WEEK TWO: Thursday May 4, 2017
HYBRID LEARNING PANEL
1:00 PM - 1:40 PM
Stephanie Dingwall, Ph.D
Assistant Professor of Teaching, Department of Biochemistry
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Research Area
Enzymology, Physical Biochemistry, Biochemical Education
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Teaching or learning problem/challenge that made you rethink your learning model or approach or try something new
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The “Elementary” moniker is misleading: it is a rigorous 10-week sprint through the year-long majors’ series. Due to this condensed format, many students struggle with the sheer amount of material in such a short period. In addition, it is a survey course where students cover many different topics, and so must learn different approaches to each topic.
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Frequently, students don’t know where to start, how to study, or have difficulty transitioning quickly from one topic to another.
How you addressed that challenge (if applicable, what technology, learning strategy, etc. you integrated to do so)
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One of the learning strategies implemented in this course include providing blank templates for metabolic pathways in order to familiarize the class with the topic using drawing
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Activities like these increase the interaction in class, rather than clicking through slides. This allows for deeper understanding of the material.
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Another strategy incorporated into the course is the use of the Piazza discussion board. Here, students have a more robust (and no-stakes, as questions and answers are anonymous) way to participate in the course by not only posing but answering each others’ inquiries.
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Perhaps one of the most effective methods used thus far is online office hours using the Zoom.us web-conferencing platform. Students type out their questions via the chat function, and the instructor responds by means of microphone and markings or drawings using the zoom platform.
How students responded, any challenges, and lessons learned
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Students have openly accepted the implementations, raving about the templates. This type of active learning shows students not only what to study but how.
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The Piazza discussion board is a great way for shyer students to ask questions. It is anonymous if they choose, so they can ask as much as they want. In addition, students appreciate others asking questions they themselves may not have thought of, so they can see how others are thinking.
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Students who attend online office hours are very appreciative of time outside typical school hours, during their “study time,” where they can ask questions and get immediate feedback.
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Generally, feedback has been positive
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Stephanie hopes to incorporate pre-recorded videos (e.g. Learning Glass) for the hybrid rollout.
Media
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PANELISTS I Open the e-Handout
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Teaching or learning problem/challenge that made you rethink your learning model or approach or try something new
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The movement of course materials, particularly homework, fundamentally did not work in our current face-to-face (F2F) discussion sections. Students seeking help with finding materials and completing homework did not have the online environment to answer those questions; moving to online discussions means that students have their electronic course materials and homework in front of them during the discussion and the TAs can use document and screen sharing to disseminate information and aid to students.
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Geology courses typically have a large outdoor component of observing the world around us. Thus, ‘virtual field trips’, allow students to obtain the outdoor experience.
How you addressed that challenge (if applicable, what technology, learning strategy, etc. you integrated to do so)
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Adobe Connect was used for online webinar meeting rooms. This allows instructors and TAs to present PowerPoints, mark-up electronic whiteboard, and share webpages.
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The filmed virtual fieldtrips allow students to observe the lecture concepts in the real world.
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How students responded, any challenges, and lessons learned
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Students liked the layout of the course in Canvas
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Overwhelmingly positive response to use Piazza as a way to discuss lecture materials outside of class as well as receive answers to logistics and homework questions
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Piazza allows students to collaboratively share and interact with each other in a friendly - but also educational - online setting during the quarter
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The use of online discussion sections was initially met with some trepidation, but most students accepted and adapted fairly easily
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Success is based on the TA and instructor comfortability and capability with online tools.
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Media
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Corrie Neighbors, Ph.D
Assistant Professor, Department of Geology, Western New Mexico University
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Research Area
With a Bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina and a Master's degree from Florida State, both in Marine Geophysics, Corrie Neighbors entered the UC Riverside PhD program in 2008 interested in expanding her understanding of geophysics. She is studying the tectonic process with Dr. Elizabeth Cochran and has been integral to the expansion of the Quake Catcher Network. Corrie has spent the past three years traveling around the world with Stanford PhD researcher Angela Chung setting up sensors and seismometers. Her PhD work took her to Chile and Mexico in 2010.


Teaching or learning problem/challenge that made you rethink your learning model or approach or try something new
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Students entering into Math 5 come underprepared, and David wanted to equip them with materials and strategies to provide support that would enhance student understanding and outcomes
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David's current mission in the department is to restructure the precalculus program to improve student success and retention in STEM majors.
How you addressed that challenge (if applicable, what technology, learning strategy, etc. you integrated to do so)
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David has applied for ILTI funding to move MATH 5 online. He is seeking to implement a fully online, fully synchronous course with collaborative learning and flipped classroom components.
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This course is constructed to use technology to increase student-instructor contact and increase the degree of personalized attention
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The instructor will be able to individually address students, send students to breakout groups, efficiently test students during lecture, and record lectures so that students can review them and avoid the distraction of taking notes. Students will have more opportunities to ask questions than they would in a traditional course.
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Since office hours can be recorded, students will have the opportunity to review other student’s interactions as well. These features of the proposed synchronous online course should greatly benefit our student population at UCR. Since precalculus courses are offered system-wide, this online version of the precalculus course can eventually be made available to all schools in the UC system, and potentially in high schools as well.
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How students responded, any challenges, and lessons learned
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David introduced online office hours and has used them to help support struggling students
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So far, online office hours are more well-attended than face-to-face office hours. Students appreciate the flexibility that web-conferencing provides and are more easily able to participate in exam review sessions.
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Scores on midterm exams have improved in part because of more participation among students in the online review session.
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Media
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