ENVS

Dilling's Use of NB and Padlet to Increase Engagement in Environmental Studies Class

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 21:03:00 +0000

Dilling's Use of NB and Padlet to Increase Engagement in Environmental Studies Class Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 01/20/2016 - 14:03

Lisa Dilling is an Associate Professor in the Environmental Studies Program. She plans to use NB along with Padlet in order to improve engagement and active learning opportunities in a medium sized enrollment class. Dilling completed the Fall 2015 ASSETT Teaching with Technology Seminar.

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Teaching and Learning Challenge

The problem I wish to address is how to improve engagement and active learning opportunities within a medium-sized class (75 students). I would like to focus here in this intervention on opportunities for students to better identify the particular policy problem that energy policies are designed (or not) to solve, and engage the primary text of policy documents in order to practice building their critical thinking skills and their ability to see policy problems from multiple angles.

The course I am focusing on is an upper division environmental studies course (ENVS 3621; Energy Policy and Society) that counts as a cornerstone (all ENVS students must take one cornerstone, they have a choice) as well as a required class for the renewable energy certificate (meaning that students outside of ENVS are a significant proportion of the class). The class requires both basic mathematical skills as a support to analyzing policies, as well as an ability to think critically and analyze information. Enrollment is typically around 70 students.

Goal: In this technological intervention I am hoping to accomplish two goals at once: engage students in reading and becoming familiar with primary energy policy while simultaneously practicing identifying policy goals and mechanisms that will help them build skill before their final assignment. I also am piloting a second type of technology to use as simply a virtual class corkboard for posting links to energy articles and ideas about energy they want to share with the class.

Plans for Implementation

The class will use the NB online interface to review policy documents online in small groups and identify policy goal statements, problem definitions and mechanisms. Because there is always some interpretation for these items, having an online platform available where students can discuss these statements and offer interpretations in comments and interact with each will help them learn how to see the possibilities. Each group will be about 7 or fewer people and each person in the group will be required to offer one interpretation for problem definition, goals, and mechanism for the posted policy. A variation of this exercise will be for students to locate and post their own policy documents (or perhaps do this in class) to gain practice in the method. The Padlet technology is an additional technology that is solely designed to experiment with engagement allowing students to post energy media sources they find and sharing them among classmates, improving class engagement.

Learning Objectives and Goals: This technology will address the pedagogical problem of a larger class, many of whom are unfamiliar with primary policy document and how to infer a problem definition, goals and mechanisms. It will allow for practice and also address the problem of multiple problem definitions being correct, thus allowing for more than one voice (i.e. beyond the instructor) coming into the conversation.

The affordances of the technology allow for more students to gain familiarity with primary policy language and at the same time interpreting and engaging that policy language in their own analytical style. It addresses also the goal of improving critical thinking and being more precise about identifying policy problems and goal statements.

Indicators of Success

As I am only teaching the class now after the conclusion of the ASSETT seminar, I have not yet had a chance to observe or evaluate how this intervention will work in practice. One concern I have is about my own familiarity with the technology—having not used NB I myself need practice in using the online platform and seeing how it will go with the students. I have implemented a Padlet online as an experiment to see if students will post, given some encouragement by showing the collected material in class. I will likely pilot these as “extra credit” assignments in order to assess usefulness and address any glitches or use issues before requiring them as a “For credit” assignment.

For the NB-facilitated assignment I will assess its value through my own feedback forms as part of my mid-term and final feedback collected as part of every class. I will particularly compare answers to the following feedback questions on whether the class achieved the following learning objectives which I have used in previous years:

a) Goal: Apply critical reasoning skills to evaluate and select policy options for solving problems related to energy.
b) Goal. Gain working familiarity with policy mechanisms and their pros and cons for achieving policy goals in energy.
c) Goal: Conduct a policy analysis: Define the problem, assemble evidence, construct alternatives, select criteria, project outcomes, confront tradeoffs and make a recommendation.

Reflection

I have learned through this ASSETT seminar that there are a wealth of tools and online opportunities to experiment with. For myself, I will need to carefully evaluate the anticipated benefit of possible technologies for the pedagogical purpose that I am trying to achieve. I would rate myself as a “newbie” for many of these technologies and so giving myself time and piloting opportunities or chances to observe use in another class will help me see where the technologies are best applied with the least amount of “fear factor” on my part.

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Technology Facilitates In Class Group Work and Student Understanding in Deserai Crow's Environmental Studies Lectures

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 06:00:00 +0000

Technology Facilitates In Class Group Work and Student Understanding in Deserai Crow's Environmental Studies Lectures Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/09/2014 - 00:00

Watch this video of Dr. Deserai Crow reflecting on pedagogy and her use of Google Drive for in-class group work in large Environmental Studies lectures.

[video:https://youtu.be/IBUq_7iI0Dc]

Teaching and Learning Challenge

Beginning in fall semester 2013, I began to teach much larger lectures than I had previously taught. This was in part due to moving my tenure home to ENVS, where classes are not capped due to accreditation standards (like in JMC). It is also in part due to the large size of our undergraduate student body and the curriculum needs of the program. Overall, I enjoy having a variety of lecture and seminar formats. This challenges me and makes my teaching more interesting. It does, however, pose new challenges for me as an instructor.

The problem I aim to tackle is my struggle with making larger lectures more interactive and interesting to the students, yet still teach important information. I am not satisfied with teaching in a stagnant lecture format that does not change from semester to semester. It seems that students respond best to interactive or entertaining lectures, but I struggle with the questions of when and how to use these approaches to avoid dumbing-down my lectures and expectations. I use PowerPoint, and I regularly include video links and current examples in lectures. I also ask questions of students to get response. However, I know that there must be better approaches to getting some student interaction, communicating information, and keeping class interesting. This balancing act is the problem I intend to try to work on during this seminar.

I believe that the reasons to address this problem include: 1) a potential for increased student engagement and learning outcomes, 2) making lectures more interesting for me and the students, and 3) more effectively or memorably communicate course concepts so that students not only memorize terms and concepts but also know how to use them with regard to real-world examples and challenges that they face. I believe that by improving the interactivity and engagement of students in my lectures, I will also receive higher FCQs and peer evaluations. I believe building these interactive elements into my courses will increase my own satisfaction with teaching, as well as student engagement and learning outcomes.

Plans for Implementation

In order to successfully engage students in larger lectures (n=65 this semester), I plan to use three tools that I have either improved or learned this semester. While three tools may seem like a lot, I have purposely chosen a strategy to enhance student engagement that can use complementary tools which seem to be easy to learn and implement.

Course: ENVS 3032, Environment, Media & Society: This course is a lecture of 65 students which meets a requirement for ENVS, but also enrolls students from a variety of other majors, primarily in Arts & Sciences. Students come from majors such as Sociology, Film Studies, Math, and Physics, in addition to ENVS. This makes it fun but also assures that I cannot assume similar backgrounds or skill-levels!

Technology/Intervention #1: In-class group activities

I have used activities in the past in both seminars and lectures, but the ASSETT Teaching with Technology Seminar has given me more ideas about how to create more engaging activities and has also settled fears that this is not a legitimate use of class time. Pedagogical readings focused on student engagement have given me more confidence in using these activities. In five class sessions during this semester, at the conclusion of different content sections, I have created in-class activities. I have created these so as to get students who are working on a separate group project together to work through complementary course concepts that will help them develop their final project. It also serves to help them interact and hopefully work better as a group.

I previously received student comments such as “she doesn’t even teach!” on my FCQs when I used these types of activities. To dissuade students of the idea that this is not actual teaching, I now preface these activities by clearly explaining the goals of the work and my belief that they must be engaged in their own learning.

One struggle that I have had with group activities is that they often require readings outside of class. Getting students to do the readings in order to effectively participate has been a challenge. I have recently started to use easy 3-question quizzes to begin these activities. Students are warned that the quizzes will take place and are told that if they simply do the readings, they should get full credit. The success of this approach is yet to be determined.

Technology/Intervention #2: Use of Google Docs for Group Projects

In the ASSETT Teaching with Technology Seminar, I learned about Google Docs, which I sadly had never used before. Realizing the simplicity of the application and that every ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ student has an account (and that it is FRPA compliant), I began using it this semester. Students are assigned to groups for a final project where they must create an advocacy communication campaign on an environmental topic of their choosing (groups are assigned based on student ranked preferences of the topics). I created folders similar to the ones used in the ASSETT workshop. I invited students to join the folders where they can interact and complete their mini-assignments that will build into the larger project. I am also able to view their work and understand better the level of participation by group members. This approach also makes submitting assignments simple for students. On due dates, I simply view their folders and read the assignments. This has been a very easy technology to implement, and it seems that students prefer it to Desire2Learn. It was much easier to set-up than D2L discussion groups, as well.

Technology/Intervention #3: VoiceThread for Final Exam Lecture Review

In the past, I have struggled with my frustration that students want PowerPoint lectures posted, and I fear that this will incentivize them not to come to class. I am slowly moving beyond this (perhaps). This semester, I am trying a new approach. I have not yet given them any indication that the slides will be posted. However, at the end of the semester I intend to post the lectures to D2L. I am also planning to try VoiceThread to help explain some of the tough concepts presented in lecture that they might struggle with. I will balance this with my aforementioned fears by focusing on a few complex and central concepts but then will expect that they will need their notes to fully supplement the PowerPoint slides. This is the last technology that I plan to use this semester and one that I have not yet used.

In future semesters, I am also interested in using D2L quizzes, where I can create a question library using Excel to upload banks of questions. This may be a task that I ask a TA to begin in the fall semester.

Indicators of Success

The primary goal of this project is to engage students in learning which will hopefully lead to more effective learning outcomes. I am attempting to accomplish this through the use of more in-class activities, interactive group assignment technology, and possibly the use of tools such as VoiceThread. I also expect it will lead to a more enjoyable teaching experience in these larger lectures for me as students become more engaged. In achieving greater learning outcomes, I hope to be able to move students up to higher levels on the Bloom’s Taxonomy pyramid, focusing not only on knowledge acquisition but also on the synthesis and analysis of knowledge. To do this, I will include three primary assessment strategies for my 3000-level class.

First, beginning next year I will conduct a survey at the beginning and midterm semester points. This survey will be a D2L survey so that students can get extra credit for responding. However, I will also make it an anonymous survey so that they are free to answer as they wish. The survey will focus on a few broad attitudes/opinions related to the primary course content. It will also ask some simple knowledge questions. In the same survey, I will ask students for feedback on lectures and assignments so that I can gauge student satisfaction at the same time. This survey, combined with final exam questions that are able to assess student knowledge and synthesis of course material will help me understand if they have made learning progress during the semester. It may also help to present the survey responses to class so that students can understand where they sit in comparison to other students (in aggregated data, of course).

Second, beginning this semester I will include more sophisticated exam questions in the final exam. Previously, I had included essays asking students to analyze course content. However, I think a more synthetic and applied approach will be to provide them with an example of media content (complementary to course content) and ask them to analyze it according to the concepts presented in class. This will require them to apply conceptual ideas to real-world examples. We have given students similar exercises during the semester in the in-class activities developed in this ASSETT project, so this should be a familiar approach for students. I believe it will also more authentically assess their learning.

Third, beginning next year, I will develop rubrics such as those presented in class to assess student assignments. Overall, I am happy with the assignments as they now exist, but I can work to improve the assessment of those assignments. The rubrics that include distinct criteria that are measured on a spectrum can be very useful to my grading and to student learning. These can be helpful to virtually all of the assignments that I use since they are often writing, analysis, or application assignments.

Generally, I think that these three approaches can help me understand actual student learning to a greater degree. I also think that they will help students understand their own learning and where they need to improve.

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Inside the Greenhouse: Using Media to Communicate a Crisis

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Inside the Greenhouse: Using Media to Communicate a Crisis Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/25/2012 - 00:00

WHAT CAN THIRTY-FIVE EARNEST COLLEGE STUDENTS with a video camera, a set of white board markers and deep concerns about the environment accomplish in one semester? What if these students are imbued with a sense of purpose…a drive to affect change? Theater and Dance professor Dr. Beth Osnes and Environmental Studies professor Dr. Max Boykoff had the highest expectations for undergraduates enrolled in their spring 2012 interdisciplinary class Inside the Greenhouse.

They were not disappointed.

“The quality of the final work...was impressive and surprising,” says Dr. Osnes. “Agreed” says Dr. Boykoff. “I was impressed by how much they accomplished with just a little opportunity (the course). I don't mean to be falsely modest but perhaps the most credit for us goes to just creating the conditions within which they could express themselves in this class setting.”

It was a course without tests or term papers and the classroom stretched far beyond room 1B31, ATLAS. Students were expected to go out into the community, working in groups to produce a series of “compositions” (anything from a pop song to a documentary) that would spread awareness about environmental issues. The class discussed the benefits and drawbacks of certain approaches but groups were encouraged to focus on issues that were interesting to them and Boykoff and Osnes hoped that each student would find his or her own style.

One group composed a rap song about the importance of eating locally grown vegetables. Another made a film about methane-producing cows. Dr. Osnes was particularly was impressed by the “EnviroHunterists” who argued that hunters and environmentalists are not always clearly opposed. The film opens with a man wearing camouflage and a reflective jacket firing a rifle expertly into the woods. In stark contrast with this image, a young environmental studies student in a sunlit field talks about the importance of sustainability. As the film progresses the viewer begins to realize that both the student and the hunter have a deep appreciation and respect for the environment and that two are actually father and daughter. “Very touching and effective,” says Osnes.

Many of the projects are posted to YouTube and have collectively received thousands of viewers and comments. “The reach of compositions through technology is incredible,” said Dr. Osnes. “The artistic options for expression are rich.”

Just like the class, Dr. Osnes and Dr. Boykoff, as individuals, defy prescribed categories. Beth Osnes is an actor/dancer and Boykoff, a scientist. Osnes is an activist and Boykoff, a writer. Both are scholars with substantial backgrounds in environmental research and activism and a shared interest in fostering a creative dialogue about climate issues. They met at a ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ campus conference designed to encourage collaboration between the sciences and humanities and soon after began to discuss the possibility of co-teaching a course on climate change. Financed with grants from Grace and the Gordan Gamm Fund, the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder outreach program, and ASSETT, Inside the Greenhouse was advertised as an interdisciplinary undergraduate course aimed at students interested in using a variety of media to talk about climate issues and sustainability.

Human-induced climate change is often a political and statistic-laden topic. Effectively communicating these issues to a sometimes skeptical public can be a daunting task. Osnes and Boykoff believe that the arts can be used to affect a public emotionally and personally. “I feel that [in order to] motivate people to change the unsustainable lifestyles we have now, that cause climate change, we need to motivate behavioral change through people's beliefs and emotions,” said Dr. Osnes.

”Through my work over the years, it has become very clear that 'science' as a privileged way of knowing about our environment and climate is necessary but not sufficient for engagement in the general public,” says Dr. Boykoff. “Yet, I have also found that we have retreated all too often to scientific evidence' in order to compel people to change behavior to alleviate their environmental impact. While some people ask 'why don't people just get it?' and 'why can't people make the 'right' decision?', I have moved into these challenges through the arts as they provide useful ways of acknowledging and embracing the complexity of these issues - meeting people 'where they are' while also encouraging people to consider these issues in new ways.”

So what can thirty-five college students accomplish in one semester? Possibly, the correct answer is: it depends on the class. Undergraduates taking Inside the Greenhouse created a serious body of creative work with the capacity to influence a wide audience. However, it may have been the experience itself rather than the final product that will be most influential over time.

Getting students interested in these topics was the easy part, Dr. Boykoff explained. Most of the students taking the class were already passionate about environmental issues. Dr. Boykoff partly attributes this to the fact that many undergraduate students have grown up in a world where climate change has always been an issue under discussion. “I’ve found this generation uniquely ready to confront these issues of anthropogenic (human-induced) climate change,” he explains.

The more difficult task was in convincing students that they can actually make a difference.

Acutely aware of the vulnerability of our planet and the enormity of the climate change crisis, environmental studies students can often feel helpless. That is why Osnes and Boykoff thought it was important to give students an opportunity to work on projects that have the potential to inspire action.

On the last day of the semester, the class was interviewed about their experience.

The students talked about optimism.

They talked about empowerment

For several students, Inside the Greenhouse was their final class before graduating from college. The star of the Envirohunterist film explained that working on these projects in the community and posting them publicly made her feel, for the first time, that change is possible. Another student nodded his head slowly: “I have a new respect for how to communicate with people, and that has been something that our major has been lacking in. This is a clear and direct path. YouTube is an amazing thing. This is a way for us to project ideas into the community and even the globe. [I feel like] I can actually go out there and do something.”

If Dr. Boykoff and Dr. Osnes accomplished one thing, it was to give their students a renewed sense of hope.

Article written by Ashley E. Williams, ASSETT Research Assistant

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