Joshua Cotter
As part of our ATS workshop series, faculty from CSULB and beyond share key lessons learned from new approaches in their teaching practice.
Dr. Joshua Cotter
Dr. Joshua Cotter is an Assistant Professor of Exercise Physiology and is Co-director of the Physiology of EXercise and Sport (PEXS) Lab where his focus is on understanding how the regulation of skeletal muscle mass affects outcomes on health and sport performance.
His general interests include optimization of training programs and nutritional support for strength and hypertrophy, exercise countermeasures for spaceflight, the biology of the myogenic satellite cell, biomechanics of the knee joint, and ergogenic aids for sports performance.
Insights on Using Technology in the Classroom:
Teaching a class of 160 students was something to new to me when arriving at CSULB. After my semester teaching such a course, I realized that it was mostly me talking and the students ‘hopefully’ listening and learning. Although I wanted to have the course be more student-centered, it seemed like a daunting task to have students be more interactive in class. Luckily, ATS soon after offered a hybrid teaching training course that I immediately signed up for, especially given my background in technology. This led to a series of steps that have led to constant transformation and improvement in how I address student needs in a large lecture science course.
A big step in the right direction for allowing my large lecture class to be student centered was by the incorporation of technology. By putting my basic lecture materials online, much of it considered as challenging topics by students, allowed students to prepare for our in-class meetings by watching videos that I carefully crafted to be concise, entertaining, and engaging. Students can stop the video as they please and review portions of my lectures as many times as they like on their own schedule. Weekly low risk quizzes allow students to assess their readiness before we meet in-person. Over the last few years, I have used a strategy called POGIL, or Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning, that allows me to create lessons that help guide students through a series of problems presented in class that drives their learning. It has been a wonderful learning experience for myself as a teacher and my students seem to enjoy the kind of learning they are getting in class.
Student feedback regarding my online lectures has been fantastic. They really appreciate the ability to stop, start, and review the material as they see fit. I’ve even heard of some students listening to my material while in the car, which is a place many of our commuting students find themselves!
Although I am still working on refining the incorporation of POGIL methodology, students seem to appreciate the problems presented to them and also the ability to work together in small groups; something many students have a fear of. I have had some students tell me they developed some really great friendships through the incorporation of teams in class.
