WEBVTT
00:00:08.329 --> 00:00:11.958
Hello, and welcome to the Keystone Concepts in Teaching podcast.
00:00:12.288 --> 00:00:13.519
I'm your host, Rachel Yoho.
00:00:14.323 --> 00:00:21.853
And I'm joined by a group of absolute powerhouse faculty today from the College of Public Health at George Mason University.
00:00:22.274 --> 00:00:24.553
So we have four special guests today.
00:00:24.914 --> 00:00:28.123
Our first guest in no particular order is Dr.
00:00:28.123 --> 00:00:33.823
Allison Miner, who's a dietician and educator from the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies.
00:00:33.996 --> 00:00:34.807
We have Dr.
00:00:34.807 --> 00:00:37.807
Esther Park, an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing.
00:00:38.261 --> 00:00:39.011
We have Dr.
00:00:39.070 --> 00:00:45.790
Iulia Fratila from the Department of Global and Community Health, an Assistant Professor there, and we have Dr.
00:00:45.850 --> 00:00:50.411
Yanika Kowitlawakul, an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing.
00:00:50.411 --> 00:00:53.060
So thank you so much, all four of you, for joining us today.
00:00:53.060 --> 00:00:54.951
I'm very excited for our conversation.
00:00:55.829 --> 00:00:57.238
Thank you for having me here.
00:00:57.238 --> 00:01:06.138
This is Esther Park from School of Nursing and I'm so excited about today's conversation'cause we all are from the same cohort of faculty meeting.
00:01:07.248 --> 00:01:08.638
Thanks for having me too.
00:01:08.759 --> 00:01:09.634
Very happy to be here.
00:01:10.081 --> 00:01:10.302
Yes.
00:01:10.307 --> 00:01:15.242
Thank you for welcoming us, and letting our cohort get a chance to be together again.
00:01:16.141 --> 00:01:20.287
We do a lot of things together, so this is just adds to our resume now.
00:01:22.019 --> 00:01:24.179
All right, so thank you so much for your time.
00:01:24.358 --> 00:01:35.903
So with this cohort, this conversation to get us started, you know, in this episode we wanna focus on how do we support student success by supporting faculty success.
00:01:35.993 --> 00:01:42.263
And so this group in particular, you know, I've worked with you all a little bit in some different ways.
00:01:42.263 --> 00:01:49.463
I've seen some of the massively impactful projects that you all have put on both separately and, and things you've done together.
00:01:49.846 --> 00:01:57.787
And so this group's really an interesting cohort, a group of really engaged faculty who started here at Mason at about the same time.
00:01:58.117 --> 00:02:05.527
So, to get us started, can you tell us a little bit about your cohort, your interactions, your professional relationships with each other?
00:02:06.263 --> 00:02:30.717
So our cohort w e all started, and please someone, correct me if I'm wrong, in August of 2023, the fall, of course together as colleagues in the College of Public Health, but each in our respective departments and in the Dean's office, we have Cathy Tompkins, who really led this initiative of a first year CPH cohort.
00:02:30.717 --> 00:02:33.026
So at that time we were the freshmen.
00:02:33.026 --> 00:02:35.037
We were in our freshman year of this cohort.
00:02:35.757 --> 00:02:42.736
Um, and, you know, the kinds of topics we talk about are really varied and, and someone else can step in and maybe elaborate on that.
00:02:42.736 --> 00:02:52.097
But really what we discuss is everything from the internal workings of our college to how our classes are going, to what kinds of research grants we might be pursuing.
00:02:52.097 --> 00:02:53.176
So the conversations.
00:02:53.236 --> 00:03:02.016
Really are varied, but this initiative start as a one year program, kind of one year opportunity to connect with one another as new faculty.
00:03:02.227 --> 00:03:08.887
And now we've just completed our sophomore year in the spring 2025, and we're getting ready for our junior year.
00:03:08.887 --> 00:03:16.157
So we've actually kind of turned this into a multiple year engagement with one another and kind of across faculty.
00:03:16.437 --> 00:03:22.356
But it was something, I think that's a new initiative even for our college to get all of the new faculty members together.
00:03:23.318 --> 00:03:25.699
Just a little bit of piggyback what Iulia said.
00:03:25.729 --> 00:03:34.968
Yeah, I mean this cohort include not only from 2023 August cohort, but then it also include 2024 January cohort.
00:03:35.088 --> 00:03:36.169
'cause I'm from there.
00:03:36.528 --> 00:03:41.338
So I would say that this cohort include 20 23 to 2024.
00:03:41.729 --> 00:03:48.038
And I think Iulia, you know, addressed pretty much everything that we've done there so far under Cathy Tomkins's leadership.
00:03:48.669 --> 00:03:52.049
But one thing more, we also do, social bonding.
00:03:54.419 --> 00:04:03.229
Not only, not only we do, you know, collaborative support throughout the monthly in-person meeting, but then we also organize some shorter social event.
00:04:04.058 --> 00:04:09.788
Sometimes we go out for eating, sometimes we go out for music, concerts, stuff like this.
00:04:09.788 --> 00:04:14.949
So I think this social event also really, you know, make us bond tight.
00:04:16.533 --> 00:04:19.649
Yeah, I do agree with Esther and Iulia.
00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:30.129
I feels like we didn't just learn about, you know, all the Mason policies, teaching strategies, or share our concerns and support each other.
00:04:30.608 --> 00:04:35.019
But sometime we went out for dinner or even went dancing together.
00:04:35.649 --> 00:04:36.639
That was fun.
00:04:36.699 --> 00:04:41.019
It was energizing and it made me feel like I belong here.
00:04:41.499 --> 00:04:44.108
I'm deeply grateful for that experience.
00:04:45.694 --> 00:04:47.093
And this is Alison Miner.
00:04:47.194 --> 00:04:56.923
I wanna add that, you know, there's a learning curve when you get on a new job and it's so invaluable to be with colleagues that are experiencing the same thing.
00:04:57.194 --> 00:05:05.923
I will say that when I first joined, I didn't really realized the benefit for me, it was just like, oh goodness, another meeting I have to go to.
00:05:05.923 --> 00:05:13.663
And I was super busy that first semester, but as everyone said, being in this cohort has really, really been valuable.
00:05:13.663 --> 00:05:18.014
I just wanna tell you just a really quick story that was super valuable for me.
00:05:18.223 --> 00:05:29.863
Casually out to dinner, I mentioned to my colleagues that I had an Asian student who was just very quiet and I did everything I could to bring this Asian student out.
00:05:29.863 --> 00:05:34.723
And I know that, you know, in some cultures, being quiet is a sign of respect.
00:05:34.723 --> 00:05:38.233
And so I didn't wanna be disrespectful to this student, you know, calling them out.
00:05:38.233 --> 00:05:42.194
You have to participate, and Yanika chimed in.
00:05:42.194 --> 00:05:45.913
And she said, no, you tell that student she must participate.
00:05:46.213 --> 00:05:55.004
And it was, and she said it in a professional way, but also just letting me know sternly that, she has to participate.
00:05:55.303 --> 00:06:01.064
And it really gave me the confidence to go back in my classroom and talk to the student and be realistic.
00:06:01.483 --> 00:06:04.363
Look, you're part of this culture now, you're going to have to speak up.
00:06:04.754 --> 00:06:08.744
So those the kinda little things that tidbits that you're not gonna get anywhere else.
00:06:08.744 --> 00:06:09.463
Not even if you Google.
00:06:10.502 --> 00:06:16.771
Yeah, I think this is great, especially, you know, the work I've done with you all, and certainly a special shout out to Dr.
00:06:16.771 --> 00:06:23.901
Cathy Tompkins from the College of Public Health for the impact of this type of cohort model and working together.
00:06:23.992 --> 00:06:30.891
And so I think that really leads us into my next question because we really talk about the impact of the work.
00:06:30.891 --> 00:06:38.682
We wanna focus on how do we impact positively impact students by having better environments and better workplaces for faculty.
00:06:38.742 --> 00:06:52.422
And so let's talk a little bit more about your work together, and let's talk about what does, or what can peer leadership and encouragement look like, especially from your experiences.
00:06:54.005 --> 00:06:54.665
I can start.
00:06:54.696 --> 00:07:08.555
I think the peer leadership and encouraging, fostering a supportive community where, you know, our colleagues actively collaborate and uplift each other, and that's exactly what happened in our monthly meeting.
00:07:09.365 --> 00:07:15.846
And we also do support practically and motivate each other in our group.
00:07:15.875 --> 00:07:29.326
You know, this means regularly meeting to discuss our progress and teaching, research and service and offering constructive feedback and celebrating each other for our success, stuff like that.
00:07:29.326 --> 00:07:41.355
So we encourage each other by sharing grant proposal and research ideas and creating a culture of, openness social event, like dining out, as I told you before.
00:07:41.656 --> 00:07:46.935
Further strengthen our bond, fostering a sense of belongings as Yanika addressed it.
00:07:47.865 --> 00:07:52.935
So we are definitely a culture of empowerment through our leadership.
00:07:54.391 --> 00:08:08.000
I'd like to add that when you read about what faculty are doing in the general newsletters and things like that, and you're just blown away by faculty, but you know, you just, you don't know how to do it yourself.
00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:08.360
Right.
00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:10.600
And it looks like something that you couldn't do.
00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:15.108
And you know, you can't necessarily call that faculty on the phone and say, Hey, how did you do this?
00:08:15.348 --> 00:08:28.309
But in our meetings, in our cohort meetings, when faculty talk about, look, I got this grant, or I'm doing this project, or I'm working with this particular faculty member, we get a chance to say, wow, how did you do that?
00:08:28.579 --> 00:08:33.259
And it encouraged us, I think, to go out and do these things on our own.
00:08:33.589 --> 00:08:36.558
So it really had a snowball effect.
00:08:36.859 --> 00:08:45.729
Being in a cohort with people in an informal way, they can kind of give you tips that you wouldn't normally get just by reading about it in, let's say The George.
00:08:47.369 --> 00:09:00.644
Yeah, I would like to add more that, to me, peer leadership is look like being a good facilitator, you know, to encourage our peers to be a good teamwork and empower each other.
00:09:01.364 --> 00:09:24.339
So like example that we, Alison and Esther already addressed that, you know, when we have new information or we got a grant, we share how we get successful, we empower each other and then, you know, at the end we celebrate with each other, so this is great type of the peer leadership, that be a good facilitator.
00:09:26.583 --> 00:09:26.724
Yeah.
00:09:26.734 --> 00:09:27.624
This is Iulia.
00:09:27.724 --> 00:09:33.124
One thing I just wanna say is that we actually, I think this happened quite organically.
00:09:33.203 --> 00:09:40.884
Maybe we just I don't know, you know, happenstance got lucky with such a great group of people starting at one time.
00:09:40.884 --> 00:09:45.293
But the thing that we all do well that I think also is encouraging is that we show up.
00:09:45.323 --> 00:09:52.224
So, you know, when we have these meetings once a month, we didn't quite explain the structure, but they're once a month typically in person.
00:09:52.313 --> 00:09:52.464
Uh oh.
00:09:52.683 --> 00:09:58.673
It's hybrid actually because Cathy Tompkins has set it up where it's also an online option, but we actually show up once a month.
00:09:58.673 --> 00:10:00.474
So that in itself is quite encouraging.
00:10:00.474 --> 00:10:06.033
And when one of us is not there, I know like Yanika or Allison have texted me like, Hey, you weren't at the meeting this month.
00:10:06.033 --> 00:10:09.453
You know, what's up, or, you know, see you next month, or is everything good?
00:10:09.453 --> 00:10:09.724
You know?
00:10:09.724 --> 00:10:13.563
And so it's a very kind of easy, just check in with one another.
00:10:13.563 --> 00:10:18.033
But part of the fact and reason why it's so encouraging is that we actually do just show up.
00:10:20.783 --> 00:10:28.474
Yeah, I mean, I'm so glad to hear Iulia addressed Cathy Tompkins's role here again, I think, Cathy Tomkins's leadership was really great.
00:10:28.553 --> 00:10:34.214
And then that leadership really make our peer leadership as an, action oriented collaboration.
00:10:34.573 --> 00:10:39.553
'cause every month, Cathy brought her like guest speaker, not every month, but you know, pretty much every month.
00:10:39.604 --> 00:10:43.533
She ask us who do you want to see in the meeting?
00:10:43.533 --> 00:10:43.833
Right.
00:10:43.833 --> 00:10:47.313
So she invited guest speakers and I think Rachel was one of them.
00:10:47.614 --> 00:11:01.318
And as soon as Rachel was invited and then talk about Stearns Center and then Yanika share her personal experience about mini grant she got, and we all jump in and then work on writing the the mini grant proposal.
00:11:01.349 --> 00:11:09.139
So I, I think Cathy's leadership in inviting guest speakers to our meeting provided really practical resources for new faculty.
00:11:10.158 --> 00:11:13.609
And we start to build up action oriented collaboration there.
00:11:15.269 --> 00:11:16.619
Yeah, I think that's a great point.
00:11:16.619 --> 00:11:19.969
It was very nice to visit all of you, as a guest speaker in one of those also.
00:11:20.328 --> 00:11:28.769
But I also wanna acknowledge, especially with this group, you know, certainly, we've probably all been part of groups where we start places and it feels much more competitive.
00:11:29.188 --> 00:11:43.259
I wanna acknowledge here, especially this group of individuals having that collaborative spirit, having that we're gonna support each other, we're gonna uplift each other, is also contributions from all of you individually and working together and continuing that.
00:11:43.259 --> 00:11:45.298
So I think that's really special.
00:11:45.749 --> 00:11:50.038
But let's shift over a little bit and talk about some institutional resources.
00:11:50.038 --> 00:12:00.448
So let's talk about, what are some of the institutional resources that you've found that are helpful in your first year, couple years here at Mason?
00:12:00.719 --> 00:12:12.389
What are some of the things maybe that you found helpful that others may not know about, especially if they aren't lucky enough to have that sort of cohort model or have have guest speakers coming in all the time?
00:12:13.621 --> 00:12:21.251
I feel very lucky when I first came in, that is the mentorship program that conducted at school of nursing.
00:12:21.701 --> 00:12:25.581
So I was assigned a mentor, Dr.
00:12:25.581 --> 00:12:37.426
Margie Rodan was my mentor for the first year then she had a list of things to do to walk me through everything and let me observe all teaching classes in the first semester.
00:12:38.035 --> 00:12:42.485
This was very helpful and it make me feel very welcome.
00:12:42.535 --> 00:12:52.015
And then they give a list workload for the first semester that I think that's really, really great because of, I have more time to observe.
00:12:52.105 --> 00:13:01.048
I learn about the new culture that I start learning as a person that come from another country that came in for the first semesters.
00:13:01.109 --> 00:13:06.958
I think mentorship program's very helpful, especially one-on-one, with the senior faculty.
00:13:08.057 --> 00:13:14.177
And then also I think, you know, as I told you before, a Stearns Center was very helpful resources.
00:13:14.177 --> 00:13:30.307
I'm not really, you know, exaggerating, but, you know, Stearns Center just provide me, you know, what is the definition of structured assessment for student outcomes, and what resources I can actually dig into for fostering student success.
00:13:30.307 --> 00:13:32.557
So I mean, Stearns Center.
00:13:32.751 --> 00:13:37.221
You can leave with that, you know, link for a while once you join here.
00:13:37.371 --> 00:13:43.022
So then you can definitely guarantee the best start in their new institution.
00:13:44.272 --> 00:13:46.797
For the record, this was not a pushed endorsement.
00:13:46.797 --> 00:13:46.917
But
00:13:47.106 --> 00:13:47.287
No.
00:13:47.576 --> 00:13:48.376
Thank you so much, Esther.
00:13:48.677 --> 00:13:50.956
We really appreciate it.
00:13:52.067 --> 00:13:54.346
I want to reiterate what Esther said.
00:13:54.677 --> 00:13:58.456
You know, I'm one of the older faculty here.
00:13:58.996 --> 00:14:05.927
I've been teaching for a long time, and so, you know, I have a pretty good deal of knowledge, but there's always something you can learn.
00:14:05.976 --> 00:14:20.182
As an example, I'm part of the inclusive course redesign program that the Stearns Center is facilitating and I'm blown away by the information I'm learning that I just didn't know.
00:14:20.312 --> 00:14:25.322
And there are other faculty in this course, so they're providing information as well.
00:14:25.442 --> 00:14:27.392
So there's always something for everyone.
00:14:27.432 --> 00:14:39.282
And as Esther said, sometimes we just don't have time to do some of the courses or even the workshops, but there's a plethora of information online, how to compose your syllabus, what are some online best practices.
00:14:39.851 --> 00:14:44.292
All of that is there, besides all of the workshops that you could possibly attend.
00:14:45.447 --> 00:14:45.956
Yes.
00:14:45.986 --> 00:14:49.287
Stearns, one more shout out for Stearns from our group.
00:14:49.947 --> 00:14:51.086
You brought us all together.
00:14:51.086 --> 00:14:53.846
I think you've supported us well, but it's just true.
00:14:53.846 --> 00:14:57.167
I mean, and this will be, my last plugin I guess for the Stearns.
00:14:57.167 --> 00:15:02.236
But what I really appreciate about this center that we have for teaching is that there's different formats.
00:15:02.236 --> 00:15:05.866
So in the spring I participated in the first year five program.
00:15:05.866 --> 00:15:12.852
And so it's essentially, reading and engaging with or attending five different events, materials that are related to teaching, right?
00:15:12.852 --> 00:15:14.472
And kind of writing a reflection on those.
00:15:14.472 --> 00:15:19.633
Those were really good kind of low hanging fruit for me that I could plan throughout my spring semester.
00:15:19.633 --> 00:15:22.212
So I went to a conference, I attended a teaching talk.
00:15:22.212 --> 00:15:23.442
I wrote a reflection on it.
00:15:23.442 --> 00:15:25.993
It counted towards my first year five program.
00:15:26.322 --> 00:15:31.243
I watched a webinar on AI that counted towards but it essentially gave me homework, right?
00:15:31.293 --> 00:15:32.883
That was good with deadlines.
00:15:33.322 --> 00:15:44.327
And I got to choose whatever material and events I wanted to attend that made sense for my teaching needs with, of course, the intention and focus of building my inclusive teaching capabilities.
00:15:44.327 --> 00:15:45.317
So I thought that was great.
00:15:45.317 --> 00:15:50.317
And another one that's kind of a different format that's really easy to engage with is just the conference.
00:15:50.317 --> 00:15:56.288
We have an entire teaching conference here once a year in the fall, the Innovations in Teaching and Learning conference.
00:15:56.317 --> 00:16:02.628
And you go one day, two days, and you hear from other colleagues from across the entire, campus.
00:16:02.717 --> 00:16:03.753
So I think those are really great.
00:16:04.653 --> 00:16:10.572
I would also say that within our college, you know, most of us, I think all of us we're instructional term faculty.
00:16:10.572 --> 00:16:18.307
So definitely when you hear our podcast, we talk a lot about what kind of teaching supports we have because they, those are really meaningful to us.
00:16:18.368 --> 00:16:23.827
But we have great research supports, you know, from the student research OSCAR office at the university level.
00:16:23.827 --> 00:16:28.717
We have our own office of research with Alison Cuellar within the College of Public Health.
00:16:28.717 --> 00:16:30.908
So we also have great research supports.
00:16:31.418 --> 00:16:36.937
And one other thing that the Dean has done within our college is this Dean speaker series.
00:16:37.238 --> 00:16:43.597
And so what she does, maybe two or three times a semester, we'll invite guest speakers.
00:16:43.697 --> 00:16:51.317
We had topics related to like nutrition and human fertility, developing kind of like a community health workers intervention.
00:16:51.317 --> 00:17:00.738
And so what she does is she invites speakers to our college and they give a presentation on their research on the kind of work that they're doing in the community.
00:17:00.977 --> 00:17:04.607
And it's a great opportunity for faculty and staff across the whole college.
00:17:04.607 --> 00:17:09.768
It's a bit of a networking, social connection kind of event, but it's still an institutional resource.
00:17:09.768 --> 00:17:10.008
Right?
00:17:10.008 --> 00:17:14.087
So even if it's not a training, it's an event that's hosted by our college, by the dean.
00:17:14.488 --> 00:17:20.147
And because we have so many different departments, it can relate to each person in a way that that makes sense to them.
00:17:21.240 --> 00:17:21.509
Yeah.
00:17:21.509 --> 00:17:22.410
Thank you all so much.
00:17:22.410 --> 00:17:24.539
Thank you all for the shout outs, ah guess what?
00:17:24.539 --> 00:17:30.240
You're all going to be our new Stearns Center hype faculty gonna be having you go and, you know, visit other places.
00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:30.900
No, I'm just kidding.
00:17:31.269 --> 00:17:32.769
But yeah, I really appreciate it.
00:17:32.839 --> 00:17:50.950
And so as we kind of move into some of the work that you've done with the Stearns Center, I'm wondering if you could each maybe give us like the sixty second overview of the grant work, that you've had with your mini grant projects, just to kind of show some of the impact of the innovation and the work that you all are doing.
00:17:51.902 --> 00:18:05.132
One initiative I'm proud of is our faculty led book club focused on a book titled Inflamed, which explores the intersection of health, race, and environmental justice.
00:18:05.612 --> 00:18:12.211
It sparked amazing conversations and help us bring those things into our classroom.
00:18:12.852 --> 00:18:16.432
The grant has just been amazing.
00:18:16.481 --> 00:18:27.162
It was just to test whether this would work, and I think Iulia and I together want to extend the grant, so we'll see how things go.
00:18:27.432 --> 00:18:29.457
But it was very successful for this semester.
00:18:31.356 --> 00:18:54.047
Yeah, this was a pilot program where we kind of tested out this book club and we invited faculty from across the College of Public Health and we had discussions and written reflections pertaining to the chapters, and it really allowed us to learn from one another about how, really how we talk about health equity in our respective classes and tied to our fields.
00:18:54.287 --> 00:18:56.116
So it was really fruitful conversation.
00:18:56.116 --> 00:18:57.701
Yeah, it was great working with Allison too.
00:18:58.837 --> 00:18:59.978
This is Yanika.
00:19:00.288 --> 00:19:04.548
I received a mini grant in 2024 from the Stearns Center.
00:19:04.548 --> 00:19:13.847
Of course, my project focused on peer led team learning and it aimed to enhance student engagement, academic performance, and leadership skill.
00:19:14.298 --> 00:19:20.478
Actually, this type of teaching strategy is not new idea, but it has not been a structure.
00:19:21.012 --> 00:19:40.542
So I restructure the small group discussion in class by, you know, we have to involve the faculty to develop the case scenario and problem solving questions and reflection document, and propose briefing for the group leaders.
00:19:41.143 --> 00:19:47.248
For the student, we provide equal opportunities to be a leader in the small group.
00:19:47.758 --> 00:19:51.407
So the group leader was rotated for each week.
00:19:51.978 --> 00:20:01.218
So based on the student reflection, it was surprised me that most students like to be a leader, especially the quiet students.
00:20:01.488 --> 00:20:03.077
That's very surprised me.
00:20:03.498 --> 00:20:13.643
There were few students who say that they were not comfortable to be a leader, but they did a good job in leading and facilitating the group discussion.
00:20:13.643 --> 00:20:17.432
So this is quite a meaningful outcome that I receive.
00:20:18.821 --> 00:20:19.511
This is Esther.
00:20:19.932 --> 00:20:29.241
So in December, 2024, sometime I was preparing a spring 2025 sophomore lab course that I'm going to teach this year.
00:20:29.781 --> 00:20:36.442
And I identified a critical gap in remediation opportunities for struggling students.
00:20:36.951 --> 00:20:42.531
So I pause the prep work and go into, of course, Stearns Center again.
00:20:43.041 --> 00:20:47.182
And then, oh, is there anything that I can utilize for.
00:20:47.711 --> 00:20:51.602
Providing remediation sessions for those struggling students.
00:20:51.991 --> 00:20:53.551
And I found the mini grant of course.
00:20:54.701 --> 00:21:05.192
Because, last year, spring 2024, we had 23% of the attrition rate, only from the nursing skills and fundamental didactic and lab course.
00:21:05.652 --> 00:21:12.146
So I applied for a teaching innovation and Initiatives mini grant to address this issue.
00:21:12.717 --> 00:21:26.376
So my proposal focus focused on developing strategy to enhance instructor consistency across groups, across sections, and to all for after lab remediation sessions for struggling students.
00:21:26.892 --> 00:21:42.166
And to implement clear rubrics and grading criteria and to provide all the guideline for lab instructors, which is, you know, most likely they are adjunct faculty, to ensure consistent and equitable student outcomes.
00:21:42.737 --> 00:21:54.457
So recognizing, you know, students of freshman year and sophomore year, they often lack commitment when they face unclear directions or inconsistent instructions.
00:21:54.826 --> 00:21:59.416
So I developed tools and strategies to promote clarity and support.
00:22:00.196 --> 00:22:19.346
So those, you know, tools that I develop under the mini grant support, I develop clearly defined weekly objectives and a concise introductory video outlining the course expectation and consequences, and all the distribution of rubrics, grading criteria and relevant resources.
00:22:20.057 --> 00:22:33.616
I was able to really invest my hours and time because Stearns Center support me and I also develop these structured remediation sessions to foster student success and engagement.
00:22:33.977 --> 00:22:35.807
So, I'm so happy.
00:22:35.807 --> 00:22:47.076
I'm going to also present, you know, this finding in their conference talk, but then I found that attrition rate from this fundamental and then lab course is a lot smaller than last year.
00:22:47.346 --> 00:22:51.606
Last year I said that, 23%, but this year we do have 12%.
00:22:51.696 --> 00:23:01.906
So it was a huge improvement and I really appreciate this mini grant that were able to support those struggling students for especially sophomore year students.
00:23:03.362 --> 00:23:03.602
Yeah.
00:23:03.602 --> 00:23:04.082
That's great.
00:23:04.082 --> 00:23:04.622
Thank you.
00:23:04.652 --> 00:23:05.672
Thank you all so much.
00:23:05.672 --> 00:23:11.846
Not only for your work to support students, but also your work to support each other in these grants and everything as well.
00:23:12.047 --> 00:23:21.126
I think here, you know, we definitely see the ways that supporting faculty and even supporting each other also supports students and their outcomes and their learning.
00:23:21.727 --> 00:23:25.926
So unfortunately, not everyone has a great cohort.
00:23:25.926 --> 00:23:28.567
Not everyone is hired in with other faculty.
00:23:28.876 --> 00:23:34.537
And not everyone has the structures coming from the College of Public Health like you all have had.
00:23:34.926 --> 00:23:48.727
So could you give maybe some of your recommendations, maybe some encouragement for other instructional faculty, particularly if they don't already have a cohort that starts to work together in that sort of very mutually beneficial and supportive way.
00:23:51.277 --> 00:23:55.326
What I would like to say to those faculty, you're not alone.
00:23:55.777 --> 00:24:02.392
Even if you feel isolated within your own department which I think everybody probably experienced that in some point.
00:24:02.402 --> 00:24:04.652
It's not just one faculty member.
00:24:05.402 --> 00:24:16.672
The biggest advice I have is to look beyond your immediate area and connect with university wide initiatives, workshops, or other cross disciplinary programs.
00:24:17.332 --> 00:24:21.771
Building your own informal network is very sustaining.
00:24:22.481 --> 00:24:33.086
One of the things that we didn't mention that, I do wanna bring that up is that our cohort of, our juniors, our freshman cohort, we're so diverse.
00:24:33.537 --> 00:24:40.826
You can't see it because this is a podcast, but we are from just such varied cultures.
00:24:41.531 --> 00:24:43.362
And it's wonderful.
00:24:43.481 --> 00:24:48.221
I know our university is known for its diversity, but our cohort is extremely diverse.
00:24:48.741 --> 00:24:52.221
It's not represented here, but we do have males in our cohort as well.
00:24:52.652 --> 00:24:57.747
So it's wonderful to connect with people around the university, not just in your discipline.
00:24:58.718 --> 00:25:04.587
One other thing I would say is we did start together, and this cohort started together.
00:25:04.587 --> 00:25:09.508
However, there were again, one-off events that also helped kind of solidify our bond.
00:25:09.508 --> 00:25:14.853
So for people that are coming in, there's a President's dinner or something, right?
00:25:14.853 --> 00:25:17.942
That's kind of like, an event hosted for new faculty.
00:25:17.942 --> 00:25:24.103
And that's where new faculty from across the entire campus are invited to this really nice, it's a nice event.
00:25:24.103 --> 00:25:25.573
There's food, there's music.
00:25:25.782 --> 00:25:41.542
So I think, you know, even one off events like that can just give you an opportunity to, you never know what kind of conversation you're gonna have, what kind of networking you're gonna do, or just feel like those moments they're talking to you, they're welcoming you to this new university, this new institution.
00:25:41.542 --> 00:25:51.833
So I would really encourage new faculty or others who are, have been here maybe for a couple years and haven't felt this kind of belonging, to look for those one-off events because you really never know what can come out of them.
00:25:54.732 --> 00:25:58.438
And then I also reiterate, you know, what Allison might have said.
00:25:58.518 --> 00:26:01.488
You know, that's definitely important to build informal network.
00:26:01.518 --> 00:26:03.948
You know, even without a formal cohort, right?
00:26:03.978 --> 00:26:08.478
Seek a, like, colleague across department or institutions for collaborations.
00:26:08.877 --> 00:26:12.742
I really want to, you know, reemphasize those, building informal networks.
00:26:12.792 --> 00:26:16.877
To do so I think, you know, I want you to stay resilient and proactive.
00:26:17.397 --> 00:26:22.917
Teaching without a cohort can feel isolating, but your initiative can make a difference, I think.
00:26:23.498 --> 00:26:33.518
So take small steps like, you know, inviting a colleague for a small coffee time to discuss teaching, you know, challenges or successes to build relationships.
00:26:33.518 --> 00:26:37.603
I think your initiative matters, so stay resilient and proactive for that.
00:26:40.637 --> 00:26:55.617
Yes, for me, I would recommend to attend university workshops or any workshops that have the hands on or you have time to participate and be proactive to reach out and make new friends.
00:26:56.248 --> 00:27:00.538
This will help both professional development and a sense of belonging.
00:27:00.778 --> 00:27:07.678
So I find that finding new friends from other departments or faculty is really joyful.
00:27:07.708 --> 00:27:10.018
So that is would be my recommendation.
00:27:10.067 --> 00:27:11.238
Yeah, absolutely.
00:27:11.867 --> 00:27:22.788
So with this, you know, I think here obviously we're seeing not only the ways that supporting students really can very much be reliant on supporting faculty.
00:27:23.117 --> 00:27:30.157
You know, we have faculty are the student supports as well as many other academic offices or student support areas.
00:27:30.778 --> 00:27:35.548
But primarily faculty are really working with students and supporting faculty is essential.
00:27:35.667 --> 00:27:45.778
And so also, you know, we've seen not only the benefits of sort of that cohort model, but also just a great group of people who wants to work with and support each other, not compete with each other.
00:27:46.268 --> 00:27:51.127
But with this, I think here we're really looking at our keystone concept of community.
00:27:51.593 --> 00:28:14.301
We've seen the ways that you all have actively worked to build community with each other, but also even within the grants, how you built community, how you looked at supporting student teamwork and leadership, how you built community with faculty across different disciplines, you know, through the book club, how you've looked at helping students who are struggling.
00:28:14.541 --> 00:28:22.432
This is all about building community and to do that we have to support faculty in building their community, whether that's formally or informally.
00:28:23.721 --> 00:28:38.291
So I really wanna thank you all so much for your time and really just celebrate all of the impactful work that you all have been doing and the ways that you work together and support each other with formal things and with just that informal, like, Hey, how are you?
00:28:38.352 --> 00:28:39.162
Check-ins.
00:28:39.491 --> 00:28:41.261
So thank you so much for your time.
00:28:41.261 --> 00:28:51.082
I'm very appreciative of not only the work that you do, the work and especially the shout outs to the Stearns Center, but also just all the ways that you support your students.
00:28:51.082 --> 00:28:52.461
So thank you so much.
00:28:53.077 --> 00:28:53.857
Thank you.
00:28:53.887 --> 00:28:54.813
Thank you for having us.
00:28:54.991 --> 00:28:55.201
Thank you.
00:28:55.268 --> 00:28:55.688
Thank you.
00:28:55.688 --> 00:28:56.347
My pleasure.
00:28:56.347 --> 00:28:56.708
My pleasure.
00:28:59.032 --> 00:28:59.722
Thank you, Rachel.
00:28:59.796 --> 00:29:02.615
So thank you so much for listening in to this episode.
00:29:02.685 --> 00:29:05.236
Please be sure to catch our next episode.
00:29:05.236 --> 00:29:11.905
We post every two weeks during the fall and spring semester, so I hope you will join us again for our next guest.
00:00:08.329 --> 00:00:11.958
Hello, and welcome to the Keystone Concepts in Teaching podcast.
00:00:12.288 --> 00:00:13.519
I'm your host, Rachel Yoho.
00:00:14.323 --> 00:00:21.853
And I'm joined by a group of absolute powerhouse faculty today from the College of Public Health at George Mason University.
00:00:22.274 --> 00:00:24.553
So we have four special guests today.
00:00:24.914 --> 00:00:28.123
Our first guest in no particular order is Dr.
00:00:28.123 --> 00:00:33.823
Allison Miner, who's a dietician and educator from the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies.
00:00:33.996 --> 00:00:34.807
We have Dr.
00:00:34.807 --> 00:00:37.807
Esther Park, an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing.
00:00:38.261 --> 00:00:39.011
We have Dr.
00:00:39.070 --> 00:00:45.790
Iulia Fratila from the Department of Global and Community Health, an Assistant Professor there, and we have Dr.
00:00:45.850 --> 00:00:50.411
Yanika Kowitlawakul, an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing.
00:00:50.411 --> 00:00:53.060
So thank you so much, all four of you, for joining us today.
00:00:53.060 --> 00:00:54.951
I'm very excited for our conversation.
00:00:55.829 --> 00:00:57.238
Thank you for having me here.
00:00:57.238 --> 00:01:06.138
This is Esther Park from School of Nursing and I'm so excited about today's conversation'cause we all are from the same cohort of faculty meeting.
00:01:07.248 --> 00:01:08.638
Thanks for having me too.
00:01:08.759 --> 00:01:09.634
Very happy to be here.
00:01:10.081 --> 00:01:10.302
Yes.
00:01:10.307 --> 00:01:15.242
Thank you for welcoming us, and letting our cohort get a chance to be together again.
00:01:16.141 --> 00:01:20.287
We do a lot of things together, so this is just adds to our resume now.
00:01:22.019 --> 00:01:24.179
All right, so thank you so much for your time.
00:01:24.358 --> 00:01:35.903
So with this cohort, this conversation to get us started, you know, in this episode we wanna focus on how do we support student success by supporting faculty success.
00:01:35.993 --> 00:01:42.263
And so this group in particular, you know, I've worked with you all a little bit in some different ways.
00:01:42.263 --> 00:01:49.463
I've seen some of the massively impactful projects that you all have put on both separately and, and things you've done together.
00:01:49.846 --> 00:01:57.787
And so this group's really an interesting cohort, a group of really engaged faculty who started here at Mason at about the same time.
00:01:58.117 --> 00:02:05.527
So, to get us started, can you tell us a little bit about your cohort, your interactions, your professional relationships with each other?
00:02:06.263 --> 00:02:30.717
So our cohort w e all started, and please someone, correct me if I'm wrong, in August of 2023, the fall, of course together as colleagues in the College of Public Health, but each in our respective departments and in the Dean's office, we have Cathy Tompkins, who really led this initiative of a first year CPH cohort.
00:02:30.717 --> 00:02:33.026
So at that time we were the freshmen.
00:02:33.026 --> 00:02:35.037
We were in our freshman year of this cohort.
00:02:35.757 --> 00:02:42.736
Um, and, you know, the kinds of topics we talk about are really varied and, and someone else can step in and maybe elaborate on that.
00:02:42.736 --> 00:02:52.097
But really what we discuss is everything from the internal workings of our college to how our classes are going, to what kinds of research grants we might be pursuing.
00:02:52.097 --> 00:02:53.176
So the conversations.
00:02:53.236 --> 00:03:02.016
Really are varied, but this initiative start as a one year program, kind of one year opportunity to connect with one another as new faculty.
00:03:02.227 --> 00:03:08.887
And now we've just completed our sophomore year in the spring 2025, and we're getting ready for our junior year.
00:03:08.887 --> 00:03:16.157
So we've actually kind of turned this into a multiple year engagement with one another and kind of across faculty.
00:03:16.437 --> 00:03:22.356
But it was something, I think that's a new initiative even for our college to get all of the new faculty members together.
00:03:23.318 --> 00:03:25.699
Just a little bit of piggyback what Iulia said.
00:03:25.729 --> 00:03:34.968
Yeah, I mean this cohort include not only from 2023 August cohort, but then it also include 2024 January cohort.
00:03:35.088 --> 00:03:36.169
'cause I'm from there.
00:03:36.528 --> 00:03:41.338
So I would say that this cohort include 20 23 to 2024.
00:03:41.729 --> 00:03:48.038
And I think Iulia, you know, addressed pretty much everything that we've done there so far under Cathy Tomkins's leadership.
00:03:48.669 --> 00:03:52.049
But one thing more, we also do, social bonding.
00:03:54.419 --> 00:04:03.229
Not only, not only we do, you know, collaborative support throughout the monthly in-person meeting, but then we also organize some shorter social event.
00:04:04.058 --> 00:04:09.788
Sometimes we go out for eating, sometimes we go out for music, concerts, stuff like this.
00:04:09.788 --> 00:04:14.949
So I think this social event also really, you know, make us bond tight.
00:04:16.533 --> 00:04:19.649
Yeah, I do agree with Esther and Iulia.
00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:30.129
I feels like we didn't just learn about, you know, all the Mason policies, teaching strategies, or share our concerns and support each other.
00:04:30.608 --> 00:04:35.019
But sometime we went out for dinner or even went dancing together.
00:04:35.649 --> 00:04:36.639
That was fun.
00:04:36.699 --> 00:04:41.019
It was energizing and it made me feel like I belong here.
00:04:41.499 --> 00:04:44.108
I'm deeply grateful for that experience.
00:04:45.694 --> 00:04:47.093
And this is Alison Miner.
00:04:47.194 --> 00:04:56.923
I wanna add that, you know, there's a learning curve when you get on a new job and it's so invaluable to be with colleagues that are experiencing the same thing.
00:04:57.194 --> 00:05:05.923
I will say that when I first joined, I didn't really realized the benefit for me, it was just like, oh goodness, another meeting I have to go to.
00:05:05.923 --> 00:05:13.663
And I was super busy that first semester, but as everyone said, being in this cohort has really, really been valuable.
00:05:13.663 --> 00:05:18.014
I just wanna tell you just a really quick story that was super valuable for me.
00:05:18.223 --> 00:05:29.863
Casually out to dinner, I mentioned to my colleagues that I had an Asian student who was just very quiet and I did everything I could to bring this Asian student out.
00:05:29.863 --> 00:05:34.723
And I know that, you know, in some cultures, being quiet is a sign of respect.
00:05:34.723 --> 00:05:38.233
And so I didn't wanna be disrespectful to this student, you know, calling them out.
00:05:38.233 --> 00:05:42.194
You have to participate, and Yanika chimed in.
00:05:42.194 --> 00:05:45.913
And she said, no, you tell that student she must participate.
00:05:46.213 --> 00:05:55.004
And it was, and she said it in a professional way, but also just letting me know sternly that, she has to participate.
00:05:55.303 --> 00:06:01.064
And it really gave me the confidence to go back in my classroom and talk to the student and be realistic.
00:06:01.483 --> 00:06:04.363
Look, you're part of this culture now, you're going to have to speak up.
00:06:04.754 --> 00:06:08.744
So those the kinda little things that tidbits that you're not gonna get anywhere else.
00:06:08.744 --> 00:06:09.463
Not even if you Google.
00:06:10.502 --> 00:06:16.771
Yeah, I think this is great, especially, you know, the work I've done with you all, and certainly a special shout out to Dr.
00:06:16.771 --> 00:06:23.901
Cathy Tompkins from the College of Public Health for the impact of this type of cohort model and working together.
00:06:23.992 --> 00:06:30.891
And so I think that really leads us into my next question because we really talk about the impact of the work.
00:06:30.891 --> 00:06:38.682
We wanna focus on how do we impact positively impact students by having better environments and better workplaces for faculty.
00:06:38.742 --> 00:06:52.422
And so let's talk a little bit more about your work together, and let's talk about what does, or what can peer leadership and encouragement look like, especially from your experiences.
00:06:54.005 --> 00:06:54.665
I can start.
00:06:54.696 --> 00:07:08.555
I think the peer leadership and encouraging, fostering a supportive community where, you know, our colleagues actively collaborate and uplift each other, and that's exactly what happened in our monthly meeting.
00:07:09.365 --> 00:07:15.846
And we also do support practically and motivate each other in our group.
00:07:15.875 --> 00:07:29.326
You know, this means regularly meeting to discuss our progress and teaching, research and service and offering constructive feedback and celebrating each other for our success, stuff like that.
00:07:29.326 --> 00:07:41.355
So we encourage each other by sharing grant proposal and research ideas and creating a culture of, openness social event, like dining out, as I told you before.
00:07:41.656 --> 00:07:46.935
Further strengthen our bond, fostering a sense of belongings as Yanika addressed it.
00:07:47.865 --> 00:07:52.935
So we are definitely a culture of empowerment through our leadership.
00:07:54.391 --> 00:08:08.000
I'd like to add that when you read about what faculty are doing in the general newsletters and things like that, and you're just blown away by faculty, but you know, you just, you don't know how to do it yourself.
00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:08.360
Right.
00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:10.600
And it looks like something that you couldn't do.
00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:15.108
And you know, you can't necessarily call that faculty on the phone and say, Hey, how did you do this?
00:08:15.348 --> 00:08:28.309
But in our meetings, in our cohort meetings, when faculty talk about, look, I got this grant, or I'm doing this project, or I'm working with this particular faculty member, we get a chance to say, wow, how did you do that?
00:08:28.579 --> 00:08:33.259
And it encouraged us, I think, to go out and do these things on our own.
00:08:33.589 --> 00:08:36.558
So it really had a snowball effect.
00:08:36.859 --> 00:08:45.729
Being in a cohort with people in an informal way, they can kind of give you tips that you wouldn't normally get just by reading about it in, let's say The George.
00:08:47.369 --> 00:09:00.644
Yeah, I would like to add more that, to me, peer leadership is look like being a good facilitator, you know, to encourage our peers to be a good teamwork and empower each other.
00:09:01.364 --> 00:09:24.339
So like example that we, Alison and Esther already addressed that, you know, when we have new information or we got a grant, we share how we get successful, we empower each other and then, you know, at the end we celebrate with each other, so this is great type of the peer leadership, that be a good facilitator.
00:09:26.583 --> 00:09:26.724
Yeah.
00:09:26.734 --> 00:09:27.624
This is Iulia.
00:09:27.724 --> 00:09:33.124
One thing I just wanna say is that we actually, I think this happened quite organically.
00:09:33.203 --> 00:09:40.884
Maybe we just I don't know, you know, happenstance got lucky with such a great group of people starting at one time.
00:09:40.884 --> 00:09:45.293
But the thing that we all do well that I think also is encouraging is that we show up.
00:09:45.323 --> 00:09:52.224
So, you know, when we have these meetings once a month, we didn't quite explain the structure, but they're once a month typically in person.
00:09:52.313 --> 00:09:52.464
Uh oh.
00:09:52.683 --> 00:09:58.673
It's hybrid actually because Cathy Tompkins has set it up where it's also an online option, but we actually show up once a month.
00:09:58.673 --> 00:10:00.474
So that in itself is quite encouraging.
00:10:00.474 --> 00:10:06.033
And when one of us is not there, I know like Yanika or Allison have texted me like, Hey, you weren't at the meeting this month.
00:10:06.033 --> 00:10:09.453
You know, what's up, or, you know, see you next month, or is everything good?
00:10:09.453 --> 00:10:09.724
You know?
00:10:09.724 --> 00:10:13.563
And so it's a very kind of easy, just check in with one another.
00:10:13.563 --> 00:10:18.033
But part of the fact and reason why it's so encouraging is that we actually do just show up.
00:10:20.783 --> 00:10:28.474
Yeah, I mean, I'm so glad to hear Iulia addressed Cathy Tompkins's role here again, I think, Cathy Tomkins's leadership was really great.
00:10:28.553 --> 00:10:34.214
And then that leadership really make our peer leadership as an, action oriented collaboration.
00:10:34.573 --> 00:10:39.553
'cause every month, Cathy brought her like guest speaker, not every month, but you know, pretty much every month.
00:10:39.604 --> 00:10:43.533
She ask us who do you want to see in the meeting?
00:10:43.533 --> 00:10:43.833
Right.
00:10:43.833 --> 00:10:47.313
So she invited guest speakers and I think Rachel was one of them.
00:10:47.614 --> 00:11:01.318
And as soon as Rachel was invited and then talk about Stearns Center and then Yanika share her personal experience about mini grant she got, and we all jump in and then work on writing the the mini grant proposal.
00:11:01.349 --> 00:11:09.139
So I, I think Cathy's leadership in inviting guest speakers to our meeting provided really practical resources for new faculty.
00:11:10.158 --> 00:11:13.609
And we start to build up action oriented collaboration there.
00:11:15.269 --> 00:11:16.619
Yeah, I think that's a great point.
00:11:16.619 --> 00:11:19.969
It was very nice to visit all of you, as a guest speaker in one of those also.
00:11:20.328 --> 00:11:28.769
But I also wanna acknowledge, especially with this group, you know, certainly, we've probably all been part of groups where we start places and it feels much more competitive.
00:11:29.188 --> 00:11:43.259
I wanna acknowledge here, especially this group of individuals having that collaborative spirit, having that we're gonna support each other, we're gonna uplift each other, is also contributions from all of you individually and working together and continuing that.
00:11:43.259 --> 00:11:45.298
So I think that's really special.
00:11:45.749 --> 00:11:50.038
But let's shift over a little bit and talk about some institutional resources.
00:11:50.038 --> 00:12:00.448
So let's talk about, what are some of the institutional resources that you've found that are helpful in your first year, couple years here at Mason?
00:12:00.719 --> 00:12:12.389
What are some of the things maybe that you found helpful that others may not know about, especially if they aren't lucky enough to have that sort of cohort model or have have guest speakers coming in all the time?
00:12:13.621 --> 00:12:21.251
I feel very lucky when I first came in, that is the mentorship program that conducted at school of nursing.
00:12:21.701 --> 00:12:25.581
So I was assigned a mentor, Dr.
00:12:25.581 --> 00:12:37.426
Margie Rodan was my mentor for the first year then she had a list of things to do to walk me through everything and let me observe all teaching classes in the first semester.
00:12:38.035 --> 00:12:42.485
This was very helpful and it make me feel very welcome.
00:12:42.535 --> 00:12:52.015
And then they give a list workload for the first semester that I think that's really, really great because of, I have more time to observe.
00:12:52.105 --> 00:13:01.048
I learn about the new culture that I start learning as a person that come from another country that came in for the first semesters.
00:13:01.109 --> 00:13:06.958
I think mentorship program's very helpful, especially one-on-one, with the senior faculty.
00:13:08.057 --> 00:13:14.177
And then also I think, you know, as I told you before, a Stearns Center was very helpful resources.
00:13:14.177 --> 00:13:30.307
I'm not really, you know, exaggerating, but, you know, Stearns Center just provide me, you know, what is the definition of structured assessment for student outcomes, and what resources I can actually dig into for fostering student success.
00:13:30.307 --> 00:13:32.557
So I mean, Stearns Center.
00:13:32.751 --> 00:13:37.221
You can leave with that, you know, link for a while once you join here.
00:13:37.371 --> 00:13:43.022
So then you can definitely guarantee the best start in their new institution.
00:13:44.272 --> 00:13:46.797
For the record, this was not a pushed endorsement.
00:13:46.797 --> 00:13:46.917
But
00:13:47.106 --> 00:13:47.287
No.
00:13:47.576 --> 00:13:48.376
Thank you so much, Esther.
00:13:48.677 --> 00:13:50.956
We really appreciate it.
00:13:52.067 --> 00:13:54.346
I want to reiterate what Esther said.
00:13:54.677 --> 00:13:58.456
You know, I'm one of the older faculty here.
00:13:58.996 --> 00:14:05.927
I've been teaching for a long time, and so, you know, I have a pretty good deal of knowledge, but there's always something you can learn.
00:14:05.976 --> 00:14:20.182
As an example, I'm part of the inclusive course redesign program that the Stearns Center is facilitating and I'm blown away by the information I'm learning that I just didn't know.
00:14:20.312 --> 00:14:25.322
And there are other faculty in this course, so they're providing information as well.
00:14:25.442 --> 00:14:27.392
So there's always something for everyone.
00:14:27.432 --> 00:14:39.282
And as Esther said, sometimes we just don't have time to do some of the courses or even the workshops, but there's a plethora of information online, how to compose your syllabus, what are some online best practices.
00:14:39.851 --> 00:14:44.292
All of that is there, besides all of the workshops that you could possibly attend.
00:14:45.447 --> 00:14:45.956
Yes.
00:14:45.986 --> 00:14:49.287
Stearns, one more shout out for Stearns from our group.
00:14:49.947 --> 00:14:51.086
You brought us all together.
00:14:51.086 --> 00:14:53.846
I think you've supported us well, but it's just true.
00:14:53.846 --> 00:14:57.167
I mean, and this will be, my last plugin I guess for the Stearns.
00:14:57.167 --> 00:15:02.236
But what I really appreciate about this center that we have for teaching is that there's different formats.
00:15:02.236 --> 00:15:05.866
So in the spring I participated in the first year five program.
00:15:05.866 --> 00:15:12.852
And so it's essentially, reading and engaging with or attending five different events, materials that are related to teaching, right?
00:15:12.852 --> 00:15:14.472
And kind of writing a reflection on those.
00:15:14.472 --> 00:15:19.633
Those were really good kind of low hanging fruit for me that I could plan throughout my spring semester.
00:15:19.633 --> 00:15:22.212
So I went to a conference, I attended a teaching talk.
00:15:22.212 --> 00:15:23.442
I wrote a reflection on it.
00:15:23.442 --> 00:15:25.993
It counted towards my first year five program.
00:15:26.322 --> 00:15:31.243
I watched a webinar on AI that counted towards but it essentially gave me homework, right?
00:15:31.293 --> 00:15:32.883
That was good with deadlines.
00:15:33.322 --> 00:15:44.327
And I got to choose whatever material and events I wanted to attend that made sense for my teaching needs with, of course, the intention and focus of building my inclusive teaching capabilities.
00:15:44.327 --> 00:15:45.317
So I thought that was great.
00:15:45.317 --> 00:15:50.317
And another one that's kind of a different format that's really easy to engage with is just the conference.
00:15:50.317 --> 00:15:56.288
We have an entire teaching conference here once a year in the fall, the Innovations in Teaching and Learning conference.
00:15:56.317 --> 00:16:02.628
And you go one day, two days, and you hear from other colleagues from across the entire, campus.
00:16:02.717 --> 00:16:03.753
So I think those are really great.
00:16:04.653 --> 00:16:10.572
I would also say that within our college, you know, most of us, I think all of us we're instructional term faculty.
00:16:10.572 --> 00:16:18.307
So definitely when you hear our podcast, we talk a lot about what kind of teaching supports we have because they, those are really meaningful to us.
00:16:18.368 --> 00:16:23.827
But we have great research supports, you know, from the student research OSCAR office at the university level.
00:16:23.827 --> 00:16:28.717
We have our own office of research with Alison Cuellar within the College of Public Health.
00:16:28.717 --> 00:16:30.908
So we also have great research supports.
00:16:31.418 --> 00:16:36.937
And one other thing that the Dean has done within our college is this Dean speaker series.
00:16:37.238 --> 00:16:43.597
And so what she does, maybe two or three times a semester, we'll invite guest speakers.
00:16:43.697 --> 00:16:51.317
We had topics related to like nutrition and human fertility, developing kind of like a community health workers intervention.
00:16:51.317 --> 00:17:00.738
And so what she does is she invites speakers to our college and they give a presentation on their research on the kind of work that they're doing in the community.
00:17:00.977 --> 00:17:04.607
And it's a great opportunity for faculty and staff across the whole college.
00:17:04.607 --> 00:17:09.768
It's a bit of a networking, social connection kind of event, but it's still an institutional resource.
00:17:09.768 --> 00:17:10.008
Right?
00:17:10.008 --> 00:17:14.087
So even if it's not a training, it's an event that's hosted by our college, by the dean.
00:17:14.488 --> 00:17:20.147
And because we have so many different departments, it can relate to each person in a way that that makes sense to them.
00:17:21.240 --> 00:17:21.509
Yeah.
00:17:21.509 --> 00:17:22.410
Thank you all so much.
00:17:22.410 --> 00:17:24.539
Thank you all for the shout outs, ah guess what?
00:17:24.539 --> 00:17:30.240
You're all going to be our new Stearns Center hype faculty gonna be having you go and, you know, visit other places.
00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:30.900
No, I'm just kidding.
00:17:31.269 --> 00:17:32.769
But yeah, I really appreciate it.
00:17:32.839 --> 00:17:50.950
And so as we kind of move into some of the work that you've done with the Stearns Center, I'm wondering if you could each maybe give us like the sixty second overview of the grant work, that you've had with your mini grant projects, just to kind of show some of the impact of the innovation and the work that you all are doing.
00:17:51.902 --> 00:18:05.132
One initiative I'm proud of is our faculty led book club focused on a book titled Inflamed, which explores the intersection of health, race, and environmental justice.
00:18:05.612 --> 00:18:12.211
It sparked amazing conversations and help us bring those things into our classroom.
00:18:12.852 --> 00:18:16.432
The grant has just been amazing.
00:18:16.481 --> 00:18:27.162
It was just to test whether this would work, and I think Iulia and I together want to extend the grant, so we'll see how things go.
00:18:27.432 --> 00:18:29.457
But it was very successful for this semester.
00:18:31.356 --> 00:18:54.047
Yeah, this was a pilot program where we kind of tested out this book club and we invited faculty from across the College of Public Health and we had discussions and written reflections pertaining to the chapters, and it really allowed us to learn from one another about how, really how we talk about health equity in our respective classes and tied to our fields.
00:18:54.287 --> 00:18:56.116
So it was really fruitful conversation.
00:18:56.116 --> 00:18:57.701
Yeah, it was great working with Allison too.
00:18:58.837 --> 00:18:59.978
This is Yanika.
00:19:00.288 --> 00:19:04.548
I received a mini grant in 2024 from the Stearns Center.
00:19:04.548 --> 00:19:13.847
Of course, my project focused on peer led team learning and it aimed to enhance student engagement, academic performance, and leadership skill.
00:19:14.298 --> 00:19:20.478
Actually, this type of teaching strategy is not new idea, but it has not been a structure.
00:19:21.012 --> 00:19:40.542
So I restructure the small group discussion in class by, you know, we have to involve the faculty to develop the case scenario and problem solving questions and reflection document, and propose briefing for the group leaders.
00:19:41.143 --> 00:19:47.248
For the student, we provide equal opportunities to be a leader in the small group.
00:19:47.758 --> 00:19:51.407
So the group leader was rotated for each week.
00:19:51.978 --> 00:20:01.218
So based on the student reflection, it was surprised me that most students like to be a leader, especially the quiet students.
00:20:01.488 --> 00:20:03.077
That's very surprised me.
00:20:03.498 --> 00:20:13.643
There were few students who say that they were not comfortable to be a leader, but they did a good job in leading and facilitating the group discussion.
00:20:13.643 --> 00:20:17.432
So this is quite a meaningful outcome that I receive.
00:20:18.821 --> 00:20:19.511
This is Esther.
00:20:19.932 --> 00:20:29.241
So in December, 2024, sometime I was preparing a spring 2025 sophomore lab course that I'm going to teach this year.
00:20:29.781 --> 00:20:36.442
And I identified a critical gap in remediation opportunities for struggling students.
00:20:36.951 --> 00:20:42.531
So I pause the prep work and go into, of course, Stearns Center again.
00:20:43.041 --> 00:20:47.182
And then, oh, is there anything that I can utilize for.
00:20:47.711 --> 00:20:51.602
Providing remediation sessions for those struggling students.
00:20:51.991 --> 00:20:53.551
And I found the mini grant of course.
00:20:54.701 --> 00:21:05.192
Because, last year, spring 2024, we had 23% of the attrition rate, only from the nursing skills and fundamental didactic and lab course.
00:21:05.652 --> 00:21:12.146
So I applied for a teaching innovation and Initiatives mini grant to address this issue.
00:21:12.717 --> 00:21:26.376
So my proposal focus focused on developing strategy to enhance instructor consistency across groups, across sections, and to all for after lab remediation sessions for struggling students.
00:21:26.892 --> 00:21:42.166
And to implement clear rubrics and grading criteria and to provide all the guideline for lab instructors, which is, you know, most likely they are adjunct faculty, to ensure consistent and equitable student outcomes.
00:21:42.737 --> 00:21:54.457
So recognizing, you know, students of freshman year and sophomore year, they often lack commitment when they face unclear directions or inconsistent instructions.
00:21:54.826 --> 00:21:59.416
So I developed tools and strategies to promote clarity and support.
00:22:00.196 --> 00:22:19.346
So those, you know, tools that I develop under the mini grant support, I develop clearly defined weekly objectives and a concise introductory video outlining the course expectation and consequences, and all the distribution of rubrics, grading criteria and relevant resources.
00:22:20.057 --> 00:22:33.616
I was able to really invest my hours and time because Stearns Center support me and I also develop these structured remediation sessions to foster student success and engagement.
00:22:33.977 --> 00:22:35.807
So, I'm so happy.
00:22:35.807 --> 00:22:47.076
I'm going to also present, you know, this finding in their conference talk, but then I found that attrition rate from this fundamental and then lab course is a lot smaller than last year.
00:22:47.346 --> 00:22:51.606
Last year I said that, 23%, but this year we do have 12%.
00:22:51.696 --> 00:23:01.906
So it was a huge improvement and I really appreciate this mini grant that were able to support those struggling students for especially sophomore year students.
00:23:03.362 --> 00:23:03.602
Yeah.
00:23:03.602 --> 00:23:04.082
That's great.
00:23:04.082 --> 00:23:04.622
Thank you.
00:23:04.652 --> 00:23:05.672
Thank you all so much.
00:23:05.672 --> 00:23:11.846
Not only for your work to support students, but also your work to support each other in these grants and everything as well.
00:23:12.047 --> 00:23:21.126
I think here, you know, we definitely see the ways that supporting faculty and even supporting each other also supports students and their outcomes and their learning.
00:23:21.727 --> 00:23:25.926
So unfortunately, not everyone has a great cohort.
00:23:25.926 --> 00:23:28.567
Not everyone is hired in with other faculty.
00:23:28.876 --> 00:23:34.537
And not everyone has the structures coming from the College of Public Health like you all have had.
00:23:34.926 --> 00:23:48.727
So could you give maybe some of your recommendations, maybe some encouragement for other instructional faculty, particularly if they don't already have a cohort that starts to work together in that sort of very mutually beneficial and supportive way.
00:23:51.277 --> 00:23:55.326
What I would like to say to those faculty, you're not alone.
00:23:55.777 --> 00:24:02.392
Even if you feel isolated within your own department which I think everybody probably experienced that in some point.
00:24:02.402 --> 00:24:04.652
It's not just one faculty member.
00:24:05.402 --> 00:24:16.672
The biggest advice I have is to look beyond your immediate area and connect with university wide initiatives, workshops, or other cross disciplinary programs.
00:24:17.332 --> 00:24:21.771
Building your own informal network is very sustaining.
00:24:22.481 --> 00:24:33.086
One of the things that we didn't mention that, I do wanna bring that up is that our cohort of, our juniors, our freshman cohort, we're so diverse.
00:24:33.537 --> 00:24:40.826
You can't see it because this is a podcast, but we are from just such varied cultures.
00:24:41.531 --> 00:24:43.362
And it's wonderful.
00:24:43.481 --> 00:24:48.221
I know our university is known for its diversity, but our cohort is extremely diverse.
00:24:48.741 --> 00:24:52.221
It's not represented here, but we do have males in our cohort as well.
00:24:52.652 --> 00:24:57.747
So it's wonderful to connect with people around the university, not just in your discipline.
00:24:58.718 --> 00:25:04.587
One other thing I would say is we did start together, and this cohort started together.
00:25:04.587 --> 00:25:09.508
However, there were again, one-off events that also helped kind of solidify our bond.
00:25:09.508 --> 00:25:14.853
So for people that are coming in, there's a President's dinner or something, right?
00:25:14.853 --> 00:25:17.942
That's kind of like, an event hosted for new faculty.
00:25:17.942 --> 00:25:24.103
And that's where new faculty from across the entire campus are invited to this really nice, it's a nice event.
00:25:24.103 --> 00:25:25.573
There's food, there's music.
00:25:25.782 --> 00:25:41.542
So I think, you know, even one off events like that can just give you an opportunity to, you never know what kind of conversation you're gonna have, what kind of networking you're gonna do, or just feel like those moments they're talking to you, they're welcoming you to this new university, this new institution.
00:25:41.542 --> 00:25:51.833
So I would really encourage new faculty or others who are, have been here maybe for a couple years and haven't felt this kind of belonging, to look for those one-off events because you really never know what can come out of them.
00:25:54.732 --> 00:25:58.438
And then I also reiterate, you know, what Allison might have said.
00:25:58.518 --> 00:26:01.488
You know, that's definitely important to build informal network.
00:26:01.518 --> 00:26:03.948
You know, even without a formal cohort, right?
00:26:03.978 --> 00:26:08.478
Seek a, like, colleague across department or institutions for collaborations.
00:26:08.877 --> 00:26:12.742
I really want to, you know, reemphasize those, building informal networks.
00:26:12.792 --> 00:26:16.877
To do so I think, you know, I want you to stay resilient and proactive.
00:26:17.397 --> 00:26:22.917
Teaching without a cohort can feel isolating, but your initiative can make a difference, I think.
00:26:23.498 --> 00:26:33.518
So take small steps like, you know, inviting a colleague for a small coffee time to discuss teaching, you know, challenges or successes to build relationships.
00:26:33.518 --> 00:26:37.603
I think your initiative matters, so stay resilient and proactive for that.
00:26:40.637 --> 00:26:55.617
Yes, for me, I would recommend to attend university workshops or any workshops that have the hands on or you have time to participate and be proactive to reach out and make new friends.
00:26:56.248 --> 00:27:00.538
This will help both professional development and a sense of belonging.
00:27:00.778 --> 00:27:07.678
So I find that finding new friends from other departments or faculty is really joyful.
00:27:07.708 --> 00:27:10.018
So that is would be my recommendation.
00:27:10.067 --> 00:27:11.238
Yeah, absolutely.
00:27:11.867 --> 00:27:22.788
So with this, you know, I think here obviously we're seeing not only the ways that supporting students really can very much be reliant on supporting faculty.
00:27:23.117 --> 00:27:30.157
You know, we have faculty are the student supports as well as many other academic offices or student support areas.
00:27:30.778 --> 00:27:35.548
But primarily faculty are really working with students and supporting faculty is essential.
00:27:35.667 --> 00:27:45.778
And so also, you know, we've seen not only the benefits of sort of that cohort model, but also just a great group of people who wants to work with and support each other, not compete with each other.
00:27:46.268 --> 00:27:51.127
But with this, I think here we're really looking at our keystone concept of community.
00:27:51.593 --> 00:28:14.301
We've seen the ways that you all have actively worked to build community with each other, but also even within the grants, how you built community, how you looked at supporting student teamwork and leadership, how you built community with faculty across different disciplines, you know, through the book club, how you've looked at helping students who are struggling.
00:28:14.541 --> 00:28:22.432
This is all about building community and to do that we have to support faculty in building their community, whether that's formally or informally.
00:28:23.721 --> 00:28:38.291
So I really wanna thank you all so much for your time and really just celebrate all of the impactful work that you all have been doing and the ways that you work together and support each other with formal things and with just that informal, like, Hey, how are you?
00:28:38.352 --> 00:28:39.162
Check-ins.
00:28:39.491 --> 00:28:41.261
So thank you so much for your time.
00:28:41.261 --> 00:28:51.082
I'm very appreciative of not only the work that you do, the work and especially the shout outs to the Stearns Center, but also just all the ways that you support your students.
00:28:51.082 --> 00:28:52.461
So thank you so much.
00:28:53.077 --> 00:28:53.857
Thank you.
00:28:53.887 --> 00:28:54.813
Thank you for having us.
00:28:54.991 --> 00:28:55.201
Thank you.
00:28:55.268 --> 00:28:55.688
Thank you.
00:28:55.688 --> 00:28:56.347
My pleasure.
00:28:56.347 --> 00:28:56.708
My pleasure.
00:28:59.032 --> 00:28:59.722
Thank you, Rachel.
00:28:59.796 --> 00:29:02.615
So thank you so much for listening in to this episode.
00:29:02.685 --> 00:29:05.236
Please be sure to catch our next episode.
00:29:05.236 --> 00:29:11.905
We post every two weeks during the fall and spring semester, so I hope you will join us again for our next guest.
