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Bio 25: Human Anatomy and Physiology

Reflection on Instructional Change:

One aspect of my remote learning redesign is a completely restructured student assessment format. In previous semesters, the majority of points (80% of the final grade) was determined by lecture and lab exams. Discussions during SideCar sessions clearly identified high-stakes testing as a poor choice during virtual learning because it may lead to increased stress and a greater temptation for students to cheat. I reduced the weight of exams to ~49%, while increasing the weight of weekly lab activities/reports (performed by teams of four students) to 44%. Students have reacted very positively to the team work in lab. The increased sense of community due to daily team work is probably the most important improvement. Students commented during 'Team Wellness' check-ins that they immediately felt less vulnerable and more optimistic after the initial team-building exercise. In addition, exam stress seems to be lowered due to the fact that team work in lab is equally important in terms of weight for the overall grade.

A tool and strategy I learned more about through my SideCar colleagues was the optimized usage of breakout rooms in Zoom sessions. During previous semesters (Spring and Summer '20), breakout rooms were not very successful (in my opinion). Students were shy, had little instructions how to communicate and collaborate in breakout rooms, and often worked quietly on their own instead of using this feature for collaborative work. For the spring semester, however, some of my SideCar colleagues and I develop an extensive team-building activity and used the first three hour lab session to educate about the value of team work, and to let students work on creating a team contract outlining clear goals, responsibilities, and ethics for their own team. The feedback for this activity was overwhelmingly positive, and students revisit their contracts from time to time to check team health, realign to the existing contract, or to make necessary changes. My favorite team interaction in these breakout rooms is students teaching students.

In previous semesters, extra credit was given to students who would attend my synchronous morning lectures and answer in-class questions, and to students who would attend my synchronous laboratory meetings. Given that some students may have work during my synchronous meetings, children to take care of, and different levels of access to resources like computers and the internet, extra credit points can be gained through different activities. Furthermore, synchronous lecture and lab meetings are recorded and links are posted on Canvas. Deadlines for lab reports are extended to midnight so working students can complete missing work in the evening.

Image 1: Synchronous lecture with in-class question about receptor adaptation. Shows student numbers for correct and incorrect answers on the right. Students earn participation credit.

In-class question about receptor adaptation

Image 2: Virtual lab activity - producing a team contract for the semester

Lab activity Team building

Image 3: Excerpt from my syllabus concerning alternative extra credit and lecture recordings

Syllabus excerpt showing extra credit alternative and availability of lecture recordings

4. Pre SideCar and post SideCar syllabi:

Pre Side Car - Syllabus and Schedule

Post Side Car - Syllabus and Schedule

5. Faculty Bio

Kai

If you watched the Welcome-video you already know that I grew up in Germany and fell in love with North America during travels after highschool. However, it seemed more economical to get my basic education in Germany so I returned to study Biology in Munich. I applied to a graduate program in Davis immediately after graduating and studied effects of pesticides on Chinook salmon for the next five years. After receiving a PhD in Animal Physiological Ecology (University of Tübingen, Germany)/Aquatic Toxicology (University of California, Davis, USA) I briefly worked for the Department of Fish and Game studying Great Gray Owls. I then took a post-doctoral position at UC Davis investigating the effects of stressors on salmon and Pacific lamprey in the Columbia River Basin. While research was interesting I missed interacting with people and decided to teach at Woodland Community College part-time. I eventually quit my researcher position at UC Davis to focus on teaching and have been instructing at CSUS since 2013.