Embedded Files
During this course, I designed and led many lectures and activities. Below are several lecture and activity pairs that I believe represent my teaching style. When making lectures, I employed a backwards design model in which the course goals guided construction of lectures and activities.
Pre-readings
Before class, students were expected to compete assigned readings and a short quiz (~10 questions). In future iterations of this course, I would like to have students complete a brief reading worksheet before class as well. This would ask them to list any questions they had about the reading, and to note ways in which the readings apply to experiences they've had or other topics/courses they have completed. The goal for pre-reading worksheets would be to have students connect with the material on a deeper level and to begin using critical thinking while evaluating articles. An additional benefit for the instructor would be to gain a sense of where students got confused in the readings so that areas of confusion can be properly addressed in-class.
In-class Activity: Communicating research findings orally
For this aim, I developed the reading list and in-class activity. Here I share the activity, reading list, and my reflections on the class.
Think: Students were assigned two articles to read on one topic before class. They were given guiding questions to consider during the readings and were asked to bring their answers to those questions into class.
Pair: During class, students gathered in small groups with peers who had read the same articles. In these groups they discussed the articles together to ensure they understood the content.
Share: Next, in pairs where each student read different articles/topics, students described the articles to each other. They were prompted to act as a clinician talking to a client who had concerns about that particular treatment or procedure. Taking the role of the clinician, they presented the evidence from the research and gave their professional opinions on whether or not the intervention would be beneficial to the client.
Baby Sign
Nelson, L. H., White, K. R., & Grewe, J. (2012). Evidence for Website Claims about the Benefits of Teaching Sign Language to Infants and Toddlers with Normal Hearing. Infant and Child Development 21, 474-502.
Seal, B. C. & DePaolis, R. A. (2014). Manual Activity and Onset of First Words in Babies Exposed and Not Exposed to Baby Signing. Sign Language Studies 14(4), 444-462.
Cochlear Implants in Adults
Roberts, D. S., Lin, H. W., Herrman, B. S., & Lee, D. J. (2013). Differential Cochlear Implant Outcomes in Older Adults. The Laryngoscope 123, 1952-1956.
Zwolan, T. A., Henion, K., Segel, P., & Runge, C. (2014). The Role of Age on Cochlear Implant Performance, Use, and Health Utility: A Multicenter Clinical Trial. Otology & Neurology 35, 1560-1568.
Guiding Questions
What is the population being studied?
What is the treatment/intervention/practice being examined?
What are the findings from the article? Do they support the treatment/intervention/practice?
Based on the article, is this a good treatment/intervention/practice for this population?
As a clinician, would you use this treatment/intervention/practice with a client?
If applicable, would you recommend that parents/families of your client(s) implement this treatment/intervention/practice at home?
My Reflections on this Activity
This activity was very successful for the Baby Sign group. However, the CI group struggled to complete this activity as the debate was less clear. In a future rendition of this activity, I would replace the CI articles with another debated topic in the field, perhaps methods for literacy or the benefits of bilingualism.
One reason this activity was successful, was due to the small class size. In a larger class, this would be more difficult to orchestrate. Gathering in small groups with peers who read the same articles to discuss and ensure understanding of the articles was beneficial to student learning and confidence with the material.
Lecture and Activity: Ethical Considerations
For this aim, I developed the reading list, lecture and in-class activity. See below for the reading list, the in-class lecture, the in-class activity, student feedback and evaluations, and my reflection on this class.
Reading List
Required:
The Stuttering Doctor's "Monster Study" by Gretchen Reynolds, The New York Times Magazine, March 16, 2003.
A Lasting Gift to Medicine That Wasn't Really a Gift by Denise Grady, The New York Times, February 1, 2010.
Understanding Research Ethics (Chapter 5) in David Gallardo's "Straight Talk About Communication Research Methods." 2nd edition. (2012).
Optional:
Belmont Report
Nuremberg Code
Tuskegee Study
Human Subjects Tutorial/Training
The Stuttering Doctor's 'Monster Study' - The New York Times.pdfMonster Study by Gretchen Reynolds
Use of a Woman’s Cells Raises Ethical Questions - The New York Times.pdfLasting Gift by Denise Grady
Davis_Gallardo_2e_Ch5Ethics.pdfUnderstanding Research Ethics Chapter
the-belmont-report-508c_FINAL.pdfBelmont Report
nuremberg.pdfNuremberg Code
‘You’ve got bad blood’_ The horror of t...pdfTuskegee Syphilis Study
Lecture on Ethical Considerations in Research
The lecture discussed:
The history of ethical violations and how they led to the creation of current standards (the Belmont Report and the Nuremberg Code).
Current issues surrounding ethical considerations in academia, research, and medicine.
Current ethical standards in research, including the IRB process and expectations.
During the lecture, students were prompted to discuss how the above topics applied to the readings they completed for the day. Specifically, they discussed how the Belmont Report principles/areas of application were violated in the Monster Study and the Henrietta Lacks case. As a group we discussed these violations and considered how these would look different with our current standards.
Ethics 2019 For Teaching Portfolio.pptxDuring lectures I make use of blanks that students must fill in. I feel this increases engagement and active participation in the lecture. Students are provided with a copy of the slides with lots of room for them to fill in the blanks. This ensures that students who attend the lectures will receive maximal information.
In-Class Activity
Students were provided with four ethical scenarios and in small groups they discuss the ethical considerations in one scenario.
Conflict of Interest Scenario: Clinical Trials and Medical Costs
Informed Consent Scenario: Working with Minors in Survey Research
Privacy Violation Scenario: Unauthorized Video Use in a Language Development Course
Falsified Data Scenario: Dissertation Data and Hospital-based Funding
After the small groups have discussed their scenario, they present the scenario to the class focusing on what happened that was an ethical violation and how that could have been prevented.
My Reflections on this Class
I enjoyed preparing for this class, as this is an important and complex issue that students are likely to encounter either in clinical practice or research careers. The information necessary for this unit can be dense, but I believe I presented it in an engaging way by focusing on how this matters in real life. By having students read about the Monster Study, which ties directly into their interests as SPLH students, and the Henrietta Lacks case, which is a great example of how complex ethics can be, I believe that students were more interested in the material because they could connect it to their future careers. Although it may be more traditional for students to read textbook sections or Human Subjects Tutorials to prepare for an Ethics lecture, I think the reading list was a nice balance for students.
In addition to the readings for class, the ethical scenario activity was enjoyable. These scenarios, although fictional, helped drive home the point that researchers and clinicians should be aware of and constantly considering the ethical standards in our field. I would have liked to ask students to prepare their own ethical scenarios in pairs as an additional activity, but we ran out of time. Perhaps in a future iteration of this course, I would ask them to create their own scenarios as a homework assignment following this lecture.
Lectures and Activities: Introduction to Statistics
Students were expected to gain knowledge of basic statistical tests and concepts in this class. Many students had not completed a university-level statistics course prior to taking Research Methods, so it was clear that lectures would need to cover many fundamental concepts. To determine where to start materials, I had students complete a pre-test. This covered basic definitions in statistics that they should know by the end of the course. As expected, students had gaps in their statistical knowledge, and a general fear of the topic. Thus, my mission was to debunk their fears of statistics and to show them how useful and important good statistical reporting is in research.
Lectures employed data from my own research, data that students collected for their midterm projects, or data that I collected from a survey to the students. By using their data or my research, students could better engage with the materials because the questions were more relevant or were easily explained. Throughout my lectures in this course, I showed the students how my Master's Thesis was created, from literature review, to data collection, to data analysis. This enabled them to engage in the research process with a tangible and relevant project.
In addition to a daily lecture, there were several activities to demonstrate concepts hands-on. Activities are briefly outlined below.
Lecture Slides for Introduction to Statistics
Statistics_teach port.pptx
Animal Crackers Chi-Square
This activity used a box of animal crackers to determine frequency of broken crackers among carnivores and herbivores. A Chi-square was used to analyze the frequency of broken crackers in each animal type.
Gummy Bear ANOVAs
This activity used popsicle sticks, rubberbands, and pencils to create gummy bear catapults. There were 2 variables each with 2 levels: gummy bear position (sitting or lying) and pencil location (near or far). Thus, the data was appropriate for analysis with a 2 X 2 ANOVA.
My Reflections on Introduction to Statistics Classes
Introductory statistics can be overwhelming and intimidating for many students who are not in math-focused majors. As such, I made a concerted effort to provide content in ways that reduced this intimidation factor. Although a considerable portion of the content for introductory statistics was presented in a lecture format, there were several activities that were intended to increase engagement and gain hands-on knowledge of statistical analyses. I believe that these activities helped students conceptualize the different statistical test and helped them understand when to apply each test. By using data that the students provided, they were able to form hypotheses and demonstrate interest in the materials. I also believe that by using data from my Master's Thesis and by incorporating that project as an example for the students throughout the semester, this helped the students understand the process better. Students reported back that they enjoyed learning about my thesis, so I think it was a positive aspect of the lectures I led.
In the future, having students engage with more research articles or projects that use the statistical methods they are learning would be a good way to help them understand how each test applies to different types of data. Additionally, students may have had difficulty with this content because it immediately followed the lectures on single-subject designs. I believe students may have conflated the two and this caused some confusion.
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