Faculty Interview Madeline Wiseman-UNL

Brad Severa Author

04/19/2023 Added

7 Plays

Description

Madeline Wiseman, Business & Technical Communications-UNL

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[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?

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 Madeline Wiseman-UNL

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments