Reflective Journal

Entry # 1 (November 4th 2022)

If you are reading this reflection, know that I made it through the first course (CUTL 5001: Teaching and Learning-Theory to Practice) in the Certificate in Undergraduate Teaching and Learning (CUTL) program at The UWI. What an eventful 6 weeks it has been! Although it’s been challenging, I assure you that it has been worth the investment of my time.

During Unit 3 of CUTL 5001, we were tasked with (i) planning a lesson using the BOPPPS (Bridge-in, Learning Objectives, Pre-Assessment, Participatory Learning, Post-Assessment, Summary) model and (ii) executing that lesson plan in a Micro Teaching demonstration. Since I had a planned field trip to Manzanilla Beach, Trinidad with my BIOL 3063 (Marine Ecology and Oceanography) class on Wednesday 26th October 2022, I decided to utilize a Flipped Classroom approach and pre-record a session for the students to view in advance of the field trip. The intention was that the pre-recorded session (https://youtu.be/yjYHKRr607w) would supplement the participatory learning activities that the students engaged in on the beach.

Having to review the pre-recorded session allowed me to observe the execution of the lesson that I had planned. When put into practice, the BOPPPS model contributes to a systematic flow of a session and this is something that I recognized in my pre-recorded session. I also noted that I prompted the student to think about their own experiences on beaches. By doing this, I acknowledged that these learners had lived experiences and therefore it was important to make the connections. Overall, I thought that the Instructional Activities were well-designed and the diverse array or resources (book chapter, field trip handout, recommended videos, etc) would have catered to the different learning styles of the students. Every item that was included in the pre-recorded session was aligned to a specific learning objective outlined in the course outline as well as aligned to the learning objectives outlined for the pre-recorded session and field trip. In theory, while the Flipped Classroom approach can be a game changer, I examined the analytics on YouTube of the pre-recorded session. In advance of the field trip, the video had 18 views (which is approximately 52% of students) and after the field trip, the video had 24 views. These analytics demonstrate that all students did not view the video in advance of the field trip. Instead, some of them viewed it after the field trip, possibly to assist them with the submission of the field trip report that was due 1 week after the session. This pre-recorded session would have been valuable for the students that missed the field trip due to medical reasons. I also reflected on what happened during the actual field trip when specific participatory learning activities were executed. On the beach, students were divided into 3 groups, with each group being responsible for the collection of data as well as specific sandy shore substrate samples. All students that attended the field trip were well-engaged throughout the session and it was evident that they enjoyed being in the natural environment. However, although the students had been supplied with relevant resources in advance of the field trip and on the actual day, they took some time to self-organize and follow the protocols. Facilitators (myself and support staff) had to assign roles to students to ensure that the activities were completely in a timely manner. In future, if I had to plan and execute this same lesson with another group of students, I would once again use the Flipped Classroom approach because I recognize its value. However, I will incentivize the viewing of the pre-recorded session by allocating marks for the pre-assessment and post-assessment activities. I would also better design the participatory learning activities on the beach such that within each group, individual roles are more clearly defined.

By the end of only 6 weeks in this program, I have gained skills that will be invaluable in improving my teaching practice. As a result of some of the course assignments, I now have tangible products such as a Teaching Philosophy. I have also been prompted to intentionally engage in self-reflection. As such, it has become a habit to document my reflections for each session (lecture, tutorial, lab) that I have facilitated (week 3 to present). This is a habit that I intend to maintain throughout my practice if I am to improve what I am doing. For the first time, I have a greater appreciation for Course Outlines and the alignment between the various components (Learning Objectives, Course Calendar, Assessments). I am now in a better position to design Course Outlines for new courses, revamp existing Course Outlines and also better design lessons and assessments such that they are connected to the Learning Outcomes. From now on, I will also be using the BOPPPS model to plan my lessons as I appreciate following a systematic approach when designing these sessions. I also intend to adopt a more student-centred approach to teaching and learning by intentionally designing participatory learning activities that will boost student engagement. I recognize that my teaching practice is a work in progress and I am excited to see it evolve!

Entry # 2 (November 11th 2022)

Prior to enrolling in the Certificate in Undergraduate Teaching and Learning (CUTL) program at The University of the West Indies, I had never been introduced to the concepts of ‘Constructive Alignment’ or ‘Transparent Assessment Design (TAD)’. While the former focuses on the alignment of learning outcomes, teaching/learning activities and assessment tasks (University of Saskatchewan: The Learning Centre, 2013), the latter focuses on ensuring that students are well-informed about the purpose of the assessment, the task they are to engage in as well as the criteria for grading (Willingham-McLain, 2017). I recognize the merits of the constructive alignment approach as it ensures that the educator maintains a seamless connection through all components of the course. Similarly, I also welcome the TAD concept as I recognize its merit if one were to truly adopt a student-centred approach to teaching.

All of the undergraduate courses that I have taught (2019 – present) were inherited from colleagues. As such, I had no input in course design and therefore strived to maintain the status quo regarding assessments. When designing these, my novice approach ensured that there was collective coverage of course content across the various assessments. To date then, my rating of the use of constructive alignment concept in course assessment design is low. Although I was formally unaware of TAD, I often verbally conveyed to my students the purpose of certain assessments and emphasized the connection to the world of work. For in-course assessments, I gave students clear written instructions about the task to complete as well as provided them with a rubric so they would have a clear idea how marks were to be allocated. To date then, my rating regarding the use of the TAD concept is medium. Since I am an advocate for authentic assessments, I find it difficult to apply the TAD concept to summative assessments (e.g., multiple choice exams) that traditionally assessed the lower tiers (remembering, understanding) on Bloom’s Taxonomy (Armstrong, 2010).

It is clear that my teaching practice is a work in progress. However, I have every confidence that I will be able to improve. Although I foresee the process may be arduous, I also hope that I will have the opportunity to revamp some of the course outlines and assessments for the undergraduate courses that I currently teach.

References

Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom’s Taxonomy.  Retrieved from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/

University of Saskatchewan: The Learning Centre. (Producer). (2013). Constructive Alignment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQHZyT-OYq8

Willingham-McLain, L. (2017). Just a TAD – Transparent Assignment Design.  Retrieved from https://flourishingacademic.wordpress.com/2017/12/08/just-a-tad-transparent-assignment-design/

Entry # 3 (2nd December 2022)

In Unit 4 of CUTL 5104, the concept of unconscious bias in relation to grading student assessments was introduced. At least five known biases, (i) Halo Effect, (ii) Horns Effect, (iii) Affinity/Similarity Bias, (iv) Contrast Effect, (v) Confirmation Bias, were presented (A Brush with Coaching 2020).

Although this is my first formal introduction to these biases, after reflecting, I believe that I can be susceptible to the ‘Contrast Effect’ since I notice that when I do come across exemplary submissions, I subconsciously compare all other submissions to these. Similarly, it is easy to be susceptible to the ‘Halo Effect’ (for students that are helpful, engage in class discussions and have good attendance records) and the ‘Horn Effect’ (for students that are rude or have poor attendance records). However, my ‘North Star’ when grading assessments remains the analytic rubric. Against this instrument, I must be able to justify the allocation of marks. I believe that I am less susceptible to the ‘Affinity/Similarity Bias’ and the ‘Confirmation Bias’ as I am an educator that welcomes diversity in the classroom.

To this end, I recognize that there are certain practices embedded in the courses that I teach (Science Communication, Marine Ecology and Oceanography, Coastal Ecosystems and Resource Management and Environmental Impact Assessments) that helps the educator to overcome some of these biases. For example, for all of the formative and summative assessments in these four courses, an analytic rubric is developed to grade the assessments. The assessor (be it myself or a demonstrator) must justify the allocation of marks according to the rubric. Indeed, ‘consider reasons for decisions’ was one of the recommended actions to address unconscious bias (A Brush with Coaching 2020). Summative assessments for these courses are also anonymized whereby student names are not associated with the submissions. As pointed out by Malouff et al. (2014), anonymizing submissions can go a long way in avoiding the ‘halo effect’ and bias when grading assessments.

Going forward, I do believe that within the courses that I teach, we (myself and the demonstrators) can make a more concerted effort to avoid unconscious bias when grading student assessments. One practical action that can be taken is to monitor each other for unconscious bias (A Brush with Coaching 2020). To execute this, I believe that I will need to conduct an awareness session with the demonstrators about unconscious bias as well as implement a second marking policy for coursework assignments. Furthermore, I also believe that we can implement a system to anonymize formative assessments to reduce both the ‘halo effect’ as well as the ‘horn effect’. These are practices that are not currently in place but I recognize their merit in reducing unconscious bias.

References

A Brush with Coaching. 2020. Avoiding unconscious bias in student assessments. Accessed 2nd November 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3nd_iY3efY

Malouff, J. M., S. J. Stein, L. N. Bothma, K. Coulter, A. J. Emmerton. 2014. Preventing halo bias in grading the work of university students. Cogent Psychology, 1:1, 988937, DOI: 10.1080/23311908.2014.988937

Entry # 4 (10th March 2023)

In Semester 2 (January to May 2022) of the 2021/2022 academic year, one of the courses that I taught was BIOL 3466 (Coastal Ecosystems and Resource Management). At that time, all sessions for BIOL 3466 were delivered virtually and I had not yet been enrolled in the Certificate in Undergraduate Teaching and Learning (CUTL) at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. My use of technology tools in the course was limited to (i) PowerPoint Slides, (ii) YouTube Videos, (iii) Miro and, (iv) Zoom.

For this Reflection Paper, I focused on a BIOL 3466 Virtual Field Trip (Maracas and Las Cuevas), hosted on Zoom (16th March 2022), recorded and then later uploaded to YouTube. Some of the strengths associated with my approach were (i) the use of a well-designed Powerpoint Presentation, (ii) the use of onsite videos from Maracas and Las Cuevas Beach to give students a glimpse of the real world, (iii) the use of prompt questions to engage students, (iv) the use of a pre-pre-recorded interview with a local expert to discuss shark consumption in Trinidad and Tobago, (v) the availability of online resources (e.g. pdf of slides, reading material) on myelearning to supplement the recording. Some of the weaknesses associated with my approach were (i) The use of the ‘Sage on the Stage’ approach where there was mostly a one-way flow of information from the educator to the students, (ii) there was low student engagement throughout the session, (iii) the BOPPPS Lesson Plan was not used and therefore some key elements (e.g. learning outcomes) were not clearly identified. After having progressed through 3 CUTL courses, I acknowledge that I need to strive for a more student-centered approach to learning, ensure that students are more engaged with the material and facilitate student learning through active inquiry. Previously, I found it quite challenging to accomplish these things in online sessions. However, I now know that there are several technology tools that I can utilize in the future. For example, I may consider using Flipsnack as the medium to create a Flipbook of the slides that were used. Additionally, I may utilize tools such as Miro and Google Slides, whereby I intentionally design activities around the topic that I am covering and encourage student collaboration and engagement.

CUTL 5106 (Advancing Teaching and Learning with Technology) has indeed been very enlightening. Some of the things that I appreciated were the intentional design of authentic assessments. For each assignment, it was evident that we (the students) were systematically building different aspects of an online/blended course. The course plan that we designed for Assignment 1 prompted me to ensure that there was Constructive Alignment between the Learning Outcomes, Participatory Learning Activities and the Assessments. It also prompted me to simultaneously think about the Technology Tools that I could integrate for the various weeks. The Screencast Assignment, although only 15 minutes in length, involved a lot of planning. Slides needed to be appropriately designed following a BOPPPS Lesson Plan and the delivery needed to be effective to keep the audience engaged. For this assignment, I am thankful that there was a Peer Feedback component since the feedback provided by my peers were instrumental in improving my submission. Building the Test Course Site Assignment and incorporating various Technology Tools was challenging given the time constraints. However, my interest was piqued as I started to design activities and resources using tools such as flipsnack, Miro, YouTube, Discussion Forums, Google Slides, Padlet, etc. Each of these tools could be used for different purposes to boost student learning. Within CUTL 5106, there were a few tools (e.g. those associated with gaming and Augmented/Virtual Reality) that we were briefly introduced to that I hope to explore in the near future. Overall, I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to expand my knowledge about how technology can be used to advance teaching and learning. My teaching practice is a work in progress!

Entry # 5 (8th April 2023)

During the CUTL program, I was introduced to Brookfield’s Model, within which four lenses for reflection, i.e., Personal Experience, Students’ Eyes, Colleagues Perceptions, Theory and Research, were described (Brookfield 2017). Prior to my enrolment in the CUTL program, I primarily depended on the Student Lens for Reflection, whereby I paid attention to the feedback I received during Student Check-ins, Student-Staff Liaison meetings and end of semester course evaluations. During the CUTL course, I was also formally introduced to using the autobiographical lens to reflect on my practice. Rolfe’s Framework for Reflective Practice (Rolfe 2014), which focuses on 3 fundamental questions: What? So What? Now What? was one of the models that resonated with me. Within the CUTL program, I was also introduced to a third lens (Peer) through which I could reflect on my practice. Reflection on one’s practice through the Peer Lens is an empowering experience. It allows the practitioner to move beyond the traditional autobiographical and student lens (Brookfield 2017).

For this specific exercise, my peers were experts that hailed from diverse disciplines; Computer Science, Organic Chemistry and Emergency Medicine. As a Peer Observer, it was refreshing to have an opportunity to observe how fellow colleagues at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus went about planning, executing and reflecting on their lectures. By engaging in the exercise of peer observation, I was able to bear witness to how my peers' teaching strategies were underpinned by different learning theories, the predominant one in our group being Constructivism (Bates 2019). I was also able to observe how my peers enhanced student engagement, utilized various technology tools as well as added that layer of authenticity to their teaching. Specifically, Dr. Saleem Varachhia was able to utilize 3 case studies in a class that was focused on emergency medicine. Within that session, Dr. Varachhia simultaneously engaged students and created an effective learning environment by utilizing strategies such as ‘Phone a Friend’ and ‘Family Feud’. Ms. Shareeda Mohammed, a lecturer in Computer Science, designed an excellent ‘Bridge In’ session to her lecture on Intellectual Property. She utilized popular beverages, pop music and even recent movies to capture the attention of her students and link it to the session’s content. By observing, I was able to identify several areas of good practice that I’d like to incorporate into my teaching. In providing feedback, I tried to ensure that it would ‘feedforward’ and allow the observee to build on existing strengths and simultaneously embrace strategies that could be used to improve their practice. As an Observee, I was quite happy to receive feedback from my peers on my teaching practice. Positive feedback from my Peer Observers on various aspects of my teaching practice was certainly appreciated. However, what I welcomed even more was feedback on areas that I could improve upon.  For example, my Peer Observers pointed out that my online session could have been even more effective had I incorporated various technology tools to boost student engagement.

Within our Peer Observation group, there was a spirit of collegiality and this fostered an atmosphere of psychological safety within the group. Therefore, strengths in teaching approaches were celebrated and areas for improvement were welcomed. What I appreciated about this particular peer observation exercise was that we followed a systematic approach. I think that one of the main reasons that I gravitated towards the template put forward by the University of Liverpool (Appendix 1) was that it was systematic and user-friendly when compared to other existing templates. Finally, this group exercise made me realize that peer observation must be an intentional, well-planned exercise. If we are to improve our teaching practice within our various departments, this is an important lens through which we must reflect on our practice.

References

Bates, B. (2019). Learning Theories Simplified. London: Sage Publishing.

Brookfield, S. (2017). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher: Jossey-Bass.

Rolfe, G. (2014). Reach touch and teach: Terry Borton. Nurse Education Today, 34(4), 488-489. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2013.11.003