Reaping the Rewards of Resources

From the moment she arrived at Western in October 2017, Professor Sandra Vamos jumped in and took advantage of many of the instructional development and support services WMUx offers. She attended trainings and workshops. She met with instructional designers and reached out to the technology specialists for assistance. "I am always looking for new and innovative things to do in my class. If I'm bored, my students will be bored!" notes Vamos.

Sandy Vamos, Professor at the School of Interdisciplinary Health Programs

With the support of WMUx, she was introduced to Gradebook, module design, Mediasite, Teams, and more. Vamos utilizes these tools, among others, to create web pages and mini-instructor guides and embed interactive learning activities as common practice for her teaching and learning.

Her proactive approach to learning has allowed Vamos to make the most of WMUx Instructional Development & Support as a true partner and sounding bound. Vamos typically comes with her own ideas and WMUx is there to help refine and enhance them to create excellent student experiences. When she had a Masters in Public Health Communication Strategies course with complex ‘behind the scenes' requirements, she asked her WMUx Instructional Designer to walk through the course design in detail and make sure all the components were understandable on the surface. Vamos then incorporated feedback and suggestions from WMUx's design experts in order to tweak things.

When Vamos ran into problems with undergraduate group work in a course, her WMUx partner helped her think through a series of Google forms she could use to gather group collaboration preference information and self/peer feedback. "It is always a process. I'm constantly trying to evolve and get better," Vamos says. After observing how the initial forms did and didn't work, Vamos is back at it again with her Instructional Designer, who has given her an additional idea to test out.

Health Literacy Day playlist on YouTube

Vamos also leveraged WMUx's help to support a university-wide health literacy event. Always one to push her students to use technology and interactive videos, Vamos saw the perfect opportunity to turn a media brief assignment into an event to support Health Literacy Day in 2019 but wasn't quite sure how to fully realize her idea. WMUx helped her brainstorm and suggested ways to put her ideas into action. Working together, WMUx and Vamos took videos made by students and created a YouTube channel to house all student videos for the event. Students presented their topics of interest to a broad university audience, which supported the 2019 event in a uniquely engaging way.

Vamos' students are lucky to have her. Her dedication to learning and the high standards she sets to develop interesting and engaging course material is impressive, but she recognizes that she couldn't do it alone. When asked about all her Instructional Development and Support partners over the years, she reflects, "All these people...I'm just so grateful. They help me be as effective as I can with student engagement and learning and success."

If you are looking for a partner that can help you be the best version of yourself as an instructor, please reach out to WMUx Instructional Development and Support today!