ETHN 11: Intro to Ethnic Studies

Active lecture, Slides, Online Learning

Reflection on Instructional Change:

I wanted to make my lectures more interactive, so I chose to have students fill in slides (a practice from the ACUE course). First, I chose a section from my lecture that was closely tied to the reading. The reading was about Asian American history in relation to war, and it had clear sections for wars like World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Korean War. I set up a Google slide deck that all students could access with directions in the deck. I also gave directions verbally in class and then put students in breakout groups so they could fill in the slides in small groups.

I found that student engagement in this activity depended on the groups. Some groups were comfortable turning on their mics and chatting with each other. Other groups had students who did not engage at all (didn't turn on mics or use the chat), and that made it harder for their groupmates. Overall, though, for students who were engaged, I found this was a much more effective way to make sure students got the necessary information--rather than giving a traditional lecture.

The ACUE course activities are also very helpful. I took notes and made a list of techniques I would like to try in the future. I was already familiar with active learning techniques, but I definitely learned a lot about active learning during this FLC.

Evidence of Instructional Change

Evidence of Instructional Change
Screen shot of directions for the fill-in-the-slides activity.	Screen shot of student work.	Screen shot of ACUE badges

Practice and Reflect on: Teaching Powerful Notetaking Skills

I gave my students skeletal notes for the first time. I was a bit skeptical about this practice initially. I believe students need to develop their own note-taking practices and that's best done with a blank page. However, I understand the points made in this module about the benefits of skeletal notes. I also appreciated seeing examples of skeletal notes, so I decided to try it in one of my classes. I thought it would be beneficial to my students in part because we were reading a very difficult text and in future weeks, they were going to be teaching certain texts and I instructed them to provide their classmates with a handout of skeletal notes. So, my skeletal notes were designed to be an example.

The skeletal notes were a success! Students were able to follow along with my presentation. I could tell they felt more at ease talking about the reading in part because they could refer back to the handout. More students took notes than usual.

Course Syllabus

Intro to Ethnic Studies Syllabus

Faculty Bio

Faculty Bio
	Jasmine Wade is an Assistant Professor in the Ethnic Studies department.

FLC Funding 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.