1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,340 (uplifting music) 2 00:00:02,340 --> 00:00:03,810 Mary Loder- Welcome to Course Stories, 3 00:00:03,810 --> 00:00:05,460 produced by the Instructional Design 4 00:00:05,460 --> 00:00:09,450 and New Media team of EdPlus at Arizona State University. 5 00:00:09,450 --> 00:00:10,320 In this podcast, 6 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:12,150 we tell an array of course design stories, 7 00:00:12,150 --> 00:00:16,050 alongside other ASU online designers and faculty. 8 00:00:16,050 --> 00:00:18,150 On today's Course Story... 9 00:00:18,150 --> 00:00:19,980 Michelle Stuckey- We really want them to move away 10 00:00:19,980 --> 00:00:21,180 from thinking about, like, 11 00:00:21,180 --> 00:00:23,910 the five-paragraph generic academic essay, 12 00:00:23,910 --> 00:00:26,460 and to really engage with writing assignments 13 00:00:26,460 --> 00:00:27,960 where they are making knowledge 14 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:30,780 about topics that are interesting to them. 15 00:00:30,780 --> 00:00:33,420 So they're the ones that kind of steering their learning 16 00:00:33,420 --> 00:00:34,440 in a lot of ways 17 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:36,030 by doing independent research 18 00:00:36,030 --> 00:00:38,850 on things that are important to them and their communities. 19 00:00:38,850 --> 00:00:40,860 So our curriculum is really focused 20 00:00:40,860 --> 00:00:43,980 on community-engaged writing and research. 21 00:00:43,980 --> 00:00:45,300 We wanna prepare students 22 00:00:45,300 --> 00:00:48,000 to be 21st century digital communicators. 23 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:50,340 Now, back in 2015, 24 00:00:50,340 --> 00:00:52,230 this sounded a little more radical 25 00:00:52,230 --> 00:00:53,940 than it does almost 10 years later, 26 00:00:53,940 --> 00:00:56,250 because now we're almost a quarter of the way 27 00:00:56,250 --> 00:00:58,080 into the 21st century, 28 00:00:58,080 --> 00:00:59,610 but what I mean by that 29 00:00:59,610 --> 00:01:03,743 is to really be engaged with digital writing experiences. 30 00:01:03,743 --> 00:01:06,120 (uplifting music) 31 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:07,520 Mary- Hi, I'm Mary Loder, 32 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:09,600 an instructional designer from ASU Online. 33 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:10,920 Elizabeth Blythe-Lee- I'm Elizabeth Blythe, 34 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:13,710 a senior instructional designer at Arizona State University. 35 00:01:13,710 --> 00:01:14,543 Ricardo Leone- I'm Ricardo Leone. 36 00:01:14,543 --> 00:01:16,890 I'm a media specialist at the same place. 37 00:01:16,890 --> 00:01:17,723 Mary - Yeah, we work together. 38 00:01:17,723 --> 00:01:18,690 Ricardo - Let's get on with the show. 39 00:01:18,690 --> 00:01:19,523 Mary- Okay. 40 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,540 Ricardo - Welcome to Season 5 of Course Stories, 41 00:01:24,540 --> 00:01:27,570 featuring me, Ricardo Leon, and? 42 00:01:27,570 --> 00:01:29,160 Mary - Mary Loder. 43 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:30,120 - And? 44 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:31,050 Elizabeth - Lizzie Blythe. 45 00:01:31,050 --> 00:01:33,000 Ricardo - And? Elizabeth - I forgot my new last name. 46 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:35,820 Michael Miller- And Michael Miller, woo-hoo! 47 00:01:35,820 --> 00:01:36,653 Ricardo- Welcome, everybody. 48 00:01:36,653 --> 00:01:38,550 What are we here to talk about today? 49 00:01:38,550 --> 00:01:40,950 Mary- Oh my gosh, so many wonderful things 50 00:01:40,950 --> 00:01:42,390 came up in that conversation. 51 00:01:42,390 --> 00:01:46,650 We're here to talk about the writing composition courses. 52 00:01:46,650 --> 00:01:48,570 Is that the right way to refer to these? 53 00:01:48,570 --> 00:01:49,590 Micahel- So I think technically, 54 00:01:49,590 --> 00:01:50,820 they're first-year composition 55 00:01:50,820 --> 00:01:53,040 if we're gonna look at the catalog, 56 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:56,490 but the collection of courses is called The Writer's Studio. 57 00:01:56,490 --> 00:01:57,450 Mary - Oh. 58 00:01:57,450 --> 00:01:58,890 Michael- Yeah, and they call it that, 59 00:01:58,890 --> 00:01:59,723 The Writer's Studio, 60 00:01:59,723 --> 00:02:01,410 because it is a process-oriented model, 61 00:02:01,410 --> 00:02:02,610 which we'll hear a lot about. 62 00:02:02,610 --> 00:02:04,290 But they really wanted to set it up 63 00:02:04,290 --> 00:02:06,120 more like an artist studio, 64 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:07,260 where the work is never done 65 00:02:07,260 --> 00:02:09,330 and you're there working with a mentor 66 00:02:09,330 --> 00:02:10,560 rather than an expert. 67 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:12,270 And so that's really kind of the reason 68 00:02:12,270 --> 00:02:15,134 why they chose that title, The Writer's Studio. 69 00:02:15,134 --> 00:02:17,190 Mary- Oh, intentionality, I like it. 70 00:02:17,190 --> 00:02:20,100 Ricardo - So who are the individuals that we spoke to? 71 00:02:20,100 --> 00:02:21,720 Michael- Yeah, so we had Dr. Michelle Stuckey, 72 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:23,160 and she's the program coordinator. 73 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:24,570 So she is the head honcho 74 00:02:24,570 --> 00:02:26,400 of everything within the Writer's Studio. 75 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:27,900 Mary - And lovely as a human being, 76 00:02:27,900 --> 00:02:29,033 and, like, accessibility-minded, 77 00:02:29,033 --> 00:02:30,810 and I just love her. 78 00:02:30,810 --> 00:02:33,930 Michael - Yeah, she has been a mentor for me since 2016. 79 00:02:33,930 --> 00:02:36,540 She's the one who brought me to EdPlus when I graduated. 80 00:02:36,540 --> 00:02:37,373 She said, "Hey. 81 00:02:37,373 --> 00:02:38,790 There's this position called a Success Coach. 82 00:02:38,790 --> 00:02:40,230 I think you'd be really good at it." 83 00:02:40,230 --> 00:02:42,150 At the time, I was a store manager for Starbucks 84 00:02:42,150 --> 00:02:43,710 and was pretty happy there. 85 00:02:43,710 --> 00:02:45,180 Looked at it, and I was like, "Spot on." 86 00:02:45,180 --> 00:02:46,830 So she's the one who brought me to EdPlus. 87 00:02:46,830 --> 00:02:49,288 She wrote my recommendation letters for my graduate degrees. 88 00:02:49,288 --> 00:02:51,480 Just, I mean, awesome mentor. 89 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:52,530 Awesome friend. 90 00:02:52,530 --> 00:02:53,490 Ricardo - Wait, before we go any further, 91 00:02:53,490 --> 00:02:54,810 Michael, who are you? 92 00:02:54,810 --> 00:02:56,310 Michael - Oh yeah, hi, I'm Michael. 93 00:02:56,310 --> 00:02:58,620 So I am a Instructional Designer 94 00:02:58,620 --> 00:03:01,410 and Academic Success and Retention Specialist 95 00:03:01,410 --> 00:03:04,290 on the Learning Initiatives team at EdPlus. 96 00:03:04,290 --> 00:03:07,260 So I do a lot of weird, random things. 97 00:03:07,260 --> 00:03:09,840 We kind of mishmashed some jobs together to create my role, 98 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:11,760 but I get to support Liz, 99 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:14,310 who is the primary Instructional Designer for these courses, 100 00:03:14,310 --> 00:03:16,500 and do a little bit of that instructional design work. 101 00:03:16,500 --> 00:03:19,830 But then what the Learning Initiatives team really does is, 102 00:03:19,830 --> 00:03:21,690 a lot of times when you think about course design, 103 00:03:21,690 --> 00:03:22,710 you think about curriculum 104 00:03:22,710 --> 00:03:23,810 and you think about the user experience 105 00:03:23,810 --> 00:03:25,980 of the online course itself. 106 00:03:25,980 --> 00:03:27,120 But there's so many other things 107 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:28,650 that impact the students' experience, 108 00:03:28,650 --> 00:03:30,060 and so what my team tries to do 109 00:03:30,060 --> 00:03:33,020 is partner with all the different units and departments 110 00:03:33,020 --> 00:03:35,010 and individuals across the university, 111 00:03:35,010 --> 00:03:36,510 and especially at EdPlus, 112 00:03:36,510 --> 00:03:39,630 to really create a system of support for these students 113 00:03:39,630 --> 00:03:42,090 that honestly the students may not even know about, 114 00:03:42,090 --> 00:03:43,573 or may not even be aware of, 115 00:03:43,573 --> 00:03:45,849 of how we're trying to support them within these courses. 116 00:03:45,849 --> 00:03:47,550 Ricardo - And I know you, Michael, 117 00:03:47,550 --> 00:03:49,290 you were on my hack day team, 118 00:03:49,290 --> 00:03:52,008 and you wrote this really great script for a video 119 00:03:52,008 --> 00:03:54,180 about schooling in the future 120 00:03:54,180 --> 00:03:56,970 and there was aliens and all sorts of other fun things, 121 00:03:56,970 --> 00:03:57,803 so I'm not surprised 122 00:03:57,803 --> 00:03:59,730 that you have such a strong writing background. 123 00:03:59,730 --> 00:04:00,563 Mary - I was actually gonna say that. 124 00:04:00,563 --> 00:04:01,950 When I heard them talking about, 125 00:04:01,950 --> 00:04:04,830 like, the course itself and the value that you had, 126 00:04:04,830 --> 00:04:06,840 which you guys will hear it in a second, 127 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:08,040 I was like, "Yeah, story checks out. 128 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:09,902 Michael's one of the best communicators I've ever met." 129 00:04:09,902 --> 00:04:11,520 Michael - Thank you, thank you. 130 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:12,353 Liz - Yeah, I was gonna say, 131 00:04:12,353 --> 00:04:14,490 it's a really incredible opportunity 132 00:04:14,490 --> 00:04:16,020 to be an instructional designer, 133 00:04:16,020 --> 00:04:18,360 getting to work with the LIT Team, 134 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,010 which has the greatest name. 135 00:04:20,010 --> 00:04:22,230 It's the only reason why I'm like so mad 136 00:04:22,230 --> 00:04:23,250 about them being a team 137 00:04:23,250 --> 00:04:24,870 'cause they've got just like the coolest team name. 138 00:04:24,870 --> 00:04:25,920 I wanna be Team LIT, 139 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:26,753 but neither here nor there. Michael - Wanna know what's weird? 140 00:04:26,753 --> 00:04:28,650 We used to be the Learning Experience 141 00:04:28,650 --> 00:04:29,760 and Student Success team, 142 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:30,870 which is LESS. 143 00:04:30,870 --> 00:04:32,524 I'm like, "Oh, that's not a great acronym," 144 00:04:32,524 --> 00:04:33,706 so yeah, LIT is definitely a step up. 145 00:04:33,706 --> 00:04:35,700 Michael - Full spectrum of the acronym there. 146 00:04:35,700 --> 00:04:36,917 Ricardo - But from LESS to LIT. 147 00:04:36,917 --> 00:04:39,450 Liz - Yeah, it's just team LIT, I love it. 148 00:04:39,450 --> 00:04:40,890 But it's so great getting to work 149 00:04:40,890 --> 00:04:42,534 with Michael from the LIT team 150 00:04:42,534 --> 00:04:47,310 because it helps kind of take focus off of data for me. 151 00:04:47,310 --> 00:04:49,680 Like I have kind of like a data specialist 152 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:52,170 and somebody who is really helping coordinate 153 00:04:52,170 --> 00:04:55,050 managing a lot of the student resources 154 00:04:55,050 --> 00:04:55,950 that we end up needing 155 00:04:55,950 --> 00:04:59,130 and helping us get connected with the Success Coaches 156 00:04:59,130 --> 00:05:01,590 and getting to hear those firsthand student experiences. 157 00:05:01,590 --> 00:05:03,660 Something that, you know, as an instructional designer, 158 00:05:03,660 --> 00:05:05,907 we don't really have a lot of access to students 159 00:05:05,907 --> 00:05:08,370 and student information and data in that way. 160 00:05:08,370 --> 00:05:12,660 So it's really great to have a team like that to work with. 161 00:05:12,660 --> 00:05:14,880 And then Michael's just also a really fantastic designer 162 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:16,290 and he's just so much fun to work with. 163 00:05:16,290 --> 00:05:19,890 So it's a partnership made in heaven. 164 00:05:19,890 --> 00:05:20,723 Michael - Feeling is mutual. 165 00:05:20,723 --> 00:05:23,040 Ricardo - And you'll hear he's a great interviewer as well. 166 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:25,890 So who else do we have on the show? 167 00:05:25,890 --> 00:05:27,810 Michael - Yeah, so we also had Dr. Zachary 168 00:05:27,810 --> 00:05:29,010 or Zach Waggoner. 169 00:05:29,010 --> 00:05:31,500 He is the Coordinator for English 101. 170 00:05:31,500 --> 00:05:33,300 So he kind of manages everything, 171 00:05:33,300 --> 00:05:34,620 manages all the faculty 172 00:05:34,620 --> 00:05:36,990 and everybody that's up within the English 101 173 00:05:36,990 --> 00:05:38,280 First-Year Composition course. 174 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:40,200 We are joined by John Buckley. 175 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:43,830 He's a instructor and faculty member for English 101, 176 00:05:43,830 --> 00:05:46,530 but he is also the Coordinator for the Writing Mentors, 177 00:05:46,530 --> 00:05:48,210 which I'm sure we will be talking about here 178 00:05:48,210 --> 00:05:49,260 in a little bit. 179 00:05:49,260 --> 00:05:50,220 And then last but not least, 180 00:05:50,220 --> 00:05:51,570 we had Sean Tingle will join us 181 00:05:51,570 --> 00:05:54,420 and he is a faculty member for English 105, 182 00:05:54,420 --> 00:05:56,663 which is the advanced First-Year Composition course 183 00:05:56,663 --> 00:05:58,275 Ricardo - All the way out in Philadelphia. 184 00:05:58,275 --> 00:05:59,820 Michael- Yeah. Ricardo- Okay. 185 00:05:59,820 --> 00:06:02,885 So without further ado, let's do it. 186 00:06:02,885 --> 00:06:05,400 (bright music) 187 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:08,310 Michael- Hi, I am Michael Miller and I am a Instructional Designer 188 00:06:08,310 --> 00:06:10,590 and academic success and retention specialists at EdPlus. 189 00:06:10,590 --> 00:06:13,140 I work on the Learning Initiatives team, 190 00:06:13,140 --> 00:06:15,390 which supports our 35 highest enrolling 191 00:06:15,390 --> 00:06:16,740 online courses at ASU. 192 00:06:16,740 --> 00:06:19,260 And I'm joined today by some of my old friends. 193 00:06:19,260 --> 00:06:21,030 Let's start with Dr. Michelle Stuckey. 194 00:06:21,030 --> 00:06:21,870 Michelle- Thanks, Michael. 195 00:06:21,870 --> 00:06:22,890 I'm Michelle Stuckey 196 00:06:22,890 --> 00:06:25,860 and I am a Clinical Associate Professor 197 00:06:25,860 --> 00:06:27,810 and Writing Program Administrator 198 00:06:27,810 --> 00:06:30,990 for ASU'S Online First-Year Composition program, 199 00:06:30,990 --> 00:06:32,550 the Writer's Studio, 200 00:06:32,550 --> 00:06:36,180 which is housed in the School of Applied Sciences and Arts 201 00:06:36,180 --> 00:06:38,220 in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts 202 00:06:38,220 --> 00:06:39,570 here at ASU. 203 00:06:39,570 --> 00:06:40,860 Michael- Awesome, thanks for joining us, Michelle. 204 00:06:40,860 --> 00:06:41,693 Michelle- My pleasure. 205 00:06:41,693 --> 00:06:43,530 Michael- And we also have Dr. Zach Waggoner. 206 00:06:43,530 --> 00:06:44,363 Zach Waggoner- Hi, Michael. 207 00:06:44,363 --> 00:06:45,960 I'm the English 101 course Coordinator 208 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:46,890 for the Writer's Studio, 209 00:06:46,890 --> 00:06:49,440 and I've been working in administration of writing programs 210 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:50,700 for a couple of decades now. 211 00:06:50,700 --> 00:06:51,540 Michael- Thanks for being here, Zach. 212 00:06:51,540 --> 00:06:52,373 Zach- Sure thing. 213 00:06:52,373 --> 00:06:53,730 Michael- Next up we have John Buckley. 214 00:06:53,730 --> 00:06:54,563 John Buckley- Hi, Michael, yeah, 215 00:06:54,563 --> 00:06:55,440 my name's John Buckley. 216 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:57,840 I teach English 101 courses in the Writer's studio, 217 00:06:57,840 --> 00:07:00,750 and I also coordinate our Writing Mentor program. 218 00:07:00,750 --> 00:07:04,230 Our writing mentors are course-embedded peer tutors 219 00:07:04,230 --> 00:07:06,600 who provide support to our students and faculty. 220 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:09,480 I started out as a faculty associate in the Writer's Studio 221 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:11,037 and worked my way up to, 222 00:07:11,037 --> 00:07:13,110 you know, teaching and administrating. 223 00:07:13,110 --> 00:07:14,310 Michael- Awesome, thanks for being here, John. 224 00:07:14,310 --> 00:07:15,990 And last but certainly not least, 225 00:07:15,990 --> 00:07:18,120 we are joined from afar by Sean Tingle, 226 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:20,430 who is not only a good coworker here, 227 00:07:20,430 --> 00:07:21,420 but a good friend of mine as well. 228 00:07:21,420 --> 00:07:22,253 So, Sean, welcome. 229 00:07:22,253 --> 00:07:23,220 Sean Tingle- Hey, I'm Sean. 230 00:07:23,220 --> 00:07:25,260 Thanks for having me even from far away. 231 00:07:25,260 --> 00:07:27,630 I've been an instructor with the Writer's Studio 232 00:07:27,630 --> 00:07:28,920 for I think eight years now. 233 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:30,990 I'm not quite sure on the numbers at this time, 234 00:07:30,990 --> 00:07:31,886 but around there. 235 00:07:31,886 --> 00:07:35,640 And I've also taught in English 101 and 102 in the past, 236 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:36,750 but I teach 105 now. 237 00:07:36,750 --> 00:07:37,770 Michael- Yeah, and we're happy to have you. 238 00:07:37,770 --> 00:07:40,080 So I am thrilled to have this conversation 239 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:40,950 with everyone today. 240 00:07:40,950 --> 00:07:43,020 So I often tell people that I grew up 241 00:07:43,020 --> 00:07:43,950 in the Writer's Studio. 242 00:07:43,950 --> 00:07:47,280 So I have a non-traditional path towards a degree program. 243 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:49,440 I came to ASU through the partnership 244 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:51,300 with Starbucks in 2016. 245 00:07:51,300 --> 00:07:53,100 And the very first online course 246 00:07:53,100 --> 00:07:54,845 that I ever took was English 105 247 00:07:54,845 --> 00:07:58,860 advanced first-year composition with Dr. Michelle Stuckey. 248 00:07:58,860 --> 00:08:00,360 And what was so great about that experience, 249 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:01,710 I mean, it's an awesome course, 250 00:08:01,710 --> 00:08:02,850 very high level, 251 00:08:02,850 --> 00:08:04,590 was not what I was expecting at all, 252 00:08:04,590 --> 00:08:05,850 but a phenomenal experience. 253 00:08:05,850 --> 00:08:07,020 And at the end of that course, 254 00:08:07,020 --> 00:08:08,520 Dr. Stuckey reached out to me 255 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:12,000 and invited me to apply for a writing mentor position. 256 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:13,680 We'll hear a lot more about the writing mentors 257 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:14,513 a little bit later, 258 00:08:14,513 --> 00:08:16,380 but it's basically a peer embedded tutor 259 00:08:16,380 --> 00:08:18,840 working within these first-year composition courses. 260 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:20,040 So after that experience, 261 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:22,410 it really reignited my passion for education. 262 00:08:22,410 --> 00:08:25,440 And I had spent over a decade in different retail management 263 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:27,450 and just was finding myself unfulfilled, 264 00:08:27,450 --> 00:08:28,500 but without a degree, 265 00:08:28,500 --> 00:08:30,510 not really able to go anywhere else, right? 266 00:08:30,510 --> 00:08:31,685 So with that position, 267 00:08:31,685 --> 00:08:33,660 I was able to work with the Writer's Studio, 268 00:08:33,660 --> 00:08:35,850 work very closely with really everybody here. 269 00:08:35,850 --> 00:08:39,150 So I was a writing mentor for John Buckley at first, 270 00:08:39,150 --> 00:08:40,650 then for Sean for a few years. 271 00:08:40,650 --> 00:08:42,620 I worked under Zach Waggoner when I was in English 101. 272 00:08:42,620 --> 00:08:44,820 And then of course with Dr. Michelle Stuckey, 273 00:08:44,820 --> 00:08:46,860 we've had a couple of even independent studies 274 00:08:46,860 --> 00:08:48,030 down the road and things like that. 275 00:08:48,030 --> 00:08:50,457 So really, really grateful for everyone to be here 276 00:08:50,457 --> 00:08:52,380 and to talk about your courses today. 277 00:08:52,380 --> 00:08:55,050 So what I thought we would do is maybe start with Michelle, 278 00:08:55,050 --> 00:08:56,490 if you would like to kind of kick us off 279 00:08:56,490 --> 00:08:57,540 and talk a little bit, 280 00:08:57,540 --> 00:08:59,070 just high level, what is the program, 281 00:08:59,070 --> 00:09:00,900 what's different about it, what's special about it, 282 00:09:00,900 --> 00:09:03,270 and what's all this high impact verbiage 283 00:09:03,270 --> 00:09:04,350 that we keep talking about? 284 00:09:04,350 --> 00:09:05,940 Michelle- Sure, Michael, well, that's a lot. 285 00:09:05,940 --> 00:09:09,360 So let me just give you kind of a brief overview 286 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:11,340 of what we do in the Writer's Studio. 287 00:09:11,340 --> 00:09:12,570 So in the Writer's Studio, 288 00:09:12,570 --> 00:09:15,030 we provide the first-year writing requirement 289 00:09:15,030 --> 00:09:16,860 to all students who are enrolled 290 00:09:16,860 --> 00:09:19,980 specifically in online degree programs. 291 00:09:19,980 --> 00:09:23,040 And so, you know, when Michael started way back when, 292 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:25,530 and we might've had about 5,000 students a year, 293 00:09:25,530 --> 00:09:28,290 and now we're pushing 17,000 students. 294 00:09:28,290 --> 00:09:33,120 And so as ASU online program has grown, 295 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:35,280 so has enrollment in our program, 296 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:36,900 which has really pushed us. 297 00:09:36,900 --> 00:09:38,190 I mean, we're at ASU, right? 298 00:09:38,190 --> 00:09:40,080 So it's pushed us to innovate 299 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:41,725 new ways of meeting students' need, 300 00:09:41,725 --> 00:09:46,725 meeting the demands of large enrollment online programming 301 00:09:46,950 --> 00:09:51,260 and maintaining quality, engaging, challenging experiences 302 00:09:51,260 --> 00:09:53,520 for students in writing courses. 303 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:56,460 So I think what sets our program apart, 304 00:09:56,460 --> 00:09:57,870 Michael, as you asked, 305 00:09:57,870 --> 00:09:58,950 is a few things. 306 00:09:58,950 --> 00:10:02,340 One, you know, like many writing classes, 307 00:10:02,340 --> 00:10:05,430 we wanna give students an opportunity 308 00:10:05,430 --> 00:10:08,520 to develop their own transferable writing process. 309 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:09,960 So when they leave our classes, 310 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:11,190 they're confident 311 00:10:11,190 --> 00:10:13,440 about the next writing assignment they tackle 312 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:14,940 and the next class they take. 313 00:10:14,940 --> 00:10:18,390 But also that we wanna give them skills and practices 314 00:10:18,390 --> 00:10:20,100 and habits that they can take with them 315 00:10:20,100 --> 00:10:22,350 to writing they do in other areas of their lives. 316 00:10:22,350 --> 00:10:24,600 That's been one of our core goals, 317 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:27,060 to help students really develop the skills they need 318 00:10:27,060 --> 00:10:29,880 to be successful communicators at ASU and beyond. 319 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:30,713 And I think, 320 00:10:30,713 --> 00:10:32,790 a couple other things I think is unique 321 00:10:32,790 --> 00:10:34,859 and sometimes surprising for students who take our classes, 322 00:10:34,859 --> 00:10:37,920 one is that we really want them 323 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:40,860 to move away from thinking about like the five paragraph 324 00:10:40,860 --> 00:10:42,600 generic academic essay, 325 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:45,150 and to really engage with writing assignments 326 00:10:45,150 --> 00:10:46,680 where they are making knowledge 327 00:10:46,680 --> 00:10:49,470 about topics that are interesting to them. 328 00:10:49,470 --> 00:10:52,110 So they're the ones kind of steering their learning 329 00:10:52,110 --> 00:10:53,160 in a lot of ways 330 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:54,750 by doing independent research 331 00:10:54,750 --> 00:10:57,540 on things that are important to them and their communities. 332 00:10:57,540 --> 00:10:59,550 So our curriculum is really focused 333 00:10:59,550 --> 00:11:03,000 on community-engaged writing and research. 334 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:05,130 And then three, we wanna prepare students 335 00:11:05,130 --> 00:11:07,860 to be 21st century digital communicators. 336 00:11:07,860 --> 00:11:10,170 Now, back in 2015, 337 00:11:10,170 --> 00:11:12,090 this sounded a little more radical 338 00:11:12,090 --> 00:11:13,800 than it does almost 10 years later, 339 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:16,080 because now we're almost a quarter of the way 340 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:17,940 into the 21st century. 341 00:11:17,940 --> 00:11:21,090 But what I mean by that is to really be engaged 342 00:11:21,090 --> 00:11:23,880 with digital writing experiences. 343 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:27,450 And so over the course of our program, 344 00:11:27,450 --> 00:11:31,680 our students get exposed to all sorts of digital composing. 345 00:11:31,680 --> 00:11:33,720 So they create digital portfolios 346 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:35,700 using things like Google sites. 347 00:11:35,700 --> 00:11:37,812 They compose infographics, 348 00:11:37,812 --> 00:11:40,560 which is a real genre that they might engage with 349 00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:41,640 in the workforce. 350 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:44,940 They compose PSAs and advocacy ads. 351 00:11:44,940 --> 00:11:47,820 They're working with bringing text and image together, 352 00:11:47,820 --> 00:11:48,653 which I think, you know, 353 00:11:48,653 --> 00:11:51,720 that they're already doing in so many ways in their lives, 354 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:53,250 but they're really seeing how to do it 355 00:11:53,250 --> 00:11:55,140 in a deliberate and thoughtful way. 356 00:11:55,140 --> 00:11:59,010 So those are a few of the things I think that set us apart. 357 00:11:59,010 --> 00:11:59,843 Michael- Yeah, that's a great overview. 358 00:11:59,843 --> 00:12:00,676 Thanks, Michelle. 359 00:12:00,676 --> 00:12:02,280 And I think for me, you know, 360 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:05,460 English 105 was one of the most impactful courses 361 00:12:05,460 --> 00:12:06,900 that I have ever taken. 362 00:12:06,900 --> 00:12:08,010 And it's one of those courses 363 00:12:08,010 --> 00:12:09,150 where the skills that I learned 364 00:12:09,150 --> 00:12:11,010 are skills that I use every single day, 365 00:12:11,010 --> 00:12:13,080 whether it's writing a business email, 366 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:14,730 writing a text to a friend or, 367 00:12:14,730 --> 00:12:15,900 I mean, I'm creating infographics, 368 00:12:15,900 --> 00:12:16,860 graphics all the time. 369 00:12:16,860 --> 00:12:19,110 So those skills I think are so great 370 00:12:19,110 --> 00:12:21,090 to not only prepare students for, you know, 371 00:12:21,090 --> 00:12:22,920 two, four years of academic work 372 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:23,850 that they're gonna be doing. 373 00:12:23,850 --> 00:12:27,000 These are real-world skills that are directly applicable 374 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:28,980 into so many different professional settings. 375 00:12:28,980 --> 00:12:30,660 So I think it's a great course. 376 00:12:30,660 --> 00:12:32,100 We were excited to partner with you 377 00:12:32,100 --> 00:12:33,720 for a three-year redesign. 378 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:34,980 Michelle, can you talk a little bit 379 00:12:34,980 --> 00:12:36,330 about some of your priorities 380 00:12:36,330 --> 00:12:38,280 going into this redesign process? 381 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:39,113 Michelle- Sure, Michael. 382 00:12:39,113 --> 00:12:42,240 What is challenging for us 383 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:44,910 as the folks who are designing curriculum, 384 00:12:44,910 --> 00:12:47,700 is to think about how to create classes 385 00:12:47,700 --> 00:12:50,760 that can meet a really broad range of learners. 386 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:53,460 To meet the needs of a really broad range of learners. 387 00:12:53,460 --> 00:12:56,340 So we might have first time first-year students in a class 388 00:12:56,340 --> 00:13:00,360 with somebody who has been working professionally, 389 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:03,600 in doing writing professionally for 20 years, 390 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:05,880 and who has just never finished their degree. 391 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:09,330 And those students are gonna have a really broad range 392 00:13:09,330 --> 00:13:11,610 of real world experience, 393 00:13:11,610 --> 00:13:13,410 comfort in educational setting, 394 00:13:13,410 --> 00:13:15,747 comfort levels in educational settings, right? 395 00:13:15,747 --> 00:13:17,550 And so how do we design curriculum 396 00:13:17,550 --> 00:13:21,090 that is gonna be engaging and meaningful and challenging, 397 00:13:21,090 --> 00:13:23,910 but still offers a pathway to success 398 00:13:23,910 --> 00:13:25,260 for all the possible learners 399 00:13:25,260 --> 00:13:27,597 who might be coming into our program. 400 00:13:27,597 --> 00:13:29,580 And so what really got us thinking 401 00:13:29,580 --> 00:13:33,180 was we have a constantly changing demographic of students. 402 00:13:33,180 --> 00:13:34,830 Let's take a deep dive 403 00:13:34,830 --> 00:13:38,430 into who's successful in our program, who isn't, 404 00:13:38,430 --> 00:13:41,520 and let's think about what changes we need to make 405 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:45,060 to include, right, all the possible students 406 00:13:45,060 --> 00:13:48,960 and provide a pathway to success in our program. 407 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:50,160 John- Michelle, would this be a good time 408 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:51,780 to maybe bring up the learning contract? 409 00:13:51,780 --> 00:13:53,130 Michelle- Yeah, that's a great segue. 410 00:13:53,130 --> 00:13:54,810 You know, John, I don't know if you wanted to talk about it, 411 00:13:54,810 --> 00:13:58,260 but right before we started this three-year redesign, 412 00:13:58,260 --> 00:14:00,990 we had gone through a year-long process 413 00:14:00,990 --> 00:14:03,030 of developing and implementing 414 00:14:03,030 --> 00:14:04,380 what we call a learning contract. 415 00:14:04,380 --> 00:14:07,260 It's a mode of assessment based on contract grading. 416 00:14:07,260 --> 00:14:08,970 And that was our first step 417 00:14:08,970 --> 00:14:12,270 toward really thinking about how to expand equity 418 00:14:12,270 --> 00:14:15,750 and inclusion in our classes related to assessments. 419 00:14:15,750 --> 00:14:18,030 And so what we did was really develop 420 00:14:18,030 --> 00:14:20,640 a more holistic grading structure 421 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:23,640 in which students were basically being assessed 422 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:25,380 on their own individual growth. 423 00:14:25,380 --> 00:14:27,930 And so we believe that the more students write, 424 00:14:27,930 --> 00:14:29,190 the better they get at writing. 425 00:14:29,190 --> 00:14:31,170 And we really wanted to find a way 426 00:14:31,170 --> 00:14:32,730 to just encourage students 427 00:14:32,730 --> 00:14:35,310 to just write without being afraid 428 00:14:35,310 --> 00:14:38,100 or overly focused on points 429 00:14:38,100 --> 00:14:40,800 and how many points they're gonna get or lose potentially. 430 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:44,310 And so just giving them a path to just get started 431 00:14:44,310 --> 00:14:45,840 and to reduce some of that anxiety 432 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:49,620 that prevents a lot of students from just writing. 433 00:14:49,620 --> 00:14:51,870 And so that was one of our first steps we made 434 00:14:51,870 --> 00:14:53,039 to kind of think about equity 435 00:14:53,039 --> 00:14:55,110 and expand equity in our classes. 436 00:14:55,110 --> 00:14:55,950 Zach- And this is Zach, 437 00:14:55,950 --> 00:14:58,080 just to jump in on what Michelle said, 438 00:14:58,080 --> 00:14:59,670 historically students do have, 439 00:14:59,670 --> 00:15:01,230 and not just students but people in general 440 00:15:01,230 --> 00:15:03,300 have a lot of anxiety related to writing. 441 00:15:03,300 --> 00:15:04,470 There's a lot of stress. 442 00:15:04,470 --> 00:15:05,303 There's a lot of doubt. 443 00:15:05,303 --> 00:15:06,810 There's a lot of insecurity. 444 00:15:06,810 --> 00:15:09,000 And that's because writing historically for folks 445 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,070 has been very product-based 446 00:15:11,070 --> 00:15:13,110 that they're asked to produce something 447 00:15:13,110 --> 00:15:14,580 and then they're never helped with the process 448 00:15:14,580 --> 00:15:16,050 of getting to that product. 449 00:15:16,050 --> 00:15:18,690 And so of course, if that's academically, 450 00:15:18,690 --> 00:15:21,150 you can see how that has played out over many decades. 451 00:15:21,150 --> 00:15:23,310 But so what we've tried to do with our learning contract 452 00:15:23,310 --> 00:15:25,110 is take the emphasis off of the product 453 00:15:25,110 --> 00:15:27,090 and put the emphasis on the process 454 00:15:27,090 --> 00:15:28,920 so that many small writing assignments 455 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:31,800 that contribute towards working towards some product, 456 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:32,880 I suppose, down the line. 457 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:33,870 But that's not our emphasis. 458 00:15:33,870 --> 00:15:36,120 We care about the stages along the way, 459 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:37,200 the steps, the habits, 460 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:38,490 and the skills that you learn. 461 00:15:38,490 --> 00:15:40,050 And so the learning contract allows us 462 00:15:40,050 --> 00:15:41,880 to do that focus on process 463 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:44,190 in a way that's much less stressful for students. 464 00:15:44,190 --> 00:15:45,277 Michael- Yeah, I love that, and I think, 465 00:15:45,277 --> 00:15:47,550 you know, as a perfectionist myself, 466 00:15:47,550 --> 00:15:49,020 that learning contract just, again, 467 00:15:49,020 --> 00:15:51,360 takes some of that weight off of a student's shoulders. 468 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:52,650 And you know, Zach, 469 00:15:52,650 --> 00:15:54,660 you were talking about kinda that process-oriented model. 470 00:15:54,660 --> 00:15:55,890 That's a great way, I think, 471 00:15:55,890 --> 00:15:57,330 to really frame the Writer's Studio, 472 00:15:57,330 --> 00:15:59,880 is that it really is all about process, not product. 473 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:00,780 And I remember, Zach, 474 00:16:00,780 --> 00:16:02,370 something that you've often said 475 00:16:02,370 --> 00:16:04,890 that there is no such thing as a final draft, right? 476 00:16:04,890 --> 00:16:07,080 It's always opportunity for revision. 477 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:09,660 And so again, I think that mentality really 478 00:16:09,660 --> 00:16:11,550 is infused so deeply into the curriculum 479 00:16:11,550 --> 00:16:12,383 of the Writer's Studio 480 00:16:12,383 --> 00:16:13,980 and those first-year composition courses. 481 00:16:13,980 --> 00:16:16,560 John- Yeah, we actually changed the terminology of our courses. 482 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:17,670 Specifically based on that, 483 00:16:17,670 --> 00:16:19,860 we used to have a rough draft and a final draft 484 00:16:19,860 --> 00:16:21,480 of our writing projects. 485 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:24,330 And we've changed those terms to feedback draft 486 00:16:24,330 --> 00:16:25,960 and revised draft knowing that, you know, 487 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:27,960 yeah, you've done your revision, 488 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:29,130 nothing is ever final. 489 00:16:29,130 --> 00:16:31,590 So we wanna take that pressure off students as well. 490 00:16:31,590 --> 00:16:33,660 Zach- And the language we use to communicate with students 491 00:16:33,660 --> 00:16:34,710 is super important. 492 00:16:34,710 --> 00:16:36,720 Michael- So Zach, why don't you talk a little bit 493 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:38,280 about English 101 494 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:41,010 and some of the changes that you wanted to prioritize 495 00:16:41,010 --> 00:16:41,880 and what you've seen 496 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:44,220 and maybe how that's impacted students in your courses? 497 00:16:44,220 --> 00:16:45,570 Zach- Well, so as Michelle said, 498 00:16:45,570 --> 00:16:47,539 we have seen an enormous kind of change. 499 00:16:47,539 --> 00:16:50,730 It always influx change in our student population. 500 00:16:50,730 --> 00:16:52,470 And I expect that will continue. 501 00:16:52,470 --> 00:16:54,810 So our redesign is really kind of designed 502 00:16:54,810 --> 00:16:56,280 to be as flexible as possible 503 00:16:56,280 --> 00:16:59,490 to meet a wide range of different students where they're at, 504 00:16:59,490 --> 00:17:02,010 while always also being very proactive and intentional 505 00:17:02,010 --> 00:17:04,380 in thinking about high impact on our students. 506 00:17:04,380 --> 00:17:05,610 We wanna retain our students. 507 00:17:05,610 --> 00:17:07,260 We wanna engage our students. 508 00:17:07,260 --> 00:17:09,240 We want our students to persist at ASU 509 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:10,830 all the way through to graduation. 510 00:17:10,830 --> 00:17:13,200 And so trying to redesign the 101 curriculum, 511 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,350 to do that has been challenging but also very rewarding. 512 00:17:16,350 --> 00:17:18,000 We've always been process-focused, 513 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:18,870 but we've kind of, I think, 514 00:17:18,870 --> 00:17:20,340 and since this rebuild, 515 00:17:20,340 --> 00:17:22,590 focused even more on how to be flexible 516 00:17:22,590 --> 00:17:24,030 with the assignment design. 517 00:17:24,030 --> 00:17:26,850 We do have one large project that students are working on, 518 00:17:26,850 --> 00:17:28,500 or two, depending on the session, 519 00:17:28,500 --> 00:17:30,330 and depending on the student population. 520 00:17:30,330 --> 00:17:32,520 And so inside of those large projects, 521 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:34,350 we have many small invention assignments 522 00:17:34,350 --> 00:17:36,000 to help them complete the steps 523 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,220 of the thinking and writing that's gonna be necessary. 524 00:17:38,220 --> 00:17:39,570 So we've really redesigned those 525 00:17:39,570 --> 00:17:41,940 to be community-embedded, as Michelle said, 526 00:17:41,940 --> 00:17:43,860 to focus on the students' individual, 527 00:17:43,860 --> 00:17:45,390 communities that they value. 528 00:17:45,390 --> 00:17:48,720 And that could be a wide range of community-related topics. 529 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:49,864 And write students with agency 530 00:17:49,864 --> 00:17:52,350 to select from within their communities 531 00:17:52,350 --> 00:17:54,397 the topic that best fits their own interests 532 00:17:54,397 --> 00:17:56,970 in relationship to whatever the prompt 533 00:17:56,970 --> 00:17:59,100 or the topic that we've selected for that semester is. 534 00:17:59,100 --> 00:18:00,750 And so that's one of the main ways 535 00:18:00,750 --> 00:18:02,850 we've been proactively revamping. 536 00:18:02,850 --> 00:18:06,240 We've also decided on a very heavy-focus in English 101 537 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:09,270 on primary research as opposed to secondary research. 538 00:18:09,270 --> 00:18:11,100 Many, many students are very familiar 539 00:18:11,100 --> 00:18:12,690 with secondary research of some type 540 00:18:12,690 --> 00:18:15,900 having had other educational experiences before English 101. 541 00:18:15,900 --> 00:18:18,960 But very few students are familiar with primary research. 542 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:21,420 But primary research is really where you can learn 543 00:18:21,420 --> 00:18:22,253 as a creator, 544 00:18:22,253 --> 00:18:23,760 as a composer, as a writer, 545 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:25,710 to gain agency in the topic. 546 00:18:25,710 --> 00:18:27,210 You have to go out, for example, 547 00:18:27,210 --> 00:18:29,040 and conduct interviews perhaps, 548 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:31,890 or you have to go out and conduct field research 549 00:18:31,890 --> 00:18:34,830 if you're doing observation out in the real world somewhere. 550 00:18:34,830 --> 00:18:37,620 So a focus on primary research 551 00:18:37,620 --> 00:18:40,110 with the topic that the student can kind of pick 552 00:18:40,110 --> 00:18:42,330 to their own interests in their own community 553 00:18:42,330 --> 00:18:43,830 has really helped us see a rise 554 00:18:43,830 --> 00:18:46,050 in student engagement and retention. 555 00:18:46,050 --> 00:18:47,490 John- Yeah, this is really something different 556 00:18:47,490 --> 00:18:48,960 from online classes too. 557 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:50,910 And Michael, even before you mentioned 558 00:18:50,910 --> 00:18:53,940 that your English 105 class was not what you expected, 559 00:18:53,940 --> 00:18:55,830 and that's what we hear from all of our students, 560 00:18:55,830 --> 00:18:57,330 is that our classes is not what they expect. 561 00:18:57,330 --> 00:18:58,770 You know, it's an online class. 562 00:18:58,770 --> 00:19:00,570 Sure, I'm gonna be in front of my computer, 563 00:19:00,570 --> 00:19:01,726 peck away at my keyboard, 564 00:19:01,726 --> 00:19:03,480 but that's not really what we want, 565 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:05,100 and that's not what ASU wants. 566 00:19:05,100 --> 00:19:07,050 We want our students to be, 567 00:19:07,050 --> 00:19:08,700 you know, embedded and engaged with their community. 568 00:19:08,700 --> 00:19:11,527 So the assignments that we have in both of our classes, 569 00:19:11,527 --> 00:19:13,140 101, 102, even 105, 570 00:19:13,140 --> 00:19:14,236 they get out of their chairs 571 00:19:14,236 --> 00:19:15,900 out in front of their computer screen 572 00:19:15,900 --> 00:19:17,250 and out into the real world 573 00:19:17,250 --> 00:19:19,710 and you know, really engaging with their community. 574 00:19:19,710 --> 00:19:21,960 Michael- Yeah, and I think that's one of the really special things. 575 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:23,460 And one of the things, like you just said, John, 576 00:19:23,460 --> 00:19:24,360 that was surprising to me 577 00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:27,607 is you see English 101 as a student and you think, 578 00:19:27,607 --> 00:19:29,100 "Oh, I'm gonna read some poetry, 579 00:19:29,100 --> 00:19:31,020 and I'm gonna read "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein," 580 00:19:31,020 --> 00:19:32,820 and then I'm gonna write a critical essay, right?" 581 00:19:32,820 --> 00:19:35,460 And then we walk into these courses in the digital sense 582 00:19:35,460 --> 00:19:37,470 and they say, "No, what are you interested in? 583 00:19:37,470 --> 00:19:39,240 What are your community problems? 584 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:40,740 How can you work to solve them, right?" 585 00:19:40,740 --> 00:19:44,550 And it's so cool to be able to have that autonomy 586 00:19:44,550 --> 00:19:45,957 and to take responsibility for that writing, right? 587 00:19:45,957 --> 00:19:47,760 And I think, as a student, 588 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:49,350 it increased my engagement, right? 589 00:19:49,350 --> 00:19:51,510 And I learned things about my local community 590 00:19:51,510 --> 00:19:53,430 that I would never have thought of, right? 591 00:19:53,430 --> 00:19:55,740 So I think that's a great approach. 592 00:19:55,740 --> 00:19:58,350 And Zach, with 101 in the first year of the redesign, 593 00:19:58,350 --> 00:20:00,690 you had an additional challenge with the elimination 594 00:20:00,690 --> 00:20:04,020 of writing across the curriculum 101 that course. 595 00:20:04,020 --> 00:20:07,290 I think your enrollment doubled or tripled in one year. 596 00:20:07,290 --> 00:20:08,670 Do you wanna talk a little bit about that? 597 00:20:08,670 --> 00:20:10,170 Zach- Right, so writing across the curriculum, 598 00:20:10,170 --> 00:20:12,180 which we know as is WAC 101, 599 00:20:12,180 --> 00:20:15,420 was a course that certain students could test into 600 00:20:15,420 --> 00:20:18,750 or opt into that they would take prior to English 101. 601 00:20:18,750 --> 00:20:20,537 And there's a long history of that at ASU 602 00:20:20,537 --> 00:20:22,320 and at other institutions for students 603 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:24,780 who maybe haven't had enough practice, 604 00:20:24,780 --> 00:20:25,680 aren't as comfortable 605 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:27,060 with where they wanna be with their writing 606 00:20:27,060 --> 00:20:28,560 before starting English 101. 607 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:30,450 So the elimination of that course 608 00:20:30,450 --> 00:20:31,710 now places all the students 609 00:20:31,710 --> 00:20:34,860 who before had either tested into a situation 610 00:20:34,860 --> 00:20:37,620 or preselected by themselves into a situation 611 00:20:37,620 --> 00:20:39,150 where they didn't feel ready 612 00:20:39,150 --> 00:20:40,800 or comfortable with English 101, 613 00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:41,940 but yet now all of those students 614 00:20:41,940 --> 00:20:43,950 are gonna be in one English 101 going forward. 615 00:20:43,950 --> 00:20:47,340 So that just broadened the population for English 101, 616 00:20:47,340 --> 00:20:49,320 even more than we had already anticipated it doing. 617 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:51,600 So the redesign has tried to account for the needs 618 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:52,433 of that particular audience as well. 619 00:20:52,433 --> 00:20:55,500 Michael- And I think what is a huge success 620 00:20:55,500 --> 00:20:58,680 is that even with that massive increase in enrollment, 621 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:00,960 we still saw an increase in ABC rates 622 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:02,370 and a decrease in withdrawal rates. 623 00:21:02,370 --> 00:21:03,450 And that is massive 624 00:21:03,450 --> 00:21:05,580 when we're including that other population. 625 00:21:05,580 --> 00:21:06,870 Before we move on from curriculum, 626 00:21:06,870 --> 00:21:08,130 I'd wanna ask Sean, 627 00:21:08,130 --> 00:21:10,020 can you tell us a little bit about English 105 628 00:21:10,020 --> 00:21:11,490 and what's different about 105 629 00:21:11,490 --> 00:21:13,170 compared to 101 and 102? 630 00:21:13,170 --> 00:21:16,950 Sean- So we take the same kind of concepts from 101 and 102 631 00:21:16,950 --> 00:21:18,809 and put it all into one quick course. 632 00:21:18,809 --> 00:21:20,490 So it's a little bit of a challenge. 633 00:21:20,490 --> 00:21:21,840 And we tend to get students 634 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:25,080 who are maybe in Barrett Honors College 635 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:26,940 or who have high test scores 636 00:21:26,940 --> 00:21:28,770 for their entrance exams and so forth. 637 00:21:28,770 --> 00:21:31,170 But it's really interesting to kind of see students 638 00:21:31,170 --> 00:21:34,410 who want to get their first-year writing courses 639 00:21:34,410 --> 00:21:35,700 outta the way really quickly. 640 00:21:35,700 --> 00:21:37,440 So sometimes, we have challenges there too, 641 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:38,273 you know, students who think they're gonna get it, 642 00:21:38,273 --> 00:21:40,560 you know, get it through really quickly, 643 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:41,820 and they just want to get it done with. 644 00:21:41,820 --> 00:21:43,860 So bringing them into that challenge 645 00:21:43,860 --> 00:21:46,560 of engaging with their communities 646 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:48,870 and really thinking hard about, 647 00:21:48,870 --> 00:21:51,397 you know, those critical concepts versus, 648 00:21:51,397 --> 00:21:52,680 "Oh, I thought I was just gonna sit down 649 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:54,000 and read a book and write about it." 650 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,550 Or, "I thought I was gonna do the same thing I'm used to 651 00:21:56,550 --> 00:21:57,990 in high school in my honors, 652 00:21:57,990 --> 00:21:58,823 you know, AP courses. 653 00:21:58,823 --> 00:22:00,810 I thought I was gonna do more of the same." 654 00:22:00,810 --> 00:22:03,900 So that's been a pretty big challenge that I've experienced. 655 00:22:03,900 --> 00:22:05,550 But once they get past that, 656 00:22:05,550 --> 00:22:08,400 hopefully they accept that challenge and take it on. 657 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:09,690 I've seen a lot of success 658 00:22:09,690 --> 00:22:12,030 with students who have found it really rewarding 659 00:22:12,030 --> 00:22:13,980 and empowering too. 660 00:22:13,980 --> 00:22:15,840 So a lot of our students have gone on 661 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:18,750 to reach out to their real world communities 662 00:22:18,750 --> 00:22:21,150 and tried to make those differences actually happen 663 00:22:21,150 --> 00:22:22,950 or engage with others to inform them. 664 00:22:22,950 --> 00:22:23,783 Michael- Yeah, that's great. 665 00:22:23,783 --> 00:22:24,660 And I was gonna say, I remember, 666 00:22:24,660 --> 00:22:26,910 you know, I love kind of the end of sessions 667 00:22:26,910 --> 00:22:28,290 when you get to share some of the, 668 00:22:28,290 --> 00:22:29,820 you know, student stories that you've heard 669 00:22:29,820 --> 00:22:30,960 or that you've encountered throughout. 670 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:31,830 You know, and again, 671 00:22:31,830 --> 00:22:34,020 what they are going to go on and do with that project, 672 00:22:34,020 --> 00:22:34,890 for some of them, 673 00:22:34,890 --> 00:22:36,837 I think is just so powerful that we're able to do that 674 00:22:36,837 --> 00:22:39,210 in a first-year composition course. 675 00:22:39,210 --> 00:22:40,410 We would not be expected, right? 676 00:22:40,410 --> 00:22:42,060 So kudos to all of you for that. 677 00:22:42,060 --> 00:22:42,893 Sean- Definitely 678 00:22:42,893 --> 00:22:45,150 Michelle- We really take to heart ASU's charter, 679 00:22:45,150 --> 00:22:47,970 as well as ASU's design aspirations, 680 00:22:47,970 --> 00:22:49,140 especially social embeddedness. 681 00:22:49,140 --> 00:22:52,740 And so, you know, we've really tried to design a curriculum 682 00:22:52,740 --> 00:22:56,940 that introduces a first-year students to the ASU's goals 683 00:22:56,940 --> 00:22:59,760 and to the values that we place here in the ASU community 684 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:02,550 on making an impact beyond the university. 685 00:23:02,550 --> 00:23:05,040 Zach- Which isn't to say that the changes we've made 686 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:06,750 that we believe are in students' best interests 687 00:23:06,750 --> 00:23:08,520 are easier for students necessarily. 688 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:09,390 As Sean was saying, 689 00:23:09,390 --> 00:23:10,670 the expectations students have 690 00:23:10,670 --> 00:23:12,600 of what they're going to do in our courses 691 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:13,800 is often radically different 692 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:15,270 than what we are actually asking them to do. 693 00:23:15,270 --> 00:23:16,500 And there can be resistance to that. 694 00:23:16,500 --> 00:23:17,630 There can be stress about that. 695 00:23:17,630 --> 00:23:20,130 There can be uncertainty about that. 696 00:23:20,130 --> 00:23:21,000 But I think, as Sean said, 697 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:22,320 once we get over that with students 698 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:23,730 when they realize what this course is 699 00:23:23,730 --> 00:23:25,290 and why it is what it is, 700 00:23:25,290 --> 00:23:27,930 there's the opportunity for real deep learning. 701 00:23:27,930 --> 00:23:29,970 And I think most students will appreciate that. 702 00:23:29,970 --> 00:23:31,890 Michael- Absolutely, and I think one of the great things 703 00:23:31,890 --> 00:23:34,470 that y'all have done is include several pauses 704 00:23:34,470 --> 00:23:35,970 for reflection throughout the course, right? 705 00:23:35,970 --> 00:23:36,930 Because sometimes, 706 00:23:36,930 --> 00:23:38,760 in these seven and a half week online courses, 707 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:40,320 it is just nonstop. 708 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:42,000 From day one until the very end, 709 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:43,620 students are just go, go, go. 710 00:23:43,620 --> 00:23:44,746 And they never have time to really stop 711 00:23:44,746 --> 00:23:46,530 and reflect on their learning. 712 00:23:46,530 --> 00:23:47,610 And that's something that y'all have built 713 00:23:47,610 --> 00:23:48,810 into the curriculum that again, 714 00:23:48,810 --> 00:23:50,340 I think is just really special. 715 00:23:50,340 --> 00:23:51,900 Michelle- Thanks, Michael, and actually, 716 00:23:51,900 --> 00:23:54,690 you know, redesigning how we approached reflection, 717 00:23:54,690 --> 00:23:56,910 Zach was in charge of that actually, 718 00:23:56,910 --> 00:23:58,828 you know, three years of working on this, 719 00:23:58,828 --> 00:24:02,640 it's almost difficult to remember all that we did 720 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:03,720 over the last three years. 721 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:06,510 But our first year we really decided 722 00:24:06,510 --> 00:24:08,160 we wanted to think differently 723 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:11,640 about how we were engaging students in reflections. 724 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:12,473 And for those of you 725 00:24:12,473 --> 00:24:15,060 who are maybe new to the term reflection, 726 00:24:15,060 --> 00:24:17,070 you know, educational psychology 727 00:24:17,070 --> 00:24:20,850 shows that building in these moments for students to stop 728 00:24:20,850 --> 00:24:23,580 and take stock of their learning 729 00:24:23,580 --> 00:24:26,790 and really engage in what we call metacognition 730 00:24:26,790 --> 00:24:29,100 does a lot for solidifying that learning 731 00:24:29,100 --> 00:24:32,970 so that students retain more of what they learned 732 00:24:32,970 --> 00:24:34,620 when they have those moments. 733 00:24:34,620 --> 00:24:37,980 And so prior to our course redesign, 734 00:24:37,980 --> 00:24:40,200 a lot of our reflecting was really focused 735 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:42,000 on the learning outcomes 736 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,300 and asking students to kind of demonstrate their learning 737 00:24:45,300 --> 00:24:48,000 of each of the outcomes that we had articulated for them 738 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:49,230 in our courses. 739 00:24:49,230 --> 00:24:50,760 And as part of this redesign, 740 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:53,970 we started having conversations about student agency 741 00:24:53,970 --> 00:24:55,890 because we felt as a program 742 00:24:55,890 --> 00:25:00,510 that our priority was to give students agency as learners 743 00:25:00,510 --> 00:25:03,630 and that the reflections were a vehicle for them to tell us 744 00:25:03,630 --> 00:25:05,880 and show us what they learned. 745 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,520 But we were also constraining them 746 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:12,420 by limiting them to only discussing the outcomes. 747 00:25:12,420 --> 00:25:14,640 And so one of the projects Zach works on, 748 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:16,740 I want him to be able to speak to it if he wants, 749 00:25:16,740 --> 00:25:19,770 was to really think about designing reflections 750 00:25:19,770 --> 00:25:21,240 that were holistic. 751 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:25,140 And that gave students prompting questions to reflect on 752 00:25:25,140 --> 00:25:28,050 and to really set the agenda for their own learning. 753 00:25:28,050 --> 00:25:29,213 Zach- Yeah, Michelle said it exactly right. 754 00:25:29,213 --> 00:25:31,710 What we did was we vastly simplified 755 00:25:31,710 --> 00:25:33,840 what we were asking students to do in our reflections 756 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:35,010 with basically two components 757 00:25:35,010 --> 00:25:36,510 on the reflections we're having them do. 758 00:25:36,510 --> 00:25:38,760 No matter if that is a reflection at the beginning 759 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:39,720 or a reflection at the middle 760 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:41,730 or a reflection at the end of the term. 761 00:25:41,730 --> 00:25:42,690 In one of those two things 762 00:25:42,690 --> 00:25:44,880 was we asked students to simply look back 763 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:47,460 what about the experience you've just had, 764 00:25:47,460 --> 00:25:48,410 whether or not it was the first project 765 00:25:48,410 --> 00:25:50,880 or this first section of the course. 766 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:52,500 What about it was challenging for you? 767 00:25:52,500 --> 00:25:53,670 What about it was surprising? 768 00:25:53,670 --> 00:25:55,800 What about it did you feel confident in? 769 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:58,710 Which of the habits and skills and processes and practices 770 00:25:58,710 --> 00:26:01,290 that we had you work on were easier for you? 771 00:26:01,290 --> 00:26:02,123 Which were harder? 772 00:26:02,123 --> 00:26:05,100 Just to reflect back over the short burst of time 773 00:26:05,100 --> 00:26:06,240 that we just had been working. 774 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:09,030 And then the second half is to simply look forward. 775 00:26:09,030 --> 00:26:10,560 Now that you've reflected back, 776 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:13,549 look ahead, prospect, if you will, 777 00:26:13,549 --> 00:26:14,870 what do you wanna work on 778 00:26:14,870 --> 00:26:16,290 in this next section of the course? 779 00:26:16,290 --> 00:26:18,240 Which habits do you think are strengths for you? 780 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:19,950 Which are challenging you right now? 781 00:26:19,950 --> 00:26:22,380 Which of the practices that we're asking you to practice 782 00:26:22,380 --> 00:26:24,480 are also more challenging than others? 783 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:26,157 And so just a basic looking back 784 00:26:26,157 --> 00:26:28,230 and a basic looking forward and a reflection. 785 00:26:28,230 --> 00:26:30,166 Students had great freedom then to select 786 00:26:30,166 --> 00:26:32,217 and tailor it to their own work 787 00:26:32,217 --> 00:26:34,140 and their own kind of metacognitive space. 788 00:26:34,140 --> 00:26:35,550 Michael- And I think that approach 789 00:26:35,550 --> 00:26:37,560 really couples that metacognitive reflection 790 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:39,120 with transfer, right? 791 00:26:39,120 --> 00:26:40,200 And the ability to think about 792 00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:41,550 how am I gonna take these skills 793 00:26:41,550 --> 00:26:44,040 that I've been working on for these last few weeks? 794 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:46,380 And how else can I apply those right in my other classes, 795 00:26:46,380 --> 00:26:48,300 in my career, in my community? 796 00:26:48,300 --> 00:26:49,410 And so I love how you've paired 797 00:26:49,410 --> 00:26:51,030 that looking back and looking forward. 798 00:26:51,030 --> 00:26:53,670 Zach- Yeah, reflection is crucial to transfer. 799 00:26:53,670 --> 00:26:55,377 All studies suggest that that's a key component 800 00:26:55,377 --> 00:26:57,810 to transferring skills or practices or habits. 801 00:26:57,810 --> 00:27:00,030 And so glad you said that, Michael, thanks. 802 00:27:00,030 --> 00:27:01,440 Michael- Sure. 803 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:02,460 Sean- And with these changes, 804 00:27:02,460 --> 00:27:04,380 I've noticed personally with my students 805 00:27:04,380 --> 00:27:06,240 that they are so sincere, 806 00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:08,763 and for better or worse, extremely honest. 807 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:11,400 It's really nice to see them 808 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:13,290 just taking that agency and running with it. 809 00:27:13,290 --> 00:27:14,194 Michael- That's great. 810 00:27:14,194 --> 00:27:16,777 (bright music) 811 00:27:17,670 --> 00:27:19,500 Mary- Okay, so let's just stop for a moment 812 00:27:19,500 --> 00:27:21,300 and call what's happening out, 813 00:27:21,300 --> 00:27:23,430 because it's important people know. 814 00:27:23,430 --> 00:27:24,870 When we're talking about student agency, 815 00:27:24,870 --> 00:27:26,280 it kind of goes hand in hand 816 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:28,170 with the process that they're implementing 817 00:27:28,170 --> 00:27:30,960 around students choosing which communities they engage with 818 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:33,810 and how they engage with their work and their assessments. 819 00:27:33,810 --> 00:27:36,780 Those are very Universal Design for Learning approaches. 820 00:27:36,780 --> 00:27:40,560 So I just wanted to highlight Universal Design for Learning. 821 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:42,690 It's a fabulous opportunity 822 00:27:42,690 --> 00:27:44,580 for you to take an intentional look at your course 823 00:27:44,580 --> 00:27:48,600 and find out how you can improve the experience 824 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:49,920 from the student's perspective. 825 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:52,050 How can you make it more learner-centered? 826 00:27:52,050 --> 00:27:53,520 Michael- From my perspective with UDL, 827 00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:54,353 where we're trying to get at 828 00:27:54,353 --> 00:27:56,640 is a more authentic learner experience. 829 00:27:56,640 --> 00:27:58,200 And so I know right now, 830 00:27:58,200 --> 00:27:59,550 we talk about a little bit in the episode, 831 00:27:59,550 --> 00:28:01,920 but ChatGPT and Generative AI, 832 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:03,837 and you know, there's so many concerns about, 833 00:28:03,837 --> 00:28:05,100 oh, were students gonna be cheating 834 00:28:05,100 --> 00:28:06,570 and how are they gonna get around my assessments 835 00:28:06,570 --> 00:28:07,950 and things like that. 836 00:28:07,950 --> 00:28:09,480 Universal Design for Learning, 837 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:10,313 a lot of times, 838 00:28:10,313 --> 00:28:12,780 is able to get around those sort of stop gaps, right? 839 00:28:12,780 --> 00:28:15,330 Because you are creating authentic assessments for students 840 00:28:15,330 --> 00:28:16,527 and meeting them where they are. 841 00:28:16,527 --> 00:28:17,850 And so again, I think, 842 00:28:17,850 --> 00:28:19,890 not only is it a much more 843 00:28:19,890 --> 00:28:22,020 impactful learning experience for the student, 844 00:28:22,020 --> 00:28:24,090 but when we think about it from the faculty perspective, 845 00:28:24,090 --> 00:28:26,760 and again kind of those fears about Generative AI, 846 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:28,260 I think again, UDL is a way 847 00:28:28,260 --> 00:28:30,540 to decrease some of those concerns. 848 00:28:30,540 --> 00:28:33,480 Liz- Yeah, and from a design perspective as well, 849 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:35,370 this course between working with you, 850 00:28:35,370 --> 00:28:37,380 working with some of the other great resources 851 00:28:37,380 --> 00:28:38,248 at ASU and the faculty 852 00:28:38,248 --> 00:28:41,070 that have been helping design these courses, 853 00:28:41,070 --> 00:28:42,390 we've been able to provide 854 00:28:42,390 --> 00:28:44,760 kind of hit the three pillars of UDL 855 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:46,860 through multiple means of engagement. 856 00:28:46,860 --> 00:28:48,690 Students really get a lot of opportunities 857 00:28:48,690 --> 00:28:51,378 to choose how and when they learn. 858 00:28:51,378 --> 00:28:53,340 multiple means of representation 859 00:28:53,340 --> 00:28:57,410 in terms of how we present content both in video. 860 00:28:57,410 --> 00:29:00,002 We have some podcast kind of forms out there. 861 00:29:00,002 --> 00:29:03,030 We have an interactive textbook. 862 00:29:03,030 --> 00:29:05,250 Just so many ways for the students to be engaged 863 00:29:05,250 --> 00:29:06,690 with the course content. 864 00:29:06,690 --> 00:29:08,340 And then in terms of action expression, 865 00:29:08,340 --> 00:29:10,260 I'd say that that's really well covered 866 00:29:10,260 --> 00:29:12,120 in the profile projects 867 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:13,710 and the Google site project 868 00:29:13,710 --> 00:29:15,720 where students really get that hands-on experience 869 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:18,060 and get to create on their own 870 00:29:18,060 --> 00:29:21,060 and get to define how they represent themselves 871 00:29:21,060 --> 00:29:23,040 kind of in this world through that project. 872 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:25,345 Mary- Yeah, they really do hit the multiple means 873 00:29:25,345 --> 00:29:28,290 of engagement vein of UDL, 874 00:29:28,290 --> 00:29:31,080 like specifically around the relevance and value 875 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:32,670 of the experience for the student. 876 00:29:32,670 --> 00:29:34,710 'Cause they're picking where they're engaging 877 00:29:34,710 --> 00:29:36,570 and then the sustained effort and persistence 878 00:29:36,570 --> 00:29:38,280 around their self-reflections 879 00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:39,420 and like what are the skills 880 00:29:39,420 --> 00:29:40,349 you're gonna be working on now? 881 00:29:40,349 --> 00:29:43,380 And they choose them and, I mean, 882 00:29:43,380 --> 00:29:45,240 they're creating their own assessment structure 883 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:46,890 based on what's their baseline 884 00:29:46,890 --> 00:29:50,160 and then getting graded based on their own success, 885 00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:52,260 not on some, you know, 886 00:29:52,260 --> 00:29:54,300 general criteria that's in a rubric 887 00:29:54,300 --> 00:29:56,250 that doesn't actually have personal value to them. 888 00:29:56,250 --> 00:29:57,270 Liz- Yeah, not only that, 889 00:29:57,270 --> 00:30:00,810 but I think that as Zach and everyone here 890 00:30:00,810 --> 00:30:02,205 kind of mentioned at one point or another, 891 00:30:02,205 --> 00:30:05,010 these courses are hard for a lot of students. 892 00:30:05,010 --> 00:30:06,588 There's a lot of anxiety and challenges 893 00:30:06,588 --> 00:30:08,850 that come up with your first-year writing. 894 00:30:08,850 --> 00:30:11,100 There's a lot of negative feelings 895 00:30:11,100 --> 00:30:13,350 that students pick up from writing in previous, 896 00:30:13,350 --> 00:30:15,870 like lifetimes and experiences. 897 00:30:15,870 --> 00:30:19,860 So having that as an avenue 898 00:30:19,860 --> 00:30:22,230 really can also help increase that motivation, 899 00:30:22,230 --> 00:30:25,350 especially when you can see how this is gonna help you, 900 00:30:25,350 --> 00:30:27,540 not just in an academic career sense, 901 00:30:27,540 --> 00:30:29,640 but in like my actual career 902 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:32,280 and how it's gonna help me in my writing right now today 903 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:34,542 in my Facebook posts, in my Twitters, 904 00:30:34,542 --> 00:30:36,710 in my exes? 905 00:30:36,710 --> 00:30:38,700 Whatever it's called now. Mary- Identity crisis. 906 00:30:38,700 --> 00:30:40,890 Still I don't know what to call 'em either. 907 00:30:40,890 --> 00:30:42,690 Liz- Or you know, 908 00:30:42,690 --> 00:30:44,370 if you're a NANRAMA kid, 909 00:30:44,370 --> 00:30:46,800 you know, my Nana Ram, 910 00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:48,420 my national writing month, 911 00:30:48,420 --> 00:30:50,430 novel writing month thing, 912 00:30:50,430 --> 00:30:51,283 cut all that out. 913 00:30:51,283 --> 00:30:52,980 Mary- We're not cutting any of that out. 914 00:30:52,980 --> 00:30:55,470 But I do wanna say like that's self-regulation 915 00:30:55,470 --> 00:30:56,790 under the guideline for engagement. 916 00:30:56,790 --> 00:30:59,370 Like that's one of the ninth guideline I think? 917 00:30:59,370 --> 00:31:03,540 And promoting their ability to do self-assessment, 918 00:31:03,540 --> 00:31:05,490 create coping skills, 919 00:31:05,490 --> 00:31:07,830 I mean, just intentionally be reflective 920 00:31:07,830 --> 00:31:09,000 and then action-oriented. 921 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,210 Ricardo- And so part of that too is the multimodal opportunities 922 00:31:12,210 --> 00:31:13,890 that they have to go with assignments. 923 00:31:13,890 --> 00:31:15,217 So what is that? 924 00:31:15,217 --> 00:31:16,950 What's the scope of that? 925 00:31:16,950 --> 00:31:20,431 What can a student turn in absolutely anything 926 00:31:20,431 --> 00:31:21,870 as an assignment 927 00:31:21,870 --> 00:31:24,000 or what are the limits there? 928 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:24,833 Liz- You know, honestly, 929 00:31:24,833 --> 00:31:26,350 they can almost turn in just about anything. 930 00:31:26,350 --> 00:31:28,050 There is not a lot of limit. 931 00:31:28,050 --> 00:31:30,750 It is really up to the students on what they can do. 932 00:31:30,750 --> 00:31:32,207 There's very few guidelines 933 00:31:32,207 --> 00:31:34,200 and they're very open-ended 934 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:37,230 just to encourage that creativity 935 00:31:37,230 --> 00:31:39,420 from the student's point of view 936 00:31:39,420 --> 00:31:42,000 and to really make sure that students have that opportunity 937 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:46,230 to express themselves in whatever means and representations 938 00:31:46,230 --> 00:31:48,990 or means of representation that matter most to them 939 00:31:48,990 --> 00:31:50,940 and help get their point across. 940 00:31:50,940 --> 00:31:53,010 So it could be an all memed paper 941 00:31:53,010 --> 00:31:54,090 if you really want it to be. 942 00:31:54,090 --> 00:31:56,567 Ricardo- Well, then how do you grade something like that? 943 00:31:56,567 --> 00:31:59,610 Or are you hitting certain criteria? 944 00:31:59,610 --> 00:32:02,460 Michael- Well, I think one of the really important pieces of that 945 00:32:02,460 --> 00:32:04,440 is being intentional with what they're choosing, right? 946 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:05,273 We don't want students 947 00:32:05,273 --> 00:32:07,140 to just give us a Microsoft Word document 948 00:32:07,140 --> 00:32:09,150 where they just copy and paste it a bunch of pictures in 949 00:32:09,150 --> 00:32:11,940 just because we told them to make it multimodal. 950 00:32:11,940 --> 00:32:14,280 We really want them to think about what is the impact 951 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:15,480 that this image is going to have. 952 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:17,610 So if I'm writing about, 953 00:32:17,610 --> 00:32:19,320 you know, people who are experiencing homelessness 954 00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:20,250 in Phoenix, Arizona, 955 00:32:20,250 --> 00:32:23,190 I could choose a picture of a empty, dirty alley, right? 956 00:32:23,190 --> 00:32:24,240 Which we might associate 957 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:25,923 with someone who is experiencing homelessness, 958 00:32:25,923 --> 00:32:28,410 and that could have an impact, right? 959 00:32:28,410 --> 00:32:29,460 But think about an image 960 00:32:29,460 --> 00:32:32,190 where you're looking into the face of a person, 961 00:32:32,190 --> 00:32:34,320 a human being who's experiencing that, 962 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:36,480 that is the image that we want in your paper, right? 963 00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:39,510 And so those are the types of the feedback 964 00:32:39,510 --> 00:32:40,887 that these faculty are gonna be giving the students 965 00:32:40,887 --> 00:32:44,100 to help them really think about how do I be intentional 966 00:32:44,100 --> 00:32:46,380 with the pieces of media that I'm including 967 00:32:46,380 --> 00:32:48,960 to help really increase the rhetorical impact 968 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:50,640 that I'm having with my audience. 969 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:53,580 Mary- And that just is a more authentic assessment process, 970 00:32:53,580 --> 00:32:55,050 not only from the students' experience 971 00:32:55,050 --> 00:32:57,450 of creating the product through the process, 972 00:32:57,450 --> 00:32:59,250 but from the faculty's perspective. 973 00:32:59,250 --> 00:33:01,620 You're not giving the same feedback every time. 974 00:33:01,620 --> 00:33:03,480 It's a different experience every time. 975 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:05,400 It's an authentic conversation 976 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:07,260 for that individual student's success. 977 00:33:07,260 --> 00:33:08,763 And that's actually super meaningful, 978 00:33:08,763 --> 00:33:11,790 especially in a class that's at this scale. 979 00:33:11,790 --> 00:33:13,590 Michael- One of the really cool things that they get to do 980 00:33:13,590 --> 00:33:16,170 in some of these courses is create an infographic 981 00:33:16,170 --> 00:33:19,260 or a public service announcement or an advocacy ad, right? 982 00:33:19,260 --> 00:33:22,170 And so one of the fun things that I get to do 983 00:33:22,170 --> 00:33:23,357 is I go to our success coaches 984 00:33:23,357 --> 00:33:24,576 and I actually train them 985 00:33:24,576 --> 00:33:26,820 about these first-year composition courses 986 00:33:26,820 --> 00:33:28,509 so that they can have more robust, 987 00:33:28,509 --> 00:33:30,630 effective conversations with their students 988 00:33:30,630 --> 00:33:32,640 to prepare them and coach them through those courses, right? 989 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:33,720 And so one of the things 990 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:35,730 that I always tell these coaches is, 991 00:33:35,730 --> 00:33:36,817 you know, your students may be like, 992 00:33:36,817 --> 00:33:38,430 "Why am I creating an infographic 993 00:33:38,430 --> 00:33:39,363 in a first-year composition course? 994 00:33:39,363 --> 00:33:42,090 This is not graphic design class, right?" 995 00:33:42,090 --> 00:33:45,540 But think about the modern digital 21st century audience. 996 00:33:45,540 --> 00:33:48,420 Are they gonna read an eight-page academic paper, 997 00:33:48,420 --> 00:33:50,665 or are they gonna read a one-page infographic? 998 00:33:50,665 --> 00:33:52,170 It's the latter of the two, right? 999 00:33:52,170 --> 00:33:53,190 So we are arming our students 1000 00:33:53,190 --> 00:33:56,010 not only how to be successful in the academic environment 1001 00:33:56,010 --> 00:33:58,080 by writing APA style papers, 1002 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:00,060 but we're also giving them that power 1003 00:34:00,060 --> 00:34:01,650 and the ability to go out and communicate 1004 00:34:01,650 --> 00:34:04,200 in a way that the modern digital audience 1005 00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:05,033 wants to receive information. 1006 00:34:05,033 --> 00:34:06,562 Liz- Yeah, I think that that's my favorite part 1007 00:34:06,562 --> 00:34:09,517 about these classes is that they do give you this skills 1008 00:34:09,517 --> 00:34:11,010 and the information that you need 1009 00:34:11,010 --> 00:34:14,130 to be a successful student in the academic field, 1010 00:34:14,130 --> 00:34:15,900 but they give you this more immediate, 1011 00:34:15,900 --> 00:34:19,200 real world writing experience in terms of, you know, 1012 00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:21,000 the fact that you're gonna need to write an email tomorrow 1013 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:21,833 for your job 1014 00:34:21,833 --> 00:34:24,750 or create an infographic for your work. 1015 00:34:24,750 --> 00:34:28,020 I mean, I think you and I make them all the time. 1016 00:34:28,020 --> 00:34:30,240 So that's a really relevant skill, 1017 00:34:30,240 --> 00:34:33,390 as well as creating the Google site for the portfolio. 1018 00:34:33,390 --> 00:34:36,300 Being able to communicate through not just written language, 1019 00:34:36,300 --> 00:34:39,150 but also how you intentionally incorporate those images 1020 00:34:39,150 --> 00:34:42,180 to help further support what you're trying to get across. 1021 00:34:42,180 --> 00:34:43,860 That's very modern, very real. 1022 00:34:43,860 --> 00:34:45,300 Ricardo- Very modern, very real. 1023 00:34:45,300 --> 00:34:48,000 Though I like Frankenstein and poetry so. 1024 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:49,123 Michael- Yeah, same. 1025 00:34:49,123 --> 00:34:51,660 (bright music) 1026 00:34:51,660 --> 00:34:54,780 Michael- Okay, so before we switch gears away from curriculum, 1027 00:34:54,780 --> 00:34:57,960 we gotta talk about the elephant in the room, right? 1028 00:34:57,960 --> 00:34:59,190 Artificial intelligence, 1029 00:34:59,190 --> 00:35:01,260 and especially generative artificial intelligence. 1030 00:35:01,260 --> 00:35:04,020 So in a first-year composition course, 1031 00:35:04,020 --> 00:35:05,790 I can imagine that there might be 1032 00:35:05,790 --> 00:35:08,730 some concern, some excitement, some fear, some trepidation, 1033 00:35:08,730 --> 00:35:10,920 lots and lots of different feelings. 1034 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:12,870 What are y'all thinking about generative AI 1035 00:35:12,870 --> 00:35:15,600 and how you see it potentially being used or not being used 1036 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:17,370 in your first-year composition courses? 1037 00:35:17,370 --> 00:35:19,200 Michelle- Wow, yeah, that is the elephant in the room. 1038 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:20,790 I think that everyone's talking about it. 1039 00:35:20,790 --> 00:35:21,750 And believe it or not, 1040 00:35:21,750 --> 00:35:23,130 it's only been a year, I think, 1041 00:35:23,130 --> 00:35:26,940 since ChatGPT 2, was it two, initially? 1042 00:35:26,940 --> 00:35:28,830 It launched and a lot has already changed. 1043 00:35:28,830 --> 00:35:32,610 And it's really become the focus of a lot of conversations 1044 00:35:32,610 --> 00:35:34,920 about not just the teaching and learning of writing, 1045 00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:36,780 but teaching and learning more broadly. 1046 00:35:36,780 --> 00:35:40,920 So I think what we're talking about now is, you know, 1047 00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:45,360 we definitely don't want to try to be an AI detector 1048 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:47,640 or the AI police 1049 00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:49,920 because the cat is out of the bag. 1050 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:51,510 And so really, you know, 1051 00:35:51,510 --> 00:35:53,820 the conversations that we're having programmatically 1052 00:35:53,820 --> 00:35:57,300 are about how we can teach students 1053 00:35:57,300 --> 00:35:59,400 how to use it as a partner, 1054 00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:01,950 as a tool to improve their writing, 1055 00:36:01,950 --> 00:36:04,500 but not as a substitution 1056 00:36:04,500 --> 00:36:07,770 for the difficult thinking and learning that they need to do 1057 00:36:07,770 --> 00:36:09,360 in all of their classes. 1058 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:12,720 Zach- Yeah, and I would say given our process focus, 1059 00:36:12,720 --> 00:36:15,420 I've never been stressed about AI since this has started. 1060 00:36:15,420 --> 00:36:16,530 I'm more interested in seeing, 1061 00:36:16,530 --> 00:36:18,090 as Michelle said, how it can work 1062 00:36:18,090 --> 00:36:20,670 with and for our students in collaboration 1063 00:36:20,670 --> 00:36:22,320 to help them generate ideas. 1064 00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:24,040 I could see how perhaps teachers 1065 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:25,620 or professors in other disciplines 1066 00:36:25,620 --> 00:36:28,260 who are focused on products may have more anxiety 1067 00:36:28,260 --> 00:36:30,270 about where's that product come from. 1068 00:36:30,270 --> 00:36:32,504 But in a process-based course like ours, 1069 00:36:32,504 --> 00:36:35,220 it's more interesting than scary, I would say. 1070 00:36:35,220 --> 00:36:36,570 Sean- It's also really easy to tell 1071 00:36:36,570 --> 00:36:37,890 when they have used those tools 1072 00:36:37,890 --> 00:36:39,120 to do their writing for them. 1073 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:41,820 But I've approached the feedback the same way I would 1074 00:36:41,820 --> 00:36:44,640 if they had approached their writing personally, 1075 00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:46,200 but they didn't put a lot of effort into it. 1076 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:47,850 So you give the same type of feedback. 1077 00:36:47,850 --> 00:36:50,520 Please add more details or specifics here, 1078 00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:51,402 especially with their reflections, 1079 00:36:51,402 --> 00:36:54,300 because they're supposed to be really sincere. 1080 00:36:54,300 --> 00:36:57,240 Some of them might try to use AI to write that for them, 1081 00:36:57,240 --> 00:36:58,073 but then you're like, 1082 00:36:58,073 --> 00:36:59,850 where are your specific personal examples 1083 00:36:59,850 --> 00:37:00,840 and connections to this? 1084 00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:02,474 Where are you transferring it in your own life? 1085 00:37:02,474 --> 00:37:05,610 Because ChatGPT doesn't know those details. 1086 00:37:05,610 --> 00:37:06,510 And because they're writing 1087 00:37:06,510 --> 00:37:07,590 about their personal communities, 1088 00:37:07,590 --> 00:37:09,670 it's just such a complex process for them. 1089 00:37:09,670 --> 00:37:13,410 But I've also leaned into using it as a tool such as, 1090 00:37:13,410 --> 00:37:14,973 you know, something I read on Reddit, 1091 00:37:14,973 --> 00:37:17,588 another professor said that they've used it 1092 00:37:17,588 --> 00:37:20,640 to give their students a 24/7 tutor for their writing 1093 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:23,430 because they can put their work that they've already done 1094 00:37:23,430 --> 00:37:25,710 and get quick feedback from a certain point of view. 1095 00:37:25,710 --> 00:37:27,570 Here are some prompts you can try 1096 00:37:27,570 --> 00:37:29,100 to get different types of feedback 1097 00:37:29,100 --> 00:37:30,210 depending on what you're looking for 1098 00:37:30,210 --> 00:37:31,860 to improve on in your own work. 1099 00:37:31,860 --> 00:37:33,870 So that's what I've kind of done with my students 1100 00:37:33,870 --> 00:37:36,030 and I've had some success with it this semester. 1101 00:37:36,030 --> 00:37:37,882 John- Yeah, we're actually already kind of starting to pilot 1102 00:37:37,882 --> 00:37:39,258 some of that stuff in our courses. 1103 00:37:39,258 --> 00:37:41,430 And in the spring, we're gonna be expanding 1104 00:37:41,430 --> 00:37:45,030 some of that stuff to more sections, more students. 1105 00:37:45,030 --> 00:37:47,220 Yeah, integrating things like ChatGPT and Word Tune 1106 00:37:47,220 --> 00:37:49,710 into assignments and asking students to honestly, 1107 00:37:49,710 --> 00:37:50,760 you know, tell us how they used it, 1108 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:52,257 what they thought, was it successful. 1109 00:37:52,257 --> 00:37:54,870 And some interesting results so far across the board. 1110 00:37:54,870 --> 00:37:55,980 Some students love it. 1111 00:37:55,980 --> 00:37:57,927 Some students feel weird about using it. 1112 00:37:57,927 --> 00:38:00,030 And so it's not all good or all bad. 1113 00:38:00,030 --> 00:38:00,863 It's just something that's out there 1114 00:38:00,863 --> 00:38:03,570 that we have to recognize and run with. 1115 00:38:03,570 --> 00:38:05,880 Zach- In relationship to the writing conversation in AI, 1116 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:08,107 I would say to any teachers or administrators out there 1117 00:38:08,107 --> 00:38:11,160 who are on the more stressed and negative side 1118 00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:13,560 of AI in this regard, 1119 00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:15,000 I would say it's an opportunity. 1120 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:16,470 It's an opportunity to evaluate 1121 00:38:16,470 --> 00:38:18,120 what writing you're assigning, 1122 00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:19,350 how you're teaching that writing. 1123 00:38:19,350 --> 00:38:21,030 If you're teaching that writing to your students, 1124 00:38:21,030 --> 00:38:23,329 that's a good opportunity to revisit the assignments, 1125 00:38:23,329 --> 00:38:25,680 ask students to do writing in your courses. 1126 00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:27,360 Michelle- Yeah, I would say as writing teachers, 1127 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:29,340 we've always fashioned ourselves 1128 00:38:29,340 --> 00:38:32,400 as more as coaches and partners in learning 1129 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:34,980 than as the old sage on the stage model. 1130 00:38:34,980 --> 00:38:37,680 And I think what AI is gonna really make outdated 1131 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:40,050 are things like people who give lectures 1132 00:38:40,050 --> 00:38:42,060 and then assign Scantrons. 1133 00:38:42,060 --> 00:38:43,710 Because, you know, 1134 00:38:43,710 --> 00:38:46,470 students can quickly complete those exams, 1135 00:38:46,470 --> 00:38:48,480 especially in online classes, right? 1136 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:50,310 They can look up the information on AI, 1137 00:38:50,310 --> 00:38:53,940 They can input that into ChatGPT, 1138 00:38:53,940 --> 00:38:57,060 and so how can you really provide 1139 00:38:57,060 --> 00:39:00,120 these meaningful learning experiences for students 1140 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:02,940 that treat them as partners in their own learning, right? 1141 00:39:02,940 --> 00:39:05,340 That's really where we wanna go 1142 00:39:05,340 --> 00:39:07,320 and continue to go with students. 1143 00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:09,060 I will say too though, that, you know, 1144 00:39:09,060 --> 00:39:12,345 I think anytime tools like this emerge, 1145 00:39:12,345 --> 00:39:15,930 there's rightfully a lot of anxiety among faculty 1146 00:39:15,930 --> 00:39:18,540 about how they might be forced to implement this 1147 00:39:18,540 --> 00:39:20,134 or what expectations there might be 1148 00:39:20,134 --> 00:39:20,967 around something like that. 1149 00:39:20,967 --> 00:39:22,650 And I will say, you know, 1150 00:39:22,650 --> 00:39:25,110 the conversations that I've had across ASU, 1151 00:39:25,110 --> 00:39:29,520 the provost office has stressed that whatever we do with AI, 1152 00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:31,020 the human will be at the center. 1153 00:39:31,020 --> 00:39:33,520 And I really appreciate the emphasis 1154 00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:36,180 that ASU has placed on that. 1155 00:39:36,180 --> 00:39:40,920 And I think that in tandem with our new design aspiration 1156 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:42,810 related to principled innovation 1157 00:39:42,810 --> 00:39:44,580 should be reassuring to a lot of us 1158 00:39:44,580 --> 00:39:48,300 who may be feeling anxious about what this might mean for us 1159 00:39:48,300 --> 00:39:50,610 in terms of class size 1160 00:39:50,610 --> 00:39:53,610 or, you know, like AI teaching the class. 1161 00:39:53,610 --> 00:39:55,410 Because I think, you know, 1162 00:39:55,410 --> 00:39:57,150 as Zach and and John have said, 1163 00:39:57,150 --> 00:39:59,040 this is an opportunity 1164 00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:01,388 to really focus on the things that we love most 1165 00:40:01,388 --> 00:40:03,218 about teaching and working with students, 1166 00:40:03,218 --> 00:40:05,202 and will give us a tool to do that 1167 00:40:05,202 --> 00:40:07,650 in a more sophisticated way. 1168 00:40:07,650 --> 00:40:10,740 Michael- I think that we have a new episode maybe for season six 1169 00:40:10,740 --> 00:40:12,180 all about generative AI 1170 00:40:12,180 --> 00:40:14,100 in these first-year composition courses. 1171 00:40:14,100 --> 00:40:15,450 Maybe we can invite you back 1172 00:40:15,450 --> 00:40:16,461 to hear about some of these experiments 1173 00:40:16,461 --> 00:40:17,880 that are gonna be going on. 1174 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:18,713 Michelle- We'd love that. 1175 00:40:18,713 --> 00:40:21,600 (bright music) 1176 00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:24,180 Liz- So speaking of doing things intentionally, 1177 00:40:24,180 --> 00:40:26,910 I think one of the things that Michelle touches on 1178 00:40:26,910 --> 00:40:28,258 is just their intentionality 1179 00:40:28,258 --> 00:40:30,810 and how well thought out these courses are, 1180 00:40:30,810 --> 00:40:32,400 and kind of how they're using 1181 00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:35,820 the ideas of principled innovation in their courses, 1182 00:40:35,820 --> 00:40:39,090 which really the core of that to me is intentionality. 1183 00:40:39,090 --> 00:40:40,860 Ricardo- What's principled innovation? 1184 00:40:40,860 --> 00:40:43,320 Liz- Well, why would you would ask? 1185 00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:45,090 Liz- So principled innovation 1186 00:40:45,090 --> 00:40:47,700 is the ability to imagine new concepts, 1187 00:40:47,700 --> 00:40:51,330 catalyze ideas and form new solutions guided by principles 1188 00:40:51,330 --> 00:40:54,240 that create positive change for humanity. 1189 00:40:54,240 --> 00:40:56,880 The question is, we can innovate, but should we? 1190 00:40:56,880 --> 00:40:58,887 Which really gets back to that intentionality. 1191 00:40:58,887 --> 00:41:00,480 Ricardo- Well, where does this come from? 1192 00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:01,530 Liz- Oh, this comes from ASU. 1193 00:41:01,530 --> 00:41:02,434 Mary- Oh, yeah, we totally branded this thing. 1194 00:41:02,434 --> 00:41:04,380 Ricardo- It is an ASU-branded thing. 1195 00:41:04,380 --> 00:41:06,150 Mary- Registered trademark. 1196 00:41:06,150 --> 00:41:07,590 Maybe not trademark, I don't know. 1197 00:41:07,590 --> 00:41:08,820 What's the circle around the R? 1198 00:41:08,820 --> 00:41:09,900 That's what it has. 1199 00:41:09,900 --> 00:41:10,920 Michael- Registered. Ricardo- Registered, yeah. 1200 00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:12,180 Mary- Done registered. 1201 00:41:12,180 --> 00:41:14,340 Liz- I was gonna say, I don't know if you've heard this, 1202 00:41:14,340 --> 00:41:17,416 but ASU is number one in innovation. 1203 00:41:17,416 --> 00:41:19,073 Michael- How many years in a row? Liz- Nine years ago right now. 1204 00:41:19,073 --> 00:41:21,450 Mary-We were on eight infinity last year. 1205 00:41:21,450 --> 00:41:23,083 Liz- Yeah, but what's interesting about this 1206 00:41:23,083 --> 00:41:26,399 is that it really breaks down into kind of four areas, 1207 00:41:26,399 --> 00:41:30,210 moral, civic, intellectual, and performance. 1208 00:41:30,210 --> 00:41:32,520 I won't necessarily get into the nitty gritty 1209 00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:33,570 about what all this means. 1210 00:41:33,570 --> 00:41:34,403 Liz- No, we'll put a link. 1211 00:41:34,403 --> 00:41:35,340 You guys can get into nitty gritty. 1212 00:41:35,340 --> 00:41:38,880 Mary-There's an entire website dedicated to the PI process. 1213 00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:40,532 Liz- Yeah, there's a lot of great information there. 1214 00:41:40,532 --> 00:41:43,320 But so much of that is thinking about these four areas 1215 00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:45,461 in terms of how you're intentionally integrating those 1216 00:41:45,461 --> 00:41:46,396 into your courses 1217 00:41:46,396 --> 00:41:48,750 and really what that means for students 1218 00:41:48,750 --> 00:41:49,830 when they leave here. 1219 00:41:49,830 --> 00:41:51,120 ASU is really committed 1220 00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:53,250 to not just making you a good student, 1221 00:41:53,250 --> 00:41:55,860 but a good, well-rounded human being on the planet 1222 00:41:55,860 --> 00:41:58,260 who's thinking about the world around you 1223 00:41:58,260 --> 00:42:00,840 and not just what's in front of you, 1224 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:02,490 but what's out there and beyond. 1225 00:42:02,490 --> 00:42:03,840 Ricardo- What a novel idea. 1226 00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:05,940 Mary- Yeah, shout out to the Mary Lou Fulton's teacher college 1227 00:42:05,940 --> 00:42:06,773 for putting that all together. 1228 00:42:06,773 --> 00:42:08,250 (bright music) 1229 00:42:08,250 --> 00:42:09,690 Micahel- So let's switch gears a little bit 1230 00:42:09,690 --> 00:42:10,523 and I wanna talk about 1231 00:42:10,523 --> 00:42:12,450 some of the other really special things 1232 00:42:12,450 --> 00:42:13,590 outside of the curriculum 1233 00:42:13,590 --> 00:42:15,442 that take place in these first-year composition courses. 1234 00:42:15,442 --> 00:42:17,250 And John, I'd like to start with you 1235 00:42:17,250 --> 00:42:18,900 and hear a little bit about your work 1236 00:42:18,900 --> 00:42:20,190 with the writing mentors 1237 00:42:20,190 --> 00:42:22,350 'cause I'm sure that that phrase is unfamiliar 1238 00:42:22,350 --> 00:42:23,550 to many of our listeners 1239 00:42:23,550 --> 00:42:27,060 and then talk about their work in the platform InScribe. 1240 00:42:27,060 --> 00:42:27,893 John- Sure, yeah. 1241 00:42:27,893 --> 00:42:29,670 So the term writing mentor 1242 00:42:29,670 --> 00:42:31,015 has gone through many different variations. 1243 00:42:31,015 --> 00:42:33,840 I think they're called writing fellows at one point. 1244 00:42:33,840 --> 00:42:35,186 It wouldn't be such a stretch 1245 00:42:35,186 --> 00:42:37,770 to even refer to 'em as TAs or tutors. 1246 00:42:37,770 --> 00:42:39,120 But what our writing mentors are, 1247 00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:40,290 as I mentioned earlier, 1248 00:42:40,290 --> 00:42:41,730 they're course-embedded peer tutors. 1249 00:42:41,730 --> 00:42:43,080 So, you know, in the Writer's Studio, 1250 00:42:43,080 --> 00:42:44,100 we have, what? 1251 00:42:44,100 --> 00:42:45,750 A hundred faculty members or so 1252 00:42:45,750 --> 00:42:47,460 across all the different Canvas shell, 1253 00:42:47,460 --> 00:42:49,020 but they're all teaching the same curriculum, 1254 00:42:49,020 --> 00:42:51,060 and they all have a writing mentor 1255 00:42:51,060 --> 00:42:52,290 that's assigned to the course as well, 1256 00:42:52,290 --> 00:42:55,080 who works with both the faculty and the students. 1257 00:42:55,080 --> 00:42:56,250 They're there for peer support, 1258 00:42:56,250 --> 00:42:57,659 things like just answering questions, 1259 00:42:57,659 --> 00:42:59,337 you know, monitoring and grading discussion 1260 00:42:59,337 --> 00:43:01,320 and peer review assignments. 1261 00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:02,790 You know, holding drop in labs 1262 00:43:02,790 --> 00:43:04,068 where students can come in and ask questions 1263 00:43:04,068 --> 00:43:06,090 about assignments that are giving them trouble. 1264 00:43:06,090 --> 00:43:07,782 They'll hold workshops where the students, 1265 00:43:07,782 --> 00:43:10,140 you know, they can come and work over Zoom 1266 00:43:10,140 --> 00:43:12,000 for one-on-one help with their papers 1267 00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:13,200 synchronously in real time. 1268 00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:14,730 So they're just a really great resource 1269 00:43:14,730 --> 00:43:15,698 and really a big part 1270 00:43:15,698 --> 00:43:17,850 of what makes the Writers' Studio so special. 1271 00:43:17,850 --> 00:43:20,250 Now, as part of the design changes 1272 00:43:20,250 --> 00:43:21,404 we've made over the last three years, 1273 00:43:21,404 --> 00:43:23,910 we have integrated a community 1274 00:43:23,910 --> 00:43:26,940 and communication platform called InScribe into our courses. 1275 00:43:26,940 --> 00:43:28,020 What we used to have 1276 00:43:28,020 --> 00:43:29,880 in anybody that's familiar with the Canvas course 1277 00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:31,260 will know about the discussions, 1278 00:43:31,260 --> 00:43:33,900 and we used to have a community forum in every course 1279 00:43:33,900 --> 00:43:36,270 where students would just be able to post a question 1280 00:43:36,270 --> 00:43:38,490 and then the writing mentor or instructor 1281 00:43:38,490 --> 00:43:39,360 would get back to them. 1282 00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:41,187 But we found those were hardly ever used. 1283 00:43:41,187 --> 00:43:43,530 You know, just imagine a room full of cobwebs 1284 00:43:43,530 --> 00:43:45,510 or a tumbleweed drifting across, 1285 00:43:45,510 --> 00:43:46,893 you know, a barren landscape. 1286 00:43:46,893 --> 00:43:48,900 You'd get maybe a question or two. 1287 00:43:48,900 --> 00:43:50,135 It was clear that there's more questions 1288 00:43:50,135 --> 00:43:51,120 out there than that, 1289 00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:53,700 but that wasn't the right format for those questions 1290 00:43:53,700 --> 00:43:54,660 and to help those students. 1291 00:43:54,660 --> 00:43:56,580 So what InScribe does is it serves 1292 00:43:56,580 --> 00:43:58,110 as kind of a digital study hall 1293 00:43:58,110 --> 00:43:59,820 where 24 hours a day, 1294 00:43:59,820 --> 00:44:00,750 you know, we have a team 1295 00:44:00,750 --> 00:44:02,790 of almost a hundred writing mentors as well 1296 00:44:02,790 --> 00:44:03,990 who monitor this platform. 1297 00:44:03,990 --> 00:44:06,120 Students can post questions anytime they want. 1298 00:44:06,120 --> 00:44:07,590 And within 24 hours, 1299 00:44:07,590 --> 00:44:09,330 any number of writing mentors, 1300 00:44:09,330 --> 00:44:10,402 you can get 2, 3, 4 responses, 1301 00:44:10,402 --> 00:44:11,850 we'll get back to that student. 1302 00:44:11,850 --> 00:44:13,080 You get a lot of stuff, you know, 1303 00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:14,490 like, what was the due date for this? 1304 00:44:14,490 --> 00:44:15,450 Or where do I find that? 1305 00:44:15,450 --> 00:44:17,700 But you get a lot of, you know, interesting questions too. 1306 00:44:17,700 --> 00:44:19,342 Like, is this topic appropriate 1307 00:44:19,342 --> 00:44:21,930 or I'm having trouble finding someone to interview. 1308 00:44:21,930 --> 00:44:24,540 And our writing mentors, they're amazing people. 1309 00:44:24,540 --> 00:44:26,597 They're predominantly undergraduate peer tutors. 1310 00:44:26,597 --> 00:44:29,370 A lot of them come directly from the Writer's Studio, 1311 00:44:29,370 --> 00:44:30,244 Michael, like you did. 1312 00:44:30,244 --> 00:44:31,987 We'll have instructors reach out and say, 1313 00:44:31,987 --> 00:44:33,420 "Hey, you were such a great student. 1314 00:44:33,420 --> 00:44:35,370 Why don't you apply to to be a writing mentor?" 1315 00:44:35,370 --> 00:44:37,650 So we have, I would say, 1316 00:44:37,650 --> 00:44:40,110 it's close to 50% of our writing mentors 1317 00:44:40,110 --> 00:44:41,670 came directly from the Writer's Studio. 1318 00:44:41,670 --> 00:44:43,320 But we also recruit through Barrett, 1319 00:44:43,320 --> 00:44:45,810 through, you know, the English department newsletter, 1320 00:44:45,810 --> 00:44:46,643 things like that. 1321 00:44:46,643 --> 00:44:47,476 Mostly undergrads. 1322 00:44:47,476 --> 00:44:48,309 Some graduate students. 1323 00:44:48,309 --> 00:44:50,670 But they're all very high achieving students. 1324 00:44:50,670 --> 00:44:53,370 They've succeeded in their first-year composition courses 1325 00:44:53,370 --> 00:44:55,020 and they're just here to help students. 1326 00:44:55,020 --> 00:44:58,170 And InScribe has really helped really connect our students 1327 00:44:58,170 --> 00:45:00,210 and our writing mentors in ways that was needed 1328 00:45:00,210 --> 00:45:02,250 and wasn't there before. 1329 00:45:02,250 --> 00:45:04,260 Michael- And John, how many writing mentors are there 1330 00:45:04,260 --> 00:45:05,790 in each class section? 1331 00:45:05,790 --> 00:45:07,320 John- Between 101 and 102, 1332 00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:11,790 I think there's around 40-ish in each course. 1333 00:45:11,790 --> 00:45:13,740 And then we just have a small handful. 1334 00:45:13,740 --> 00:45:16,980 Sean can attest, there's not a large 105 population, 1335 00:45:16,980 --> 00:45:17,844 but we do have a handful, 1336 00:45:17,844 --> 00:45:21,240 maybe two or three or four 105 writing mentors. 1337 00:45:21,240 --> 00:45:24,570 Michael- But is it true that every single course has a instructor 1338 00:45:24,570 --> 00:45:26,490 and a writing mentor with them? 1339 00:45:26,490 --> 00:45:28,620 John- Yes, one to sometimes two writing mentors, 1340 00:45:28,620 --> 00:45:29,850 Michael- Which I think that ratio, 1341 00:45:29,850 --> 00:45:31,950 when we think about our high enrolling courses 1342 00:45:31,950 --> 00:45:34,710 at a huge university like ASU, 1343 00:45:34,710 --> 00:45:36,360 that instructor to student ratio 1344 00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:39,960 is incredibly special and incredibly intentional. 1345 00:45:39,960 --> 00:45:40,852 Michelle, is there anything you wanna add? 1346 00:45:40,852 --> 00:45:42,450 I know you were very instrumental 1347 00:45:42,450 --> 00:45:44,760 in kind of getting this program off the ground. 1348 00:45:44,760 --> 00:45:45,990 Michaelle- Yeah, well I think, 1349 00:45:45,990 --> 00:45:49,500 I know there was talk earlier about high impact practices 1350 00:45:49,500 --> 00:45:52,920 and peer-to-peer learning is so important for that. 1351 00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:54,660 Just like when we ask students 1352 00:45:54,660 --> 00:45:59,070 to evaluate or give feedback on each other's writing, 1353 00:45:59,070 --> 00:46:02,670 the process of giving feedback improve student learning. 1354 00:46:02,670 --> 00:46:05,340 And so these kinds of relationships 1355 00:46:05,340 --> 00:46:07,890 are valuable for everybody involved. 1356 00:46:07,890 --> 00:46:09,840 The students who are, you know, 1357 00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:12,785 in the class getting support from their peer tutor, 1358 00:46:12,785 --> 00:46:14,610 their writing mentor, 1359 00:46:14,610 --> 00:46:15,900 the peer tutor themselves, 1360 00:46:15,900 --> 00:46:18,420 learn so much throughout the process. 1361 00:46:18,420 --> 00:46:20,670 And you know, we've had students stay on 1362 00:46:20,670 --> 00:46:21,930 for a master's program, 1363 00:46:21,930 --> 00:46:24,030 stay in the program as a writing mentor 1364 00:46:24,030 --> 00:46:25,500 throughout their masters. 1365 00:46:25,500 --> 00:46:27,660 And then even the faculty member, I think, 1366 00:46:27,660 --> 00:46:30,870 often benefits so much from working with the writing mentor 1367 00:46:30,870 --> 00:46:32,580 because it gives them an opportunity 1368 00:46:32,580 --> 00:46:35,670 to see the class from a student's perspective. 1369 00:46:35,670 --> 00:46:38,310 And so it's just really a wonderful 1370 00:46:38,310 --> 00:46:40,407 community building program that we have. 1371 00:46:40,407 --> 00:46:41,700 And I just wanna add one more thing 1372 00:46:41,700 --> 00:46:42,690 and then I'll let John take over, 1373 00:46:42,690 --> 00:46:45,270 but I don't know if there's any other, 1374 00:46:45,270 --> 00:46:48,960 or any program that's quite as large as ours 1375 00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:51,330 that provides this kind of opportunity 1376 00:46:51,330 --> 00:46:55,170 for ASU online students to work for ASU, right? 1377 00:46:55,170 --> 00:46:58,680 And then to be part of a community of students 1378 00:46:58,680 --> 00:47:00,720 in the way that our writing mentors are 1379 00:47:00,720 --> 00:47:02,580 who are, as John said, 1380 00:47:02,580 --> 00:47:04,830 predominantly ASU online students. 1381 00:47:04,830 --> 00:47:05,790 John- I was just gonna say, Michelle, 1382 00:47:05,790 --> 00:47:08,100 you mentioned community building relationships. 1383 00:47:08,100 --> 00:47:10,200 We have a number of faculty members 1384 00:47:10,200 --> 00:47:12,150 who started out as writing mentors, right? 1385 00:47:12,150 --> 00:47:13,139 Michelle- Yes, we do actually 1386 00:47:13,139 --> 00:47:15,090 who are getting their masters at the time. 1387 00:47:15,090 --> 00:47:16,260 John- And instructional designers. 1388 00:47:16,260 --> 00:47:18,420 Michelle- And instructional designers, yeah. 1389 00:47:18,420 --> 00:47:20,613 Our reach extends broadly. 1390 00:47:21,689 --> 00:47:23,430 Sean- And just to quickly add to that, 1391 00:47:23,430 --> 00:47:25,410 I love how many of the writing mentors 1392 00:47:25,410 --> 00:47:27,450 come from multiple disciplines too. 1393 00:47:27,450 --> 00:47:30,627 I have a lot of past writing mentors who were STEM students 1394 00:47:30,627 --> 00:47:32,670 and they've gone into engineering for example. 1395 00:47:32,670 --> 00:47:34,590 And that's such a cool perspective to bring, 1396 00:47:34,590 --> 00:47:36,990 especially for our STEM students in the courses 1397 00:47:36,990 --> 00:47:38,077 who might not think, 1398 00:47:38,077 --> 00:47:38,940 "Oh, I don't need to learn 1399 00:47:38,940 --> 00:47:40,710 how to write or communicate in this way." 1400 00:47:40,710 --> 00:47:42,030 John- It's actually almost a surprise 1401 00:47:42,030 --> 00:47:44,280 when we have English majors who apply. 1402 00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:45,930 It's like, "Oh, they're still out there. 1403 00:47:45,930 --> 00:47:46,763 Okay, cool." 1404 00:47:46,763 --> 00:47:47,596 Sean- Yeah. 1405 00:47:47,596 --> 00:47:50,064 (bright music) 1406 00:47:51,330 --> 00:47:54,210 Mary- Mentoring, the writing mentorship. 1407 00:47:54,210 --> 00:47:55,370 What is that like? You were one. 1408 00:47:55,370 --> 00:47:58,140 Michael- It is a special, special role. 1409 00:47:58,140 --> 00:47:59,820 So as the writing mentor, 1410 00:47:59,820 --> 00:48:01,800 you're working one-on-one with a faculty 1411 00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:04,350 in your classroom of about 25 to 35 students, 1412 00:48:04,350 --> 00:48:05,183 just kind of depending 1413 00:48:05,183 --> 00:48:07,500 on how long you've been a writing mentor. 1414 00:48:07,500 --> 00:48:09,180 And really what you're there to do, 1415 00:48:09,180 --> 00:48:12,180 again, is to primarily answer any student questions 1416 00:48:12,180 --> 00:48:15,150 that are coming in about the general course curriculum 1417 00:48:15,150 --> 00:48:17,730 and content and how to navigate and things like that. 1418 00:48:17,730 --> 00:48:19,140 They also really engage with students 1419 00:48:19,140 --> 00:48:21,060 on any discussion assignments 1420 00:48:21,060 --> 00:48:22,440 to make sure that they feel 1421 00:48:22,440 --> 00:48:24,090 that there is that instructor present 1422 00:48:24,090 --> 00:48:25,140 within the course as well. 1423 00:48:25,140 --> 00:48:27,240 So not only that peer-to-peer interaction, 1424 00:48:27,240 --> 00:48:29,610 but that peer-to-instructor interaction as well. 1425 00:48:29,610 --> 00:48:32,250 And then before the students are working 1426 00:48:32,250 --> 00:48:34,110 on their major project, 1427 00:48:34,110 --> 00:48:36,150 their major writing project within the course, 1428 00:48:36,150 --> 00:48:39,480 the mentors also host what are called revision workshops. 1429 00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:41,790 And these are one-hour workshops where students can sign up, 1430 00:48:41,790 --> 00:48:44,485 and they now actually offer them asynchronously as well, 1431 00:48:44,485 --> 00:48:46,761 for students like me who couldn't find a time 1432 00:48:46,761 --> 00:48:48,150 to meet with someone else. 1433 00:48:48,150 --> 00:48:51,180 But these workshops are one hour 1434 00:48:51,180 --> 00:48:54,030 to get to meet with somebody for the student 1435 00:48:54,030 --> 00:48:56,460 who goes through a training twice a year 1436 00:48:56,460 --> 00:48:58,110 about this course, about the content, 1437 00:48:58,110 --> 00:48:59,160 about the curriculum, 1438 00:48:59,160 --> 00:49:01,830 and really knows the assignments really, really well. 1439 00:49:01,830 --> 00:49:03,960 So we would never discourage a student 1440 00:49:03,960 --> 00:49:05,580 from going to the ASU writing center 1441 00:49:05,580 --> 00:49:08,340 because they are also phenomenally helpful. 1442 00:49:08,340 --> 00:49:10,560 But the writing mentors are specifically trained 1443 00:49:10,560 --> 00:49:12,870 in the type of writing and the type of projects 1444 00:49:12,870 --> 00:49:14,580 students are working on within these courses. 1445 00:49:14,580 --> 00:49:17,362 So they're really a great go-to, 1446 00:49:17,362 --> 00:49:19,590 and again, being that peer model, 1447 00:49:19,590 --> 00:49:22,500 we wanted it to hopefully decrease some of that pressure 1448 00:49:22,500 --> 00:49:23,653 of it's not a TA, 1449 00:49:23,653 --> 00:49:26,010 nothing official or scary like that. 1450 00:49:26,010 --> 00:49:26,843 It's another peer. 1451 00:49:26,843 --> 00:49:28,440 It's another student who's gone through this course 1452 00:49:28,440 --> 00:49:29,980 and they understand what you're going through. 1453 00:49:29,980 --> 00:49:32,160 Liz- Well, that's so nice 'cause it's so horrifying 1454 00:49:32,160 --> 00:49:33,607 to be like a brand new student who's like, 1455 00:49:33,607 --> 00:49:34,740 "I haven't written a paper 1456 00:49:34,740 --> 00:49:37,140 in say 25 years." 1457 00:49:37,140 --> 00:49:39,330 And then to be able to go to a peer 1458 00:49:39,330 --> 00:49:41,280 instead of you're really super scary, 1459 00:49:41,280 --> 00:49:43,950 although secretly really nice faculty member, 1460 00:49:43,950 --> 00:49:45,150 but they seem super scary, 1461 00:49:45,150 --> 00:49:46,946 and get that feedback from another student. 1462 00:49:46,946 --> 00:49:49,163 It's so less like intimidating. 1463 00:49:49,163 --> 00:49:50,550 So that's really cool. 1464 00:49:50,550 --> 00:49:51,720 And it also, 1465 00:49:51,720 --> 00:49:53,400 since there's students who've gone through the course, 1466 00:49:53,400 --> 00:49:54,233 it's that sense of like, 1467 00:49:54,233 --> 00:49:56,760 "Look, I've come out the other side, 1468 00:49:56,760 --> 00:49:57,870 you will too. 1469 00:49:57,870 --> 00:50:00,210 Michael- And it's such a benefit to our online students, you know, 1470 00:50:00,210 --> 00:50:03,720 to be able to get a job at the university, 1471 00:50:03,720 --> 00:50:04,800 like that is huge, 1472 00:50:04,800 --> 00:50:07,200 and it doesn't happen very often for online students, right? 1473 00:50:07,200 --> 00:50:09,360 And then also to be able to develop those connections 1474 00:50:09,360 --> 00:50:11,100 not only with other online students 1475 00:50:11,100 --> 00:50:13,410 but with instructors and with those coordinators, right? 1476 00:50:13,410 --> 00:50:15,690 And they're developing those mentor relationships 1477 00:50:15,690 --> 00:50:16,650 that again are gonna help them 1478 00:50:16,650 --> 00:50:17,910 get those recommendation letters 1479 00:50:17,910 --> 00:50:20,095 and things that again are very challenging for students 1480 00:50:20,095 --> 00:50:22,800 in online environments to often get. 1481 00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:24,394 Ricardo- Well, the thing that I'd like to highlight 1482 00:50:24,394 --> 00:50:26,790 is this new character that Liz has come up 1483 00:50:26,790 --> 00:50:29,823 with Southern woman who's returning back to school 25 years. 1484 00:50:30,870 --> 00:50:32,149 Liz- Well, I haven't heard of a web assessment 1485 00:50:32,149 --> 00:50:34,053 and why I said 25 years? 1486 00:50:35,391 --> 00:50:36,660 It's an old prospect. Ricardo- I haven't touched 1487 00:50:36,660 --> 00:50:37,699 the word process, sir. 1488 00:50:37,699 --> 00:50:38,997 And I don't know how long. 1489 00:50:38,997 --> 00:50:40,283 Mary- Well, I never. 1490 00:50:40,283 --> 00:50:42,720 (bright music) 1491 00:50:42,720 --> 00:50:43,830 Michael- So before we move on, 1492 00:50:43,830 --> 00:50:45,810 I wanna talk a little bit more about InScribe 1493 00:50:45,810 --> 00:50:46,950 because that's a new platform 1494 00:50:46,950 --> 00:50:48,870 that is becoming really popular 1495 00:50:48,870 --> 00:50:50,190 in a lot of our online courses. 1496 00:50:50,190 --> 00:50:51,900 And one of the cool things that I know, 1497 00:50:51,900 --> 00:50:54,180 the changes that we made was rather than, 1498 00:50:54,180 --> 00:50:56,040 you know, in that community forum model, 1499 00:50:56,040 --> 00:50:56,873 it was the, what? 1500 00:50:56,873 --> 00:51:00,420 25, 30 students and the writing mentor alone 1501 00:51:00,420 --> 00:51:01,500 in that community forum. 1502 00:51:01,500 --> 00:51:02,460 John, tell us a little bit 1503 00:51:02,460 --> 00:51:03,690 about what's different with InScribe. 1504 00:51:03,690 --> 00:51:06,120 John- Sure, so InScribe is, 1505 00:51:06,120 --> 00:51:07,950 you know, it's available 24/7, 1506 00:51:07,950 --> 00:51:10,890 and that really, really helps serve our student population. 1507 00:51:10,890 --> 00:51:11,880 You know, as Michelle mentioned earlier, 1508 00:51:11,880 --> 00:51:13,830 we have a very diverse population. 1509 00:51:13,830 --> 00:51:14,710 It's not just all, you know, 1510 00:51:14,710 --> 00:51:17,525 18 to 20-year-old first-time college students. 1511 00:51:17,525 --> 00:51:22,320 We have returning students who work a nine-to-five job. 1512 00:51:22,320 --> 00:51:25,200 We have military students who are stationed in Hawaii 1513 00:51:25,200 --> 00:51:26,613 or Japan or Germany, 1514 00:51:26,613 --> 00:51:28,692 you know, stay at home parents, 1515 00:51:28,692 --> 00:51:31,320 just students from across the globe. 1516 00:51:31,320 --> 00:51:35,340 So if you just consider a typical teacher or writing mentor, 1517 00:51:35,340 --> 00:51:37,920 you know, it's not quite a nine-to-five, 1518 00:51:37,920 --> 00:51:39,960 but you know, yeah, business hours, right? 1519 00:51:39,960 --> 00:51:41,520 But with InScribe, 1520 00:51:41,520 --> 00:51:42,480 and we do have mentors 1521 00:51:42,480 --> 00:51:44,730 that are from across the globe as well. 1522 00:51:44,730 --> 00:51:46,890 And they're available 24/7. 1523 00:51:46,890 --> 00:51:50,820 So if a student gets off of a shift at work at five, 1524 00:51:50,820 --> 00:51:51,653 they make dinner, 1525 00:51:51,653 --> 00:51:52,500 then they get to their homework, 1526 00:51:52,500 --> 00:51:53,490 it's nine or 10, 1527 00:51:53,490 --> 00:51:54,729 and they post a question, 1528 00:51:54,729 --> 00:51:57,690 they could get a response before they go to bed that night. 1529 00:51:57,690 --> 00:52:00,630 Or a student in Hawaii that's it's 6:00 AM Arizona time. 1530 00:52:00,630 --> 00:52:02,640 There's gonna be somebody keeping track 1531 00:52:02,640 --> 00:52:04,800 and hopping on to help them out. 1532 00:52:04,800 --> 00:52:08,460 Michelle- And even if it's not one of our writing mentors 1533 00:52:08,460 --> 00:52:10,020 who's there responding to questions, 1534 00:52:10,020 --> 00:52:13,020 it might be a peer who has the answer to that question. 1535 00:52:13,020 --> 00:52:15,480 And one thing that John worked on 1536 00:52:15,480 --> 00:52:17,670 over the last few years was, 1537 00:52:17,670 --> 00:52:20,130 and I think Sean was involved in this process too, 1538 00:52:20,130 --> 00:52:21,690 was collecting resources 1539 00:52:21,690 --> 00:52:24,810 and building those resources into InScribe 1540 00:52:24,810 --> 00:52:27,420 so that even if the student can't get an answer 1541 00:52:27,420 --> 00:52:28,920 immediately to their question, 1542 00:52:28,920 --> 00:52:30,713 they can search within InScribe 1543 00:52:30,713 --> 00:52:34,500 for resources that we have generated for them, 1544 00:52:34,500 --> 00:52:35,610 created for them 1545 00:52:35,610 --> 00:52:38,112 to help them potentially solve the question at hand. 1546 00:52:38,112 --> 00:52:40,500 John- Yeah, you know, how do I cite an APA? 1547 00:52:40,500 --> 00:52:42,240 How do I write a thesis statement? 1548 00:52:42,240 --> 00:52:43,073 What's the difference 1549 00:52:43,073 --> 00:52:44,820 between primary and secondary research? 1550 00:52:44,820 --> 00:52:48,360 So we have resources built in to InScribe 1551 00:52:48,360 --> 00:52:51,360 that also link out to places like Purdue Owl 1552 00:52:51,360 --> 00:52:53,880 or just other helpful websites that are out there. 1553 00:52:53,880 --> 00:52:55,830 So there's not only active engagement 1554 00:52:55,830 --> 00:52:57,150 from their peers and from writing mentors, 1555 00:52:57,150 --> 00:53:00,150 but there's just static builtin resources as well. 1556 00:53:00,150 --> 00:53:03,057 Sean- And they're a lot easier to access than the typical FAQ 1557 00:53:03,057 --> 00:53:05,040 because it's powered by AI 1558 00:53:05,040 --> 00:53:06,960 to help students get to those answers. 1559 00:53:06,960 --> 00:53:08,550 And I just wanted to add also 1560 00:53:08,550 --> 00:53:11,580 that this has been a game changer for work-life balance 1561 00:53:11,580 --> 00:53:13,410 and just wellness in general for us 1562 00:53:13,410 --> 00:53:17,070 because I used to make myself way too available for students 1563 00:53:17,070 --> 00:53:18,240 and it has been helpful for me 1564 00:53:18,240 --> 00:53:22,207 to be able to firmly but confidently step back and say, 1565 00:53:22,207 --> 00:53:24,090 "There are resources for you. 1566 00:53:24,090 --> 00:53:25,860 I'll be back tomorrow, yeah. 1567 00:53:25,860 --> 00:53:26,693 Michael- Absolutely, Sean. 1568 00:53:26,693 --> 00:53:27,570 And what I was gonna say, you know, 1569 00:53:27,570 --> 00:53:29,100 I was one of those students getting my degree 1570 00:53:29,100 --> 00:53:30,330 where I was working three jobs 1571 00:53:30,330 --> 00:53:31,470 doing a full-time student load. 1572 00:53:31,470 --> 00:53:33,000 So I was working 90 hours a week. 1573 00:53:33,000 --> 00:53:34,320 So there were not, 1574 00:53:34,320 --> 00:53:35,640 I hope that y'all were asleep 1575 00:53:35,640 --> 00:53:37,320 by the time that I was online doing homework. 1576 00:53:37,320 --> 00:53:39,540 But you know, Sean, you touched on that AI piece of it, 1577 00:53:39,540 --> 00:53:41,760 which I think is so helpful within InScribe too. 1578 00:53:41,760 --> 00:53:43,170 'Cause basically what it does 1579 00:53:43,170 --> 00:53:45,450 is as a student starts to type their question, 1580 00:53:45,450 --> 00:53:46,890 InScribe's artificial intelligence 1581 00:53:46,890 --> 00:53:47,910 is gonna be reading that, right? 1582 00:53:47,910 --> 00:53:51,510 And so we pre-populate InScribe with these FAQs 1583 00:53:51,510 --> 00:53:53,427 based off of commonly asked questions. 1584 00:53:53,427 --> 00:53:54,450 And so that way, 1585 00:53:54,450 --> 00:53:57,480 the AI is able to prompt and respond back to a student 1586 00:53:57,480 --> 00:53:59,220 typically giving them the answer, right? 1587 00:53:59,220 --> 00:54:01,830 And so what's so great is I spent a lot of time 1588 00:54:01,830 --> 00:54:03,210 going through the InScribe data 1589 00:54:03,210 --> 00:54:04,260 and what we see, 1590 00:54:04,260 --> 00:54:06,810 no matter what course that we've added this into 1591 00:54:06,810 --> 00:54:08,190 time and time again, 1592 00:54:08,190 --> 00:54:11,790 the number of views far exceeds the number of posts. 1593 00:54:11,790 --> 00:54:13,290 And that's not always the case 1594 00:54:13,290 --> 00:54:14,607 in the community forum, right? 1595 00:54:14,607 --> 00:54:15,660 And so what we're seeing 1596 00:54:15,660 --> 00:54:17,880 is that InScribed not only allows students 1597 00:54:17,880 --> 00:54:19,560 to be able to get their answer faster, 1598 00:54:19,560 --> 00:54:21,033 but it also reduces the number of questions 1599 00:54:21,033 --> 00:54:22,680 that students have to ask 1600 00:54:22,680 --> 00:54:24,295 because they're already seeing that answer there. 1601 00:54:24,295 --> 00:54:26,878 (bright music) 1602 00:54:28,110 --> 00:54:30,660 Mary- You know, what I like about the InScribe resources? 1603 00:54:30,660 --> 00:54:32,970 'Cause I know like students could just go Google it, right? 1604 00:54:32,970 --> 00:54:34,107 Like what, how do I cite APA? 1605 00:54:34,107 --> 00:54:35,190 Google it. 1606 00:54:35,190 --> 00:54:36,580 Well, what if they go to the wrong resource? 1607 00:54:36,580 --> 00:54:37,470 Michael- Yeah. Mary- Right? 1608 00:54:37,470 --> 00:54:38,460 So like that's what I like 1609 00:54:38,460 --> 00:54:40,920 about that intentional resource curation that happens, 1610 00:54:40,920 --> 00:54:42,450 and creation, as Michelle said, 1611 00:54:42,450 --> 00:54:44,730 like they're creating a lot of these things, 1612 00:54:44,730 --> 00:54:47,490 is that you know they're right. 1613 00:54:47,490 --> 00:54:49,740 You know, the students are getting the right feedback 1614 00:54:49,740 --> 00:54:53,130 and the right pathway to their answer. 1615 00:54:53,130 --> 00:54:54,090 Michael- And I think a lot of times 1616 00:54:54,090 --> 00:54:56,400 when we've introduced this to faculty, 1617 00:54:56,400 --> 00:54:57,630 there's always a little bit of resistance 1618 00:54:57,630 --> 00:54:59,220 'cause it is more front work, right? 1619 00:54:59,220 --> 00:55:01,110 So think through your community forum, 1620 00:55:01,110 --> 00:55:02,700 what are those common questions that you've had? 1621 00:55:02,700 --> 00:55:04,537 And then they pass those to be, 1622 00:55:04,537 --> 00:55:06,540 "We'll create the FAQ, make it pretty, 1623 00:55:06,540 --> 00:55:08,460 and then put it into the InScribe for them." 1624 00:55:08,460 --> 00:55:09,690 But they're the course experts, right? 1625 00:55:09,690 --> 00:55:11,340 And so the cool thing is though, 1626 00:55:11,340 --> 00:55:12,420 once they've gone through 1627 00:55:12,420 --> 00:55:13,870 and faculty have taught with InScribe 1628 00:55:13,870 --> 00:55:16,170 for at least a session or so, 1629 00:55:16,170 --> 00:55:17,003 they're on board 1630 00:55:17,003 --> 00:55:20,550 because they have seen the reduction in the number of emails 1631 00:55:20,550 --> 00:55:21,720 that they're getting from students, right? 1632 00:55:21,720 --> 00:55:23,760 They've seen a vast reduction 1633 00:55:23,760 --> 00:55:25,350 in the number of duplicative posts 1634 00:55:25,350 --> 00:55:28,200 because if you're using a Canvas discussion forum 1635 00:55:28,200 --> 00:55:29,033 for all of your students, 1636 00:55:29,033 --> 00:55:31,620 they're not gonna sit there and read every single line 1637 00:55:31,620 --> 00:55:32,460 to try and find an answer. 1638 00:55:32,460 --> 00:55:34,320 They're just gonna put a new question at the top, right? 1639 00:55:34,320 --> 00:55:36,060 And so in the end, 1640 00:55:36,060 --> 00:55:38,400 it really does decrease the faculty workload 1641 00:55:38,400 --> 00:55:41,280 of trying to manage those same questions that again, 1642 00:55:41,280 --> 00:55:43,380 always are gonna come up in their courses. 1643 00:55:43,380 --> 00:55:45,480 But again, I think the biggest benefit 1644 00:55:45,480 --> 00:55:48,420 is obviously to our students to have that 24/7 support 1645 00:55:48,420 --> 00:55:49,830 both through AI, through peers, 1646 00:55:49,830 --> 00:55:51,240 and the writing mentors in the course. 1647 00:55:51,240 --> 00:55:54,930 Liz- Yeah, I mean I think we did the kind of like stats on it 1648 00:55:54,930 --> 00:55:56,610 and it reduced the amount of time 1649 00:55:56,610 --> 00:56:00,093 that students waited for an answer to like five minutes. 1650 00:56:00,987 --> 00:56:02,310 What's cool about InScribe 1651 00:56:02,310 --> 00:56:03,960 is it gives you that data first of all. 1652 00:56:03,960 --> 00:56:07,739 But to see a question that might have taken 48 hours 1653 00:56:07,739 --> 00:56:08,572 to get a response to, 1654 00:56:08,572 --> 00:56:10,957 that 24 to 48 hours is the typical like, 1655 00:56:10,957 --> 00:56:12,990 "Oh, you'll get an email from me in this time." 1656 00:56:12,990 --> 00:56:15,300 Students were getting answers in five minutes. 1657 00:56:15,300 --> 00:56:16,500 That was on the long end. 1658 00:56:16,500 --> 00:56:18,300 On the other hand or on the short side, 1659 00:56:18,300 --> 00:56:19,590 it was like a minute. 1660 00:56:19,590 --> 00:56:21,480 Mary- That's crazy because even in a classroom 1661 00:56:21,480 --> 00:56:22,530 like a large lecture hall, 1662 00:56:22,530 --> 00:56:24,060 you could take far more than five minutes 1663 00:56:24,060 --> 00:56:26,526 to get a question answered if you need an individual care. 1664 00:56:26,526 --> 00:56:28,920 Michael- Well, and what I always say is that what we see, 1665 00:56:28,920 --> 00:56:30,630 especially with that AI that is, again, 1666 00:56:30,630 --> 00:56:32,526 as students are starting to type their question, 1667 00:56:32,526 --> 00:56:36,177 InScribe's AI is going to push suggestions to them, right? 1668 00:56:36,177 --> 00:56:37,650 And so, so often, 1669 00:56:37,650 --> 00:56:39,480 a student's question is answered 1670 00:56:39,480 --> 00:56:41,190 before they even finish asking it. 1671 00:56:41,190 --> 00:56:42,023 Mary- So cool. 1672 00:56:42,023 --> 00:56:43,544 And like that I think is a mind-blowing piece. 1673 00:56:43,544 --> 00:56:46,440 And again, when we think about who our students are, 1674 00:56:46,440 --> 00:56:47,920 and again, I was one of those students 1675 00:56:47,920 --> 00:56:49,890 where I was working three jobs, 1676 00:56:49,890 --> 00:56:53,460 I did not have time to wait 48 hours to get a response back. 1677 00:56:53,460 --> 00:56:54,540 Now hopefully, I was working ahead 1678 00:56:54,540 --> 00:56:55,830 so I wasn't on that time pressure, 1679 00:56:55,830 --> 00:56:57,360 but maybe, maybe not. 1680 00:56:57,360 --> 00:56:59,190 But if not, being able to go in 1681 00:56:59,190 --> 00:57:01,410 and in that moment when I am doing homework online 1682 00:57:01,410 --> 00:57:03,150 at 4:00 AM and it's due the next day, 1683 00:57:03,150 --> 00:57:04,800 but I have to work both of my jobs 1684 00:57:04,800 --> 00:57:06,630 to be able to get that quick answer, 1685 00:57:06,630 --> 00:57:08,760 that is key to be able to scale 1686 00:57:08,760 --> 00:57:10,205 and still have that really impactful, 1687 00:57:10,205 --> 00:57:12,810 authentic online classroom community. 1688 00:57:12,810 --> 00:57:13,643 Liz- Well, and that kind of support 1689 00:57:13,643 --> 00:57:17,359 is gonna like greatly reduce your like anxiety as well 1690 00:57:17,359 --> 00:57:18,870 'cause I know for me, 1691 00:57:18,870 --> 00:57:22,080 if I am freaking out about something that is all consuming 1692 00:57:22,080 --> 00:57:24,630 and I can't get my work done because I'm so anxious 1693 00:57:24,630 --> 00:57:27,247 about figuring out if I'm doing it right and then the, 1694 00:57:27,247 --> 00:57:28,620 "Well, should I do it all now 1695 00:57:28,620 --> 00:57:30,090 and then fix it later when I get the answer? 1696 00:57:30,090 --> 00:57:30,923 Or should I just wait? 1697 00:57:30,923 --> 00:57:32,910 Like how's my time gonna be best spent?" 1698 00:57:32,910 --> 00:57:36,409 And then to skip all of that spiraling, amazing. 1699 00:57:36,409 --> 00:57:38,880 (bright music) 1700 00:57:38,880 --> 00:57:40,560 Michael- So as we wrap up our conversation today, 1701 00:57:40,560 --> 00:57:42,930 I wanted to talk a little bit about what was so unique 1702 00:57:42,930 --> 00:57:44,242 about your course redesign process. 1703 00:57:44,242 --> 00:57:45,330 'Cause I think a lot of times 1704 00:57:45,330 --> 00:57:47,070 when we hear the phrase course redesign, 1705 00:57:47,070 --> 00:57:48,240 we think curriculum 1706 00:57:48,240 --> 00:57:50,220 and then we think user experience, right? 1707 00:57:50,220 --> 00:57:51,480 But there's so much more 1708 00:57:51,480 --> 00:57:53,760 that goes into a student's educational experience, 1709 00:57:53,760 --> 00:57:55,820 especially maybe online, right? 1710 00:57:55,820 --> 00:57:57,870 There are things like what are they dealing with 1711 00:57:57,870 --> 00:57:58,703 outside of school? 1712 00:57:58,703 --> 00:58:00,480 There are things like do they know how to get in contact 1713 00:58:00,480 --> 00:58:02,070 with their academic advisor? 1714 00:58:02,070 --> 00:58:04,200 There are all sorts of challenges that these students face. 1715 00:58:04,200 --> 00:58:06,570 And so when you take a systems design approach, 1716 00:58:06,570 --> 00:58:09,090 or sometimes it's called a learning engineering approach, 1717 00:58:09,090 --> 00:58:11,070 you're really looking at all the spokes in the wheel 1718 00:58:11,070 --> 00:58:13,500 and not just one or two areas of improvement. 1719 00:58:13,500 --> 00:58:15,840 And so one of the things that my team really tried to do 1720 00:58:15,840 --> 00:58:16,673 and help out 1721 00:58:16,673 --> 00:58:19,110 was to think about what are some of these other things 1722 00:58:19,110 --> 00:58:20,820 that exist within the university 1723 00:58:20,820 --> 00:58:22,140 that we can bring into the work 1724 00:58:22,140 --> 00:58:23,640 that we're already doing collaboratively 1725 00:58:23,640 --> 00:58:25,557 to extend the knowledge about what's going on 1726 00:58:25,557 --> 00:58:27,300 and what's so unique in these courses 1727 00:58:27,300 --> 00:58:28,620 to all those support instances. 1728 00:58:28,620 --> 00:58:32,010 So one of the things that I think is also really unique 1729 00:58:32,010 --> 00:58:33,000 about ASU online 1730 00:58:33,000 --> 00:58:34,530 is our success coaching center. 1731 00:58:34,530 --> 00:58:35,460 And I know that y'all have had 1732 00:58:35,460 --> 00:58:36,870 some success coaches on recently, 1733 00:58:36,870 --> 00:58:39,600 but they are one-to-one with students as well 1734 00:58:39,600 --> 00:58:42,060 and just there to provide any sort of guidance for them. 1735 00:58:42,060 --> 00:58:44,100 And so one of the first things that we did 1736 00:58:44,100 --> 00:58:45,420 when we were going into this redesign 1737 00:58:45,420 --> 00:58:46,770 is we hosted a listening session 1738 00:58:46,770 --> 00:58:48,810 with the senior success coaches. 1739 00:58:48,810 --> 00:58:50,427 They are literally talking to students 1740 00:58:50,427 --> 00:58:51,780 40 hours a week, right? 1741 00:58:51,780 --> 00:58:53,640 So they are getting all of the good information 1742 00:58:53,640 --> 00:58:54,570 about what's working, what's not working, 1743 00:58:54,570 --> 00:58:56,100 what are the challenges. 1744 00:58:56,100 --> 00:58:57,777 And so we were able to take that information 1745 00:58:57,777 --> 00:58:59,850 and really digest some of that 1746 00:58:59,850 --> 00:59:01,740 and make that to be some of those priorities 1747 00:59:01,740 --> 00:59:02,640 for the redesign. 1748 00:59:02,640 --> 00:59:05,880 So it's not just what do the subject matter experts think? 1749 00:59:05,880 --> 00:59:06,713 And then what do some 1750 00:59:06,713 --> 00:59:08,250 of the instructional design experts think. 1751 00:59:08,250 --> 00:59:10,740 But what do our students think about their experience? 1752 00:59:10,740 --> 00:59:12,540 Then how do we then frame that 1753 00:59:12,540 --> 00:59:13,890 within the work that we're all doing? 1754 00:59:13,890 --> 00:59:16,470 So I think that was one really unique aspect 1755 00:59:16,470 --> 00:59:19,770 that the systems design approach brought into it. 1756 00:59:19,770 --> 00:59:21,090 One of the other things I just mentioned 1757 00:59:21,090 --> 00:59:23,130 with InScribe is data. 1758 00:59:23,130 --> 00:59:25,770 And I have grown to really love living in data 1759 00:59:25,770 --> 00:59:27,630 and I spent a lot of time with the Writer's Studio data. 1760 00:59:27,630 --> 00:59:30,120 But one of the other really powerful pieces 1761 00:59:30,120 --> 00:59:33,240 that allowed us to make data-informed redesign decisions 1762 00:59:33,240 --> 00:59:35,040 was what we got from InScribe 1763 00:59:35,040 --> 00:59:37,560 'cause again, all of those student questions, 1764 00:59:37,560 --> 00:59:39,237 I get that in Excel spreadsheet, right? 1765 00:59:39,237 --> 00:59:40,500 And so we went through, 1766 00:59:40,500 --> 00:59:42,330 we coded those, we found the themes, 1767 00:59:42,330 --> 00:59:43,380 and then we took that back 1768 00:59:43,380 --> 00:59:44,940 to those subject matter experts, right? 1769 00:59:44,940 --> 00:59:46,387 To the faculty coordinators and said, 1770 00:59:46,387 --> 00:59:47,940 "Hey, here are what students 1771 00:59:47,940 --> 00:59:49,950 are commonly having questions about, 1772 00:59:49,950 --> 00:59:51,810 common challenges in the course, 1773 00:59:51,810 --> 00:59:54,120 how can we build some of that into the redesign 1774 00:59:54,120 --> 00:59:56,248 so that way we're addressing those questions 1775 00:59:56,248 --> 00:59:57,630 through the design 1776 00:59:57,630 --> 00:59:59,100 and hopefully eliminating the need 1777 00:59:59,100 --> 01:00:00,870 to even ask those questions." 1778 01:00:00,870 --> 01:00:03,120 So I think that was something kind of special 1779 01:00:03,120 --> 01:00:03,953 in the approach. 1780 01:00:03,953 --> 01:00:05,760 And then, Sean, I know you did a lot of work 1781 01:00:05,760 --> 01:00:06,810 over the past couple of summers 1782 01:00:06,810 --> 01:00:08,940 with designing extra support resources. 1783 01:00:08,940 --> 01:00:09,773 We talked a little bit 1784 01:00:09,773 --> 01:00:12,120 about the student facing resources for InScribe, 1785 01:00:12,120 --> 01:00:13,800 but last summer you spent a lot of time 1786 01:00:13,800 --> 01:00:16,590 working on faculty resources and helping them be better too. 1787 01:00:16,590 --> 01:00:18,300 Do you mind touching on that a little bit? 1788 01:00:18,300 --> 01:00:21,180 Sean- Yes, we definitely spent a lot of time previously 1789 01:00:21,180 --> 01:00:23,070 working on student facing, as you said, 1790 01:00:23,070 --> 01:00:26,670 but it was really nice change of pace to switch focus 1791 01:00:26,670 --> 01:00:28,794 on our faculty, especially for new faculty, 1792 01:00:28,794 --> 01:00:31,740 as Michelle and everyone else has touched on today. 1793 01:00:31,740 --> 01:00:33,060 What we do is a little bit different 1794 01:00:33,060 --> 01:00:34,950 than what others are expecting. 1795 01:00:34,950 --> 01:00:37,411 Maybe when they maybe just start with us, 1796 01:00:37,411 --> 01:00:39,960 much like the students might come into our course 1797 01:00:39,960 --> 01:00:43,118 and expect one thing and experience a totally different one. 1798 01:00:43,118 --> 01:00:45,690 We have to help those faculty members 1799 01:00:45,690 --> 01:00:47,940 kind of get up to speed really quickly 1800 01:00:47,940 --> 01:00:49,470 because as you mentioned earlier, Michael, 1801 01:00:49,470 --> 01:00:51,960 these courses move quickly as well 1802 01:00:51,960 --> 01:00:53,700 and they're just kind of thrown in 1803 01:00:53,700 --> 01:00:55,110 and have to hit the ground running. 1804 01:00:55,110 --> 01:00:57,060 So I think it's been extremely helpful for that. 1805 01:00:57,060 --> 01:00:58,971 And having the data that you've uncovered 1806 01:00:58,971 --> 01:01:01,380 through that process helped us focus 1807 01:01:01,380 --> 01:01:03,420 on where it was needed perhaps the most 1808 01:01:03,420 --> 01:01:04,710 because we could go on and on 1809 01:01:04,710 --> 01:01:07,440 for years creating resources probably. 1810 01:01:07,440 --> 01:01:10,110 Michelle- Yeah, no, they did a fantastic job. 1811 01:01:10,110 --> 01:01:11,940 One of the challenges with scale 1812 01:01:11,940 --> 01:01:16,940 is that we often have to hire a lot of folks rapidly, right? 1813 01:01:17,359 --> 01:01:19,560 To keep up with enrollment demand. 1814 01:01:19,560 --> 01:01:22,410 What we did this summer that Sean contributed to 1815 01:01:22,410 --> 01:01:25,636 is really revamp our faculty Canvas site 1816 01:01:25,636 --> 01:01:30,636 and really expand our onboarding offerings to new faculty, 1817 01:01:30,960 --> 01:01:35,040 again, as a way to continue to be able to provide 1818 01:01:35,040 --> 01:01:38,280 high quality teaching at scale 1819 01:01:38,280 --> 01:01:41,550 so that when faculty are coming into the program, 1820 01:01:41,550 --> 01:01:43,290 we can get them quickly up to speed 1821 01:01:43,290 --> 01:01:46,350 and they have the resources available that they need 1822 01:01:46,350 --> 01:01:49,440 as they get acclimated to our curriculum. 1823 01:01:49,440 --> 01:01:50,280 Which by the way, 1824 01:01:50,280 --> 01:01:51,480 I don't know if we highlighted this before, 1825 01:01:51,480 --> 01:01:55,080 but we do have a shared curriculum across our program, 1826 01:01:55,080 --> 01:01:57,990 so faculty are teaching the same assignments. 1827 01:01:57,990 --> 01:01:59,220 And I think that was one of the things 1828 01:01:59,220 --> 01:02:00,900 that was so important to us 1829 01:02:00,900 --> 01:02:04,020 as we went into this three-year design process, 1830 01:02:04,020 --> 01:02:06,840 was to make sure that we included faculty 1831 01:02:06,840 --> 01:02:10,290 and faculty's perspectives and contributions 1832 01:02:10,290 --> 01:02:12,930 into the redesign of the curriculum. 1833 01:02:12,930 --> 01:02:14,490 And Sean has been one of the faculty 1834 01:02:14,490 --> 01:02:18,420 who's been very instrumental in bringing in that perspective 1835 01:02:18,420 --> 01:02:21,379 as somebody who's really doing a lot of teaching 1836 01:02:21,379 --> 01:02:26,190 and having a lot of student encounters every semester. 1837 01:02:26,190 --> 01:02:27,570 Sean- Well, I just wanted to add 1838 01:02:27,570 --> 01:02:29,550 that one of our biggest goals this last summer 1839 01:02:29,550 --> 01:02:30,960 was to make your job a lot easier 1840 01:02:30,960 --> 01:02:33,930 because as our program grows, so do your responsibilities. 1841 01:02:33,930 --> 01:02:35,070 So we wanted to, you know, 1842 01:02:35,070 --> 01:02:36,210 just like with InScribe, 1843 01:02:36,210 --> 01:02:37,064 we've heard the student questions, 1844 01:02:37,064 --> 01:02:38,910 we were hoping to do the same for you 1845 01:02:38,910 --> 01:02:40,290 and the faculty questions. 1846 01:02:40,290 --> 01:02:42,150 So hopefully it, it has helped so far. 1847 01:02:42,150 --> 01:02:43,710 Michelle- Yes, I appreciate that. 1848 01:02:43,710 --> 01:02:45,210 Thank you so much. 1849 01:02:45,210 --> 01:02:46,110 Michael- Well, and that's why I think 1850 01:02:46,110 --> 01:02:49,710 this whole holistic redesign process has been so unique 1851 01:02:49,710 --> 01:02:50,543 and so special 1852 01:02:50,543 --> 01:02:53,186 and everybody from the program lead 1853 01:02:53,186 --> 01:02:56,010 to the faculty coordinators to individual faculty members 1854 01:02:56,010 --> 01:02:56,970 who are writing mentors, 1855 01:02:56,970 --> 01:02:58,440 to instructional designers, 1856 01:02:58,440 --> 01:02:59,790 to the EdPlus marketing team, 1857 01:02:59,790 --> 01:03:02,040 to our success coaches, to our data teams, 1858 01:03:02,040 --> 01:03:04,514 there have been so many individual contributions 1859 01:03:04,514 --> 01:03:06,766 into this project that I think, again, 1860 01:03:06,766 --> 01:03:08,520 it has made it really special 1861 01:03:08,520 --> 01:03:09,867 and really successful for our students. 1862 01:03:09,867 --> 01:03:12,180 And so I'm so grateful to have been able 1863 01:03:12,180 --> 01:03:13,110 to have been a part of it 1864 01:03:13,110 --> 01:03:14,705 and I'm so grateful that y'all took some time 1865 01:03:14,705 --> 01:03:16,710 to come and share the story today. 1866 01:03:16,710 --> 01:03:18,150 Before we head out, any last words, 1867 01:03:18,150 --> 01:03:19,890 anything anyone wanted to add? 1868 01:03:19,890 --> 01:03:21,480 Michelle- I just wanna, again, highlight 1869 01:03:21,480 --> 01:03:24,690 how important the data has been to us. 1870 01:03:24,690 --> 01:03:26,280 We really, prior to this, 1871 01:03:26,280 --> 01:03:29,100 did not have regular infusions of data 1872 01:03:29,100 --> 01:03:32,220 into kind of our decision-making process. 1873 01:03:32,220 --> 01:03:34,407 Our resources are thin in our program. 1874 01:03:34,407 --> 01:03:36,210 And so having Michael 1875 01:03:36,210 --> 01:03:39,972 be able to provide ongoing data to us 1876 01:03:39,972 --> 01:03:42,960 so that we can make these informed decisions 1877 01:03:42,960 --> 01:03:45,090 has been a very heavy load, 1878 01:03:45,090 --> 01:03:48,690 but also invaluable for us as we move through this process. 1879 01:03:48,690 --> 01:03:50,610 And hopefully, as we continue 1880 01:03:50,610 --> 01:03:51,960 to move through the process too. 1881 01:03:51,960 --> 01:03:52,793 Zach- I would say also just that 1882 01:03:52,793 --> 01:03:54,971 because writing is a recursive process, 1883 01:03:54,971 --> 01:03:57,360 our revision is always in progress as well. 1884 01:03:57,360 --> 01:04:00,330 We are always going to be continuing to make changes 1885 01:04:00,330 --> 01:04:02,610 to use the data to work with our collaborators 1886 01:04:02,610 --> 01:04:04,114 to continue to improve the student experience 1887 01:04:04,114 --> 01:04:05,700 in the Writer's Studio. 1888 01:04:05,700 --> 01:04:08,700 So our revamp will continue endlessly. 1889 01:04:08,700 --> 01:04:10,950 Sean- And I think as challenging as it might feel 1890 01:04:10,950 --> 01:04:12,030 in the middle of the semester, 1891 01:04:12,030 --> 01:04:13,383 especially in B sessions, 1892 01:04:14,490 --> 01:04:16,470 it's so rewarding to get those student emails 1893 01:04:16,470 --> 01:04:19,140 sometimes one or two or three years later that say, 1894 01:04:19,140 --> 01:04:20,910 "This has changed my life." 1895 01:04:20,910 --> 01:04:21,870 It's been, you know, 1896 01:04:21,870 --> 01:04:23,460 I still think about that course all the time 1897 01:04:23,460 --> 01:04:24,900 because how often do you hear that 1898 01:04:24,900 --> 01:04:26,700 from a first-year composition course? 1899 01:04:26,700 --> 01:04:28,530 It's really exciting to see those. 1900 01:04:28,530 --> 01:04:30,000 Michael- Well, and that's been probably my favorite part 1901 01:04:30,000 --> 01:04:30,833 of working with the data 1902 01:04:30,833 --> 01:04:32,820 is reading some of those qualitative surveys 1903 01:04:32,820 --> 01:04:33,960 from the students writing about 1904 01:04:33,960 --> 01:04:36,060 what they have really enjoyed about the course. 1905 01:04:36,060 --> 01:04:37,260 And yeah, maybe it was surprising 1906 01:04:37,260 --> 01:04:38,280 and maybe it was challenging, 1907 01:04:38,280 --> 01:04:40,020 but what they're taking away from it, right? 1908 01:04:40,020 --> 01:04:40,853 And what they gained 1909 01:04:40,853 --> 01:04:43,350 and how that's gonna be able to support them, 1910 01:04:43,350 --> 01:04:45,000 like we said in their academic work, 1911 01:04:45,000 --> 01:04:47,160 their personal professional lives as well. 1912 01:04:47,160 --> 01:04:48,780 Michael- Awesome, well, thank you again so much 1913 01:04:48,780 --> 01:04:50,130 for taking some time and being here. 1914 01:04:50,130 --> 01:04:51,060 Sean, from Remote, 1915 01:04:51,060 --> 01:04:54,030 we appreciate you zooming in and spending some time with us. 1916 01:04:54,030 --> 01:04:55,050 Zach, John, Michelle, 1917 01:04:55,050 --> 01:04:57,030 thank you so much for joining us in the studio. 1918 01:04:57,030 --> 01:04:58,740 Any last words or anything you'd wanna plug 1919 01:04:58,740 --> 01:04:59,573 other than the things that we're gonna add 1920 01:04:59,573 --> 01:05:01,154 into our show notes? 1921 01:05:01,154 --> 01:05:02,430 Sean- Well, if anyone's interested, 1922 01:05:02,430 --> 01:05:04,200 a colleague within the Writer's Studio and I 1923 01:05:04,200 --> 01:05:05,033 and her daughter, 1924 01:05:05,033 --> 01:05:07,020 we created the "Health, It's Personal" podcast 1925 01:05:07,020 --> 01:05:09,480 where we speak with different professionals 1926 01:05:09,480 --> 01:05:10,977 such as doctors, psychologists, 1927 01:05:10,977 --> 01:05:12,900 and people who have personal experiences, 1928 01:05:12,900 --> 01:05:15,740 people who've worked for the EPA and stuff like that. 1929 01:05:15,740 --> 01:05:18,240 It's been really cool to kind sit down and talk to them 1930 01:05:18,240 --> 01:05:21,090 about things that teenagers, young adults, 1931 01:05:21,090 --> 01:05:24,090 and maybe new parents might want to know about, 1932 01:05:24,090 --> 01:05:26,025 you know, informing their children or themselves 1933 01:05:26,025 --> 01:05:28,410 about health-related topics. 1934 01:05:28,410 --> 01:05:30,150 But we kind of really have fun with that. 1935 01:05:30,150 --> 01:05:31,680 And we go broad ranging 1936 01:05:31,680 --> 01:05:33,840 with environmental health, for example, 1937 01:05:33,840 --> 01:05:36,810 or lots of different tough topics that cover everything. 1938 01:05:36,810 --> 01:05:38,310 Michael- And I got to be the very first guest 1939 01:05:38,310 --> 01:05:40,020 and talk about my love for Christina Aguilera, 1940 01:05:40,020 --> 01:05:42,540 so it doesn't get much better than that. 1941 01:05:42,540 --> 01:05:43,770 Sean- So if you wanna hear more Michael's 1942 01:05:43,770 --> 01:05:44,853 awesome radio voice. 1943 01:05:45,870 --> 01:05:46,860 Michelle- Well, this was a lot of fun. 1944 01:05:46,860 --> 01:05:48,060 Thanks again for having us. 1945 01:05:48,060 --> 01:05:49,470 I think if anyone's interested 1946 01:05:49,470 --> 01:05:51,390 in learning more about grading contracts, 1947 01:05:51,390 --> 01:05:54,300 there's a great issue that Zach and I have a piece in 1948 01:05:54,300 --> 01:05:57,030 of the Journal of Writing Assessment from 2020. 1949 01:05:57,030 --> 01:05:59,430 It was a special issue on grading contracts, 1950 01:05:59,430 --> 01:06:01,590 which you should be able to find in the show notes. 1951 01:06:01,590 --> 01:06:02,464 Michael- Perfect, thanks everybody. 1952 01:06:02,464 --> 01:06:05,047 (bright music) 1953 01:06:07,050 --> 01:06:09,510 Ricardo- Okay, well that was such a great interview 1954 01:06:09,510 --> 01:06:11,310 and I wanna again, applaud you, Michael, 1955 01:06:11,310 --> 01:06:13,328 for such a great job in that interview. 1956 01:06:13,328 --> 01:06:14,850 Mary- Phenomenal. Michael- Thank you all. 1957 01:06:14,850 --> 01:06:16,320 Thank you for having me and for hosting me 1958 01:06:16,320 --> 01:06:18,600 and for letting me talk to some of my mentors 1959 01:06:18,600 --> 01:06:20,730 and people that have been really impactful in my own life. 1960 01:06:20,730 --> 01:06:21,780 Ricardo- Hey, anytime. 1961 01:06:21,780 --> 01:06:23,670 Liz- It was great to just be a fly on the wall 1962 01:06:23,670 --> 01:06:24,990 for that conversation. 1963 01:06:24,990 --> 01:06:26,220 Mary- Yeah, so much. 1964 01:06:26,220 --> 01:06:27,210 So much came up. 1965 01:06:27,210 --> 01:06:29,280 I love that they were so open 1966 01:06:29,280 --> 01:06:31,920 to having the AI question answered. 1967 01:06:31,920 --> 01:06:33,750 Like they didn't prepare for that, 1968 01:06:33,750 --> 01:06:37,470 so that was really quite lovely to hear them off the cuff. 1969 01:06:37,470 --> 01:06:38,578 I mean, beautiful. 1970 01:06:38,578 --> 01:06:42,060 The future is very bright in the Writing Studio, 1971 01:06:42,060 --> 01:06:43,815 Ricardo- And the future is very bright for season five 1972 01:06:43,815 --> 01:06:45,240 of Course Stories. 1973 01:06:45,240 --> 01:06:48,090 And we look forward to providing new listeners 1974 01:06:48,090 --> 01:06:51,120 with more interesting conversations. 1975 01:06:51,120 --> 01:06:53,730 And if people wanna have an interesting conversation 1976 01:06:53,730 --> 01:06:54,696 with us themselves, 1977 01:06:54,696 --> 01:06:56,190 how can they do that, Mary? 1978 01:06:56,190 --> 01:06:58,920 Mary- Well, email us coursestories@asu.edu. 1979 01:06:58,920 --> 01:07:01,650 We are waiting with bated breath for y'all email. 1980 01:07:01,650 --> 01:07:03,030 Ricardo- Mm-hmm, oh my dear. 1981 01:07:03,030 --> 01:07:03,900 I can't. Mary- My luck. 1982 01:07:03,900 --> 01:07:06,903 Ricardo- Oh, I'm having palpitations waiting on these emails. 1983 01:07:07,782 --> 01:07:08,703 Liz- Thanks. 1984 01:07:09,900 --> 01:07:10,733 Ricardo- Bye. 1985 01:07:10,733 --> 01:07:13,230 (bright music) 1986 01:07:13,230 --> 01:07:14,400 Ricardo- Course Stories is available 1987 01:07:14,400 --> 01:07:15,960 wherever you listen to podcasts. 1988 01:07:15,960 --> 01:07:18,630 You can reach us at coursestories@asu.edu. 1989 01:07:18,630 --> 01:07:19,710 Course stories is produced 1990 01:07:19,710 --> 01:07:22,740 by the Instructional Design at New Media Team at EdPlus 1991 01:07:22,740 --> 01:07:24,420 at Arizona State University. 1992 01:07:24,420 --> 01:07:26,520 If you're an instructor at ASU online, 1993 01:07:26,520 --> 01:07:27,630 tell us your course story 1994 01:07:27,630 --> 01:07:29,880 and we may feature it in a future episode. 1995 01:07:29,880 --> 01:07:30,713 Thanks, listening. 1996 01:07:30,713 --> 01:07:33,139 (bright music)