Providing a hands-on, active learning experience for online classes is difficult. BIO 201, Human Anatomy & Physiology, students prepare a Histology Atlas using tissue images supplied by the instructor. It was a passive learning process.
I searched and introduced Virtual Microscope, an Open Access technology. It allowed an active learning experience similar to using a microscope during in-person lab settings. The students could:
I created a series of discussion assignments for my BIO201 courses titled Anatomy of a Superhero for the purpose of prompting students to think about human anatomy and physiology from a different perspective and to help reinforce the principles of normal human anatomy and physiology.
In conjunction with the 4DX campus initiative and the EMCC Super Goal #1, the math division developed the following WIG: To contribute to closing the equity gap and improving a student’s sense of belonging, the Mathematics Division will increase the student’s response average on the twenty questions of the Classroom Community Survey (Rovai, 2002) from a 2.2 to 2.5 by December 2021. Residential faculty reported what types of activities/practices were implemented in their classes to increase a student's sense of belonging. Students reported an average
Objective: To ensure students are on track for completion in their certificate or degree pathway program, students meet with their advisor, either virtually or in person, to do the following:
Assignment Requirements:
The ECN faculty were interested in assessing our students' writing skills as we assign reserach papers to them each semester using the standard writing rubric. Students' essays were collected at the end of the fall 2020 semester for analysis in spring 2021. This began with an inter-rater reliability study to normalize our responses, followed by assessing for baseline data.
This syllabus research project is an example of assessing learning practices to enhance learning environments at the classroom, program, and college level. I learned from student success literature that often, underrepresented students will not ask for exceptions to syllabus policies while their counterparts will, thus creating unintentional equity gaps with class syllabus policies. I studied various course syllabi from EMCC classes to see how my policies compare. I then surveyed EMCC faculty and students about the course syllabus.
The Student Experience Research Team (SERT) formed in Fall 2020 under the Title V Grant to explore student equity achievement gaps at EMCC. The SERT has been conducting a mixed-method study on the student experience at EMCC to better understand how we can improve student learning and outcomes at the college. During the Fall 2021 Student Success Conference hosted by the Maricopa Center for Learning and Innovation, the SERT presented initial research findings from the Spring 2021 collected data.
After taking a PLC assessment/Tableau workshop, I felt it was important to the new CPD101-A First Year Experience Class that I was teaching online in Fall 2021 to find out if one of the major goals for this new class (being piloted for all 10 MCCCD colleges for Fall 2022) if indeed students were able to correctly match their Field of Interest (FOI) to the associate degree that they were pursuing.
As evidenced in multiple CATS written about journaling in STEM, faculty from chemistry, physics, calculus, and biology utilize journals to improve students' deeper level of learning. Critical thinking skills and written communication skills (EMCC ILOs) are important in STEM. I want to ensure my students leave my own course ready and prepared for the other STEM courses. Also, these journals are used to asses physics' classroom learning outcomes. Please see attached documents for sample survey results and journal entries.
Using discussion protocols in a live online learning format promotes independent student collaboration and engagement in group discussions through quality instruction and student support. In conjunction with the use of Google documents and live online breakout rooms (Zoom, Webex, or Google Meets), protocols drive independent student discussion and collaboration using a set of guidelines that include student roles and responsibilities. Discussion protocols also allow for fostering student-to-student relationships and for providing immediate real-time feedback by faculty.
In October 2020, SAC Co-Coordinators facilitated two virtual luncheons. EMCC Faculty and staff had to opportunity to review ILO and CLO data. The goal was to facilitate meaningful conversations about student learning.
This year, the Psychology Club and Psi Beta (PCPB) have had to meet all online. While this has presented us with challenges, it has also opened up our club to many possibilities. Our students wanted to have events, but indicated concern that they wouldn't actually be able to engage with the speakers, as in other online events they often aren't able to speak or raise their hand as frequently as they would like. We decided to create a Women In Psych Panel event.
Not only does this assignment address the current ILO of Information Literacy, but this also aligns to the CLO for COM 225: Students will be able to effectively present a persuasive speech orally to an audience. Lastly, by finding ways to improve teaching and learning, this is also a small way to contribute to the larger college goal of "increase the number of graduates/completers by 25% with equity."
In Fall 20, math courses transitioned to a Live Online format versus traditional online. Faculty spent the summer frantically learning technologies and strategies through workshops, brainstorming sessions, and social media. Math faculty also trained one another on Zoom/Webex, NearPod, and Whiteboard.fi with a common goal - to learn and implement new tools in the virtual environment to keep students engaged; increasing student success and persistence.
Update (1 week after CATS was originally submitted): After submitting this CATS, students began learning about Power Series (which is one reason to learn Convergence/Divergence of series discussed in this CATS). WIth the scaffolding handout, they were able to come up with how to deteremine convergence/divergence of Power Series on their own! Again, I typically have to do a lot more lecture, but I didn't.