Course: Working with Electrons
Instructor: Rodolfo Cossovich, Clinical Instructor of Interactive Media Arts, Working with Electrons
Students Enrolled: 17
Technology Used: NYU Zoom, FlipGrid, Google Jamboard, Google Docs, Discord
“Working with Electrons” is a project-based class which focuses on the discovery of electromagnetism. Along with lectures introducing major theoretical models that explain electromagnetic phenomena, students spend more than half of the class producing laboratory work, which includes assembling circuits, making self-oscillating inductive heaters, and so forth.
Seventeen students from eleven different places around the world are enrolled in the class this semester. To ensure that the lectures and the experiments can be conducted with high quality through digital learning, Rodolfo Cossovich, Clinical Instructor of Arts, designed the class to be a hybrid of online classes with interactive experiments. With support from NYU Shanghai, each student has now equipped his/her home with a small electronics workbench with tools, instruments and materials to enable hands-on practice. Synchronous and asynchronous discussions are held via various digital platforms to guide students through the theories and the experiments.
The students meet weekly using Zoom for synchronous interactions to discuss concepts and engage in group discussions. These sessions are recorded so that students who cannot attend can watch later.
In addition to synchronous interactions, Cossovich also uses Google Docs, Google Jamboard, and FlipGrid to facilitate asynchronous discussions among students. In Google Docs, questions are posted for each week and students are required to leave their answers so that everyone can see and comment on each other’s thoughts. Google Jamboard is an interactive online whiteboard where students outline their thoughts and make annotations collaboratively. Students also post videos to present about the originators of electromagnetic theory on FlipGrid.
Students have been working in groups of different sizes, allowing them to collaborate with each other, so that they can foster connections that will allow them to work during the self-proposed projects for midterm and final together. The class uses Discord, an online chat tool for groups similar to Slack, to improve the efficiency of multiple group communications and allow groups working simultaneously.
For the laboratory work, each student was provided with a multimeter, soldering station, prototyping tools and an assortment of components that allow them to work at their own rhythm. The concepts applied during the experiments are delivered with slides, notes and short video lectures recorded outdoors. To create a dynamic of team work where each participant is a stakeholder in the experiment, synchronous Q&A sessions are held separately for each group.
Every week, the students are asked to reflect about their own learning experience and how are they able to connect the concepts among the theoretical readings, the practical knowledge delivered in the lectures and the experiments they carry on. This being the fourth week of digital instruction at NYU Shanghai, by now, all students have run a one-on-one online video conference with Cossovich in order to talk about their learning experience and how they are working remotely.
Challenges and Lesson Learned
Based on the class’s experience so far, Cossovich says that the lack of integration between different tools is far from ideal. For example, when he started using Discord for a planned asynchronous task for groups of 3 students, they couldn’t talk among each other unless they were already “friends” with each other. That single technological hiccup is a distraction from the class. Even simple tasks for a face to face lecture like using a soldering iron or measuring current have become technical challenges that need very careful planning.
However, Cossovich believes this will not be a hindrance for digital learning and remote communications. Every week, students are surveyed about their class experience and suggestions. Some of them have been volunteering to help on the technical challenges the class faces, creating a real learning community. Thanks to students’ recommendations, Cossovich is always making adjustments and improving the class by trying new technology to make the online sessions more engaging.