Flippity

Flippity https://www.flippity.net/ is a free resource that allows for the quick creation of quizzes, flash cards, presentations, memory games, word searches, and more. Flippity allows users to customize premade Google Sheet templates with their own content. Instructors can use Flippity as a presentation tool, or to create low- or no-stakes assignments through Google Sheets. Further, students can use Flippity to create their own projects. This resource can be used in face-to-face and online courses, at the individual, group, or whole class level.

This video: briefly describes how many of the templated activities available on the site work.

Flippity is not a plug-in to Google Sheets, so it does not require the creation of a username or password. As such, this tool is primarily recommended for creating activities aimed at engaging students in your course.  Some of the activities can be downloaded as PDFs and distributed to students, in which case they could submit the activity via Canvas or in class.

Research in Action Podcast

Last year, Oregon State University concluded the podcast series, Research In Action. The archives remain available for review. The podcast covers a wide variety of topics related to research, teaching, and/or higher education. Some specific titles include:

• Supporting Undergraduate Researchers: https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/research/podcast/e64/

• Learning Analytics and Big Data: https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/research/podcast/e145/

• Dissertation Writing: https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/research/podcast/e136/

• Content Analysis: https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/research/podcast/e163/

• Capstone Courses: http://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/research/podcast/e129/

• Computational Musicology: http://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/research/podcast/e105/

• Studying Academic Advising Online: https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/research/podcast/e160/

Each podcast comes with an instructor guide as well as resources connected to each segment of the podcast. The instructor guides include:

• A brief abstract describing what is discussed in the podcast

• The guest bio and segment topics

• Learning outcomes for the episode

• Time stamps for each segment

• Link to the episode show notes and transcript

• Guiding questions for listening to the episode

• Potential classroom activities that could be paired with the episode

• Links and/or citations related to content mentioned in each section

What podcast are you listening to that help inform your teaching and learning?

Creating an Accessible Syllabus

Research related to the Universal Design for Learning https://udlguidelines.cast.org/ reminds us that creating accessible material is a win for all students. One of the access points that students may have to you and your course is the syllabus. The course syllabus communicates more than just due dates and contact information. You can set a tone of respect and inclusivity in your course by providing a syllabus that includes IU’s disability accommodation statement with a personalized touch and in an accessible and usable format.

The Accessible Syllabus Website: https://www.accessiblesyllabus.com provides examples, as well as advice to consider about how to present text, images, rhetoric, and policy in an inclusive manner. These approaches can also be used in the development of lectures and other course materials.

Additionally, the site embeds multiple resources within each topic area. For example, the section on Policy compares traditional and inclusive policy statements, discusses approaches to expanding deadlines, and addresses various types of grading practices.

Again, all approaches mentioned on this site may not work for your course; as inclusive teaching emphasizes that there is no one size fits all approach. The advice, as presented, may require modification to best support your teaching goals.

You can also find additional resources related to syllabi creation in this IU Expand course: https://iu.instructure.com/courses/1716451/pages/the-syllabus-a-must-have, and in this IU Pressbooks chapter: https://iu.pressbooks.pub/semesterchecklist/chapter/add-your-syllabus/

8 Summer Reads on DEI

The National Institute on Scientific Teaching has shared a few recommendations for summer reading. This list focuses on books that may help us deepen our understanding of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) topics in higher education. Full descriptions are provided in the links by clicking on the titles. I have also added a link to the availability of the book in our library.

1. "Superior" - Angela Saini. "Superior" walks the reader through the long history of the belief in biological racial differences and how it has been intertwined with political history. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/18696719

2. "Inferior" - Angela Saini. "Inferior" explores the background belief that men and women are fundamentally different. Angela Saini takes the reader on a journey that investigates past research on gender differences in biology, anthropology, and psychology. "Inferior" then shows a view of science where women are included rather than excluded. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/16409604

3. "UNgrading" - Susan Blum. Read the testimonials of fifteen educators describing their journey going gradeless. The stories encompass all levels of instruction, and different disciplines. This is a great book for understanding the movement and reading the personal reflections of individuals that are at different stages of their journey. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/18678673

4. "For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education" - Chris Emdin. In this book the author reflects on their own experience to show a poignant perspective on teaching and learning in urban schools. The author explains their theory of Reality Pedgaogy, demonstrating this with the seven C's, and provides tools to excite and encourage students and instructors to break free of traditional modes of thinking about urban education. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/15426645

5. "The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die" - Keith Payne. The Broken Ladder explores the effects of rising inequality and how people perceive their position in society. The book examines inequalities' link to health crises, long-term prosperity, and social cohesion, among others. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/17538409

6. "Testosterone Rex: Myths of Sex, Science, and Society" - Cordelia Fine. This text explores the myth that the difference between men and women is biological. Codelia Fine works to debunk the science and societal misconceptions that are often used to perpetuate this myth. Using humor in a masterful way, "Testosterone Rex" disproves these misconceptions, and argues for a more equal society based on the potential present in all humans. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/16523736

7. "Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education" - Jay Dolmage. "Academic Ableism" brings together disability studies and institutional critique to examine the methods for accommodation and how schools are constructed, to formulate their argument that building more inclusive schools that address ableism will ultimately provide better education for all. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/17823265

8. "The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students" - Anthony Abraham Jack. This book outlines how student background has a large effect on the chances for student success, and illuminates what it is like to be poor on an elite college campus. The book explains why the university obligation to disadvantaged students must go beyond a letter of admission and strive to make inclusion for all students a reality at college campuses. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/18498620

SAMR in Higher Education

SAMR is an acronym for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition. This model of technology integration was developed by Ruben R. Puentedura, Ph.D. who began researching this topic because he wanted to ensure that the use of technology enhanced teaching practice. The SAMR model provides a technique for moving through degrees of technology adoption to find more meaningful uses of technology in teaching and move away from simply using “tech for tech’s sake”.

In the following video, Candace Robertson explains SAMR in less than 2 minutes (remember microlectures from last week?) with a writing example:

but SAMR has been used within various disciplines to rethinking how technology is used for teaching, in communications with students, in collaborations, as well as for assessments and course design.

While critics have debated the theoretical underpinnings of this model. It has been widely adopted in education, including by the creators of Canvas, who used it, along with Bloom's taxonomy, to inform the development of functions and tools within Canvas. This chart (created by Instructure, the developers of Canvas) explains how they envision how Canvas functions can be used at each level of the SAMR model as you teach:

Screenshot of Google Spreadsheet that describes how to use the features in Canvas in alignment with Bloom’s Taxonomy and the SAMR model.

Click on the image above for access to the sheet.

Microlectures

A microlecture is a brief video or audio recording, or multimedia presentation covering a single concept or topic. Originating as 60-second lectures, they have since expanded to include clear, concise descriptions of a single topic or idea in under 6 minutes. These lectures can be used in online, blended, or face-to-face contexts (see 7 Things You Should Know About Microlectures: https://library.educause.edu/resources/2012/11/7-things-you-should-know-about-microlectures).

Microlectures have several benefits and can raise the awareness and curiosity of students by:

• Introducing a learning topic and its objectives with personal touch.

• Providing learners with a brief overview of key concepts.

• Demonstrating a single problem-solving procedure.

• Explaining the step-by-step instructions needed to complete a summative assignment.

Watch this microlecture to learn more about the benefits of microlectures (see what I did there?)

Microlectures align with the cognitive psychology concept of chunking, or the capacity of human’s working memory to process or manipulate information.

A great primer on microlectures, with examples and resources can be found here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1niiDNQFKCpZ9QhzV9CYFEnNfU-YExlPPyW6CoayJLgU/edit?usp=sharing It was developed by the California Virtual Campus Online Education Initiative On slide 9 they discuss how to create a quick whiteboard video with Screencast-o-matic + OneNote + a paper tablet. If you recorded your lectures this Fall or Spring and want to extract clips that can be used as microlectures.

Additional Resources

• Plan and Record Engaging Microlectures https://acue.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Section-5_PG_Record-Microlectures_CFIN.pdf

• e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning 4th Edition https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/15472619

Office Hours: Approaches to improve student engagement

Explain WHAT office hours are for, not just when
In The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students, Anthony Abraham Jack argues that “office hours” is a classed term and one of many ill-defined yet consequential activities for undergraduates. The expectation that students attend office hours often goes unsaid and feeds into what Jack calls a “hidden curriculum” that further places low-income students at a disadvantage. Jack recommends faculty explain what office hours are, not just when you hold them. “I remember feeling apprehensive about communicating with faculty as a first-generation student. For a long time, I thought office hours was reserved for academic crisis rather than ordinary course-related inquiries. I recommend a more expansive definition of office hours that reframes the time as a student-centered resource and takes a holistic approach to teaching”. – Consider renaming office hours to “student hours” or another student friendly term.
 
Be Consist
Be consistent with when and how you’ll hold your virtual office hours. Have the link to your office hours listed on your syllabus, on your office door, in your LMS, at the end of your PowerPoint slides or other lecture tools each week and remind students of the link in your weekly announcements.  Keep the hours consistent.  Just as you hold your class at the same time and day each week, do the same with your office hours. For students learning how to self-regulate, this type of structure helps with student efficacy in planning for success.
 
Use A Scheduler that will allow students to make appointments
If possible, have an easy way for students to sign up for a specific time to meet with you; you could try sharing a Google Calendar appointment link. I strongly recommend using Canvas’s scheduler 

The more opportunities students have to see when you are available, the more likely they are to jump on and join. One final note: if you have some flexibility, consider asking your students when they would prefer you be available to help them outside of class. Once students have a stake in selecting your office hours, they’re more likely to take advantage of those times.
 
Consider Incentivizing attendance.

​Give students an incentive to come. Students are more likely to attend virtual office hours if you’re doing something they enjoy and value.

• ​​Use office hours to play games with the course content, and then give away small prizes to the “winners” like a point of extra credit, or a voucher for something they value. Examples include: “turning in one assignment up to 24 hours late with no penalty”

• You can also utilize digital quizzing tool like Top Hat where students can deeply engage with digital content like videos, pictures and web links, but my students also love traditional games, like bingo using key terms or concepts.

• Tools like Free Bingo Cards can allow you to create the cards, and then distribute these electronically to anyone that attends the office hours. During the game, students hear questions such as, “What word describes the technique where a function calls itself?” Students would have to know the answer is “recursion,” then see if they have it on their bingo card.

• Let students use their books and notes during these games so they’re actively engaging in the content. Then, ask a student who had the correct answer on their bingo card to share the answer and provide an example to the other students.

These types of games can not only be fun to students for exam reviews, they’re great formative assessment activities to see where your students are with the course content.
 
Make it relevant.
Use Google alerts to identify possible real-life examples of what is taking place in the class or find an accessible research article to discuss. Once or twice during the semester, select an interesting and relevant article and provide a link to the students telling them this article will be the focus of your office hours. Record these discussions for students who cannot attend in person so they can watch later if they choose.
 
Use live coding
Rather than using slides, instructors can create programs in front of their learners (this tip comes from this great article:https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006023 and has a bit more detail as to why it works).
 
Provide study ideas
There are many strategies that can be used for any class, but some subjects have specific strategies that work particularly well for that class. Provide tips about ways students might consider studying or taking notes for your class.

Get Feedback
Ask students about their classroom experience. Students are poised to evaluate your pedagogical practices better than anyone else. Let’s say a student is seeking clarification on a confusing term. You can follow up by asking what, if anything, would have better clarified the term in class. It’s likely that they will comment on the pace of lecture, which provides you with priceless feedback for improving lecture comprehension (e.g., slowing down, repeating main ideas, introducing fewer terms per class, or making more time for discussion).
 
Foster connections
Lastly, and this is a big one, be proactive during your office hours to reach out to students and engage.

• ​Lead by asking how a student is doing instead of waiting for them to pose a question.

• Did a student answer a question in class in an exceptionally insightful way? Send the student an email acknowledging the great contribution made during the class discussion.

• Did a student miss class? Send an email telling them their absence was felt and remind them the lecture was recorded and is available in the LMS (if applicable). – The attendance tools in Canvas might help with this task https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Basics-Guide/What-is-the-Roll-Call-Attendance-Tool/ta-p/59

• Do you have an athlete/performer/musician that recently had an event? Send them a note of congratulations and recognition.

• Is it almost time for registration? Send students individual reminder emails via Canvas and tell them about a course they have to look forward to next semester.

• Is there a big paper coming up? Send a note to a student who struggled with the first paper and ask if they’d like to schedule a time to discuss their concept.

• Finally, use this time to reach out to students and ask them to “help” you during the next synchronous class session by having an example ready to share when you discuss a specific topic or describe a concept in their own words. This builds engagement during the synchronous session, as well as creates a connection with the student

Slack in the Classroom

Slack provides a reliable, easy-to-use, platform-agnostic chat and instant messaging service that faculty and students have many locations, including Luddy, have readily adopted. The articles below examine the different ways faculty have repurposed Slack to meet their pedagogical and administrative needs. Examples include using Slack as an email replacement; as well as for academic and social discussions; increasing engagement; interviews with experts, polling; and file storage. They also detail how well features such as external app integration with YouTube, Microsoft OneDrive and Azure work for them in Slack. Additionally, they explain how students can use Slack for group work, crowdsourcing notes, and creating resource repositories.

Evan Peck, Bucknell HCI discusses how he used Slack across 5 different courses in his department’s Computer Science curriculum. https://medium.com/bucknell-hci/how-i-use-slack-in-my-courses-a-3-year-reflection-888c7e742d04 A summary of the tips he shared in this article include:

• If you use Slack, throw away course email and commit to it. (Please note: Sameer Patil provided me with this information in regards to using Slack for email (thanks Sameer!):

In terms of using it for official IU purposes (especially teaching, which has FERPA implications), please note Slack is not currently an IU enterprise system.

UITS informs me that “Slack is subject to all other policies like data management, SSSP, IT-28, acceptable use agreement, etc. If someone wants to use Slack, they should fill out the SSSP and describe how they will use it, what kind of data, and audience, and then the data stewards, purchasing, and security and privacy offices will vet the request.”​

My apologies for the confusion.

• Slack can be used to increase engagement and interactivity amongst your students. Feel free to contact me for clarification on how to keep those activities FERPA compliant.

• Don’t create too many channels for critical information (homework)

• Leverage the creation of new channels for non-critical information (interesting articles, etc.)

• Use Slack outside class to create assignments that involve an interactive component between students (it’s what Slack is good at!).

• Use Slack during class as a low-barrier mechanism to share information (both from you to students as well as from the students to you).

• In project-based classes, Slack will help facilitate behind-the-scenes communication between groups.

• Posting metrics can provide additional feedback about assignments.

• Use Slack as a way to make learning more playful

Phil Simon, a lecturer at Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business, and author of Slack for Dummies https://www.philsimon.com/blog/trends/use-slack-inside-classroom/ explains, “I can take the temperature of the room anonymously. This makes it safe for students to address potentially controversial themes,” he says. Perhaps most importantly, it empowers students to take initiative…

Christina Paxman, an Assistant Professor of Broadcasting and Professional Communication at Minot State University shares in this paper presented at the National Communications Association https://www.natcom.org/sites/default/files/pages/eTools_Slack_January_2018.pdf   how she uses Slack as a file storage system, and takes advantage of Slack’s app integration features.

Engineering Lecturer Jennifer Bernstein provides current students at Johns Hopkins University https://ii.library.jhu.edu/2019/04/12/using-slack-in-the-classroom/ opportunities to interview recent grads about their experiences working in the medical field.

There are many more ways that Slack can help support your teaching, learning, and communication needs. Do you want to share how you use Slack, or a similar tool in your class?  Or, do you have questions about which tools  best support your personal teaching needs or student learning outcomes?  Drop in on the first Monday of each month, for an informal conversations around teaching and learning. Next month (02/01/2021 at 11:00 AM) we will chat about the different ways Slack, Group Me, Microsoft Teams, and other tools can be used to communicate with students:  https://iu.zoom.us/j/81576128938 . ​

Pre-Course Survey

One way to improve engagement with your students is to learn more about them. A precourse survey is one way to help develop a connection with your students, and get to know them beyond what is shared in an introduction discussion.

What do you want to know about them?

Diligent student in college with classmates, taking notes of teacher lecture.

A survey can help you conduct a needs assessment about where your students are at in terms of prior knowledge, demographics, mindset, learning preferences, goals, content confidence level, preferred feedback style, and/or access to technology.  Because this takes place “behind the scenes” and is only shared with the instructor, rather than in a public discussion forum, you may be more likely to receive candid responses.

What strategies and skills will students need and/or develop in your course?

These kinds of questions can help students flex metacognitive skills and become more aware of their learning habits. As an instructor, this can help you provide more specific feedback on student work, suggesting similar strategies and stretch goals.

• Reflection on Strategies: Metacognitive reflection questions ask how students get things done. Do you take marginal notes or highlight as you read? What conditions do you need to do your best work?

• Planning Ahead: Beyond what has worked for students in the past, you might ask about strategies they will use specifically in this class. What times each week do you have earmarked to work on this course?

• Setting Goals:You might ask them to review the learning objectives, asking what they will commit to accomplishing. And beyond the learning objectives for the course, are there other skills or competencies they plan to work on in the course? Do they have any suggestions for the instructor about strategies for helping meet those goals?

During the first week of your course

Providing students with an opportunity to quiz themselves not on the course topic but on the course itself–how to get started in the course, how to navigate the course, what the course should help students accomplish, and how the course is structured–can help instructors send fewer emails saying, “It’s in the syllabus!”

Given multiple choice or true/false question types, these kinds of pre-course surveys can be automatically scored. Don’t forget to compose feedback for incorrect responses and allow multiple attempts!

What tools are available?

IU supports the Qualtrics survey tool and Canvas includes a dashboard feature that allows instructors to create a type of quiz called ‘ungraded’ that can be used as a survey. In Canvas, once the survey, or ‘ungraded quiz,’ is published online, students can login to their Canvas course page and participate. IU also has access to Google Forms and Microsoft Teams (Microsoft Forms are Available in the Channel and Chat features) for quick survey and quiz creation.

If you’d like support implementing a pre-course survey or questionnaire in your online class, or in any other aspects of teaching and learning, please contact me at your earliest convenience with your availability.

Happy New Year! New Publications in 2020 and 2021

Happy New Year,

I have not kept up on my post…so as you may have guessed, one of my New Year Resolutions is related to writing. To hold myself accountable, I enrolled in a writing class. However, I should mention that just because I haven’t shared a post hear in a while does not mean I have not been productive (writing wise anyway: see Google). My most recent publication is an edited book that I was fortunate enough to work on with Dr. Erik Byker. The Title is Elementary Education: Global Perspectives, Challenges and Issues of the 21st Century.

The book is organized into three sections: (1) context, (2) competencies, and (3) content. The context section examines the historical and current context for elementary education from international perspectives. The competencies section focuses on the skills and dispositions necessary for pre-service and in-service teachers to navigate the contours of elementary education in a global age. The content section explores elementary education subject matter—largely in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)—that will continue to eminent throughout the twenty-first century. Elementary Education: Global Perspectives, Challenges and Issues of the 21st Century is a timely book for internationally-minded educators, government leaders, parents, practitioners, and policymakers for gaining deeper insight into the critical role of elementary education in preparing children for our dynamic, interconnected, and globalized world. For more information on this book, click here.