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ETHN 172: Black Women in America

Liquid syllabus, engagement, pop culture

Reflection on Instructional Change:

I chose to implement the liquid syllabus. A liquid syllabus is a syllabus in an easily accessible website that students have access to at least a week before classes. I finalized my syllabus for Black Women in America over the summer and then I made a PDF copy. I then took much of the content from the PDF syllabus and transferred it to a colorful, image/gif-heavy Google site. I created a short introductory video that welcomes students to the course and to the syllabus. I also made sure some of the assignment prompts were uploaded to the site. I sent the syllabus with a welcome email to all my students a week before the course started.

The liquid syllabus appealed to me because it allows students to easily access the syllabus on their phones, for me to have them access the syllabus easily in class, and it allows me to offer students a warm welcome at the start of the semester (this is important because I teach so many first year students). I do think students found my colorful liquid syllabus more engaging than a PDF and there was an increase in engagement on my syllabus quiz.

The ACUE Implementation Resources for the inclusive syllabus and rubrics lessons were the most impactful on me. I really appreciated learning about the different kinds of rubrics. I've struggled with capturing things like critical thinking and creativity on my rubrics. So now, I have come back to the example rubrics many times this semester to get better at making good rubrics that actually assess what I'd like to assess.

One take away from my Observe and Analyze Session is how important it is to fold the liquid syllabus into the overall fabric of the Canvas page, so students can access it seamlessly.

Evidence of Instructional Change

Evidence of Learning
Evidence 1	Evidence 2	Evidence 3
Screenshot of the top of my liquid syllabus	Screenshot of Syllabus Quiz start page	Screenshot of ACUE badges

Practice and Reflect on: Creating Equity with Checklists and Rubrics

Course Syllabus

Faculty Bio

Faculty Bio
	Dr. Jasmine H. Wade is an Assistant Professor in the Ethnic Studies department/Pan African Studies program. She studies and teaches about Afrofuturism, Black feminism, and Black literature. When she's not working, she's usually running on the American River Trail or hanging out with her chihuahua.

Program Sponsors
	This work was supported by: National Science Foundation Hispanic Serving Institution Project STEM Zone DUE 1832335 US Department of Education Hispanic Serving Institution Project Degree with a Purpose P031S210061 US Department of Education Hispanic Serving Institution Project STEM4Equity P031C210012 *Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the US Department of Education.