CHDV 133: Quantitative Methods in Human Development

Reflection on Instructional Change:

From the ACUE course, I focused on implementing and analyzing the effectiveness of engaging in the active learning cycle online. This included encouraging students to access prior knowledge about related topics before instruction, prompting concept exploration, as well as collaborative and application activities following instruction. Specifically, in the early weeks of the semester, I provided instruction and practice in using library resources, understanding the layout of an empirical article, and thinking about the scientific writing style. To help them apply these skills and this knowledge, I created a writing assignment that would involve finding and reading articles, writing a brief paper, and engaging in a formal editing process. To begin, I provided a microlecture, rubric, and written instructions about the assignment, introduced in during a synchronous session and had students choose one of the five topics to write on. I tried to provide the information in as many different modalities as possible to increase comprehension of the assignment. Students were placed into breakout rooms to begin discussing their lay-person knowledge of the topic and generate questions they would need to explore in their library searches. This was done to provide a collaborative community, but also to help students identify arguments and keywords they may use as they worked on their independent library search. Students were instructed to review all assignment resources and locate two empirical articles on their specific topic, bringing them to the next synchronous meeting to share. Students needed to apply previous knowledge and skills to locate these articles and would be using them in the future as well. At this later meeting, I introduced a method for gleaning necessary knowledge from the articles and provided a template collaborative slide for each group to complete while compiling their articles. The purpose of my introduction and sample were to provide modeling of the expectations. The purpose of the breakout rooms and collaborative assignment was to help them begin to outline their own arguments and become aware of counter-arguments. They could also share articles to make sure they were appropriate for the requirements and discuss how to approach the topic.

Students indicated learning form this assignment and appreciated being able to go back in to the collaborative assignment later to learn more both from their group and any others with their similar topic. This is anecdotal evidence, however, as I did not conduct a formal survey.

Some activities and materials were more useful than others in this course. I found the demonstration videos very helpful, both seeing the methods modeled and hearing student and instructor feedback about the method. At times, I used the implementation resources. For example, I found the note-taking unit very enlightening and decided to include an empirical article on best practices in note-taking for my research methods students. The Observe and Analyze sections were not particularly helpful. Similarly, I found the ACUE Discussion Forums very redundant and not as useful for me, as I did not have time to go back and reflectively read other posts. The Practice and Reflect assignments were useful primarily in making me accountable for the material and helping me identify areas I wanted to review and think more about. My "Observe and Analyze" group was small, but I found their feedback quite helpful in reflecting on my process. I also found it helpful to see the method of another "student" and analyze that together.

This may seem simple, but my screen sharing was too small. This is something that was easy to fix I have already changed this across my Zoom contexts. I also learned more about easy ways to assess student learning and the importance of asking about specific approaches and assignments. It was helpful to receive positive feedback as well, which will encourage me to use and improve the activities we analyzed.

Illustration of my instruction, evidence of student work, and completion of the ACUE Microcredential
Screenshot of synchronous session prior to breakout groups	Student collaborative work	The badge awarded for completion of the 6 modules in promoting active learning in online courses

Practice and Reflect on: Using the Active Learning Cycle

Implementation Reflection Guide engage.pdf (Implementation reflection guide here)

Faculty Biography

Biography of Kristen Alexander
	Kristen Weede Alexander earned her PhD in Human Development at UC Davis before beginning her career at Sacramento State in 2002, where she currently serves as a professor of Child and Adolescent Development. Prior to moving north for graduate school, she obtained her multiple subject teaching credential and BA in Human Development at UC Riverside. She has published primarily in the area of children's memory and emotion within the family and legal contexts and continues to do research on development, cognition, stress, and well-being.

Images of supporters of this project
	This work was supported by the Developing Hispanic Serving Institution Project INSPIRE