We Two Profs from Ohio looked back at our classes this past term so we could address what we could, or should, do better. A couple of weeks ago, Ann posted her reflection about what she plans to do differently this semester, and here I share mine.
While I usually tweak things a bit (changing readings, trying a new activity), I basically have taught my college reading and writing course the same way since 2017. It’s mainly been “successful”; students regularly rate the course highly, and some activities, like our field trip and our “Visuals to Voices” showcase, have become campus fixture events. But the aspect that hasn’t been as successful is the digital component, which I’ve relied upon more frequently over the years, especially since the pandemic. My students still prefer to submit assignments on paper, not through our Canvas learning management system (LMS). They lose significant points because they don’t do so despite the LMS’s wide use across the institution and its ease in indicating upcoming assignments with a simple link click.
I’m not certain what causes this reluctance, but it could be one of many factors. For example, educators (as I have done) presume that since today’s students have grown up with the Internet and social media, they automatically have fundamental technological skills. However, articles like Elizabeth Losh’s piece entitled “Universities Must Stop Presuming All Students Are Tech-Savvy” or Janice Florent’s “Students Say They Are Not As Tech-Savvy As Educators Assume” force us to reconsider that perception. Furthermore, as this The Red Road article reveals, “60% of Native schools lag behind 21st century standards, often lacking the bandwidth or computer access to support student learning.” Especially here in New Mexico, this likely means many of my students didn’t have the same K-12 exposure to technology that others have.
Yet our campus has a mission to make students college- and, by extension, life-ready. I personally don’t want to bring piles of papers home to grade (once my end-of-the-semester grading weighed nine pounds), yet my greater concern is for these learners to have the technical skills for the workplace they will enter upon graduation. Given all these considerations, I decided to overhaul my course to include more hands-on computer lab time.
With the lab, I can provide more than just class time to complete assignments. I’ve noticed students often don’t know how to double-space a paper; they hit “Enter” twice, which becomes evident from linear misalignment when I make electronic comments. Therefore, I can use the lab to help them learn basic Word features. Additionally, when we have used the computer lab and I tell the students to email themselves the work they started, they don’t always know how to attach a document to an email. Thus, I can use the lab to show them how to use workplace tools like email, cloud storage, or document formatting like .doc or .pdf.
Pertinently, I hope our lab time leads to greater course success as they work together, supporting each other, completing tasks and abating any technophobia. The shift to more lab-based instructional time necessarily means adjusting my content. I eliminated one course paper, for example, but the tradeoff is that we’ll have more time dedicated to the writing process on the remaining assignments; I opted for quality over quantity. Furthermore, the course will be a semi-“flipped” one where the students are responsible for learning on their time; they will apply that learning in guided activities in class, as this Harvard Bok Center for Teaching and Learning page explains. This requires me to record more short video lectures and create other material to support the self-guided instruction aspect, but I believe this will help the students better learn the content and, ultimately, have increased course success.
The transition to a new semester, and a new year, provides us with an opportunity to discover what better serves us and our students. We have a chance for a do-over, and I look forward to seeing how this one goes.
Works Cited
“Education of the First People.” The Red Road. 2023. https://theredroad.org/issues/native-american-education/
“Flipped Classrooms.” The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. Harvard University. 2023. https://bokcenter.harvard.edu/flipped-classrooms#:~:text=A%20flipped%20classroom%20is%20structured,that%20involve%20higher%20order%20thinking.
Florent, Janice. “Students Say They Are Not as Tech Savvy as Educators Assume.” CAT Food, Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development – Xavier University of Louisiana, 3 Jan. 2020. https://cat.xula.edu/food/students-say-they-are-not-as-tech-savvy-as-educators-assume/
Losh, Elizabeth. “Universities Must Stop Presuming That All Students Are Tech-Savvy.” Times Higher Education, 4 Feb. 2021. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/universities-must-stop-presuming-all-students-are-tech-savvy.
2023 copyright pending. Image taken by Tracy Lassiter.
Two Profs from Ohio 
2 thoughts on “The Do-Over”