2021 MIDWEST SOTL TWITTER CONFERENCE - QUICK HITS FOR CONNECTING - MIDWEST ...

2021 Midwest SoTL Twitter Conference - Quick Hits for Connecting
                Friday, April 9                     #MWSoTL

               Conference Program with Schedule and Presentation Information

Welcome to our Twitter Conference on “Quick Hits for Connecting,” part of the Midwest
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Conference. A Twitter conference is a social media
event that occurs from the comfort of your desk/sofa/whatever. This event is meant to bring
together instructors from around the Midwest (but it can extend further) in an online setting to
encourage communication and collaboration. It also happens to be easy to follow and allows
for multi-stranded communications, without the hassle of long drives, accommodations, and
the ubiquitous stale hotel-lobby bagel.

Each “speaker” will get a five-minute slot. During this time, they will post up to 12 tweets, using
the relevant hashtag #MWSoTL, about their Quick Hit for teaching. There will then be five
minutes for folks to catch their collective breath, reflect, and pepper the presenter with
questions, again using the appropriate Twitter handles and hashtags.

There will inevitably be some crossover, over-tweeting discussions, and unforeseen problems
with it all. This is an ongoing experiment, using a public and accessible format. We should
expect it to be a bit playful, a bit messy, and not to look or feel like a real-life conference. You
are participating in something fun and supportive, and the presenters and organizers have
given up their time for free to be part of it.

Connecting with Instructors

1:00pm EDT      Jenny Deranek, IU South Bend (@DrJennyD_ATC)
                Authentic Online Teaching to Build Connection and Belonging

During the spring 2020 online transition, I shared with my students that I would be instructing classes
from home, while solo parenting three small kids and two dogs. I did this to be transparent with my time
demands, but also to help normalize their sudden lived experiences. As time progressed, my
transparency continued as I navigated dogs barking during lectures, distributing snacks, and using my
time to develop authentic, unedited recorded lectures. Through student evaluations and conversations,
I have learned that this authentic style has been welcomed. Anecdotally, I have found that it increases
engagement, belonging, rapport, empathy, and real-life experiences. In this discussion, we’ll share tools
and experiences for authentic teaching to enhance connection and collaboration, grounded in literature
supporting student belonging.

1:10            Jake Mattox, IU South Bend (@MrsPotterPalmer)
                Contract Grading in Practice: A Semester with (Mostly) No Grades

I will share some lessons learned in the spring section of ENG-W 270, Argumentative Writing, the first
class in which I have tried a version of “labor-based contract grading” (borrowed from Inoue [“Labor-
Based Grading Contracts,” 2019] and others, such as Blum [“Ungrading,” 2020]). Early on, students
contracted for the grade they would receive at semester’s end; the contract stated what was required
for an “A” grade, a “B” grade, etc. – and these stipulations were about quantity, NOT quality, of labor
performed. No grades--but lots of comments--were offered on individual assignments. While this sounds
heretical, the goals were many: to recognize that grading is largely arbitrary; to allow students to take
risks and fail on assignments; to reduce the alienation that comes when the instructor is simply the
rewarder/punisher, etc. Via Twitter, I plan to offer some of my own takeaways as well as those of my
students.

1:20            Jay VanderVeen, IU South Bend (@JayVanderVeen)
                Avoiding Empty Office Hours

The point of holding office hours is, ostensibly, to provide opportunities for students to seek out help.
But it may be easier for students to email or text questions, the timing of office hours may be
inconvenient, and many first-generation students may be intimidated by or unaware of the benefit from
meeting with faculty. Requiring an office hour visit adds an important extrinsic motivation for the
students, and the pay-off appears to be greater than just performance in a single class. With technology
and creativity, the time involved for both students and faculty does not have to be onerous, either.

Connecting with Content

1:30pm EDT      Julie Saam, IU Kokomo (@juliesaam)
                Encouraging Student Connections to Content in In-Person and Online Classrooms

In online learning, we speak of the necessary interactions for active learning: Student to Faculty, Student
to Student, and Student to Content. As instructors, we can provide a variety of ways for students to
interact with content. However, for optimal learning, we know how important it is for students to make
connections with the course content. How can instructors provide a space for students to make these
connections? How can instructors give space for students’ voices? Allowing for connections to be
shared, provides a space for all students to find their voice. If we want our students to take ownership of
their own learning, we need to provide an avenue for students to make these connections, share these
connections, and internalize these connections.

1:40            Lori Pajakowski, IU South Bend (@lorilopaj)
                Pre-briefing and Debriefing to Enhance Active Learning

During an active learning encounter, pre-briefing and debriefing are both vital components of the
experience. Pre-briefing introduces students to the active learning strategy and serves to increase
student engagement by removing unknown variables. Pre-briefing includes an orientation to student
expectations, and the strategies, tools, and technology that will be used to meet learning outcomes.
Debriefing after an active learning experience is a guided reflection to promote critical thinking and
enhance learning. An optimal debriefing session is student led with faculty serving as facilitators of the
guided reflection as opposed to content lecturers. Important components of the facilitator role are: 1)
provide a safe environment for honest reflection that encourages students to lead the debrief; 2) use of
a predetermined set of questions to facilitate student engagement and reflection when necessary; and
3) conclude each debrief by encouraging students to share one takeaway for application to future
learning or practice.

1:50            Laura Guertin, Penn State Brandywine (@guertin)
                Teaching Students About Diverse Scientists with Multimedia to Counter Stereotypes

At the college level, students still hold on to stereotypical views of scientists. An introductory-level Earth
science course designed assignments to introduce students to diverse and underrepresented scientists
in a range of research environments. Students learned about scientists and their work through articles
and websites, pre-recorded videos, and live Zoom interviews. A survey at the end of the course captured
how student views had changed, that scientists are “not mindless drones doing the work, its real living
people giving their time to improve our world,” and “many of the people we learned about had a very
personal connection to the research they were doing or were very passionate about it, and it makes you
want to listen to what they’re saying.” When asked to rank their preference for learning about scientists,
the most preferred tool was a recorded video, followed by a live interview, podcast, and finally reading
an article.

Connecting with Peers

2:00pm EDT      Venkata Inukollu, Purdue Fort Wayne (@your_doc_V)
                Too Easy, Too Difficult, Irrelevant: Addressing Inclusivity in Learning Diversity

Addressing Inclusivity is beyond identifying and affirming diversities. Learning Diversity is a universal
truth. Purposeful Learning happens when a learner's identity is engaged. A common learning diversity in
the classroom involves a course being perceived as too hard, too easy, or irrelevant based on the
learner's knowledge, experiences, and interests. When these diversities are unrecognized,
disengagement happens. Via this twitter proposal, our primary aim is to facilitate discussion about "How
to Address Inclusivity in Learning Diversity?". As we work to find hybrid pedagogical approaches to
address inclusivity, we'd like to hear from the participants on the following: "Will the mandated
development of Supporting Course Resource Pool (SCRP) for courses across disciplines be a viable and
effective approach?" SCRP here is referred to as additional/supporting resources/activities/projects, etc.
in addition to the original course content library.

2:10            Travis Faas, IUPUI (@meanderingleaf)
                A “Synchronous” - Priming Synchronous Interaction with Online Discussions

Asynchronous participation can feel cold and impersonal for students. In a school setting, deadlines are
rushed, comments are missed, and depth of responses can be lacking. As “just another thing to
manage,” these assignments can leave students feeling less connected to their peers, quite the opposite
of the intended goal of requiring social media use. However, assignments such as forum posts, blogs, or
tweets make excellent priming material for in-class discussions. Assigning an initial discussion post and
following it up with small group synchronous discussions gives students time to prepare for the
discussion, pre-warm it online, and get the most out of their conversations during class time. Following
up with a final post on the online discussion creates a class with a history of notes that all can observe
and employ.

2:20            Dina Gohar, University of Michigan (@DrDinaGohar)
                Facilitating Students’ Social Connectedness Online

Inclusive teaching and high-impact practices foster student engagement, belonging, and social
connection, which are integral for success, especially for underrepresented or minoritized students
(Ribera, Miller & Dumford 2017). However, students in online courses often report feeling more socially
disconnected without the interpersonal interactions and social cues more typical of learning face-to-face
(Menchaca & Bekele 2008). Thus, special attention to facilitating social connection and belonging among
students learning online is warranted. This Twitter Quick Hit focuses on adapting the RCIT for online
teaching to foster a sense of social connectedness among students, ideally with 10 minutes
synchronously but it can also be done asynchronously with video recording tools like FlipGrid.

Connecting through Technology

2:30pm EDT      Deborah Miller, IU East (@debmillerphd)
                Using TikTok to Make Your Courses Fun and Engaging

Sometimes it's a struggle to find ways to engage students in online courses. TikTok is a popular video
editing technology that will help your students engage with course content, each other, and their
instructor in fun new ways. TikTok can be used by the instructor to create relatable content or by the
student to complete assignments in a creative format and share their videos with classmates. TikTok can
allow students to bring their personality and creativity to a course, increasing their motivation and
enjoyment as well as their sense of belonging and connecting with peers. By using TikTok, instructors
can increase student engagement and foster a sense of classroom community, both of which are
essential components of student success. This Quick Hit will provide examples of how to use TikTok in
your online classes.

2:40            Alison Kelly, University of North Dakota (@akelly613)
                Improving Student Time Management Using Instructor-Implemented Intervention

Time management difficulties are prevalent among undergraduate students and very few practical and
effective instructor-implemented interventions exist. This study empirically tested interventions
targeting time management in undergraduates enrolled in 100-level and 300-level psychology courses.
At the beginning of the semester, students were taught about time management behaviors and either
submitted a weekly schedule (intervention group 1) or a weekly schedule and time management goals
(intervention group 2) on their course LMS for 8 weeks of the semester. Students in the 100-level course
experienced a significant increase in post-intervention time management behaviors. Students also
perceived the weekly schedule intervention to be more effective than the weekly schedule and goals
intervention. Post-intervention time management behavior was also positively correlated with final
course grades. Overall, having students create and submit a weekly schedule is an effective and easy
instructor-implemented intervention to support students' time management behaviors.

2:50            Jenny Deranek, IU South Bend (@DrJennyD_ATC)
                There’s a Skeleton in my Front Room: Teaching Anatomy Online

The transition to online learning has caused a great deal of anxiety, trepidation, and fear for many
students in ANAT-A210: Elementary Human Anatomy. Successful completion of this course is necessary
for application to clinical programs, so students must perform well AND remember/apply the content.
Many students report being hands-on learners, desiring an in-class experience to feel and practice the
content in memorization-based courses, such as anatomy, which leads to little interest to learn online.
Currently, I teach anatomy from my home, through the use of two borrowed skeletons that have been
integrated into my front room. In this discussion we’ll discuss strategies to help students overcome fears
in online content-heavy courses through using technological tools such as TopHat, Quizzes Too, Google,
YouTube, and authentic narrated lectures. Additionally, we will discuss the impact of positive
reinforcement and empathy through Student Success Surveys, qualitative virtual in-class connections,
and empathetic teaching.