) and sometimes music. In a regular classroom, I’m able to make sure students understand why and how these various things go together. Moreover, I try to focus students on the particular things I want them to get out of each artifact. In the online format, I cannot be sure if students pick up on why some seemingly disparate pieces fit together.  
2. In an online format, I cannot always instantly ascertain students’ grasp of the material;  often it becomes clear only when some type of activity or assignment has been submitted. That can typically occur a week after the lesson, which means my response is delayed for any students who may need clarification.  
3. Creating a space in an asynchronous online class for thoughtful, respectful, and collective discussion and engagement with the materials is a challenge. 
4. How do I get students to pause, wait, think, talk, and deliberate? Our online existence is predicated on efficiency, ease, and quick satisfaction. That is not necessarily what's required from students. Being a student and studying is often not efficient. You may need to read 15 articles before realizing that you were asking the wrong question. What may seem as inefficient, is crucial for realizing the appropriate question. Being a student and studying is difficult; learning does not always result in a quick feeling of satisfaction. Learning is antithetical to a consumptive model of exchange. All of this means that a big part of learning happens through time and ability to have patience with oneself and others. Moreover, learning often happens dialogically in a community. For all these reasons, I did not know if I could ever transfer my in person course to an online course.  

How did you address that challenge (if applicable, what technology, learning strategy, etc. you integrated to do so)?

1. I tried to record a “professor’s intro to the week” video where I explained to the students what they had to read/watch/listen to, and talked to them about how these things were connected to each other, and how they were connected to the larger class questions. In addition, I created “reading questions” and “lecture questions” that included at least one question about every content that I required them to deal with. The questions were meant to focus students on what I wanted them to focus on. Every week they had to respond with their notes to these questions. Just notes, not essays. I wanted to see proof of engagement.  
2. The solution may be to having multiple deadlines during the week which I grade immediately. I have not done this but am unsure of alternatives at this point. I had one deadline (max two) throughout the week, just to keep it simple, but this might have to change. 
3. In the class, everyone turned in a reading and lecture response by Friday. By Monday of the following week, I would record my own response to their responses. I would then ask them to discuss my response and sometimes I would give them questions that I picked out from their work to respond to. They then had to 1) respond to my response, and 2) respond to at least one other colleagues’ response to my response. This was my way of forcing not only a conversation, but a conversation that had already gone through their own initial reflections, and my reflections on their reflections. Let me also add, that I tried to the best of my abilities, in these videos that I recorded to mention students by name to create an idea of collectivity and mimic what it would look like if we were sitting together talking. Of course, this is more aspirational, but at least it might give off that affect.  
4. I don’t necessarily have an answer to this and am not sure there is a specific answer. At this point in my development as a teacher, I try to preserve that tension and from time to time try to interrogate my approaches. I do think this is of crucial importance to our students who do a lot more than an average student at an elite university. Our students don’t have enough time, and I try to create classes where they are not rushed and encourage slow deliberative actions. Trying to figure that out for online courses …  

How did your students respond?

From what I gathered from students (I created my own questionnaire for them) they liked the lectures, and the connectivity I tried to create between the different contents. I do think I need to be more involved in the discussion and have speedier than normal feedback turn-around.  A more independent assessment would be nice.