8 Summer Reads on DEI

The National Institute on Scientific Teaching has shared a few recommendations for summer reading. This list focuses on books that may help us deepen our understanding of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) topics in higher education. Full descriptions are provided in the links by clicking on the titles. I have also added a link to the availability of the book in our library.

1. "Superior" - Angela Saini. "Superior" walks the reader through the long history of the belief in biological racial differences and how it has been intertwined with political history. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/18696719

2. "Inferior" - Angela Saini. "Inferior" explores the background belief that men and women are fundamentally different. Angela Saini takes the reader on a journey that investigates past research on gender differences in biology, anthropology, and psychology. "Inferior" then shows a view of science where women are included rather than excluded. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/16409604

3. "UNgrading" - Susan Blum. Read the testimonials of fifteen educators describing their journey going gradeless. The stories encompass all levels of instruction, and different disciplines. This is a great book for understanding the movement and reading the personal reflections of individuals that are at different stages of their journey. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/18678673

4. "For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education" - Chris Emdin. In this book the author reflects on their own experience to show a poignant perspective on teaching and learning in urban schools. The author explains their theory of Reality Pedgaogy, demonstrating this with the seven C's, and provides tools to excite and encourage students and instructors to break free of traditional modes of thinking about urban education. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/15426645

5. "The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die" - Keith Payne. The Broken Ladder explores the effects of rising inequality and how people perceive their position in society. The book examines inequalities' link to health crises, long-term prosperity, and social cohesion, among others. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/17538409

6. "Testosterone Rex: Myths of Sex, Science, and Society" - Cordelia Fine. This text explores the myth that the difference between men and women is biological. Codelia Fine works to debunk the science and societal misconceptions that are often used to perpetuate this myth. Using humor in a masterful way, "Testosterone Rex" disproves these misconceptions, and argues for a more equal society based on the potential present in all humans. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/16523736

7. "Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education" - Jay Dolmage. "Academic Ableism" brings together disability studies and institutional critique to examine the methods for accommodation and how schools are constructed, to formulate their argument that building more inclusive schools that address ableism will ultimately provide better education for all. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/17823265

8. "The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students" - Anthony Abraham Jack. This book outlines how student background has a large effect on the chances for student success, and illuminates what it is like to be poor on an elite college campus. The book explains why the university obligation to disadvantaged students must go beyond a letter of admission and strive to make inclusion for all students a reality at college campuses. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/18498620

SAMR in Higher Education

SAMR is an acronym for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition. This model of technology integration was developed by Ruben R. Puentedura, Ph.D. who began researching this topic because he wanted to ensure that the use of technology enhanced teaching practice. The SAMR model provides a technique for moving through degrees of technology adoption to find more meaningful uses of technology in teaching and move away from simply using “tech for tech’s sake”.

In the following video, Candace Robertson explains SAMR in less than 2 minutes (remember microlectures from last week?) with a writing example:

but SAMR has been used within various disciplines to rethinking how technology is used for teaching, in communications with students, in collaborations, as well as for assessments and course design.

While critics have debated the theoretical underpinnings of this model. It has been widely adopted in education, including by the creators of Canvas, who used it, along with Bloom's taxonomy, to inform the development of functions and tools within Canvas. This chart (created by Instructure, the developers of Canvas) explains how they envision how Canvas functions can be used at each level of the SAMR model as you teach:

Screenshot of Google Spreadsheet that describes how to use the features in Canvas in alignment with Bloom’s Taxonomy and the SAMR model.

Click on the image above for access to the sheet.

Microlectures

A microlecture is a brief video or audio recording, or multimedia presentation covering a single concept or topic. Originating as 60-second lectures, they have since expanded to include clear, concise descriptions of a single topic or idea in under 6 minutes. These lectures can be used in online, blended, or face-to-face contexts (see 7 Things You Should Know About Microlectures: https://library.educause.edu/resources/2012/11/7-things-you-should-know-about-microlectures).

Microlectures have several benefits and can raise the awareness and curiosity of students by:

• Introducing a learning topic and its objectives with personal touch.

• Providing learners with a brief overview of key concepts.

• Demonstrating a single problem-solving procedure.

• Explaining the step-by-step instructions needed to complete a summative assignment.

Watch this microlecture to learn more about the benefits of microlectures (see what I did there?)

Microlectures align with the cognitive psychology concept of chunking, or the capacity of human’s working memory to process or manipulate information.

A great primer on microlectures, with examples and resources can be found here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1niiDNQFKCpZ9QhzV9CYFEnNfU-YExlPPyW6CoayJLgU/edit?usp=sharing It was developed by the California Virtual Campus Online Education Initiative On slide 9 they discuss how to create a quick whiteboard video with Screencast-o-matic + OneNote + a paper tablet. If you recorded your lectures this Fall or Spring and want to extract clips that can be used as microlectures.

Additional Resources

• Plan and Record Engaging Microlectures https://acue.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Section-5_PG_Record-Microlectures_CFIN.pdf

• e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning 4th Edition https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/15472619

Supporting Online Discussions

One of the greatest challenges for faculty is that students often come to class not having completed assigned readings. This makes it difficult for them to participate in discussion, and it may also make it difficult for them to follow the material you have planned for the day/week.

Synchronous or Face-to-face: Spend 5 minutes at the end of class going over key points in the readings you are asking students to do for the next class period. This type of advance organizer will enable them to place what you are asking them to read in a more meaningful and comprehensible context. Spend 5-10 minutes at the beginning of class having students discuss (in pairs or in small groups) two or three quick questions about the readings. Students can assist one another in clarifying the readings, or bring their collective confusion, if any, to you. You may want to have students turn in notes (or a Google Doc) from their discussions, or something similar, as evidence that they had something to contribute to the conversation.

Asynchronous: Without the cues of co-presence in the classroom, it is more important than ever to direct students’ attention before they read, watch, or listen to something. These concrete experiences are the foundation of an effective learning cycle. It is useful to explain the purpose of the experience or give specific guidance on what things students should be paying special attention to or looking for. Students report greater engagement with readings when they are given specific sections or pages to focus on and a purpose for the reading. Tips about how experts in your discipline read an article, a primary source, etc. are also useful (Middendorf & Shopkow, 2017). (A brief example of this from history can be found here.)

Specific strategies include:

Anticipation Guides: Before viewing a lecture or starting a reading, students can be asked to take a minute or two to generate an anticipation guide (Major et al., 2016). Based on the previous content, the main topics, and keywords, each student generates their own list of questions they expect to be able to answer at the end. This can be completed as a mini assignment in Canvas where students generate 3-5 questions before viewing a lecture and submit the answers to their questions after viewing. A video introduction can provide an overview and explain how the activity will help students practice thinking like an expert.

Guided Notes with a Twist: Basic guided notes are outlines or lecture slides with missing words or content that students complete during a lecture (Major et al., 2016). A modified version focuses students’ efforts on higher-order thinking. The shared document includes the lecture agenda, key definitions, and spaces for note taking, plus targeted questions that ask students to apply, compare and contrast, elaborate, or make connections (Golas, 2018). These questions provide great moments to pause a lecture when students’ cognitive load may be reached and switch to different cognitive processes that reinforce their understanding (Harrington & Zakrajsek, 2017).

For pre-recorded lectures, students can pause the lecture to answer the question in their notes or the questions can serve as a discussion forum activity between recorded mini lectures. Students have been shown to be particularly engaged with these notes when they are the same kinds of questions asked on quizzes, major assignments, or exams. Tools such as TopHat, and Kaltura can be used to integrate questions within the lectures and record student responses.

Teaching With Microsoft Teams

Last week, I had the opportunity to work with a class that used Microsoft Teams to manage a group project. Students were divided into 14 groups or (channels) of 5. After establishing group norms, students are given the freedom to complete the group assignment synchronously or asynchronously, depending on their schedules. When they used the video conference features, the instructor was able to see who attended and for how long, if they met within the channel. Students also had the capacity to add the instructor to meetings (if needed; based on availability). All files that were needed for the project were hosted in OneDrive but had a “physical” representation within Teams that students were able to access without leaving the interface. Teams allowed for screen and file sharing, chatting, and Word markups. The course did not create the assignment in Teams, but it is possible to do so, as well as create a rubric within Teams, and import them into Canvas.

While this sounds like an advertisement for Teams, it isn’t. My goal is to let you know (or remind you of) alternatives you can use if you are looking for technological teaching tools that are a better match your pedagogical style than what you are currently using.

There are many free, short tutorials from Microsoft https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/microsoft-teams-video-training-4f108e54-240b-4351-8084-b1089f0d21d7, and as always, I am happy to help you with you with teaching and learning