Faculty Interview Madeline Wiseman-UNL
Brad Severa
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04/19/2023
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Madeline Wiseman, Business & Technical Communications-UNL
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- [00:00:10.170]So, there are three reasons.
- [00:00:11.457]The first reason is to give students
- [00:00:15.480]free resources to the materials
- [00:00:18.150]they're going to be using in the class,
- [00:00:19.560]so reduce their textbook costs.
- [00:00:22.140]The books we were using were expensive from 40 to $120.
- [00:00:27.120]And so, not only that,
- [00:00:28.530]but students had to like log in
- [00:00:30.000]and pay right at the very beginning of the semester.
- [00:00:31.920]So, giving them like just as easy free resources
- [00:00:35.250]that are all over they could use that easily.
- [00:00:38.970]And then number two was just that access.
- [00:00:42.150]There's so many great materials
- [00:00:44.070]out there in terms of like videos,
- [00:00:47.370]interactive activities, readings, blogs, podcasts.
- [00:00:52.950]Why not give students kind of this like very awesome
- [00:00:56.190]curated material bank that they can like learn from?
- [00:01:01.890]And then, the third reason is fresh.
- [00:01:05.970]There's always new stuff coming out
- [00:01:08.070]that I think it's what's important for students
- [00:01:10.470]is they're going to go out into the real world,
- [00:01:12.120]they're gonna have awesome careers.
- [00:01:13.560]And knowing what's like out
- [00:01:14.970]and what's being generated right now
- [00:01:16.530]in terms of like new content from industry leaders,
- [00:01:20.100]I thought was really helpful to students
- [00:01:22.050]so they could really know what's on the cutting edge.
- [00:01:29.550]Just try it, like why not?
- [00:01:32.160]It's fun, just maybe take like, okay,
- [00:01:34.230]if you're like scared, you're like, "Oh my gosh,
- [00:01:35.880]my whole course, I've gotta recreate the whole thing,
- [00:01:38.940]all the material," just take something small.
- [00:01:41.550]So, take an assignment,
- [00:01:42.960]take one module, take one activity
- [00:01:46.290]and then just see what's out there and then bring it in.
- [00:01:48.720]And then, just do a little like testing.
- [00:01:50.520]Ask your students, "How did that go?
- [00:01:51.960]Did they like that?"
- [00:01:53.037]So, you can start small, you could go big.
- [00:01:55.470]I kind of went just big.
- [00:01:56.670]I was like, "We're just gonna do the whole course."
- [00:01:58.530]And I did the little pilot class,
- [00:01:59.730]but you can do the whole class,
- [00:02:01.530]you can do one class, you can do one activity
- [00:02:03.150]and just see what you find
- [00:02:04.560]and see how your students respond to it.
- [00:02:12.030]Well, I got a couple things,
- [00:02:13.560]but first was that I didn't actually realize
- [00:02:18.150]you could have an entire textbook
- [00:02:20.670]that covers all the things that students need to know.
- [00:02:24.540]It was already written
- [00:02:25.530]and it's already like open and everyone can use it.
- [00:02:28.200]I think what students really find value about this as well
- [00:02:31.980]is that, so you buy an expensive textbook
- [00:02:34.800]or you rent an expensive textbook
- [00:02:36.750]and then it goes away after 90 days or something.
- [00:02:39.120]But these texts are out there,
- [00:02:41.550]so students can go back to them this semester,
- [00:02:43.920]next semester, three semesters from now,
- [00:02:46.170]and it's there for them.
- [00:02:47.370]So, I think that they like that too
- [00:02:49.590]so they don't have to like have a book later,
- [00:02:52.980]they can just have it online whenever they need to.
- [00:02:56.280]So, I didn't realize
- [00:02:57.120]there were so many awesome books out there.
- [00:02:59.040]I didn't realize there were so many instructors,
- [00:03:02.190]professors who were creating really cool assignments
- [00:03:05.850]that you could adapt.
- [00:03:07.410]I didn't know that there were like really great
- [00:03:09.990]like activities and videos.
- [00:03:12.120]So, for example, like TED-Ed,
- [00:03:15.090]TED-Ed has all these like really silly, goofy
- [00:03:18.930]animated grammar videos
- [00:03:20.160]that are like three or four minutes long
- [00:03:23.070]and students really respond to them
- [00:03:24.600]just because they're like silly.
- [00:03:26.940]And I like that those are out there.
- [00:03:30.480]Another thing that I really thought was great
- [00:03:33.120]or surprised me was we did an activity
- [00:03:37.320]where we were authoring OER.
- [00:03:41.280]So, we interviewed underrepresented professionals
- [00:03:45.594]in their field, asked them why do they value
- [00:03:49.560]this particular field of study, communications?
- [00:03:52.620]What do they do on the day-to-day job?
- [00:03:54.360]So, we did this like activity
- [00:03:55.680]where I partnered with
- [00:03:58.380]or kind of all the classes partnered with
- [00:04:01.530]the Experiential Learning Lab
- [00:04:03.810]and we interviewed them or they interviewed them.
- [00:04:07.140]So, students got to do
- [00:04:08.490]actually what you guys all can't see probably here,
- [00:04:11.520]cameras, lighting, micing,
- [00:04:13.950]set that up and then interview these people
- [00:04:15.900]who were like engineers,
- [00:04:17.460]they're like directors of communications,
- [00:04:19.830]they work in power companies
- [00:04:21.600]and asked them how do you communicate?
- [00:04:24.300]How do you write emails?
- [00:04:25.950]How do you do reports?
- [00:04:27.720]And then, the students
- [00:04:29.640]got to take those hour-long interviews
- [00:04:32.040]and package them into these like videos,
- [00:04:35.190]they're like seven minutes long
- [00:04:36.780]where they're like pulling all this material in.
- [00:04:38.580]And then, those assignments,
- [00:04:40.830]those videos go into the curriculum moving forward.
- [00:04:45.690]And then the students who are in the class
- [00:04:47.580]get to like engage with those materials.
- [00:04:49.320]And what we're finding in the evaluations
- [00:04:51.690]that students really value learning
- [00:04:54.360]from people who are currently on in the job doing that work
- [00:04:58.560]because they're like, "Oh, maybe I can do this job,"
- [00:05:01.080]or, "Maybe I don't even know what is totally possible
- [00:05:05.460]in the field and why this learning right now
- [00:05:07.950]is gonna matter and serve me when I graduate."
- [00:05:17.010]So, we were able to partner
- [00:05:19.590]with the Experiential Learning Lab
- [00:05:21.360]and work with students
- [00:05:22.920]who were first and second year students,
- [00:05:24.630]and they did all the creation of the interviews
- [00:05:29.040]in terms of like some,
- [00:05:30.150]well, sometimes I did the interviews,
- [00:05:31.500]sometimes they did the interviews
- [00:05:33.240]and then they packaged that material.
- [00:05:36.990]And so, what was great
- [00:05:38.040]is that it felt like a little bit more of a mentor role.
- [00:05:41.850]I was the client, they were the team
- [00:05:44.340]that was creating the work
- [00:05:45.930]and then we had kind of a conversation
- [00:05:48.600]all the way through the semesters
- [00:05:50.640]where they would talk to me, we would get feedback,
- [00:05:53.640]they'd show me drafts, and then we'd bring that in
- [00:05:56.430]and we'd show the instructors who were teaching the class
- [00:05:59.490]and then we'd bring it into the classroom
- [00:06:00.900]after they had finished those videos.
- [00:06:02.640]And so, then the students who were in the actual class,
- [00:06:05.210]in the technical communication
- [00:06:06.630]and the business writing class,
- [00:06:09.150]they took quizzes,
- [00:06:13.410]they had discussion boards where they responded
- [00:06:15.870]to those materials and kind of engaged with it.
- [00:06:18.420]And so, it was really nice
- [00:06:19.320]because it was like students who were creating the content
- [00:06:21.750]we got to work with
- [00:06:22.583]and then the students who were in the class
- [00:06:24.870]got to like engage and learn from their peers.
- [00:06:26.910]And I think they valued that
- [00:06:28.410]because it wasn't just like a professor
- [00:06:30.930]creating this content,
- [00:06:32.190]it was actually students creating the content
- [00:06:34.170]that they were learning from.
- [00:06:41.400]Well, it was interesting
- [00:06:43.530]because, like I said, I didn't know all of the materials
- [00:06:47.700]that were possible that were out there.
- [00:06:49.470]So, a lot of it was looking at like, "Okay,
- [00:06:52.680]this is how we've kind of taught the class,
- [00:06:55.350]you know over the last few semesters.
- [00:06:57.990]You know, what were the important
- [00:06:59.160]kinds of learning objectives
- [00:07:00.780]that we want students to understand
- [00:07:02.850]in this particular field?"
- [00:07:04.830]And then, we looked at the textbooks that we had
- [00:07:06.810]that were expensive
- [00:07:08.250]and then we looked at like what was out there.
- [00:07:10.230]So, it was kind of like this awesome kind of curating,
- [00:07:12.750]pulling a chapter from here, pulling a video from here,
- [00:07:16.350]pulling a learning activity or engagement assignment here,
- [00:07:19.560]and bringing it all together.
- [00:07:21.210]And then, and that's what made it really fun and creative,
- [00:07:24.060]it was very curating.
- [00:07:25.590]You got to like pull in the good stuff,
- [00:07:27.570]get rid of the stuff that was boring,
- [00:07:29.160]and just make it a fun, helpful class
- [00:07:31.860]that serves the students
- [00:07:33.030]and meets the learning objectives of the class.
- [00:07:41.460]Yes, I feel like what was super cool
- [00:07:45.150]about this entire process,
- [00:07:48.390]it was kind of like a permission slip.
- [00:07:50.880]Like, you know, here's all the textbooks that are out there,
- [00:07:53.760]but this said, "You know what?
- [00:07:56.310]Try something new,
- [00:07:57.660]like go ahead and like build your class"
- [00:08:01.380]The entire class from all the resources that are out there.
- [00:08:05.010]And then it's all free, right?
- [00:08:07.650]It's all open, so students are gonna be like, "Hey
- [00:08:10.140]I don't have to pay for this,
- [00:08:11.130]I don't even have to like pay
- [00:08:12.180]for a lot of these different books,
- [00:08:13.680]I get to like have this material
- [00:08:16.500]for me right now when I need it and I can use it later too."
- [00:08:19.920]So, it's a permission to explore and learn.
- [00:08:24.330]And I guess another really good thing
- [00:08:25.500]is that like most of us are educators
- [00:08:27.570]and we love to learn,
- [00:08:29.070]and so like it keeps me and my instructors engaged
- [00:08:33.360]with what's coming out in the field right now,
- [00:08:35.580]so we get to like pull in new things.
- [00:08:37.290]Every semester, I feel like we bring in new stuff.
- [00:08:40.380]And that's what's fun about OER,
- [00:08:42.210]it's 'cause it changes,
- [00:08:43.470]and why not give your students what's happening right now?
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