Teaching Strategies

In this section, I will cover the various teaching strategies that I use in order to facilitate student learning. I have also embedded relevant student comments in this section to illustrate the changes I’ve made based on their feedback and to highlight the importance of each strategy.

In-class lectures are organized around a slideshow. Students are able to download the PowerPoint file and make notes throughout the lecture. In each slide, there are either blanks to fill, or terms to match to their definitions or a multiple choice question to answer. Even though students rarely completed these slides on their own prior to coming to class, it kept students engaged throughout the lecture as the answers to each question was discussed. I would use a stylus to fill in the blanks and draw pictures to illustrate key points. Students were also encouraged to download a “fresh” (unfilled) copy of the slides so that they could complete it as part of their study routine. Relevant student comments include “she fills our slides with hands-on activities like matching terms to definitions and diagrams. This is extremely helpful for kinetic and visual learners like myself” AND “Elitas use of fill in the blanks on her slides were very helpful, and I felt that the information she provided on the slides effectively summarized the content of the course.” (A&PI, F2013) AND “She fully understands what she is teaching and she explains it not just reads information to us.” A sample lecture is included below.

Recorded Lectures are embedded in the following courses, HLSC1200, HLSC1201, HLSC2462, HLSC2463, HLSC2461, NURS2810, NURS2820, with each lecture covering the equivalent material of one 90 minute in-class lecture. This was originally done out of practical necessity when it became increasingly common for the two 90 minute lectures to be combined into a single 3 hour lecture. A sample lecture is included in the Appendices (http://youtu.be/16TcrxAzhJE).
- Transferring half of the lecture content to a recorded lecture while still having a 3 hour timeslot lead to dissatisfaction amongst some students. Relevant student comment: “Elita does not use all of the time allotted for class on a regular basis. She speeds through lectures in two hours when we have a three hour class.” (A&PI, F2009).
- Because this type of feedback persisted even though students were regularly reminded that one of their 90 minute lectures was recorded and therefore the in-class lecture should only last for 90 minutes, the decision was made to convert the course into a hybrid format.
- For every positive comment on recorded lectures “i actually like your online lecture and i found them more helpful than the in class one which is i belive because of the fact that u go over stuff in very detailed in online lecture than in class and it can be becuase of the less dusturbance too.” (A&PI, F2012), there is a negative one “personally, I dislike the online lectures. I would rather have two in-class lectures a week, but I understand that there are scheduling and time issues.” (A&PI, F2014)
- Format of these recorded lectures: lectures were recorded using the software Camtasia and included a voice-over of myself going over the slides using a stylus to write down comments and point out key features of each slide. Producing these recordings was a work in progress as more and more features were added to the software. In response to the student comment, “It would be great if the online lectures could be downloadable and saveable other than the Ipod version (not everyone has this).” (A&PII, W2010), recorded lectures were able to be downloaded and saved as .mp4 format. In response to the student comment “It would be useful to be able to download the audio portion of the lecture. Some people are on dial up and it is not possible to access this portion outside of the school setting.” (A&PI, F2009), the audio .mp3 file was made available to download. Currently, the recordings are available through YouTube which has solved streaming issues.

Example of a recorded lecture

Recorded lectures are used in face-to face courses, hybrid courses and fully online courses. The recordings are available on YouTube to make it accessible. A stylus was used to make notes on the slides as the concepts contained in the slide were explained.

Download PowerPoint

Example of an in-class lecture

The sample below was saved AFTER an in-class lecture and includes notations made during the class to explain various concepts. Each in-class lecture starts with a set of multiple choice questions (similar to those found in formal assessments) based on the previous week's recorded lecture and ends with another set based on the current lecture.

Blackboard course site design is based on a “1 click” principle. It is simple to navigate and is based on the central landing page (Figure 1). Items are hyperlinked from this landing page. Students click on any blue text to get more details about each item. For example, to access the course outline, students click on the text “Course Outline HLSC 2461U Pathophysiology II 2015.” Similarly, to find out what the first lecture will cover, clicking on the text “Jan 5: Hematologic Disorders,” would lead to the page displayed on Figure 2. The secondary page (Figure 2) displayed all lectures on the topic and included multiple different resources that students can access from the one page (go to Web-based resources below).
Relevant student comment: “The course is very well structured, and the layout of the lectures on Blackboard makes it easy to follow what we are on. Elita is very energetic so early in the morning, which boosts the mood of the entire class.”

Figure 2. Screenshot of the resources for the hematologic system.

Figure 1. Screenshot of the landing page of HLSC2461 Pathophysiology II.

Tutorials: Tutorials were originally conducted by myself but are now conducted by graduate or undergraduate teaching assistants (TAs). The tutorial format has also undergone several substantial revisions, with the current format consisting of the TA presenting a case study on a topic that is synchronized with the lecture topic. Students are assessed on their understanding of the case study with a short in-class quiz.
- Regarding a previous tutorial format (which included student-led groups presentations) “The tutorials were a horrible experience for me because ….only one group member handed in the presentation” (A&PI, F2009)
- Regarding the current tutorial format: “the tutorials were put together well and closely mirrored what we were studying in class” (Altered Phys I, F2013)

Web-based resources are available via the course Blackboard site on the secondary page (Figure 2). This secondary page contains the lecture slides, a link to the recorded lecture (if applicable), and multiple different web-based resources. These web-based resources include quizzes (multiple choice, fill in the blanks, short answer, algorithmic sequencing, drag and drop), animations and links to other websites that students may find useful.

Relevant student comments include

“The use of worksheets and games available on webCT are useful.” (A&PI, F2009) AND
“she gives so many opportunities to practice everything through preparation quizzes on Blackboard.” (A&PI, F2014) AND
“i really enjoyed the videos ex. Youtube to explain what we are learning in class, it brought the material to a real life situation and helped me to remember things!!” (A&PI, F2009)

Adjusting course delivery to meet student needs and feedback, especially in courses taken predominantly by students in the Allied Health program (EDUC4701, HLSC3910, HLSC4996, HLSC4997). These students are typically older (aged 30+ years old), work full-time and many are in the “sandwich generation,” with primary caregiving responsibilities for their children and their parents. These students are not required to be on-campus and all their classes and interactions occurs via technologies such as Skype (for individual consults), Adobe Connect (for their classes), and Blackboard (for their coursework). Relevant student comments include:

“Elita was very respectful of the fact that we are Allied Health Science students and also work full time jobs. She was respectful of our background knowledge and used it to further class development. She did more to encourage self learning than most other professors. The material was relevant and useful outside of the classroom.” (Res Methods, F2012) AND
“I really enjoy this course and its more independant learning style. It is nice to meet a few times for lectures but then work away on assignments. Instructor is understanding of the many other challenges in the lives of online students and thus is accomadating of extensions and changing assignment deadlines if necessary.” (Res Methods, F2012) AND
“The professor provides a great open forum for the learning process which is extremely important when it is not a face to face lecture. The professor allows us to communicate is a very relaxed manner (during connect sessions) so that we can feel as if we are in a classroom setting.” (Res Apps, F2011)

Using interactive virtual polling software in online synchronous classes (through Adobe Connect) or during face-to-face lectures (through rwpoll.com by TurningPoint, Figure 3a) that allows students to response to multiple choice questions in real time. The distribution of student responses provides invaluable feedback for myself and for the students (Figures 3b and 3c). Questions that generate a low percentage of correct responses may indicate that the majority of students have difficulties with the concepts embedded within the question-I would spend some time reviewing those concepts. Because the responses are anonymous and voluntary, this creates a low pressure environment where students can answer as best as they can without fear of affecting their overall term mark. Relevant student comments:

“I love the use of rwpoll in this course as well as the quiz questions she posts throughout lecture powerpoints.“ (A&PI, F2013)
- “I love the use of RWpoll, the encouragement to raise your voice and participat in class.” (A&PI, F2009)
- “I love how she uses the rwpoll.com to help us apply what we are learning each class.” (Pharm, F2009)
- “Dr. Partosoedarso is extremmly knowledgeable and uses amazing technology during the lectures such as iphone apps, ipad apps, rwpolls etc which we as students really love!!!!” (Res Apps II, W2012).

Figure 3. Screenshots of virtual clicker (a), question where the majority of responses were correct (b) and question where the majority of responses were incorrect (c).

Using social media (Facebook) by establishing a course Facebook page to increase communication between students, the TAs and the instructors. This is especially important in HLSC1200 because this is a first-year, first-term course and students have many questions regarding course structure and campus life. Students also get to know each other, their TAs and instructors better. Relevant student comment:

“Elita … provides us enough information with our coursework through the Facebook page.”

Using examples, jokes and stories to explain concepts allows students to relate concepts to real world examples. It also bridges the gap between what they know and can visualize and the new concepts that are being presented in class. This is an application of the Zone of Proximal Development first illustrated by Vygotsky (Sanders and Welk, 2005).
- “The Professor is great at explaining the content and giving the best ways to understand/memmorize the information. The real life examples she gives really bring the points home.” (A&PI, F2009)
- “Through her use of stories and jokes she presents information in a way that allows the student to remember the deep complexities involved in the course.” (Altered Phys I, F2013)
- “She will use all the resources she can to help explain a topic.”
- “Elita … makes difficult concepts easy to understand.” (A&PI, F2013)
- “Elita… explains everything so well and makes relations to the outside world that make the concepts seem much more approachable and understandable.” (A&PI, F2013)
- “She uses outside resources to help us visualize the content better.” (A&PI, F2013)
- “Professor Elita always gives us different examples of concepts in order to help us understand.” (A&PI, F2013)
- “She makes class very interesting and interactive by showing us videos and also using rwpoll.com to allow student feedback.” (Altered Phys II, W2014)

Bringing energy and enthusiasm into teaching increases student attention to what is being covered in class and encourages students to view the content as something to be excited over.
- “Love Elitas personality and passion about the course! Makes me more interested in learning the material!” (A&PI, F2014)
- “She is funny and makes classes enjoyable (even on a Friday evening!).” (A&PI, F2013)
- “She is always excited to teach, has a very thorough understanding of the course material, and keeps her lectures entertaining.” (A&PI, F2013)
- “Elita is extremely enthusiastic and always full of energy, which is so helpful, especially for those 8 am classes. I find her very easy to understand and her attitude makes it much easier to grasp the material. She does an amazing job.”
- “I am really enjoying this course in spite of how challenging I find the material.”
- “Forced to come to class and learn, very good!” (Altered Phys II, W2014)
- “I appreciate …. the study method tips provided in class. Thanks!” (Altered Phys II, W2014)