Katie Nelson | Taz Karim | Teaching Anthropology Online Workshop | AAA 2014 Teaching Anthropology Online Workshop Welcome!

Katie Nelson | Taz Karim | Teaching Anthropology Online Workshop | AAA 2014

Teaching Anthropology Online Workshop

Welcome!



Part 1: Introduction


Workshop Website

http://elearninganthropology.com/- All materials presented in this workshop

- Additional resources

Navigate to: AAA Workshop Materials

http://elearninganthropology.com/


Your Facilitators

Katie Nelson, PhD- PhD in socio-cultural anthropology (CIESAS

Occidente)

- MA in e-learning and learning technology

- Quality Matters™ Certified Peer-Reviewer

- Distance Learning Faculty Mentor

- Anthropology Instructor with 9+ years experience teaching online and hybrid (& F2F) courses

- Instructional Design Consultant

- Contact: • Personal email: [email protected]• Phone: 651-272-6692

mailto:[email protected]


Your Facilitators

Tazin Karim Daniels- Ph.D. Candidate in Medical Anthropology

(Michigan State University)

- Online course supervisor for 4 years

- Developed ten online courses in Anthropology

- Developed 2 MOOCs

- Author of “Teaching Anthropology in the Digital Age”

- Contact: • Email: [email protected]• Website: www.tazinkarim.com

mailto:[email protected]


Workshop Agenda

Topic MinutesPart 1: Introduction 10

Part 2: Design 30

Part 3: Production 20

Part 4: Teaching 20

Part 5: Blueprint Activity 30

Part 6: Closing and Q &A 10


Workshop Objectives

By the end of this workshop you will… - Be able to identify best-practices related to the

design and production of online college-level anthropology courses

- Be able to implement the steps in online course design and production

- Have started your own online course development blueprint

- Have access to tools, tips and best-practices for further exploration

- Feel motivated and empowered to continue your online course development (This is our hope! ;)


Discussion• What are people saying

about online learning?

• What do you want to learn in this workshop?


Landscape of E-Learning

Distance learning began as early as the 18th century through correspondence

1994 the first completely online curriculum was introduced

2012 96% of traditional universities offer online courses

Fastest growing area of higher education today

Are MOOCs dead? Where will e-learning go next?



Part 1: Design


Quick Self-Assessment Activity

Self-Assessment Doc.


General Design Considerations: Course Access

Paced but flexible (can work ahead) Competency-based design Course access should be clear to students

on first day


General Design Considerations: Structure and Workload

Weekly or bi-weekly content-specific modules- Rule of thumb: 3-4 hours of work per week per

credit• Check with your institution

- Each module of similar weight and level of difficulty • Or consider including adding approx. time to complete

module


General Design Considerations: Learning Objectives

Start with course-level learning objectives/competencies

Students need to know what they can expect to learn/achieve in the course and in each module

Learning objectives should be:- measurable

- actionable

- written from the student’s perspective

Module-level learning objectives should support the general learning objectives


General Design Considerations: Module Structure

Consistency! Recommended components:

- Module introduction (audio, video or textual)• Why is this content interesting/important?• How does this content connect to the course-level

learning objectives?

- List of required activities and assessments & instructions

- All the module content and assessments

- Dig deeper section


General Design Considerations: Getting Started Materials

Link to the getting-started module on the landing page

Include a getting-started module- Some instructors call it “week zero” module

Getting-started module should include:- Instructor introduction statement/video

- List of student support services

- Netiquette or email etiquette guidelines

- Min. technology skills required

- Course syllabus

- Link to student introduction discussion activity


General Design Considerations: Opportunities for Interaction

Incorporate opportunities for:- Student-student interaction

- Student-instructor interaction

Ways to foster interaction- Discussion forums

- Group projects and peer-review assignments

- Individualized instructor feedback on assignments (consider audio feedback)

- Online office hours /chat rooms

- General questions, ideas and inspirations discussion forum


General Design Considerations: Student and Instructor Introductions

Introduction statement or video about the instructor should:- Summarize qualifications and background (and

research interests)

- Express excitement and interest in the course

- Include a photo of the instructor

- Consider including some personal information


General Design Considerations: Graphic Design

Keep module elements consistent across modules- Font and font size

- Layout

- Identifying info on documents

- File formats

- Colors (avoid some)

- Icons


General Design Considerations: Learning Materials

Open texts and e-books- Native Peoples of North America

- SACC Open Access Cultural Anthropology Textbook is forthcoming!

Publisher materials Self-study/interactive chapter outlines Lecture videos and films Crossword puzzles and interactive media Softchalk lessons

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCUQFjAB&url=http://opensuny.org/omp/index.php/SUNYOpenTextbooks/catalog/download/75/36/175-2%20onclick=&ei=YSaBVO3IIoLKoATa6YGYAQ&usg=AFQjCNEDaSdj2EjwoBchQsZlpU52w0yheA&sig2=DTddu89JVvNgb7bowNUuqg

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCUQFjAB&url=http://opensuny.org/omp/index.php/SUNYOpenTextbooks/catalog/download/75/36/175-2%20onclick=&ei=YSaBVO3IIoLKoATa6YGYAQ&usg=AFQjCNEDaSdj2EjwoBchQsZlpU52w0yheA&sig2=DTddu89JVvNgb7bowNUuqg


General Design Considerations: Assessments

Multiple and varied ways to practice/master the content prior to assessment

Some assessment types:- Exams

- Scaled projects (individual and group)

- Research papers

- Discussions

- End of term portfolios/blogs


General Design Considerations: Assessment Types Pros and Cons

Multiple choice exams/quizzes- Pros: can be graded easily, grades are

automatically linked to D2L grade book, good for testing foundational knowledge

- Cons: takes a lot of work to create/modify questions every semester, takes time to load them into D2L, larger opportunity for academic dishonesty if not carefully monitored

- Pro-tip: use a quiz bank!



Written Assignments- Pros: these can be very effective at measuring

proficiency with a good prompt/rubric, easily collected through D2L dropbox

- Cons: takes time to grade, students don’t benefit from reading each others work, hard to build an iterative assignment with multiple drafts in just a few weeks

- Pro-tip: Be selective/intentional with these assignments



Group projects- Pros: encourages classroom community, can

result in some great outputs, less overall assignments to grade

- Cons: requires more work to micro-manage groups, may require training in collaborative technology like skype or google docs

- Pro-tip: Create a “best practices” sheet for online group work and figure out a way to monitor/enforce this



Part 3: Production


The Blueprint

1. Course description

2. Course learning objectives/goals

3. Course modules

4. Course artifacts


Tools for Communication

TodaysMeet:or Simplemeet.me Qu-Vox PollEverywhere Doodle for scheduling Google Hangout


Tools for Collaboration

Padlet Twiddle Collaborative brainstorming:

- MindUp

- StormBoard

Collaborative storytelling: CoggleIt


Tools for Critical Thinking

FlipGrid- Teachers create grids of short questions (using

text or video) that students respond to through recorded videos. Flipgrid boosts community and social presence in face-to-face, hybrid, and online classrooms

Course creation- BlendSpace

- LessonPath


Tools for Presentation

HaikuDeck Prezi EMaze Screencast Jing Infographics

- Easel.ly

- Piktochart



Part 3: Teaching


HELP… My technology failed!

Instructor- Click every single link!

- Backup plan!

- Be apologetic!

- Create mechanism for students to report failures

Student- Be understanding! (to a limit)

- Build this into your grading structure (dropped lowest grade)

- Give students advice on best practices on using technology• Use a particular browser, take screenshots of everything, save it on

your hard drive first, etc. FAQ sheet

Internet/server- Know who to call in case of emergencies

- Let students know who to call if they are having LMS issues

- Have a policy for when this inevitably happens and figure out a way to communicate with students


HELP… My students think I am a robot!

Humanize yourself immediately!- Website themes and design

- Cartoons/animations (FOS MOOC)

- Intro video/blog post

Participate!- Comment on EVERY student intro post

- Consider audio comments

- Comment on everyone’s blog posts at least once during the semester (or on a rotation)

- Too many students? Create weekly podcasts/vlogs and comment on general themes you saw in posts from last week.


HELP…My class is stale/boring!

Keep it current!- Use events and link to

articles/videos/images/etc.

Increase communication streams/medium!- Use social media, flikr, etc. to mix it up and keep

it interesting

Student generated content!- Tweeting/blogging new article or film

recommendations


HELP…my email is out of control!

If you want to use email:- Create/enforce an email policy

• Subject line and signature instructions

- Set designated “email hours”

- Automate your email, create a separate account

If you don’t want to use email:- Announcements page

• Living record of conversation

Either way, clarify your instructions- Screen capture, screenshots

- Have a non-expert read your instructions

- Syllabus contract/quiz

- Create a general questions discussion forum


HELP… My students aren’t using the site the way they are supposed to!

Netiquette - Participate

- Report glitches

- Respect diversity

- Help classmates

- Cite sources

- Scholarly writing

- Think twice before you post

Monitor them and take advantages of “teachable moments”


HELP… how do I grade online course work?

Pass/fail assignments- Transparent rubrics that are all/nothing

Selective grading- Make sure students know you will only grade 3 of their assignments but

you won’t tell them which ones

- Put students on a rotation of blog posters/commenters to reduce gradable materials

Iterative assignments - Grade them throughout the semester, not just 200 in the last week

Peer review- Make sure you set up a good system for this including what to do if

someone doesn’t participate

Automatic grading- Most LMS systems have a system for quizzes and “for credit”

assignments


HELP…My students may be “cheating”

Policing: meant to catch and punish the student who is practices academic dishonesty

- Proctored live assessments

- Report cheating (get a reputation for it) Prevention: meant to limit opportunities for student cheating

- Change assessments/formats every semester

- Clearly state the consequences of academic dishonesty and encourage students to make the right decision

Virtue integration: meant to encourage students to strive for academic excellence and integrity

- Write every exam as if it were an open-book test

- Use authentic team projects

- Clearly articulate your expectations for the class and EACH INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT. Can they work with others on their homework assignments, for example? Can they use old exams, lab reports, etc. as aids in the course?



Part 4: Website Walk through



Part 5: Blueprint Activity


Sample Course Description

“This course will provide you with an introduction to the field of medical anthropology and examines both the bio-cultural and socio-economic dimensions of health, illness and healing. Through various media, readings, lectures, and assignments, you will become familiar with the history of the field, theoretical frameworks and principle methods to explore and understand health related phenomena. This course will also prepare you with the foundational knowledge and tools to be successful in higher-level courses in medical anthropology and professional pursuits in the medical field.”


Sample Course-level Learning Objectives

Describe and apply the six anthropological approaches to studying health and illness

Identify the socio-cultural and political-economic aspects of illness and healing

Synthesize theories to evaluate your own personal and professional medical experiences

Recognize and articulate western biomedicine as a cultural system Compare and contrast international ethnomedical systems Describe the processes of medicalization and biomedicalization Conduct an illness narrative interview and create an illness narrative

account Synthesize scholarly and popular media and create a website

exploring a chosen illness Articulate the usefulness of medical anthropology to your personal and

professional goals


Sample Module-level Learning Objectives

Define anthropology and explain how it differs from other academic disciplines

Discuss what it means that anthropology is both holistic and comparative

List the major subdisciplines of anthropology Define and explain the ideas of cultural

relativism and ethnocentrism. Describe anthropology’s position on race Identify some of the key benefits studying

anthropology


Sample Course Modules

Week Zero Unit 1: Introduction To Medical Anthropology Unit 2: Ecological And Biological Approaches Unit 3: Ethnomedical Approach Unit 4: Experiential Approach Unit 5: Critical Approach Unit 6: Applied Approach Final Week


Course Artifacts

What is this course artifact? A video? An assessment? An activity?

Why is this on my syllabus? What learning objective does it align with?

Where is it located? My computer? The library? Online? With a colleague? Do I need to create this? Do I need to search for this online?

How long will it take to locate/complete? 10 minutes? A week? A semester?

Who needs to do something with this? My T.A.? Students? A graphic artist? A publisher?


Sample Artifacts List

Video: Instructor Introduction (5 min)- Script done, need to schedule time in studio

Video: Course Introduction (20 min)- Completed, need to upload to server

PDF: 1.1. Daniels – Teaching Anthropology in the Digital Age (6 pages)- Need to find stable URL

Youtube: Cancer narratives (16 min)- Completed



Part 6: Closing and Q & A

Documents

Katie Nelson | Taz Karim | Teaching Anthropology Online Workshop | AAA 2014 Teaching Anthropology Online Workshop Welcome!