Last week we introduced the many ways the Teaching Innovation Center  (TIC) partners with faculty, instructors, and lab coordinators in the School of Life Sciences  (SOLS) at ASU. 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 f...

The Teaching Innovation Center (TIC) is a center within Arizona State University (ASU) dedicated to the design (and more) of School of Life Sciences (SOLS) courses. Meet our core team! Top row (from left to right): Amy Pate , Sarah Prosory , Lenora Ott Bottom row (from left to right): Christy Jersin Woods , Tiffany Lewis Our Partners Although our team is small, our network is mighty, and we couldn’t bring many of the services we offer to SOLS without the help and support of our partners in  EdPlus , VisLab ,  CogBooks , the  RISE Center , JEDI initiatives , Learning Experience (LX) Design , and our incredible student-worker team. At TIC, we believe in a collaborative model to give faculty and instructors the best resources. Here are a few partners that we work with frequently: Student Workers: Tiffany Lewis, Ciarra Downing EdPlus : Taylor O’Kelley, Jill Roter, Peter Van Leusen, Dee Mullins CogBooks : John Ball VisLab : Jacob Sahertian, Megan Joyce, Jo Ramirez, Samantha ...

When I work with faculty that teach immersion (students in the classroom) many of them are worried that if they teach online or hybrid they will lose what they feel is the cornerstone of the classroom experience: collaborative discussion. And it’s true, for many years we’ve been constrained by a model created in old-style internet forums using threads and responses. At first, they were exciting (maybe), but for many of us they’ve grown stale and the conversations contrived….or non-existent. But we shouldn’t abandon hope that online asynchronous discussion is possible and important. If anything, the rise of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp, and Discord have shown us that not only are many of our students capable of meaningful asynchronous interaction, but a large part of their social existence depends on it. So why don’t we have meaningful conversations in our own asynchronous classroom discussions? Why do students “go behind our backs” to create a Discord? (Will they please let...

As a higher education professional, I’ve had the special privilege of wearing multiple hats. I am currently an Instructional Designer, an Instructor, and an online graduate student. In previous roles, I’ve also been an Academic Advisor and a Counselor. In part due to the many roles I’ve had, I’ve worked significantly with online students and the faculty who create online learning. No matter if I’m working with students or with faculty, peer-to-peer interaction continues to be a concern among all in the online learning sphere. That is to say that when faculty translate their course from immersion (in person) to online, they ask, “How can I ensure the same peer-to-peer learning experiences I’d find in an in-person course?”  In the same way, I’ve had students beg and plead with me as an advisor to encourage professors to create peer interaction in their online courses. I even had a student report a complaint against a professor who wouldn’t use Slack in their course. This example, ho...

Are you looking for ways to mix up your video lectures or announcements? Do you want to streamline and enhance your step-by-step instructions? Loom is an asynchronous presentation and video tool that is easy to use and offers a variety of sharing options that can help enhance your presence and levels of instruction online. From demo GIFs to content lectures, there are many ways to “show it, say it, and send it” with Loom! What is Loom? Loom is a recording tool that can capture your desktop, camera, and microphone to create interactive videos and presentations. In addition to HD video and sound recording, other recording features include an emphasized mouse cursor to highlight areas of the screen, a drawing tool to emphasize content, pop-up buttons that call viewers to action, and emoji reactions to take your screencasting videos to the next level. You have the option to turn any of these features on or off to customize your preferred recording experience. There are multiple ways to get...