[00:00:11]
>> Welcome to this episode of the teaching and learning by a month a podcast for the Center for teaching and learning at Georgia Tech where you host Rebecca and Carol just a reminder that a transcript and show notes will be available after this episode t.c.l. the tech dot edu plus t l buzz today we're joined by Dr Mary had a check a lecture in the division of computing instruction in the College of computing Mary is the winner of the 2020 undergraduate Educator Award and the 2019 educational partnership award thank you for joining us today.

[00:00:50]
I am pleased to join you will well Mary I've had the privilege of getting a chance to know you a little bit over the past couple of years and every time we talk I just am so inspired by your passion for teaching and your willingness to share your experiences and really turn that into super practical teaching id as I always am learning something new from you and actually recently we were both in one of the Georgia Tech remote teaching Academy sessions and I heard you sharing some of these ideas for the faculty there and I just thought we need to invite Mary to come on the podcast so that more people get a chance to learn from you so thank thanks again I totally echo Rebecca's welcome.

[00:01:43]
And so to get started I'm wondering if you could tell us about the classes that you teach at Georgia Tech and as part of that tell us what it was like to transition to remote teaching this spring. Thank you Carol I teach basically undergraduate courses 100-200-3000 level courses a variety of courses this past semester in the spring time data structures and algorithms I was the only faculty member of that course I taught both.

[00:02:26]
And in person is campus version as well as an online version of the same course we generally have around $700.00 students registered all sections all types of that course the transition from the in person campus to a distance learning course was somewhat facilitated by the fact that I already have an online version of the course and I have already had.

[00:03:04]
A pre recorded videos by g.t. p.. That I could provide to the campus version of the course though Mary you have taught one of the courses online for a while now right a year or so so can you tell us a little bit about the difference between getting that particular course ready for going online versus kind of the remote teaching emergency teaching that we've done at Spring So what was the difference in kind of prep there.

[00:03:38]
So in preparing for an online course where I was given time to create these videos it took me about I would say any any faculty member it will take you anywhere from 9 to 18 months 18 months being performed all 9 months being very stressful intense preparation to do this but we approached the preparation for the online course differently in that I didn't just to use slides that I had already prepared in for my lectures for a regular in person course we looked at how we did things like Course data structures and algorithms it is uniquely.

[00:04:35]
Designed so for I am Grammy and so that students understand the interactive nature of a computing system how things move within it how the data changes and I do a lot of diagramming so that I understand the movement of data type in code doesn't let them see or fully understand what's happening to it in the computer so what we did was we looked at what I didn't like sure.

[00:05:08]
And we approached it differently and we developed a brand new slides we could not use what we had already prepared that we couldn't display from the students or Halford the students the end person lecture because I do a lot of diagramming we created we recreated all of the tire grants we made all of the dire grounds interactive livable so that as I spoke we could remove and we we could move through the data on the slow nights and show what was happening and that took a great deal of time I had 2 wonderful she has who were very invested in committed to the project who worked with me and we developed best.

[00:06:04]
The entire course big picture we have $117.00 videos that go anywhere from one minute to 9 minutes 9 minutes been the longest in that we were going through graph algorithms and a single example takes a great deal of time to walk through and I was adamant that we not break it up into shorter pieces.

[00:06:34]
Thanks Mary Yeah and you know designing a corset is truly meant to be a line from the beginning and just takes all of that that type of work and it's not a simple conversion putting aside as you're explaining it's really a reimagining of what that experience is going to be like for students and I wonder if you can tell us in addition to the way that your imagined the size how did you use canvas to reimagine the way that the Course organization was presented to students.

[00:07:09]
That's a very good question so initially g.t.p. he wanted to set up this design for the course with the modules and they wanted to a lot of control over what was going on in the canvas because they had done the course of that they had done their courses before I had found.

[00:07:35]
With me so I was basically learning by watching what they had put in with the modules I had not tried modules up to that point. I was still more line on. Referring the students to file section I saw the benefit of modules but I also saw our. I've I've even changed how I do things this summer with remote online teaching using modules I see the benefit and I see what I had to change so currently they have found useful to have a course information module that houses everything where the students can see it and it's always at the very top I also set make the settings of that particular module where the students must look at everything so they have to look at everything so they understand how the course operates a lot of information is in there then I have content modules that fall below x. But above.

[00:08:53]
And hidden modules that are above the course information and the content modules I ha eat until it's time to release it my homework my actual where they'll find all the homework and the exam modules for the online exams these modules stay hidden until I publish and release the information I've then hired them again once it's complete.

[00:09:25]
So the exam like exam one will be published tell c.n.n. they can do the assignment then it is unpublished the module is unpublished where they cannot get access to it because all of my quizzes my electronic canvas quizzes are that too where they can only see the if they have the link and I think that's important.

[00:09:59]
That you only make it available if they can see the link. At this point in time it works I haven't had to change things around very much. You know I really like that practical suggestion because it's like you're saying Kansas has other ways to share information like files but that ability of control that moving it into the modules I actually gave you in terms of putting the things together that need to be in one place as well as controlling when students see things in the case of assessments you know just make it much more efficient for the class right and I think it mirrors kind of the structure of a regular hospital a right to do what you would have a quiz in class and then you know you would take that up so it wouldn't be there for students to look at later until you hand it back or something like that so the module kind of process I would think makes sense to the students as chunks or units in the content of the course so it mirrors that structure a little bit for them.

[00:11:03]
So there you were talking to us a little bit about the Course policies that you have and how those are different in the online course than they might have been for the face to face so could you tell us a little bit about the Course policies and then maybe help some of those translated to the more remote emergency teaching.

[00:11:22]
Yes Yes absolutely we're back and so we learned a lot the 1st time we ran the online course we learned a lot about what we wanted them to do and not do and what we had to have them do. I do use proctoring systems I have used Proctor track which has a site license through g g p e and sense the online course was produced by g.t.p. easy I'm allowed to use Proctor trapped in the distance learning shaft.

[00:12:01]
That in person campus course. I am going to be using. The proctor and system lockdown browser and respond to some on it or in my policies I state in the syllabus I have to state very clearly that the students have to have a particular computer operating system types in order to take the exam I want to be very clear when they read the policies what will work what will not work I tell them about the system.

[00:12:39]
And so they can be educated. I also include in the cell of us all of the requirements for taking the exam the basically the exam instructions and normally I wouldn't do that in the on campus class because they would read them in the paper or they would have time to see that but with the online exam I needed them to understand there were certain things they could and could not do.

[00:13:13]
Additionally with the proctor insistence that I'm using the students don't clearly understand how they are to do room scans there were certain aspects that we no matter what we wrote they did not get it so what we have done is we had T.A.'s make of short video about what they're supposed to have and what they're not supposed to have very cute comical video that I make mandatory that oss didn't have to view they have to view it before they can take exam one it's in the exam one module so that they understand that this is how they have to do it and if it in a splash I dock their exam 5 points so if they don't do it correctly there is a 5 point penalty if they have not company or their room correctly which is why I have all of the exam instructions included in my syllabus makes a little bit longer but can go into it with their eyes wide open I do provide it in the exam as well.

[00:14:40]
One of the things that a lot of people if you're using a proctor insist on a sudden glasses are prohibited because. The webcams have to see their eyes regular glasses are Ok I also tell them no Google **** I'll be able to tell if they're using and believe it or not students do have Google glasses where they can communicate but also cannot wear smart watches so when they do their knuckles scan I can see whether or not they're wearing a smart watch for communication they have to have it removed.

[00:15:19]
Those students since these are freshman sophomore in the data structures course up they sometimes forget that this isn't just some electronic. Ai system artificial intelligence system you in the videos I actually view that so I have to put a statement in reminding the students that they have to be dressed accordingly and that I have to be in a private environment and we're going to take the exam though and incorporate all of those things.

[00:16:01]
In my school in my syllabus I tell them with that sound I also have a whole lot to sign meant that it is on campus it's a quiz that tells. That test the students over all the policies in my celibates and then they have to type their name at the end stating that they understand that this is a contract and that they have agreed to the contract of my syllabus and pay for that.

[00:16:36]
It's super helpful to hear all the different ways that your thoughts through including the policies upfront repeating them how do you get compliance and hold the students accountable and remind them for everything that they do there there's just so many details and sometimes until you've tried it once or twice especially using the the proctoring software which is new for our on campus classes it's helpful to know what are the policies that are important to include certainly things that you would have thought about like asking them to dress appropriately and those kinds of things so many faculty are worried about making their assessments as effective in the remote learning environment as they are in the face to face environment I wonder if you could share a little bit more about your approach to the assessments themselves in your courses.

[00:17:33]
So I have and I have the benefit of having a student explain to me sometimes what they can and cannot do. I made up student what their limitations were that helps about 2 years ago for me to rethink how I was asking questions and so I do a lot of diagramming and didn't have to understand the motion and movement within the data structures that I had a lot of diagramming on paper pencil exams and students were able to easily draw for me on the paper showing me what what they could do.

[00:18:20]
As we moved to doing electronic exams I had to thank out of the box and at 1st I was stumped I was like Ok How can I ask that question differently and I really relied on my cheek. As students about how they could look at it differently and yeah I could still ask the same information and there was a lot of give and take Ok if we ask it this way how can it be done.

[00:18:55]
So that they could just enter in the information in the confines of canvas I will tell you we have fully utilized h.t.m.l. coding with and can best we we circumvent the future where our I guess the rich text format where we have gone into h.t.m.l. coding to have it provide the diagrams that we want.

[00:19:28]
It actually since we are all computer scientists we've. Actually embrace that and kind of enjoyed getting back to that the basics in designing our exams and we've been able to create these great fire grounds. With the end of the exam with then a question but also create how the students would turn back.

[00:19:54]
So we we fully embrace how we could do that there is a $16000.00 plus character. Of h.t.m.l. code that you can enter into a single question the campus has been for us and we we've reached that on multiple occasions which made us rethink what we could do with canvas.

[00:20:21]
But it's been very cool we've been able to do some really nice diagrams and passings for the students to enter a love that sense of play that that you and your colleagues are using really kind of diving in to see what's possible in different ways and leveraging your own expertise to make sure that students are getting the experience that you want them to have online and it I mean since you are in computing sciences it models for them different ways to think about structural problems and see that you can play and experiment with these kinds of things maybe in ways that you didn't expect to have been able to.

[00:21:02]
Marry and chariots as you're talking about these experiences how do you make the materials inclusive as possible for student you know we talk about accommodations and also that you know that students are in different situations with their technology they may have. Accommodations that they didn't necessarily need in a face to face environment so how are you working to make those those assessments and assignments inclusive and accessible to students.

[00:21:34]
And that's a very good question we're back out so we have been doing. Loose of viddy I'm not pronouncing that correctly I apologize language teacher spell new Sometimes computer science no language yes. So we started Ott when we were designing the online course the 1st thing we did was I and I had T.A.'s that were color blind so the color scheme that we used.

[00:22:08]
Sometimes they could see that sometimes they couldn't we had to alter what colors we used in the physical slide so what the color scheme was going to be so that students could see it so in the design of the slide itself certain colors were chosen for that disability I have.

[00:22:33]
A several things that I have provided so we have those the static slides. Of content that I have used previously to an online course that are available to all students that they can go through and they can read. It provides to see how code it provides examples so we have those static slides that can refer to the video side it's not only have the audio.

[00:23:09]
But they also have the closed caption. Included in that we have provided the script for that as well that is separate from the video so if someone is having trouble with the video they can go to the script and they can read the script to see. How how we were discussing things if they were kind of confused about that so we have that available we also have the static sides of the video the videos available now mind you there's no audio there is no script in the video but they have the actual images that were used so the students wanted to print out those images they couldn't what I have tried to do it is my original Let's check slides with examples those are different than the examples that I provided in the videos lives I wanted to give them as many examples as possible so we were to repeat I mean it it's no good if they see this same example over and over again.

[00:24:28]
Additionally besides that we have created. The little reality check quizzes that are built into the modules of the students' contests. They're learning as they will rue the material so we we've provided several things differently with. Preparing the students for exams we have P.D.'s of static exams where they can practice Parnham out and practice paper pencil as well as practice exams that are Aleck tronic so they can practice though.

[00:25:11]
Whichever format is best for them you've just provided so many different supplementary resources and different formats for students to be able to access the material both the same material that's recorded as well as additional in order to anticipate the different sorts of needs that's wonderful. If you want to add one more thing to that of something new we developed unreleased and I at that peril of course so in addition to that we realized that what the students would see in the videos they need to supply and see the motion themselves so 2 years ago we star I started with a different you know another group another t.i.a. you developed an online Web or a visualization tool that builds the data structures and they can actually visualize input data and see what happens the students absolutely love this tool we have put so much work into it the CIO is of work so hard on this is you know it's a beautiful thing for computer science students to have.

[00:26:29]
That's awesome and I love how you are incorporating that CA's and building these really important materials you know sometimes I think that the T.A.'s we don't talk about the role of the T.A.'s and how. How much they're contributing to the materials in the course. Beyond answering questions in grading papers but actually helping you create the material itself.

[00:26:57]
And it's such a great time to to think about I remember that your T.A.'s are there as productive members of the teaching team and how can they support you as well as the students in this this new kind of world that we're all teaching or learning in right now as as we start to close the interview Mary I wonder if you might reflect on how having this experience of really building your online course how is it reflected back into the face to face course you've mentioned earlier that you know having all this material made it much easier to transition to remote teaching and now is where you know thinking about what is our transition back to on campus teaching how will this experience of teaching online reflect in the teaching you do in person.

[00:27:51]
Have to tell you. I I reached one of my career goals. I always wanted to write a textbook and when they asked me to develop this online course and the slides the examples the content everything I produced was original and me I realized. I was writing a book and not a traditional textbook I was writing but I was I was writing of course and it actually made me a better teacher because there were things that I work or more to add and I realize that going back into the classroom I now I now watch my videos before I go teach a lecture because I want to make sure number one of being consistent I also want to make sure that I have everything which I know I have class notes that I go by.

[00:28:54]
But sometimes in the classroom I want to do things a little bit differently I don't want to do them just like the videos and I'm thinking to myself Now let me do a different example or a different approach and see how that goes over so the classroom has really been wonderful.

[00:29:13]
And in reinforcing what I did with the videos but also it was making me a better a better professor a better lecturer in the classroom with my students. That's so cool Mary thank you for sharing that perspective and so as we wrap up what invite would you like to leave our listeners with about maybe you know a line or thinking about the with the remote teaching and learning based on your experience and both and all 3 mediums really.

[00:29:46]
Take a deep breath. It's not. If you look at the totality of what you're doing it's awfully scary want to run the other one don't look at the totality just look at the next town. This is what I would suggest if you're doing. If. You're doing one of x. what would however you're doing it but one step could be asking a t.a.a. just scribe your lecture just ask on provide those last notes of what was presented at that that's one step towards providing materials and then the next step would be to make slides from you don't have to have everything at once just take one step and then that leads to the next step and don't worry it don't look at the totality I mean I don't know if I would have done this had I seen the whole picture and everything involved.

[00:30:53]
I'm glad I did that I don't regret that I did it it was a lot of work. Just take one step thank you so much Mary you as as I said when we began You're always so generous in just sharing all of these different experiences and being really frank about the lessons you've learned along the way and the practical strategies that you've developed as a result I really appreciate you being willing to come on the podcast and share with all of us absolutely thank Mary and Mary is also going to share some of her research with the policy check out the show Note that.

[00:31:35]
Thank you Rebecca and Karen for having me and I hope I was of some assistance to other colleagues absolutely yes definitely. Thank you for joining us today on The Buzz the transcript and show notes for the episode can be found at c.t.r.l. dot Ga Tech dot edu slash t l bias you also find our other episodes on remote teaching and other topics to be sure to bookmark the buzz page as we add new episodes to support faculty as we continue to teach remotely this summer and prepare for the new teaching environment in the fall.

[00:32:30]
Thanks for listening to this episode of the teaching or learning but the podcast of the Center for teaching and learning at Georgia Tech show notes in a transcript are available at C.T.'s well Dot atack dot edu slash t l buzz check back regularly for new episodes bonus clips and more resources on our topics if you have a topic that you would like us to explore We'd love to hear from you you can reach us at c.t.o. help at God tech dot edu.