TI21 Portfolio | Younis Amani
PUBH 114: HEALTH AND HUMAN ECOLOGY
Course Description
The scope of content represented by the course emphasizes the social and natural environmental influences that have a direct impact upon the health of the individual. Primary consideration is directed toward an analysis of health as influenced by a person's interaction with his/her environment.
There are no prerequisites for this course. It is an upper division area D2 General Education requirement.
The class was an in-person class until COVID, after which it was transformed to an online setting. My main goal was to design the course in a way that would allow for equitable and proactive student involvement in an online setting. Equitable student access to course material, as well as inclusivity of students with respect to involvement (student-student, as well as student-instructor interaction) were paramount.
The enrollment capacity of this class is 160 (4 classes, 40 students/class).
This course is based on lecture, exams, and a group project.
Before:
Motivation for Redesign
As this course has been first offered in an online mode due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a need to transform the course which had been offered in-person to the online mode.
The main motivation for the course redesign were to :
1. Provide an Equitable and inclusive access to course content, and instructor.
2. Convert course content from face-to-face modality to virtual modality
3. Increase access to course content
4. Increase student involvement and participation in the course
Evidence of Student Learning
Accordingly, changes were made to:
1. Syllabus and learning objectives: the syllabus was changed to reflect Student Expected Learning Outcomes as well as Skill Learning Outcomes. This is both in alignment with the direction the Department of Public Health is taking as well as offers a clearer connection for the students between the different activities and assignments and the learning outcomes and skills that they will gain.
2. Assignments:
- Assignments were changed form in class and at home paper assignments to online discussions with very clear prompts and due dates.
- Deadlines were flexible for students who needed extensions.
- Two exams, a midterm and a final, were administered in class and answered on Scantrons. These exams were changed to fully online exams administered through Canvas.
3. Group project:
- Group projects were changed from paper-based group projects to group projects that are submitted online via Turnitin.
- Groups that were formed in class prior to COVID were changed to groups that were randomly assigned by Canvas.
- Groups had the option to pick their topic.
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Team-based leaning was ensured through the group paper for which official weekly meeting agendas and minutes had to be submitted as an appendix to the paper.
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Team-member reliability was assessed though a peer evaluation that was performed by all group members and carried a 10 % weight in the overall number of points for the course.
- A clear paper grading rubric was available on the course platform for all students to access and have a clear idea regarding expectations.
4. Instruction method:
- Fully in-person pre-COVID lectures were moved to on-line lectures and recordings for asynchronous sections.
- Each lecture began with a 'mini review' of the previous chapter. It was presented in multiple choice format (in line with the midterm and final exams).
- Office hours were moved to on-line Zoom office hours with the option to scheduled meeting if requested by the student.
After:
Evidence of Student Learning
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Expected Learning Outcomes & Skill Learning Outcomes |
Group Paper Grading Rubric |
Video- Course Introduction and Expectations |
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Group Paper Grading Rubric Download Group Paper Grading Rubric |
Video- Introduction & Course Expectations Links to an external site.
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Techniques Incorporated Into Redesign
Please look at #3 under 'Evidence for student Learning' above.
Assessment of Redesign Project
I used student grades in exams and group papers, as well as student feedback on the course evaluations to as measuring rubrics of the effectiveness of the course redesign. There was an improvement in both. This was reflected in exam grades, paper grades
The course has been redesigned to include teaching tools discussed in the teaching institute and got positive student feedback.
Equitable & Inclusive Outcomes for Students
In addition to items discussed above, I allotted group time was allotted in several class sessions to allow for group project work and to facilitate student-student interaction.
Reflection: Challenges and Lessons Learned
Course redesign proved to be take more than planning and implementing changes. It proved to be more of a 'process' that needed continuous reflection and, sometimes, modification should that seem beneficial and necessary.
Faculty Biography
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Amani Younis, Sc.D. I am faculty at the Department of Public Health in the College of Health and Human Services. I joined the Sacramento State University in 2009. I taught several courses including Health and Human Ecology, Consumer Health Education, Ageing, Health Psychology, and Process Improvement in Healthcare. Research interests include: Global health, health systems, and community health. |
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| This work was supported by the Sacramento State and The Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund |
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