About Adam Frank Adam Frank (Assistant Professor), B.A. (Brown), Ph.D. (Duke), works in the areas of nineteenth- and twentieth-century American literature, media studies, and theories and histories of affect and feeling. He has published essays on Emily Dickinson and photography, faces in Edgar Allan Poe, and has co-edited a reader of Silvan Tomkins’ affect theory. His current book project addresses shifts in perception of face and voice that accompany nineteenth-century ‘-graphy’ technologies (telegraphy and photography). |
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About Lisa Quinn
Lisa Quinn, B.A. Waterloo), M.A. (Concordia), is a doctoral candidate in the Department of English. She is presently writing her dissertation, “Gender and Race in American Civil War Literature,” which traces a genealogy of late nineteenth-century American masculinity by analyzing shifting conceptions of gender in writing about the American Civil War and its subsequent critical tradition. Her other current project addresses the ways in which the advent photography altered perceptions of realism or truth in representations of war. |
Who:
Adam Frank, Assistant Professor, English Department, Instructor for ENGL 111
Lisa Quinn, PhD Candidate, English Department, Teaching Assistant for ENGL 111
Adam Frank’s English 111 course, Critical Approaches to Media introduces students to a variety of intelligent, critical writing about media: print, television, film, radio, comics, and digital media. Maybe integrating teaching with technology seemed like a natural fit with the content of this first year course. But he initially taught the course in a traditional lecture format, before deciding to re-design it as a mixed-mode course.
Adam and Lisa say that making the change to mixed-mode teaching has strengthened the focus and cohesiveness of the entire course. It’s improved the quality of in-class discussions, created new ways of providing models of scholarly writing to students, and opportunities for graduate students to gain hands-on experience in designing undergraduate level courses. They also say they feel more confident when they are in the classroom, and have found the interaction with students is more rewarding than in more conventional lectures.
How It Works
Whole Course More Focused After Shift to Mixed-Mode Format
One of the course objectives is to give students some writing instruction, as well as how to analyze and critically engage with the course readings. The format of the course is mixed-mode, that is, it’s a mix of in-person class time and online components using WebCT. In this case, instead of giving a traditional lecture to the entire group of students, Adam presents information in a series of prepared modules that are posted online. He oversees the whole course, attends the weekly in-person discussion groups that are led by Lisa and four other Teaching Assistants, provides feedback and advice.
Adam initially taught English 111 in a traditional lecture format. His colleague Jonathan Wisenthal, who developed one of the first mixed-mode courses in the English department, sparked Adam’s interest in teaching with technology. Adam decided to re-design his English 111 course to the mixed-mode format in the second year, in collaboration with Lisa and other graduate students who assisted with planning, research and writing the modules. The project was funded by ACCULT, and developed in collaboration with Arts ISIT who helped design the online components.
Adam and Lisa say the course is more tightly focused and the structure is stronger as a result of their efforts. One of the benefits to publishing the material online is that students can see the course as a whole, which helps them connect concepts across units and readings. “The online material gives them a structure so their thinking pursues a certain path,” Lisa said.
Impact on the Student Learning Experience
Online Lectures Allows Students’ Ideas to Percolate and Models Academic Writing
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The course is structured with weekly modules, and students are asked to read the material in each module before they meet in-person in weekly discussion groups, which are led by Lisa and four other Teaching Assistants.
The central section of each module is the “Critical Approaches” section, which essentially delivers the lecture material in the form of written essays. This covers the core concepts for each unit and informs the assigned readings for each week. Publishing this and the rest of the course materials online means students can access and engage with it on their own time and at their own pace, from any where. Their students say this is one of the biggest advantages of the course. It gives students more time to think through the readings.
“A lot of the readings in the course are theoretical,” Lisa said. “Their ability to review and let material percolate before they participate, comment or do criticism on their own is advantageous. It gives them the time to process before they work.”
Presenting the lecture online also enables Adam to provide students with a model of scholarly writing, which is harder to do when lectures are given orally in a more traditional style. “In English, you model things through the writing,” he said. “and students don’t often see professors writing. The online component shows them how I think, how I write. That’s one big advantage of the technology : it lets me show them my writing.”
Weekly Postings Develop Analytical Thinking and Writing Skills
Another core section of each module is the “Weekly Postings”. Students are required to contribute weekly postings that respond to the readings via the WebCT Discussion Board. Students are asked to respond to specific questions, and also to other students’ postings before they meet in the weekly discussion groups.
“In writing the online postings, students can order their ideas, identify problem areas, and think through material formally,” said Lisa.
Adam and Lisa say the postings are extremely effective in increasing the quality of the face-to-face time in class. “The conversation in the discussion groups is at a much higher level than it normally is in the lecture format,” said Adam.
The postings also provide a means for the students to develop their writing and analytical skills, and are structured so that they lead to other writing assignments, including essays and exams.
Impact on Teaching and Learning
Adam and Lisa agree that in creating the online materials, they spent a great deal of time preparing and thinking through the course early on. They say they both feel better prepared in the classroom and found the collaborative process in developing the course very rewarding.
For Adam, this gives him a different way of interacting with students in the classroom. “Lectures are a good place to get core ideas out to students, and I want to be in the classroom, but I don’t want to just be delivering information. With mixed-mode, there’s more coherence online for the students and therefore more openness in the classroom,” he said.
For Lisa, helping to develop the course was a great opportunity. “I have a different understanding of the theory that I’ve taught and helped to write. I’m more comfortable in my teaching from this experience,” she said.
Adam said that having graduate students participate in the development process benefits them pedagogically, and provides a hands-on opportunity to learn how to develop an undergraduate course. “The graduate students enter the classroom with a different kind of confidence than if just going to lectures,” said Adam. It’s also professionally rewarding for professors: “It’s more fun to develop a course collaboratively,” he said.
Lisa and Adam’s Advice for Getting Started:
Find the Time: Adam estimates that developing a mixed-mode course takes as at least as much time as teaching a course, and recommends that people request a course release so they have enough time for it.
It’s a long term investment, but “you put in more front end time and hope it pays off later. So far it has,” Adam said. Both he and Lisa said they feel the course has been success. The time spent revising, planning and re-viewing has paid off. Adam also says that he has more time now, than in the early stages of the project.
Learn The Tools: Lisa suggests finding out about the technology in the early stages. It’s worthwhile to spend some time exploring WebCT to learn what it can offer before you make final decisions about the format and design of the course.
Secure Funding: Adam said that funding is a big consideration, and recommends that people line up resources in advance. “It’s expensive to produce the course itself, and it’s also good to have funding to hire graduate students as research assistants to help you develop the online material,” he said.
Resources – TBD:
WebCT for Instructors:
This central information page is a good starting point to finding out about information and resources you’ll need.
Getting Started:
This page provides the basics on practical, step by step information on how to request a cources, get access, and more.
WebCT Contacts at UBC:
Find out who to contact to get up and running and support for your course.
Training & Workshops:
The Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth (TAG) offers many workshops and training sessions on using WebCT, from beginner to more advanced levels. Visit the TAG web site to see what workshops are coming up.
Teaching Online:
Information and resources about what’s involved with teaching online, models, practices, publications, tools, at UBC and beyond.
Article courtesy of UBC’s e-Strategy Update