Test. Review. Refine. Repeat.

When Sandra Borden, Professor of Communication and Director of the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society, began to prep her Freedom of Expression class online for the first time during the summer of 2020, she started out trying to replicate what she had been doing in person, but virtually. Sometimes that worked, but if it did not, Borden knew it was time to reach out to her "trusted teaching friend" – WMUx Instructional Development and Support – to work through her challenges or talk through ideas.

"They were always a great sounding board," says Borden. "Sometimes they would just confirm I was on the right track, but sometimes I would need help. In these cases, they would show me a resource, give me a specific tool, or help me troubleshoot. They were great about offering practical help and solutions when I needed them."

With a small class size of 30, Borden tested out case studies and found them to be a highly effective learning tool that allowed students to apply the concepts of the course to specific situations. However, when she transitioned to teaching her class face-to-face that fall in a large lecture format with 90 students and no TA, she knew she did not have the bandwidth to review 90 individual case study write-ups a week. Regardless, she knew that using case studies were an effective tool for teaching her material and she wanted to find a way to retain that part of the learning experience.

Working with WMUx Instructional Development and Support, Borden began a series of iterations that helped her zero in on a format that would work best for her new, larger class size. Initially, she split her class into groups, who would work through a similar case study exercise together, rotating roles and thus cutting down on the total submissions to evaluate. While this seemed like the perfect solution at first, it was not working well in practice, and Borden encountered numerous challenges with the groups regarding participation and grading.

However, she was committed to using the highly effective case studies as a tool, so she reached back out to WMUx to refine her approach. Determining that her students needed more structure and presence from her, Borden started to meet synchronously once a week. She also decided to test out "flipping" her class. Because she developed her initial summer class in the online format, she already had all her instructional videos recorded, so she started asking her students to review her lecture content prior to class so that she could devote more teaching time to applying the materials and working through the case studies. Borden liked this style of active learning and it enabled her to make sure that students were understanding the concepts and correctly applying the various freedom of expression precedents. Still, there were a lot of students to try to engage in a thorough discussion, so Borden returned to WMUx for help with her next iteration.

Sandra Borden, Professor of Communication and Director of the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society

To improve class discussions, Borden decided to split her class into two. WMUx provided strategies and support to set up a different "classroom" for each section, which proved to be a very successful solution that allowed for greater discussion and understanding within the smaller section sizes. With each new change, Borden was able to learn about and improve her methods of teaching.

"One thing I valued about WMUx was that they tried to help me be the best version of myself. In teaching, I really do believe that you need to play to your strengths. They tried to help me do the things I wanted to do, but do them better," Borden says.

While more refining took place along the way, such as adjusting the case study rubric, adding in-class polls, and requiring group member evaluation forms, a mid-semester survey revealed that the case studies and discussions were the most engaging part of Borden's class and the tool that best helped students understand the concepts of her course.

Borden appreciates the ideas, tools, and recommendations she has gained from her relationship with WMUx Instructional Development and Support. From introducing case studies as a learning tool and facilitating group work, to help flipping and splitting her class, Borden learned something valuable through each adjustment that she will carry with her in all her other teaching experiences.

The evolution of Borden's COM 3070 Freedom of Expression class serves as an excellent example of how faculty can work with WMUx Instructional Development and Support to optimize the learning experience. If you are looking for a "trusted teaching friend" that can help you be the best version of yourself as an instructor, please reach out to WMUx Instructional Development and Support today!