Course: Honors Linear Algebra II
Instructor: Leonardo T. Rolla, Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Students Enrolled: 35
Technology Used: VoiceThread (VT), Gradescope, Google Forms, NYU Stream
One week before the first day of class, I experimented with an audio/video software program called VoiceThread (VT) with my students. I first shared a VT where I walked the students through the syllabus and they made their comments and questions. Then I shared another VT whose purpose was for me and each of the students to introduce ourselves.
The last VT before the beginning of classes was one where I asked students to solve an exercise from Honors Linear Algebra I which most of them completed in the Fall 2019. I produced three sample video presentations they might want to use: capturing a video of a piece of blank white paper while I wrote a mathematical proof; capturing the same piece of paper with the proof previously written, just explaining the proof with a pointer (my finger or a pen); and using NYU Stream to record the screen of my tablet while I used effective software for handwriting. Finally, I shared the process of how I had created my videos so they would have at least one concrete technique on how to create their own videos (I also provided them flexibility to create videos in formats that they were already using).
Screenshot of the same mathematical proof demonstrated to students using two different methods — recording while writing on a piece of paper and using NYU Stream to do a screen recording of solving the same proof using handwriting software (Goodnotes).
On the first attempt, almost all students created high-quality videos for their assignments. During the weekend before the first day of class, I recorded a VT to explain an extremely detailed quantitative policy on how student participation and interaction would be graded. I wanted to be sure that students remained engaged throughout the course.
On the morning of the first class, while I was sleeping in Argentina, the online class officially began in Shanghai. This is when a twenty-minute VT that I had created using a dozen slides transformed into a complete two-hour interactive lecture. While and after viewing my VT, students began proving theorems (instead of me in a talking head video); answering each other’s questions; and providing constructive suggestions on how to improve their videos.
Sample feedback from audio made by a student in response to a video solution posted on a VoiceThread lecture.
When I awoke, I opened the student videos, pressed “play” and was delighted to view a “discussion-lecture” created by the students – on day one! To further create an engaging classroom culture, I had asked students to submit two small assignments, one for each “interactive lecture,” using a software program called Gradescope. The first assignment was graded and returned in a day, using an analytical rubric for consistent, timely formative feedback.
Both interactive lectures produced in the first week had 3 hours of content, most of which consisted of students’ contributions. We then adjusted the parameters of student participation by requiring each student to contribute one video solution and one constructive reply per week rather than per lecture. We also discussed how to improve the conciseness and audiovisual quality of the videos. This shortened the duration of lectures to an average of 75 minutes, matching our official lecture duration. To encourage a broad and inclusive student voice, I invite them to provide me feedback every day via Google Forms. In their responses, students have praised how helpful it is to see their classmates’ approach on the same theorem or proof. One student even said, “Sometimes VoiceThread is better than face-to-face teaching.”
Challenges and Lessons Learned
There was a not-so-difficult but very time-consuming challenge, which was to learn all the technological tools made available to us and figure out how they could be used. The truly big challenge was to design a course with pedagogically effective learning objects using these tools as the means rather than a goal in itself, and translate my previous classroom experience to a successful virtual learning environment. For that, I have counted on invaluable help from the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL).
So the above paragraphs are not to be taken as a set of tricks and tips that one can try at home, but rather as a careful combination of techniques and considerations that have been established and validated in the higher education research literature. I would say that the lesson learned is that in times like this we need to not only exchange ideas with our peers, but also have support from the true experts.
Resources
Jace Hargis at NYU Shanghai’s Center for Teaching and Learning provided timely assistance and expertise, allowing me to translate my teaching approach into online learning opportunities.