We found 55 results that contain "semester start"

Hope this is the right place to share this:

10 Individual Reflections @ two points each (essentially “Gimmes”).
Starting in Week Two, students are asked to develop (guided) reflections on their independent and (starting in Week Three) collaborative coursework for a given week. Not only do they articulate their new learning, they connect that to prior knowledge as well as examine their work habits and related choices. Students have the following options for these reflections:
• Traditional 2-3 page essay
• 5-6 minute Voice Recording or Video
• Sketchnotes (a hybrid of note-taking and creative doodles that presents students’ grasp of new information, gleaned from scholarly reading, and connection of those ideas to specific novels, plays, or films in the course)

Collaborative Project #1 @ 20 possible points (Due at the end of Week Five)
Student learning teams review and evaluate two recent journal articles (less than ten years old) on material presented during the first third of the course. The project also includes a works cited or bibliography page and collaboratively written (guided) reflection on team work habits and related choices. Teams can choose between:
• TV Newscast (WeVideo)
• TV Talkshow (WeVideo)
• Podcast -- starting in Fall 2022 – (anchor.fm)

Collaborative Project #2 @ 20 Possible Points (Due at the end of Week 10)
Student learning teams review and evaluate two books, two journal articles, and two digital sources to have to do in some way with intersections between course material on one hand, and systems of power, oppression, equity, and justice on the other AND create a readers’ guide based on that work. The project also includes a works cited or bibliography page and collaboratively written (guided) reflection on team work habits and related choices. Teams can choose between:
• Readers’ Guide Flipbook (Flipsnack)
• Reader’s Guide Infographic (Canva)

Collaborative Project #3 @ 20 possible points (Due at the end of Week 14)
Student learning teams 1) revisit five to six novels, plays, or films presented in the course, 2) examine them in terms of power, oppressions, equity, and justice, AND 3) brainstorm practical solutions to how we might better address similar longstanding ills in 21st century society. The project also includes a works cited or bibliography page and collaboratively written (guided) reflection on team work habits and related choices. Teams can choose between:
• Interactive Academic Poster (Power Point or Prezi)
• Interactive Digital Scrapbook (Canva)

Capstone Project – Individual Semester Reflection @ 20 Possible Points (Due at the end of Week 15)
Students develop a guided reflection in which they revisit and evaluate their learning for the course. Students have the following options:
• Traditional Five to Six-page Self-Assessment Essay
• Five to Six-minute Self-Assessment Video


Questions for “Guided” Individual or Team Reflection
• For you introduction, describe your work and related activities for the week/semester in general.
• Briefly describe the projects, processes, and skills you will discuss.
• Discuss three points/projects you found most enjoyable and explain why.
• Explain three processes for the projects described above. Describe how the processes were challenging and rewarding.
• Explain three skills you gained or improved upon during the week/semester. These do not have to relate to what you have discussed already, but they can.
• Describe why you find these new or improved skills interesting, useful, enjoyable, and/or challenging.
• How might you improve your independent and/or collaborative work habits and related choices in the course?
• Describe your biggest “A-ha Moment” this week/semester.
• How does that same “A-ha Moment” connect to something you have learned in other courses?
• In your conclusion, do not simply summarize what you have already said. Answer the implied “So, what?” question.
• Leave yourself (and your reader) with something to think about.
• Remember, this is not a forum to complain about team members, assignments, the course, instructor, or previous grades.

Tips for Students: Giving useful feedback
Instructors can include a link to this post or download this resource to include with their mid-semester survey introduction correspondence to students.

I might have to fire Microsoft Copilot if it doesn't catch on soon. . . Let me explain. The second week of each semester, once enrollments have stabilized, I form my classes of 50 students into 10 student learning teams that will collaborate each week through Week 14. In the past, I have used a free, completely random online team-builder app to do this. It's a little time consuming, but basically pretty easy.

This summer, as I was developing 10 podcast episodes that address how we might better integrate GenAI into our classrooms (see The Collaborative Cafe@WSTKS-FM Worldwide on Youtube), it occurred to me that I might be able to engineer more cohesive student learning teams by collecting information from students on Day #1 about their academic strengths and preferences. My idea was to use Copilot to group students in such a way that each person would bring unique talents, skills and abilities to the collaborative table, making for stringer teams that would work more effectively together.

Sounds easy enough, right? Dine in just a few minutes, right? Au contraire!

Actually, I ended up spending at least as much time, if not more, double-checking Copilot's problematic output. Here's what it and I kept running into. Despite a fairly straightforward prompt, Copilot neglected to include ALL students in the class list and doubled or tripled up on other names, randomly ignoring some names and their assets/preferences while assigning others to two or three learning teams at the same time. This happened more than once despite repeated attempts to clarify my initial prompt(s), and Copilot never managed to correct its errors.

In the end, quite a bit of additional time was necessary to comb through what Copilot spit out and fix its mistakes to ensure all 50 students in each section were, in fact, assigned to five-person learning teams. What should have taken five minutes at most, took more than two hours when all was said and done. Time I had not anticipated and don't really have to waste.

Sigh. A rather frustrating way to start the semester. Live and learn, right?

We are hosting a virtual, pre-semester meeting on August 22 to start building our learning community, Navigating Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models in the Classroom. Here is the description of the learning community, which you can also find on the OFASD website: "The use of large language models, such as ChatGPT, has exploded onto the educational scene with lots of unanswered questions about its implications in the classroom. This learning community will build on the many sources of information that probe these questions, participants’ experiences in the classroom, and create plans to develop guidelines and action research around these questions."


The meeting is Tues, August 22 from 10-11:30am on Zoom. We plan to spend the first part of the meeting doing some introductions, gathering information about members' specific goals for involvement, and share some of the campus resources around generative AI, including a streamlined version of our "generative AI in the classroom" workshop. Please register here if you plan to attend so we get a general sense of how many folks will participate: https://msu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcodu6grT4iG9z6AtbgcsDydWnZ2IY4VINN


If you have to miss this one, don't worry! We also have a Teams that you can join if you want to stay updated: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/channel/19%3a6oievzPpG1-Gu3eebonZyK2vpjzfc3ANdaMoCAAqnYQ1%40thread.tacv2/General?groupId=c0bd0cf9-f952-47e1-a2e6-0221348612e2&tenantId=22177130-642f-41d9-9211-74237ad5687d
We plan to have a monthly hybrid meeting on the first Thursday of every month at 9am in the STEM building, with an optional co-working session on the third Thursday of every month at 9am.

Benjamin Franklin is attributed with saying, 'Nothing is certain except death and taxes'. A 21st century version of this quote for instructors could and should include the gradebook. In an attempt to demystify the process of setting up your gradebook in D2L MSU IT has created this very useful resource. This is one of those resources you should print off an keep close by for the start of each semester. Remember that help is always close by with consultations, walk-through videos, and the MSU D2L Help documentation - https://help.d2l.msu.edu/

Is there one question that students ask you over and over again every semester that makes you want to pull out every last hair? Mine is: Do we HAVE to read the two books that will become part of our Flipsnack Virtual Readers' Guide Booklet student learning team project?

If I had a dime for every time I have asked that question or a version thereof. . .

But this time, I've been smart and developed a short Doodly explainer video to help student learning teams when they have waited too long before compiling their materials for their Readers' Guides, leaving themselves with little time to read the two books (along with two recent journal articles and two websites, blogs, or wikis) that are part of the project.

The approach I suggest in this explainer animation is quick and dirty, but it will nevertheless get students headed in the right direction even if they start Monday on a project that is due Friday (of Week 10).

I have embedded the animation into my Week Nine course modules for students' easy reference. In addition, I'll just send the Youtube link to any students who email the dreaded question to me.

Here is the link for anyone who might like to take a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NInu_DRtaA

In a conscious attempt during the last two or three years to include high impact teaching practices as part of the courses I teach here at MSU, I have my students write reflections on their individual assignments each week, team reflections for their three collaborative projects, and an individual semester reflection during Week 15. Here are the guidelines I provide each week to help individual students (or student learning teams) craft their reflections:

Guidelines for Writing an Effective Reflection and Self-Critique
For your team-based project reflection that is part of this assignment – or individually written semester reflection -- develop and refine two FULL pages in which you discuss the following:
• For you introduction, describe the project in general and your respective activities associated with it.
• Briefly describe the projects, process and skills you will talk about.
• Explain three aspects of the project that your team members found most enjoyable and why.
• Explain three processes used for the project described above. Describe how the processes were challenging and rewarding for your team members.
• What are one or possibly two things you might change about your contribution to the project in question. Why?
• Explain three skills your various team members gained or improved upon during the semester. These do not have to relate to what you have discussed already, but they can.
• Describe why you find these new or improved skills interesting, useful, enjoyable, and/or challenging.
• If there was a problem of some kind, how might you handle it more proactively next time around?
• In your conclusion, do not simply summarize what you have already said. Answer the implied “So, what?” question.
• Leave yourself (and your reader) with something to think about.
• Remember, this is not a forum to complain about other members of your team, assignments, the course, the instructor, or previous grades. Your team should reflect on its work habits, processes, and related choices made.


In addition to the guidelines above, I have also embedded a brief video from Essay Pro into each weekly course module, which includes additional explanation and examples of what reflective essays are and how to write them. Here is the link for those who might be interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH5W0iaayRo

My background in Scandinavian languages and literature keeps rearing its head in various ways after many years. Specifically,when it comes to folklore, magical tales, and perilous journeys toward maturation. In a way, I have become a pedagogical Ashland, of sorts, since coming to MSU in 2015. My journey, an ongoing quest if you will, has been in trying to find that one magical key, which will unlock the enchanted door to greater student interest and involvement in their general education course requirements.

Those of us who teach these courses know that, too often, many students view gen. ed. requirements as hoops to jump through. Something they must satisfy to graduate. Subjects that, they feel, have little to do with the real world, their intended majors, or envisioned careers. Scheduling and convenience more than genuine interest seem to be the determining factor for many students when they choose to enroll in such courses. Put the head down, muddle through, and get it done with as little effort as possible.

But there might be another way.

In my own ongoing quest to motivate and engage the students in my various IAH courses more effectively, I have come back to Bloom's Taxonomy again and again since first learning about it in the 2016-2017 Walter and Pauline Adams Academy cohort. More specifically, it is Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, revised by various scholars for use with 21st century students who exist in an increasingly digital world, that has been especially useful when it comes to designing assessments for my students.

For those who are interested, there are all kinds of sources online -- journal article pdfs, infographics, Youtube explainer videos, etc. -- that will be informative and helpful for anyone who might be interested in learning more. Just search for 'Bloom's Digital Taxonomy' on Google. It's that easy.

For my specific IAH courses, I organize my students into permanent student learning teams early each semester and ask them to create three collaborative projects (including a team reflection). These are due at the end of Week Five, Week 10, and Week 14. Right now, the projects include:

1) A TV Newscast/Talkshow Article Review Video in which teams are ask to locate, report on, review, and evaluate two recent journal articles pertinent to material read or viewed during the first few weeks of the course.

2) A Readers' Guide Digital Flipbook (using Flipsnack) that reviews and evaluates the usefulness of two books, two more recent journal articles, and two blogs or websites on gender and sexuality OR race and ethnicity within the context of specific course materials read or viewed during roughly the middle third of the course.

3) An Academic Poster (due at the end of Week 14) in which student teams revisit course materials and themes related to gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, and identity. In addition, students are asked to examine issues of power, marginalization, disparity, equity, etc. in those same sources and look at how these same issues affect our own societies/cultures of origin in the real world. Finally, student teams (in course as diverse as Film Noir of the 1940s and 50s, Horror Cinema, and the upcoming Contemporary Scandinavian and Nordic Authors) are asked to propose realistic, concrete solutions to the social problems facing us.


Anecdotally, student feedback has been largely very favorable so far. Based on remarks in their team reflections this semester (Fall 2021), students report that they enjoy these collaborative, creative projects and feel like they have considerable leeway to shape what their teams develop. Moreover, they also feel that they are learning quite a bit about the material presented as well as valuable 21st century employability skills in the process. Where their all important assignment grades are concerned, student learning teams in my courses are meeting or exceeding expectations with the work they have produced for the first two of three team projects this semester according to the grading rubrics currently in use.

Beginning in Spring 2022, I plan to give my student teams even more agency in choosing how they are assessed and will provide two possible options for each of the three collaborative projects. Right not, these will probably include:

Project #1 (Recent Journal Article Review and Evaluation)-- Powtoon Animated TV Newscast OR Infographic

Project #2 -- (Review and Evaluation of Digital Sources on Gender and Sexuality OR Race and Ethnicty in our specific course materials) Flipbook OR Podcast

Project #3 -- (Power, Marginality, Disparity, Equity in Course Materials and Real World of 21st Century Problem-Solving) Electronic Poster OR Digital Scrapbook.

Through collaborative projects like these, I am attempting to motivate and engage the students in my IAH courses more effectively, help them to think more actively and critically about the material presented as well as the various social issues that continue to plague our world, and provide them with ample opportunity to cultivate essential skills that will enable their full participation in the globalized world and economy of the 21st century. Bloom's (Revised) Digital Taxonomy, among other resources, continues to facilitate my evolving thought about how best to reach late Gen Y and Gen Z students within a general education context.

If anyone would like to talk more about all of this, offer constructive feedback, or anything else, just drop me a line. I am always looking for those magic beans that will increase student motivation and engagement, and eager to learn more along the way. Bloom's Digital Taxonomy has certainly been one of my three magical helpers in the quest to to do that.