Faculty Interview Courtney Hillebrecht-UNL

Brad Severa Author

10/06/2022 Added

15 Plays

Description

Courtney Hillebrecht OER Seed Grant interview

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:04.260]I decided to use OER because I had been teaching
[00:00:07.250]this course for almost a decade and was finding
[00:00:10.270]that the extra expense for students for the textbooks
[00:00:12.600]was becoming prohibitive, and I also didn't even
[00:00:15.250]like the textbook that I had been using that much.
[00:00:17.490]So when I started working with the WHT students,
[00:00:20.173]this was really an opportunity to rethink the whole class.
[00:00:27.578]Yeah so the conversion process was somewhat daunting
[00:00:30.920]but I had the help of a really fantastic graduate student
[00:00:34.010]and really we started from scratch.
[00:00:36.160]So we took our learning objectives and we took
[00:00:38.310]the materials that we knew, the content that we knew
[00:00:41.085]we wanted the students to learn, and we worked from there.
[00:00:44.660]So we curated materials from online textbooks
[00:00:48.240]but also from popular magazines, online videos,
[00:00:53.090]and put together modules that we wanted.
[00:00:55.470]And it was time consuming, but in the end
[00:00:57.570]I think it was really worth it.
[00:01:02.280]Yeah so students were actually just talking in my class
[00:01:04.240]today that they really appreciate not having
[00:01:05.940]to pay for the textbook, and that textbook costs
[00:01:08.670]really take a bite out of their budget.
[00:01:10.850]So, yes positive feedback on that.
[00:01:12.800]But more, I think, substantively students have expressed
[00:01:15.480]that they like the way that we're structuring the course
[00:01:17.550]by modules rather than chapters in a textbook.
[00:01:20.300]They like the quizzes, the introductory material
[00:01:22.590]that we're providing with each module, and that they're
[00:01:24.910]finding the readings and videos pretty engaging.
[00:01:30.940]Yeah so as I'm thinking about doing this class again
[00:01:33.574]there are a few things that I'd like to change.
[00:01:35.970]The first would be the core assignment that I had done
[00:01:38.450]in the fall, it didn't quite work as well as I had hoped.
[00:01:41.590]So I went back to the drawing books this semester
[00:01:43.880]and I think we'll re-tweak that again
[00:01:46.220]for the coming fall semester, that's one change.
[00:01:49.068]The other is in a couple of modules, I think we were maybe
[00:01:52.070]overly ambitious in terms of how much to assign the students
[00:01:55.150]so go back and trim some places and take some
[00:01:58.720]of those activities that we've developed
[00:02:00.320]and really highlight them throughout the semester.
[00:02:06.830]Yeah so, if you're thinking about converting to OER
[00:02:09.540]I think there are a couple of things.
[00:02:10.700]One is to be realistic about the time that it takes
[00:02:13.650]to convert the class, but also to factor in
[00:02:16.290]the time that you'll probably save, and the students
[00:02:18.980]will save and the money that they'll save,
[00:02:20.603]once you're fully up and running.
[00:02:22.990]Using a graduate student to help with this process
[00:02:25.720]was tremendously helpful, and it also provided
[00:02:28.170]a professional development opportunity for her.
[00:02:30.550]So in that sense, it wasn't as difficult
[00:02:32.560]as I had expected and turned out to be a triple win,
[00:02:35.530]a win for me, a win for my graduate
[00:02:37.090]student and a win for my students.
[00:02:43.056]So, I think when I started the process of converting
[00:02:45.930]the class to OER I was really thinking that it was just
[00:02:48.080]going to be about saving the students some money,
[00:02:51.370]but what surprised me was that it really provided
[00:02:53.160]an opportunity for me to reinvigorate my teaching
[00:02:55.630]in this course, and also to think
[00:02:57.990]about equity and inclusion and access
[00:03:00.240]once students are here at the university.
[00:03:02.720]And when I compare what we're doing now with the old
[00:03:05.570]textbook, the textbook was not very accessible
[00:03:07.680]for a wide range of our students, so I think
[00:03:10.140]what surprised me the most is the opportunities
[00:03:12.220]that this new approach has afforded to have
[00:03:14.310]more meaningful conversations and discussions
[00:03:16.400]with students that the textbook was limiting
[00:03:18.910]without me even really knowing it.
[00:03:26.330]Yeah so I think as I was saying, I think one of the benefits
[00:03:30.170]of OER is that we're really able to provide
[00:03:32.970]nimble course content, and so in teaching political science
[00:03:35.740]it changes all the time, and so a textbook is always
[00:03:38.690]outdated just by virtue of when it was published.
[00:03:41.560]So we're able to provide really up to date content
[00:03:43.580]for the students, and it's content that they find engaging
[00:03:46.038]and it's more accessible to a wide range of students.
[00:03:49.400]You know, our students are coming from all sorts
[00:03:51.700]of different backgrounds and experiences with the field,
[00:03:54.810]so this has been really, really important I think for them
[00:03:57.210]to really understand what international relations is about.
[00:04:05.210]Yeah so, I would say in terms of engagement and scores
[00:04:08.830]on weekly quizzes, they're far higher than I saw with
[00:04:12.470]the textbook version of our online quizzes, so that's good.
[00:04:15.660]I know that the students are doing the readings, they're
[00:04:17.350]watching the videos and they're taking the quizzes and
[00:04:19.570]doing well on them, which means that they're understanding.
[00:04:22.730]Essay grades and test grades have been pretty comparable
[00:04:25.910]with what we've done in the past, so in terms
[00:04:28.500]of student outcomes I think we're right
[00:04:30.950]on target if not surpassing them.
[00:04:37.090]So, I think part of the instructional challenge for me
[00:04:39.730]was just, and I'm still working on this, but using Canvas
[00:04:43.300]to its full advantage and really thanks to your team
[00:04:47.002]I've been learning a lot, but there's more for me
[00:04:49.690]to figure out with Canvas, and the students
[00:04:51.740]are clearly ahead of me on this.
[00:04:53.650]But I think that's the biggest instructional challenge
[00:04:55.510]is really leveraging all the resources
[00:04:57.680]we have through Canvas available.
[00:05:04.270]Yeah so I think the class is doing really well.
[00:05:06.630]I think they're really engaging in the material
[00:05:08.240]in a way that we hadn't seen before.
[00:05:10.617]Like I said earlier, they're meeting those course
[00:05:13.180]objectives but I think more importantly they're coming out
[00:05:16.300]with more interest and excitement in the topic.
[00:05:18.973]And we can do that through this nimble OER content
[00:05:22.050]in a way that we couldn't do through a traditional textbook.
[00:05:28.780]So I would definitely recommend participating
[00:05:31.350]in the OER and Kelly Grant cohorts,
[00:05:33.700]especially for any new classes.
[00:05:36.590]I won't go back, essentially, to traditional
[00:05:38.680]textbooks for my own new classes that I develop.
[00:05:41.080]And also if you're looking for a way to reinvigorate
[00:05:44.250]your teaching and to really incorporate those principles
[00:05:47.540]of diversity, equity and inclusion on campus
[00:05:50.760]I think this is a really great way to do so.

The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!

You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.

Comments

0 Comments

Faculty Interview Courtney Hillebrecht-UNL

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments