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Course Changes: Out With the Old, In With The New

By Kristin Kowal
February 27, 2020

Posted in: Faculty / Instructional Design / Teaching Online

Spring is upon us and growth and change is a fitting topic to explore this time of year. Here are four changes we saw in courses that we’d love to share with you, as well as the instructor’s perspective on these changes.

Adding Choice to Invigorate a Boring Assignment

Course: Introduction to Sociology, UW Flexible Option

Old: Students reviewed graphical U.S. census data and compared racial and ethnic populations over time.

New: Students can choose to conduct research on stratification or attend and analyze a community experience through the lens of race and ethnicity, gender, or social class.

Instructor Perspective

Dr. Gregory Peter shared his thoughts on developing the new assessment:

I wanted to change the assignment because it was a simple and somewhat boring graphing assignment about using census data. I was getting tired of grading it, and it didn’t really have a lot of meaning to the students. Laurie [my instructional designer] suggested that we think of something more experiential that the students could relate to. I usually try to get my students to apply Sociological concepts to their own lives or to current events as a way of making it relevant to them but also as a way of realizing how useful Sociology can be in everyday life.

The assignments we created are much closer to that goal and I am really happy with them. Laurie was really the impetus in making the suggestions. I just helped brainstorm ideas on how we might go about it. The nice thing about being a mid-career faculty member is that I finally really know my material and how to deliver it to the students, and that is really satisfying.

Text reads: Option A. Community Experience For this assessment option, you are highly encouraged to get out and do something in your local community, like attend area events that would push you out of your comfort zone to learn more about other people. You are encouraged to attend these events with an open mind and be willing to engage in whatever activity is happening. Experiencing first-hand people or ideas that are different from you will allow you an opportunity to formulate your own impression and not rely on the media’s view. Instructions Choose from one of the three categories below. Write a 1-2 page reflection paper about your experience using sociological concepts where appropriate. For instance you might discuss race and ethnic cultural issues, or gender identity issues or social class differences.
The new community experience option in SOC101. Click to enlarge.

 

Enlivening Discussion Boards through Debate

Course: Introduction to the Study of Religion, UW Flexible Option

Old: Students watch a video related to a religion topic and write a brief reflection.

New: Students watch a video on a religion topic, then debate that topic with each other on the discussion board.

Instructor Perspective

Dr. James Powell reflected on how the discussion was a positive change:

I can see that some of them really enjoy addressing the arguments of other students and/or me (I post pro and con posts also). It is a great positive and something I include in every course I have developed since then.

Screenshot of the assignment. Watch the video “Why Your Self-Image Might be Wrong: Ego, Buddhism, and Freud”. Debate: Do you think you are as "real" as you think you are? Do you agree with Epstein that there is no permanence to our self-perspective and that we have been programmed by society to think we have a "self"? Do you think it is healthy to rid oneself of ego in the manner in which he describes it? Form your opinion and experss it in the discussion. Include "Agree with Epstein" or "Disagree with Epstein" in the subject heading of your main post. Post two replies to at least two other students who disagree with your opinion and share the reasons why you do not agree with their position in your posts.
The new debate option in REL101. Click to enlarge.

 

Practicing for Projects through Group Problem-Solving

Course: Programming I, Applied Computing Program

Old: Students participate in weekly discussions on programming-related topics.

New: Students participate in small group problem-solving scenarios on the discussion board to practice their skills for the programming projects.

Instructor Perspective

Dr. Ahmad Abuhejleh reflected on why he changed the discussions in his course:

After teaching the course for a couple of years, I found out through discussion questions, email, feedback, course evaluation that there are two areas students struggle with: the first exam and course programming projects. To remedy that, we created a discussion with each project where I gave similar code but different problems and asked the students to debug them and find what went wrong. The problems that I injected in these discussions are logically similar to the ones that the students run into while doing their projects.

Purpose: This activity will help you prepare for project 1 and get you familiar with syntax errors and logical errors. Also it will help you understand data types and the differences between them. Instructions: Step 1. There are many errors in this program. Can you find them all? Post as many errors as you can find on your own. This will unlock access to the forum and you will be able to see other posts from your discussion group as they happen. Step 2. Your group must now fix the errors. Break up the work so that each person can post at least one fix. You can reply and help each other if you can’t figure out your fix.
The new small group discussion in APC 300. Click to enlarge.

 

Creating Connections with Collaborate Ultra

Course: Object-Oriented Programming, Applied Computing

Old: Students asked for help with programming work via email or discussion board.

New: Students meet with the instructor using Collaborate Ultra (web conferencing tool that integrates with Canvas) to get help in real-time with visuals.

Instructor Perspective

Dr. Anthony Varghese shared what a big difference using a web conferencing tool made in reaching his students:

I was able to use Collaborate [Ultra] with a couple of students, and it wasn’t perfect but the screen sharing really helps with debugging students’ programs. I would say it was crucial to helping some students out of the trouble they were having! … Before I used Collaborate, I did not have anything to offer as far as helping online students in an interactive way—we had to exchange many messages back and forth over time. The only other thing is that sometimes a student might feel really isolated and reaching out with just a couple of interactive one-on-one sessions really helps them out.

Little Changes, Big Changes

As you can see, there are so many little and big ways to make a change for the better in a course. From re-designing a course at revision time to changing the method you use to communicate with students, there are so many ideas to try out. We’d love to learn about the changes you’ve made—please comment below and share with us!