Based on research in student success, the Adjunct Faculty (AF) Professional Learning Community (PLC) recommended a program in 2010 “to engage/retain the college’s best adjunct faculty, explore and deepen Learning College best practices within the classroom”. Portions of their recommendations were implemented through AF training workshops.
In my 16 week RDG 091 course, prior to the first group presentation, I spend one or two classes teaching students the oral and format expectations of an oral PowerPoint presentation. In Fall, 2013, I taught an 8 week version of the RDG 091 course and found that there was limited time to extensively teach these skills prior to their first oral presentation. I provided them the rubric ahead of time and covered the information as best I could with the time I had. However, I was very disappointed in the results.
Using Canvas Discussions is a good way to use higher order thinking skills and improve communication as our students justify their answers and question others. In Fall 2013, all three of my hybrid classes had weekly discussions that enriched our content. However, the quality of the discussions was somewhat lacking. Mid semester, I instituted rubrics to help guide and measure their posts. For a 15 point discussion, the rubrics were as follows:
In Fall 2013, I piloted a video reflection assignment in the Sociology courses.
In the Spring 2013 semester, five adjunct faculty mentees, four adjunct faculty mentors, and one residential faculty mentor completed the pilot of the innovative Adjunct Faculty Mentoring Program (AFMP). The AFMP is the research based Applied Integration component of the Adjunct Faculty Professional Development model that also includes Objective and Subjective Skills Development Workshops.
One learning objective for Com 100 is to have students explain the essential elements of communication using representative communication models. In a F2F setting this can be demonstrated easily by putting the essential elements of a model on the whiteboard and having students stand by the elements such as the “sender” and “receiver” element. They next model the elements in an interactive process. This semester, I assigned students the same assignment, to diagram a recent conversation they had using a model of communication.
The first project in my EDU classes each semester is a student investigation into a hot topic in the education field. Students must submit a Ppt and then present on the topic, using the Ppt as their audio-visual aide. Their grade is a combination of assessing their presentation and their hard-copy Ppts. To grade their hard copies, I use a Ppt Rubric (see attachmed). Historically the lowest score on the rubric has been "References" where they must accurately cite at least two credible references. The average score on this has been 2.0 out of 5 points.
A survey was completed (N=147) for the One Billion Rising Event. This is a sample of the percentages for responses of Agree and Strongly Agree. Please see attachment. (1). One purpose of this event was to raise awareness of the global issue of violence against women. My understanding of the global issue of violence against women is greater after attending this event. 88% (2). Another purpose of this event was to encourage a better understanding of how individual action can bring about change in the larger culture and in personal lives.
During finals week class time, SOC 212 (Gender and Society) students create a public service announcement. The instructions given are "Based on the information you learned on gender and society, what would you focus on to promote social change? You are going to create a two minute Public Service Announcement to share with the class." The goal of this assessment is to see which topic is chosen as most important to create a public service announcement. Students were required to choose one topic; some chose more than one to discuss.
In another assessment, the gender issues survey incorporated in SOC 212 as a pre and post survey is discussed. The focus is on similarities and differences between the pre and post results. This assessment focuses on the post survey as a comparison between hybrid and online. A spreadsheet is attached with the results for Spring 2013. The similarities between the hybrid and online courses include 1. majority of students indicate that most of the listed gender issues are important and very important (higher end of scale) 2.
Students continuously give us positive feedback on campus events. Love Your Body Week is assessed with a survey for the week long series of events. Self reflection questions focus on learning from the event, interest in going to other eventes, interest in learning about other social issues, interest in being active in the community, feeling open minded, and having resources on the social issues. If you examine the attachments, you will see results for the presentations, activitie,s and the outdoor event.
I made my course a hybrid like course, where students could learn online as well as in the class w some assignments. Here is a sample from a project given. Not your usual PED course.
Objective: To assist students better understand the process of determining filing status' for tax payer clients in various given scenarios. Students seem to struggle determining filing status and the number of personal exemptions clients may claim.
The purpose of this assessment is to allow students to use their own personal experience to bring the concept to a situation in which they can relate. It’s my theory that If they can relate themselves to the concept, they can better understand how to make the decisions for others.
Having read about the "Flipped Method" of instruction, and feeling it particularly applicable for hybrid classes, I solicited an honors student, for her project, to help create a flipped lesson for a course competency. Prior to start of class, students:
In-class activities:
In Fall 2012 I had an incredible group of engaged, collaborative, and dedicated students in Abnormal Psychology (PSY 266) Hybrid. So I was shocked and dismayed when I saw that many of my most knowledgable and active students had failed the class when BB calculated their total grades. Digging deeper, I found that 100% of the failing grades resulted from a single source; the failure to do sufficient online work.