This week, our faculty are speaking to their experiences working with the TIC team and the impact it has had on their courses. Here's what they have to say:
Carolyn Compton, MD, Ph.D.
- Course: BIO 394: Medicine - Getting In, Being In, and Going Beyond
- Modality: Online
The Project:
I chose to work closely with the Teaching Innovation Center for several important reasons. First, the course with which the TIC is helping me is entirely unique among undergraduate offerings, both in goals, content, and format - a unique combination of content, variety of superb expert instructors, exercises in self-knowledge, and career preparation. There is no “standard formula” for such a course and no objective information to be tested, so evaluation (grading) is challenging. Second, the course is intended for a very broad student audience: both ASU students and pre-med students anywhere in the country/world. I sought help making the course maximally inclusive and effective, irrespective of race, gender, cultural background, or socioeconomic status. Third, the course is to be given asynchronously, online, a format with which I am a complete novice. The expertise of thetic has been invaluable to me for all these reasons.
Working with the TIC I was able to:
- Create a logical, balanced presentation of course content in the most impactful way for an online audience.
- Create a novel, effective rubric for grading subjective student assignments.
- Navigate the technical challenges of pre-recording classes, collecting and grading assignments, and handling student interactions asynchronously.
- Develop a syllabus that was clear, comprehensive, and correct.
- Learn about educational resources of which I was previously unaware.
- Have fun working with and learning from the superb TIC staff while doing all of the above.
Pierre Deviche, Ph.D.
- Course: BIO 362: Endocrine Physiology
- Modality: Immersion (in-person)
The Project:
We received a SOLS JEDI Fellowship in spring 2021 to review all aspects of the course with an emphasis on enhanced equity, diversity, and inclusion. We worked with the TIC team because of their experience and established track record in this area, and especially to facilitate the development of new assignments, active learning activities, and assessment methods.
Working with the TIC I was able to:
Working with the TIC team throughout the summer greatly facilitated our achieving the objectives outlined in our JEDI Fellowship proposal. The team provided consistent support and offered many ideas related to increasing inclusivity and accessibility, improving the tools used for testing and grading, and developing and implementing teamwork and active learning activities with our students.
Kate MacCord, Ph.D.
- Course: BIO 318: History of Medicine
- Modality: Online and iCourse
The Project:
I worked with TIC to get ideas about how to be innovative in my delivery of course content and how to create assignments that build skills in an online environment.
Working with the TIC I was able to:
The TIC team did a rapid review of my course and really helped me to increase my inclusivity and to reconceive the final project for the course in a way that I’m excited to implement.
Kathleen Pigg, Ph.D. & Soon Flynn
- Course: PLB 302: Plants and Civilization
- Modality: Immersion & Online
The Project:
We ran a test online summer version of the course several years ago. Then when Covid made it necessary to deliver the course online during Fall 2020 we needed help with how to modify our hands-on activities and how to keep students' attention in Zoom format. This summer my student Soon Flynn and I are developing an ASU Online version, to be taught Spring 2022 (along with the regular immersion course that same semester).
Working with the TIC I was able to:
Lenora Ott, especially, has been incredibly helpful in developing course structure and underlying pedagogy and in migrating it to an online format. She has helped me navigate Canvas, and we also used Flipgrid for students to make short introductions of themselves in last year's online synchronous course. I particularly appreciate her willingness to recognize my teaching style, listen to my narrative and pull out the learning objectives and help us structure the course for ASU Online.
Jon Harrison, Ph.D.
- Course(s): BIO 360: Animal Physiology & BIO 362: Animal Physiology Lab
- Modality: Online
The Project:
I thought that an outside, educated viewpoint would help me improve the organization of my course. Two particular things I wanted help on were how to get more students engaged (come to office hours, interact with each other), and how to get groups to work together more effectively and harmoniously.
Working with the TIC I was able to:
The TIC group definitely helped the organization and clarity of my Canvas site. They had excellent suggestions for improving engagement, including how to use Yellowdig to improve student attendance at office hours and how to create group charters to help students work in groups.
Summary:
These are just some of the many wonderful faculty we get to work with at TIC. A special thank you to Carolyn Compton, Pierre Deviche, Kathleen Pigg, Jon Harrison, Kate MacCord, and Soon Flynn for sharing their experiences! If you're interested in partnering with our center, please email tic@asu.edu to collaborate. We'd love to partner with you!
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