Journalism screenshot

Adam Penenberg – Journalism Foundations Online Course Site

Posted on by Andrew Greene in Blended + online, Social sciences

Summary

FAS Ed Tech connected Journalism Professor Adam Penenberg with the Central IT Instructional Design Team to develop an online course site focused on basic journalistic principles for incoming students.  Utilizing content Professor Penenberg had originally created in Google docs, FAS Ed Tech and the Central IT team developed a comprehensive course of study in NYU Classes, which students can complete prior to beginning their face-to-face courses.  

Goals

  • Consult with instructor on best practices for online instruction
  • Identify design issues adapting Google Docs content for Classes tools
  • Leverage NYU Classes tools to provide asynchronous instruction in journalistic foundations
  • Build NYU Classes course site incorporating instructor’s existing content with affordances of Classes tools
  • Include formative assessment to improve iterations of the course

Technology Resources

  • Google Docs
  • NYU Classes
  • Qualtrics

Outcomes

These introductory modules have been offered to entering Journalism students since the summer of 2017.  In addition to providing basic information in journalistic law, ethics, history, and grammar, instructors can view analytics regarding the multiple assessments throughout the content, and identify areas to address with their students.  Students begin their classes with a stronger background in foundational knowledge.

Virtual Hindi

Gabriela Nik Ilieva – Web Publishing for Language Instruction – Virtual Hindi, Virtual Urdu, Virtual Bhangra

Posted on by Andrew Greene in Blended + online, Language instruction

Summary

After learning about NYU’s Web Publishing service from attending the FAS Innovation in Language Teaching Workshop, Professor Gabriela Nik Ilieva decided to use the NYU Web Publishing platform (WordPress) for her project building websites for collecting, organizing, and sharing instructional materials for Hindi, Urdu, and Bhangra; languages that are underrepresented with respect to open educational resources. In consultation with FAS Ed Tech, Professor Ilieva built several WordPress sites dedicated to Hindi, Urdu, and Bhangra language resources.

Goals

  • Identify appropriate platform for instructional website (WordPress vs. Google Sites)
  • Strategize with faculty on site structure and design
  • Train faculty on WordPress site building and administration
  • Advise on content migration from old website(s)

Outcomes

Professor Ilieva now has online spaces where she can more easily collect, develop, and share teaching resources, and can leverage WordPress’ easy to use customizability and extensibility through various widgets and plugins. Professor Ilieva has future plans to incorporate additional interactive content into her sites, as well as design separate areas for instructors and students.  In addition, she is interested in collaborating with teachers and learners beyond the NYU community, and is looking into further development of her sites’ functionality.

Technology Resources

  • NYU Web Publishing (WordPress)
  • YouTube
  • Google Drive
Life Science course screenshot

Liberal Studies Faculty – Life Science Online Modules

Posted on by Andrew Greene in Blended + online, Sciences

Summary

FAS Ed Tech partnered with Liberal Studies Life Science professors Lori Nicholas and Kevin Bonney to develop interactive content modules for use in both their face-to-face and online courses (LS launched a pilot online course in Life Science for the Summer 2017 semester).  Each module presents course content through accessible, interactive multimedia presentations that also test students on their knowledge and understanding of the material.

Goals

  • Produce interactive content modules for 12 units of study based on instructor-developed PowerPoint presentations
  • Record voice-over narration and generate transcripts for accessibility
  • Incorporate assessments for learners to check knowledge and basic understanding of concepts

Outcomes

These modules have been an important part of the Life Science course through several semesters.  Students in the face-to-face courses have been able to review content prior to coming to class and can utilize class time to ask questions, clarify misconceptions, and dive deeper into the material.  During class, the instructor can spend more time on the active application of concepts and further exploration of the topics.

Technology Resources

  • MS PowerPoint
  • Articulate Storyline
  • NYU Classes
  • SCORM Cloud

Example Module: Introduction to the Immune System

Comete el coco game

Elizabeth Augspach – Gaming for Grammar

Posted on by admin in Analytics + assessment, Blended + online, Discipline, Language instruction, Method, PBL + collaboration

Summary

Professor Elizabeth Augspach (Spanish and Portuguese) conceived of ¡Cómete el coco!, a mobile game that would provide her Intermediate Spanish students with fun, engaging ways to practice grammar topics. Students access the game via their phones, and challenge fellow students to grammar challenges that allow for socially-enhanced, informal language learning.

Learning objectives

  • Bridge informal and formal language acquisition through mobile learning
  • Increase engagement as students learn requisite grammar
  • Allow for socially-enhanced ways to review in-class material

Created in partnership with NYU IT, the ¡Cómete el coco! game is meant to foster collaborative, engaging ways to learn and review grammar.  Professor Augspach sought ways to make grammar more fun, and incentivize students to review more outside of class time.

Student experience

  • Engage with game outside of class to review and learn grammar
  • Challenge other students as they have low-stakes, fun competitions between their peers

Technology resources

Outcomes

  • Students have increased opportunities for learning and reviewing grammar
  • In class and out-of-class learning is connected better
  • Students increase engagement with a fun context for practicing grammar.  The element of friendly, low-stakes competition amongst peers increases engagement
Tower of Hanoi - Richard Cole

Richard Cole – Blended Learning for Basic Algorithms

Posted on by admin in Blended + online, Discipline, Method, Sciences

Summary

Professor Richard Cole (Courant-Computer Science) developed instructional videos for his CSCI UA-0310 Basic Algorithms class, which introduces future computer scientists to the process of designing efficient and adaptable algorithms.  The videos detailed core concepts and reviewed points of confusion.

Learning objectives

  • Leverage instructional videos to scaffold students’ understanding of core topics
  • Increase engagement as students learn challenging material
  • Highlight points of confusion
  • Allow students to access materials anywhere, anytime (supports just-in-time learning)

In this example of blended learning that combines online materials and face-to-face instruction, Professor Cole recorded videos on key concepts known to challenge students in the past.  This meant that he strategically created videos based on level of concept difficulty rather than creating videos for every single topic.  Students were free to consult videos as many times as needed and at their own pace.  After the release of the first batch of videos, Dr. Cole conducted a formative assessment to gauge how students were using the videos.

Student experience

  • Watch videos as many times as needed
  • Have flexibility on which topics on which to concentrate

Technology resources

  • Video editing software, for producing videos
  • Tablet for real-time annotations and drawing
  • NYU Stream, to store video lectures

Outcomes

Video Repository: https://cs.nyu.edu/courses/spring14/CSCI-UA.0310-001/video%20repository.html

Results from a student survey indicated that:

  • 35% of respondents viewed the videos before the topic was presented
  • 100% of respondents viewed the videos after the topic was presented
  • 100% of respondents say they would be interested in having access to videos on additional topics
  • 94% of respondents thought the videos were helpful or very helpful
  • 41% of respondents used the videos as their primary reference materials and 50% used both textbooks and the videos; 0% used the textbook only as their primary reference material
  • 61% of respondents would have liked some way to self-assess (test) their comprehension of the videos (this was prior to the capacity of NYU Stream to deliver in-video assessments)

Selected student responses:

“The videos are a great supplement to the lectures. I personally watch them after the lectures and find them very useful to review and strengthen my knowledge of the material presented, which makes them especially helpful when I do the weekly problem sets.”

“Videos are great and very helpful for explaining the basic concepts of the lecture. I would like it if the video explained some more difficult concepts as well like sample questions that we do during recitation.”

Quantum billiards

Daniel Turner – Learning with Simulations (Quantum Billiards)

Posted on by admin in Blended + online, Discipline, Sciences

Summary

Professor Daniel Turner (Chemistry) conceived of a simulation that would provide his students  of Quantum Mechanics with opportunities to visualize subatomic objects and their behavior in an interactive environment. The underlying topic, electron correlation, is challenging for students to grasp due to its conceptual nature.

Learning objectives

  • Leverage interactivity to scaffold students’ understanding of a difficult STEM topic
  • Increase engagement as students learn challenging material
  • Provide hands-on experience with a theoretical topic

Created in partnership with NYU IT, the Quantum Billiards simulation is designed to teach electron correlation—an important but challenging concept taught in Quantum Mechanics. The game contrasts classical physics with quantum physics by allowing the user to play in both a classical mode, where balls occupy a definite point in space, and a quantum mode, where balls act as a wave of probability of where the ball is most likely to be found.

Student experience

  • Engage with simulation as an additional resource for learning about electron correlation

Technology resources

Outcomes

  • Students learn about electron correlation through hands on manipulation of simulation
  • Students increase engagement with a real world reference point (billiards)
Quarks - Spaceship greenscreen

Allen Mincer – Flipping for Understanding

Posted on by admin in Blended + online, Discipline, Method, Sciences

Updated on 1/18/19

Summary

Professor Allen Mincer (Physics) flipped CORE-Quarks to Cosmos, a large lecture course for non-science majors. He developed original content to replace the use of two required textbooks; students engaged with material outside of class and participated in collaborative, active learning activities in class.

The current iteration of the course includes additional resources on background information for primary skills (unit conversion, estimation, dimensional analysis), as well as opportunities for metacognitive activities (e.g., self explanation). 

Learning objectives

  • Increase active learning opportunities for students to engage more deeply with concepts
  • Provide proper support for non-majors learning complex science content
  • Eliminate the need for students to purchase costly textbooks

“No textbook really deals with the material in this course in a way that fits what I wish to teach. But I feel that students need a way to go over the topics covered in lecture, as it is too easy to miss something when it is just heard once.” – Professor Allen Mincer

“No textbook really deals with the material in this course in a way that fits what I wish to teach. But I feel that students need a way to go over the topics covered in lecture, as it is too easy to miss something when it is just heard once,” describes Professor Mincer. The creation of freely available course materials, or Open Educational Resources (OER), allows him to cover topics more efficiently and allow students to use online delivery to review “anywhere, anytime”.  Professor Mincer also developed a custom simulation on the topic of Parallax, which allows students to interact with this challenging topic in real time.

Pairing a flipped course structure with OER plays an essential role in meeting pedagogical goals, such as increasing student engagement and learning.  In the spirit of affordability, OER will also eliminate the need for students to purchase textbooks that they might only need for a single course.

EXAMPLES OF CONTENT
#1. Parallax simulation: Click to access simulation

#2. Video lecture on how the Greeks calculated the size of the Earth

#3. Video demo of the Electroscope

#4. Video demo of the cathode

Student experience

  • Engage with lecture videos, interactive modules, and simulations outside of lecture time
  • Participate in hands on lab activities
  • Collaborate on group activities and review material during lecture time

Technology resources

Outcomes

  • Custom content replaced two textbooks, leading to total student cost savings of over $42,000 per semester
  • Increased scores for students performing at the intermediate and advanced levels
  • Ability for students to review lecture material anywhere, anytime
  • Recognition that future iterations should build in additional remediation needs for students with less exposure to physics concepts.
Microeconomics - Black market

Marc Lieberman – Flipping for Affordability

Posted on by admin in Blended + online, Discipline, Method, Social sciences

Updated 7/12/19

Summary

Microeconomics - supply and demandProfessor Marc Lieberman (Economics) flipped the recitation sections for both of his large lecture courses, Introduction to Microeconomics and Intro to Macroeconomics,  eliminating the need for students to purchase textbooks and platform licenses.  In addition to developing online modules and animations, Professor Lieberman leveraged NYU Classes to create an online problem solving platform.

Learning objectives

  • Provide students with essential review material to clarify points of confusion
  • Reduce the variability in instruction by recitation leaders
  • Eliminate the need for students to purchase costly textbooks and software

Microeconomics_RevenueProfessor Marc Lieberman created Open Educational Resources (OER), freely available course content, to solve pedagogical and financial challenges. Common recitation materials lead to all students receiving a similar level of information about key topics. Content can be customized for lectures, and made visually appealing through rich animations created by the NYU IT Media Production Team. No-cost content and platforms save students money (up to $350 per student).   

Macroeconomics module screenshot

Professor Lieberman worked with FAS (in partnership with NYU IT’s TLT Team) to develop similar resources for his Introduction to Macroeconomics course. These were implemented successfully in Fall 2018’s Intro to Macroeconomics course and will be used again in Professor Lieberman’s classes, as well as additional Economics courses running at NYU Florence, in the coming academic year.

Student experience

  • Go through online modules prior to lecture
  • Attend recitation sections and review material anywhere, anytime
  • Complete problem sets

Technology resources

  • Custom animations
  • Custom interactive modules, for recitation lectures + assessments
  • NYU Classes, for custom problem sets
  • NYU Stream, to house videos

Outcomes

  • Custom content replaced the need to purchase a textbook and interactive software, leading to cost savings of up to $350 per student.  
  • Standardized instruction across recitation sections
  • Ability for students to review material anywhere, anytime
  • Similar project completed for Introduction to Macroeconomics in Fall 2018
  • Example module: ‘How Banks Get in Trouble’ – Click to view module