I believe letting my personality shine through the way I teach “humanizes” the online learning experience. One of the ways I have tried to do this is through my office hour sessions. I have developed some ways to inject a little more of my personality and enthusiasm for vertebrate life through additional activities the students can engage with at their discretion, including: Supplementary lectures exploring certain topics in the course in more detail, such as phylogenetic reconstruction methods Software tutorials such as Mendeley citation manager and using Google Scholar to locate and browse  primary sources Livestreaming my research activities, such as preparing vertebrate natural history specimens, and talking  with students about how they could perform similar activities at home with their dissection specimens Perhaps most importantly, guided pre-exam study sessions and post-exam review sessions.      None of these activities are required of course – my ...

Feedback is one of the most valuable tools available to instructors, designers, and students. When students invest their time and creativity in an assignment, instructor feedback provides them an opportunity to know what they excelled in, as well as what still needs improvement. Authentic feedback between an instructor and student creates a conversation that is conducive to learning and growing. Similarly, after countless hours are spent designing a curriculum and developing a course--whether online, on-site, or a hybrid of the two--feedback provides instructors a path to continue improving the course for an impactful student experience. When we bring students into the conversation by requesting their feedback on specific elements of a course, we have the opportunity to showcase more diverse backgrounds and voices, employ current applications and content, and establish an environment that makes students feel valued and heard. This article explores how to create space for feedback, what...