1 00:00:01,270 --> 00:00:04,240 Welcome to Digication Scholars Conversations. 2 00:00:04,310 --> 00:00:06,170 I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll. 3 00:00:06,420 --> 00:00:10,700 In this episode, you'll hear part two of my conversation with Matthew 4 00:00:10,700 --> 00:00:14,959 Street, Senior Lecturer in Spanish at the University of Virginia. 5 00:00:15,420 --> 00:00:20,320 More links and information about today's conversation can be found on Digication's 6 00:00:20,410 --> 00:00:22,540 Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. 7 00:00:23,090 --> 00:00:27,480 Full episodes of Digication Scholars Conversations can be found on YouTube. 8 00:00:27,900 --> 00:00:29,770 Or your favorite podcast app. 9 00:00:31,389 --> 00:00:35,570 I wanted to talk a little bit, I know we mentioned at the beginning of the 10 00:00:35,580 --> 00:00:42,170 conversation that you've been doing more work around open educational resources as 11 00:00:42,170 --> 00:00:44,900 well, and I would love for you to share. 12 00:00:45,455 --> 00:00:50,805 You know, why that's something that's important to you, how it, how you may 13 00:00:50,805 --> 00:00:56,605 be developing these things for your own courses, or maybe even other faculty 14 00:00:56,605 --> 00:00:58,465 members that are within your program. 15 00:00:58,475 --> 00:01:02,025 I would love to learn more about what you're doing in that area too. 16 00:01:03,215 --> 00:01:04,074 Yeah, so. 17 00:01:04,260 --> 00:01:10,289 Um, the Open Educational Resources has this been a big emphasis for, for 18 00:01:10,350 --> 00:01:16,079 a while, but at UVA for a couple of years now, there's been a big emphasis 19 00:01:16,130 --> 00:01:21,189 in some, some support in the term of stipends and stuff to, to create 20 00:01:21,190 --> 00:01:23,659 you to create your own resources. 21 00:01:23,659 --> 00:01:28,389 And, you know, it makes a lot of sense because the textbooks and the programs 22 00:01:28,389 --> 00:01:33,390 and curricula has grown gotten so expensive, you know, when we were using 23 00:01:33,960 --> 00:01:37,740 like a mainstream publisher and they were coming out with a book every two 24 00:01:37,740 --> 00:01:42,169 or three years and the book in the online platform is over 300 dollars. 25 00:01:42,629 --> 00:01:46,510 I mean, that's, that's, that's a hell of an amount of money 26 00:01:46,559 --> 00:01:48,280 to, to pay in addition to 27 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:50,914 your, Super-high tuition. 28 00:01:50,964 --> 00:01:56,735 So for, from an accessibility standpoint, it makes sense from the cost aspect and 29 00:01:56,735 --> 00:02:02,134 also from an equity standpoint for, um, the coverage of different minority groups 30 00:02:02,134 --> 00:02:05,694 and, and, uh, equality aspects all around. 31 00:02:05,695 --> 00:02:09,715 And you're free to, to explain things that, that, that maybe 32 00:02:09,715 --> 00:02:11,465 may not be presented in. 33 00:02:11,829 --> 00:02:17,149 That more nuanced terms that aren't necessarily in the, the, the dictionaries, 34 00:02:17,179 --> 00:02:22,060 the Spanish dictionaries yet, but are definitely in the, definitely in 35 00:02:22,060 --> 00:02:24,480 the, the main, the discourse around. 36 00:02:24,890 --> 00:02:29,529 And so there's some of the incentives to create open educational resources. 37 00:02:29,570 --> 00:02:34,250 And we've been working to create, it's, we kind of took a big undertaking 38 00:02:34,290 --> 00:02:38,410 to create open educational resources for three different courses, 39 00:02:38,990 --> 00:02:41,600 which is a lot of information. 40 00:02:41,640 --> 00:02:46,649 So, you know, we're, I'm slowly working on the one for accelerated beginning 41 00:02:46,649 --> 00:02:52,350 Spanish and some of my colleagues like Kate Neff and, um, and, and. 42 00:02:52,425 --> 00:02:57,595 Esperanza Goriz, they're working on developing one for Spanish 2010. 43 00:02:57,975 --> 00:03:01,584 And so, you know, over time, we're going to start using these. 44 00:03:01,585 --> 00:03:05,434 I'm actually going to use a couple of pages from the one that I'm 45 00:03:05,434 --> 00:03:07,414 developing and I'm developing it. 46 00:03:07,755 --> 00:03:09,265 It right into Canvas. 47 00:03:10,234 --> 00:03:15,375 So we're using things like H5P, which is, do you know what H5P is? 48 00:03:15,375 --> 00:03:15,555 Right? 49 00:03:15,585 --> 00:03:20,005 Like an interactive, it's an interactive sort of like, like the home, like a 50 00:03:20,005 --> 00:03:24,075 Duolingo sort of thing where you can drag and drop, fill in the blank. 51 00:03:24,084 --> 00:03:25,264 You can speak in there. 52 00:03:25,515 --> 00:03:30,675 It's these little activities that link to the grade book in the, in the LMS. 53 00:03:31,530 --> 00:03:36,940 So we're creating activities doing the H5P activities and then creating 54 00:03:36,940 --> 00:03:40,860 our own content or adapting content that always are is already out 55 00:03:40,860 --> 00:03:43,920 there from other creators of OER. 56 00:03:43,989 --> 00:03:49,680 And yeah, so, you know, the, the copyright stuff is something I'm not well versed in. 57 00:03:49,689 --> 00:03:53,269 Um, but you know, we have the permission to use certain things 58 00:03:53,269 --> 00:03:54,579 if it's a certain different. 59 00:03:54,784 --> 00:03:55,814 A certain copyright. 60 00:03:56,855 --> 00:03:59,545 Yeah, so we're still kind of learning as we go with this. 61 00:03:59,804 --> 00:04:00,975 Um, yes. 62 00:04:01,154 --> 00:04:05,714 So, but what I'm creating, you know, the whole focus of, of mine, like a 63 00:04:05,714 --> 00:04:10,834 portfolio is just, it's integrated one to one with, with what I'm creating. 64 00:04:10,834 --> 00:04:13,774 It's like the students are going to be, they're going 65 00:04:13,774 --> 00:04:17,334 to be putting this somewhere, their work somewhere to show it. 66 00:04:18,114 --> 00:04:21,914 Yeah, so I'm definitely thinking about mine through the lens of 67 00:04:22,205 --> 00:04:26,875 the, the work will be disseminated or the create the, the open ended 68 00:04:26,875 --> 00:04:29,104 stuff will be done on an ePortfolio. 69 00:04:29,554 --> 00:04:32,604 Oh, I'm so excited to see where that may go. 70 00:04:32,604 --> 00:04:37,624 And I'm also interested, you mentioned earlier your use of 71 00:04:37,715 --> 00:04:40,484 some of the instruction areas. 72 00:04:40,974 --> 00:04:47,335 within Digication to kind of scaffold the creation process for your students. 73 00:04:47,885 --> 00:04:54,594 Do you ever, um, link to or embed or use that instruction area to provide 74 00:04:55,075 --> 00:04:57,705 resources like this in your teaching? 75 00:04:57,734 --> 00:05:04,485 So kind of using it as a tool to provide resources or content to the students that 76 00:05:04,485 --> 00:05:07,065 then they could respond to within those? 77 00:05:07,620 --> 00:05:09,210 Kind of corresponding pages. 78 00:05:10,159 --> 00:05:15,590 So like, um, like some of the, like the H5P activities and things like that. 79 00:05:15,950 --> 00:05:16,070 Mm-Hmm. 80 00:05:16,070 --> 00:05:16,130 Yeah. 81 00:05:16,135 --> 00:05:20,930 So I've tried to embed H5P on Digication and I don't think it works yet. 82 00:05:21,230 --> 00:05:21,409 Okay. 83 00:05:21,415 --> 00:05:22,820 I don't, I don't think you can yet. 84 00:05:22,909 --> 00:05:27,940 Um, at least the last time I tried, you could not embed it in, in Digication. 85 00:05:28,370 --> 00:05:31,400 May, maybe, maybe that's something that, that, that's coming. 86 00:05:31,405 --> 00:05:32,690 Or maybe you can do it now. 87 00:05:33,050 --> 00:05:37,930 But we do provide our own content for some activities. 88 00:05:37,955 --> 00:05:43,555 Yes, like for our open ended summative activities, those are things that 89 00:05:43,655 --> 00:05:45,535 don't correspond with the textbook. 90 00:05:45,535 --> 00:05:48,085 We create them 100%. 91 00:05:48,105 --> 00:05:51,824 The concept map activity created 100%. 92 00:05:51,835 --> 00:05:54,784 The monologue prompts, those are created. 93 00:05:54,784 --> 00:05:59,965 You know, the reflection prompts and, and some, and then with the first iteration of 94 00:05:59,965 --> 00:06:05,425 the Portfolio that we used, uh, We created all of the open ended projects there too. 95 00:06:05,755 --> 00:06:09,094 They were not, um, because the book that we were using at the 96 00:06:09,105 --> 00:06:10,875 time was not a project-based book. 97 00:06:10,905 --> 00:06:14,914 We're using a program now called Contraseña – by Lingro 98 00:06:14,914 --> 00:06:17,484 Learning - and it is project based. 99 00:06:17,794 --> 00:06:22,265 So we adapt some of their projects and put them on Digication, and they 100 00:06:22,265 --> 00:06:27,865 know that we're doing that, and the students can respond to those activities. 101 00:06:29,630 --> 00:06:32,169 Multimodal ways on the, on the Portfolio. 102 00:06:32,230 --> 00:06:32,939 Nice. 103 00:06:32,939 --> 00:06:33,219 Nice. 104 00:06:33,719 --> 00:06:33,979 Yeah. 105 00:06:33,979 --> 00:06:35,689 What, what does that look like? 106 00:06:35,719 --> 00:06:38,959 Are they kind of text prompts or their 107 00:06:39,490 --> 00:06:40,720 videos that they watch? 108 00:06:41,569 --> 00:06:43,100 A bit of everything, right? 109 00:06:43,130 --> 00:06:47,019 So there's text, the main, the main driver is text for instructions 110 00:06:47,019 --> 00:06:50,969 for sure, but there could be, there could be video examples. 111 00:06:50,969 --> 00:06:55,230 Like I'm thinking of the conversation prompts for the Spanish, um, 112 00:06:55,230 --> 00:06:56,819 the summer Spanish course. 113 00:06:57,030 --> 00:06:57,049 Yeah. 114 00:06:57,145 --> 00:07:00,034 So it's, you know, me doing a conversation. 115 00:07:00,055 --> 00:07:03,034 Um, this shows what the ideal one would look like. 116 00:07:03,355 --> 00:07:06,784 And it also shows, you know, maybe it's a tutorial linked, you know, I've 117 00:07:06,784 --> 00:07:09,174 made tons of tutorials for Digication. 118 00:07:09,195 --> 00:07:12,995 So it could be, here's a quick tutorial on how to whatever. 119 00:07:13,204 --> 00:07:15,524 So it could be embedded YouTube videos. 120 00:07:15,525 --> 00:07:19,805 It could be if they need to see particular guidelines or rubrics, 121 00:07:19,805 --> 00:07:23,235 it could be either in, I love how Digication has, where you can put like 122 00:07:23,235 --> 00:07:25,329 a little, tiny little window of the. 123 00:07:25,330 --> 00:07:26,050 The file. 124 00:07:26,055 --> 00:07:26,335 Mm-Hmm. 125 00:07:26,419 --> 00:07:28,960 . So it could be something like that or a hyperlink, you 126 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:29,770 know, that links out Mm-Hmm. 127 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:33,760 to another, like a, a another PDF or Word file. 128 00:07:34,090 --> 00:07:35,740 So we do aloo... 129 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:38,830 of a variety of those at, at some. 130 00:07:38,860 --> 00:07:45,159 It would be really cool to have an option to do some H5P stuff within Digication. 131 00:07:45,220 --> 00:07:45,280 Yeah. 132 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:47,049 I have to look into that. 133 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:47,530 Yeah. 134 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:49,240 And it, it may exist now. 135 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:54,280 I know I tried it, um, uh, maybe, um, last summer, not this summer. 136 00:07:54,569 --> 00:07:56,400 But the one before that, yeah. 137 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:59,010 And it wasn't, it wasn't working then, which is, it's okay. 138 00:07:59,409 --> 00:07:59,730 Yeah. 139 00:07:59,730 --> 00:08:04,669 We are just always really fascinated and interested in, you know, other 140 00:08:04,679 --> 00:08:08,520 kinds of technologies that, um, you know, the people are using our 141 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:11,740 platform are using too, in ways that they can become integrated. 142 00:08:11,780 --> 00:08:14,669 So I'm glad that that got mentioned. 143 00:08:14,709 --> 00:08:19,009 So I'll have to, um, share that with my team and, and see 144 00:08:19,009 --> 00:08:20,439 what might be possible there. 145 00:08:21,099 --> 00:08:26,334 Um, So thank you so much also for just kind of sharing that because I, I 146 00:08:26,334 --> 00:08:32,974 think in many ways, there's, you know, passionate educators like yourself that 147 00:08:32,974 --> 00:08:39,814 have gotten, you know, really engaged with the ways that this technology 148 00:08:39,814 --> 00:08:42,224 can be used within their courses. 149 00:08:42,424 --> 00:08:43,784 So not only as. 150 00:08:44,049 --> 00:08:47,950 A place for the students to be able to kind of make their 151 00:08:47,950 --> 00:08:51,980 learning visible and see their growth and development over time. 152 00:08:52,390 --> 00:08:59,800 Um, but really, as this kind of teaching tool that creates a kind of bridge 153 00:08:59,830 --> 00:09:02,080 from what you're offering to them. 154 00:09:02,390 --> 00:09:08,890 in person in the classroom and something that they can kind of interact 155 00:09:08,890 --> 00:09:12,250 with within their own time as well. 156 00:09:12,300 --> 00:09:17,880 So it's kind of serving as this place for them to be able to to learn 157 00:09:17,909 --> 00:09:20,560 from you and also respond to that. 158 00:09:20,990 --> 00:09:26,390 Um, And then get feedback from you along the way in a way that I think is, is, 159 00:09:26,819 --> 00:09:31,259 you know, different than what a lot of learning management systems are offering, 160 00:09:31,259 --> 00:09:35,410 just because they're organized around the course specifically, and this is 161 00:09:35,589 --> 00:09:38,859 kind of organized around the individual. 162 00:09:39,345 --> 00:09:41,525 So you can kind of serve out these things. 163 00:09:41,535 --> 00:09:46,155 Are you putting them into a template that they're using throughout the course? 164 00:09:46,785 --> 00:09:49,725 Or do they just kind of go from scratch? 165 00:09:50,565 --> 00:09:51,125 Yeah. 166 00:09:51,244 --> 00:09:56,805 So I, I provide the students with a template for their Spanish portfolios as 167 00:09:56,805 --> 00:10:00,135 well as their unprofessional portfolios. 168 00:10:00,675 --> 00:10:01,395 However. 169 00:10:01,465 --> 00:10:05,564 Um, one of the, one of the guys that was on the team, that's also been 170 00:10:05,564 --> 00:10:08,105 using portfolios for a long time here. 171 00:10:08,705 --> 00:10:10,374 So, um, he's in the French department. 172 00:10:10,375 --> 00:10:15,184 He's also, he's also, um, he's also a lecturer or, or teaching professor. 173 00:10:15,434 --> 00:10:17,614 His name is Spiros Spiridon. 174 00:10:17,615 --> 00:10:18,904 Have you, have you ever heard of him? 175 00:10:18,914 --> 00:10:19,554 No, I have not spoken 176 00:10:19,555 --> 00:10:20,374 to him. 177 00:10:20,375 --> 00:10:20,555 Yeah. 178 00:10:20,555 --> 00:10:20,865 So, 179 00:10:20,985 --> 00:10:22,079 yeah, so he. 180 00:10:22,219 --> 00:10:27,139 He, he does very creative things with portfolio and he, he piloted a 181 00:10:27,139 --> 00:10:31,469 professional portfolio sort of thing where the students could create their own. 182 00:10:31,959 --> 00:10:36,989 Like he just, he just told them you use whatever source site that you want to do. 183 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:41,160 And some students used Digication, some students use Wix, you know, 184 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:42,689 some students use whatever. 185 00:10:43,219 --> 00:10:44,930 And so that was interesting. 186 00:10:44,930 --> 00:10:50,449 But since Since my class is not, it's mainly like first year students or second 187 00:10:50,449 --> 00:10:54,300 year students, and then there's also other sections going at the same time. 188 00:10:54,579 --> 00:10:57,519 It's good for us to have like a Digication template. 189 00:10:58,029 --> 00:10:58,549 Yeah. 190 00:10:58,590 --> 00:10:59,120 Yeah. 191 00:10:59,230 --> 00:10:59,560 Yeah. 192 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:00,969 Kind of streamline things. 193 00:11:01,010 --> 00:11:04,679 And are there multiple sections of your course too? 194 00:11:04,830 --> 00:11:07,920 There's multiple sections of my course, and then there's sections 195 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:10,250 that other lecturers teach as well. 196 00:11:10,290 --> 00:11:14,460 And, and, you know, in the, the, the different level of, 197 00:11:14,725 --> 00:11:18,675 Digication buy in from, you know, varies from lecturer to lecturer. 198 00:11:18,675 --> 00:11:22,765 So you got to kind of give it to them on a platter in some ways, you 199 00:11:22,765 --> 00:11:27,955 know, cause it's just such a valuable tool for the students, you know, 200 00:11:27,965 --> 00:11:32,015 it's like, that's one of the things that I've seen that we're teaching. 201 00:11:32,325 --> 00:11:35,195 We have to remind ourselves that we're teaching college students, 202 00:11:35,205 --> 00:11:36,415 not high school students. 203 00:11:36,425 --> 00:11:41,860 And the big thing about the Portfolio is the Ownership and the autonomy that 204 00:11:41,860 --> 00:11:48,100 comes with it, even if it's not explicitly stated that the students don't explicitly 205 00:11:48,100 --> 00:11:52,350 know that they own this work, you can tell that they get that by the end. 206 00:11:52,680 --> 00:11:58,670 And that's something that makes them more, more responsible and active learners 207 00:11:58,700 --> 00:12:03,630 when they're When it's their work that they're sharing with the professor, 208 00:12:04,180 --> 00:12:06,830 it's not, it's not something that I own. 209 00:12:07,090 --> 00:12:09,340 They're giving me permission to look at it. 210 00:12:09,730 --> 00:12:16,760 And so that sort of switch is, I think, a big deciding or differentiating factor 211 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:21,580 between like teaching high schoolers versus teaching at the university level. 212 00:12:21,930 --> 00:12:22,359 Yeah. 213 00:12:22,630 --> 00:12:29,850 And you can tell when you look at the You know, pages and projects that they 214 00:12:29,850 --> 00:12:33,710 put together that they're incredibly proud of the work that they've done. 215 00:12:34,069 --> 00:12:38,119 And there's a great number of students that have opted to 216 00:12:38,119 --> 00:12:41,449 share those Portfolios publicly. 217 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:47,750 Um, where people can go in and, and see this incredible progress that they've 218 00:12:47,750 --> 00:12:49,439 made and really listen to the student. 219 00:12:50,740 --> 00:12:54,640 View their reflections and, and get to know them and why this 220 00:12:54,710 --> 00:12:59,300 course was, you know, impactful and where they hope to take this, 221 00:12:59,550 --> 00:13:01,490 you know, language in the future. 222 00:13:02,030 --> 00:13:07,009 Um, so it's always exciting to see, you know, when they do understand that kind 223 00:13:07,010 --> 00:13:13,260 of ownership, you know, how openly they would like to, to be able to, to share it. 224 00:13:13,500 --> 00:13:19,299 And very often I find, you know, we see many, many examples 225 00:13:19,299 --> 00:13:20,660 of those students that are. 226 00:13:21,500 --> 00:13:26,979 Creating these more kind of crafted, professional oriented portfolios 227 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:28,459 that they want to share outside. 228 00:13:28,459 --> 00:13:33,509 But more and more students are wanting to really share, you know, this was something 229 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:40,019 that, you know, may not be as polished as something that I'd be developing for 230 00:13:40,020 --> 00:13:46,455 my career, but it's really providing evidence of how much I was able to evolve 231 00:13:46,465 --> 00:13:52,245 and how much I was able to learn over really a relatively short amount of time. 232 00:13:52,245 --> 00:13:52,835 Yeah. 233 00:13:52,915 --> 00:13:53,465 Yeah. 234 00:13:53,535 --> 00:13:54,864 And, and I agree. 235 00:13:54,895 --> 00:13:55,305 Yeah. 236 00:13:55,305 --> 00:14:00,365 And I, um, this was years ago, but when I did the university of Virginia study 237 00:14:00,365 --> 00:14:05,775 abroad in Costa Rica, I had the students create Portfolios for that because it's 238 00:14:05,775 --> 00:14:10,125 like, you're documenting this any way it's going on Instagram and Facebook. 239 00:14:10,125 --> 00:14:12,555 You're going to sit down with your grandma and show her all these pictures. 240 00:14:13,439 --> 00:14:19,140 Why not have this learning tool at the same time where you're also is a place 241 00:14:19,140 --> 00:14:23,609 where you can dump your pictures and stuff, but also you can tell a story 242 00:14:23,609 --> 00:14:28,010 about your evolution of your journey in this other country for six weeks. 243 00:14:28,310 --> 00:14:28,730 Yeah. 244 00:14:28,770 --> 00:14:29,499 It's yeah. 245 00:14:29,540 --> 00:14:30,869 And I, I agree. 246 00:14:30,870 --> 00:14:34,460 I think the students that have really seen the, the effects 247 00:14:34,470 --> 00:14:36,569 of the professional portfolio. 248 00:14:36,915 --> 00:14:39,115 Just really take it to the next level. 249 00:14:39,125 --> 00:14:43,185 They really kind of see themselves branching out as these critical thinkers 250 00:14:43,725 --> 00:14:49,124 and they identify the ways in which their thinking has evolved and, and how not 251 00:14:49,124 --> 00:14:54,505 just one class, but the totality of their learning has contributed and engendered 252 00:14:54,505 --> 00:15:00,595 this kind of new curiosity to, to, to want to, to want to put their best foot forward 253 00:15:00,905 --> 00:15:02,824 and show that they're their own person. 254 00:15:03,990 --> 00:15:04,120 And the 255 00:15:04,120 --> 00:15:05,850 portfolio is a great tool for that. 256 00:15:06,430 --> 00:15:06,890 Yeah. 257 00:15:06,890 --> 00:15:11,620 And I love to see even, you know, in some of the beginning stages, how they're, 258 00:15:11,959 --> 00:15:17,780 you know, really tying in what they're learning in your course to other elements 259 00:15:17,790 --> 00:15:24,410 of who they are and, you know, what may be their core area of study, if it's 260 00:15:24,420 --> 00:15:28,754 not foreign language and how they're kind of making those connections from 261 00:15:28,754 --> 00:15:34,875 your course to other kinds of learning experiences that they have had or that 262 00:15:34,875 --> 00:15:37,864 they're planning for at the same time. 263 00:15:38,564 --> 00:15:41,124 Um, so thank you for sharing that. 264 00:15:41,264 --> 00:15:43,384 And, um, I wanted to. 265 00:15:43,620 --> 00:15:49,670 Kind of, um, circle back to some of the points you made earlier about, 266 00:15:49,870 --> 00:15:57,370 um, for our listeners to hear why you think some of this active learning and 267 00:15:57,410 --> 00:16:03,980 project based learning is so critical for students in Higher Ed, um, as they're 268 00:16:03,980 --> 00:16:07,750 preparing for futures beyond college. 269 00:16:09,439 --> 00:16:12,150 Yeah, well that, that, that is a great question. 270 00:16:12,189 --> 00:16:17,550 So, you know, I shared this with my students that I heard, um, on a news 271 00:16:17,550 --> 00:16:23,859 show the last semester that several countries have installed government 272 00:16:23,919 --> 00:16:27,789 positions like for, to deal with loneliness in their countries. 273 00:16:27,829 --> 00:16:32,319 Like, like there's like the Czar of Loneliness for, for a couple of countries. 274 00:16:32,969 --> 00:16:39,865 And so, um, So the, the, the active feature of being able to get out of 275 00:16:39,865 --> 00:16:45,685 your comfort zone and make these, these personal connections in this space is. 276 00:16:46,254 --> 00:16:49,204 is something that we need to be actively focusing on, right? 277 00:16:49,234 --> 00:16:53,915 It seems like, oh, that's a no brainer, but no, you actually do need 278 00:16:53,925 --> 00:16:58,334 to encourage students to talk to the person next to them, because if not, 279 00:16:58,344 --> 00:17:00,384 they're, most of them are not going to. 280 00:17:00,894 --> 00:17:03,454 So I think, I think that, I think that's important. 281 00:17:03,744 --> 00:17:08,304 And I also think in kind of sharing the rationale with students 282 00:17:08,304 --> 00:17:13,104 about how important it is to be able to talk about concepts. 283 00:17:13,300 --> 00:17:19,339 In an elevated way is part of developing this critical thinking aspect as well. 284 00:17:19,689 --> 00:17:23,929 When, you know, I remind my students that your students at the university 285 00:17:23,929 --> 00:17:27,809 of Virginia, you should be able to stand up and tell me about the 286 00:17:27,809 --> 00:17:29,869 present progressive right now. 287 00:17:30,209 --> 00:17:32,479 And, and, and it doesn't have to be all right. 288 00:17:32,489 --> 00:17:36,149 You can stumble over your words, but these are things you should be able to do. 289 00:17:36,149 --> 00:17:38,239 So we're going to work on practicing those things. 290 00:17:38,249 --> 00:17:42,049 So I think giving them opportunities to. 291 00:17:42,275 --> 00:17:47,435 To kind of express their learning as they're kind of working toward mastery 292 00:17:48,254 --> 00:17:53,685 helps them to be able to teach each other in the active learning spaces. 293 00:17:53,685 --> 00:17:58,665 And when they're sitting across from each other, it's easy to, to, for me 294 00:17:58,665 --> 00:18:03,245 to ask for help, it's easier to ask for help and offer to help others. 295 00:18:03,754 --> 00:18:08,434 And when the students, the students that have the most success are the ones that 296 00:18:08,495 --> 00:18:13,904 say, I was really impressed with the fact that I was able to teach and help others. 297 00:18:13,924 --> 00:18:15,614 And that really helped me. 298 00:18:15,924 --> 00:18:18,374 And I think that makes people. 299 00:18:18,675 --> 00:18:20,735 Really active in their own learning. 300 00:18:20,755 --> 00:18:22,035 And that's what you have to do. 301 00:18:22,055 --> 00:18:26,065 You have to always be doing the next thing instead of waiting 302 00:18:26,085 --> 00:18:27,584 for the next instruction. 303 00:18:27,584 --> 00:18:27,924 Right. 304 00:18:28,175 --> 00:18:32,584 And so I think some of this emphasis on creating with the language, getting out of 305 00:18:32,584 --> 00:18:37,514 your comfort zone, interacting, offering to help people, asking for help when 306 00:18:37,515 --> 00:18:43,625 needed, are, are very important aspects that could help in all realms of life. 307 00:18:44,025 --> 00:18:44,525 Yeah. 308 00:18:44,655 --> 00:18:46,155 Yeah, absolutely. 309 00:18:46,204 --> 00:18:47,185 And kind of. 310 00:18:47,695 --> 00:18:53,115 Building off of that point, you know, how do you see this as something 311 00:18:53,125 --> 00:18:59,804 that may contribute to, you know, this kind of understanding of each 312 00:18:59,804 --> 00:19:02,395 other and, and sharing their stories? 313 00:19:02,445 --> 00:19:11,265 You mentioned kind of asking for help or, um, offering help may contribute to, 314 00:19:11,455 --> 00:19:14,255 you know, a deeper desire to understand. 315 00:19:15,090 --> 00:19:20,920 People from other cultures, even if you may not yet speak the language, you know, 316 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:26,709 getting being comfortable kind of seeking things out from people that that are may 317 00:19:26,709 --> 00:19:31,159 not be like you, but may be able to, or you may not initially think are like you, 318 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:33,965 but finding that, kind of common ground. 319 00:19:35,585 --> 00:19:36,015 Yeah. 320 00:19:36,015 --> 00:19:40,325 Well, I think students, students, they, they often, yeah, they have to be 321 00:19:40,325 --> 00:19:44,564 reminded of this, but they almost every student has interacted with someone 322 00:19:44,564 --> 00:19:46,365 that doesn't speak English very well. 323 00:19:46,734 --> 00:19:51,935 And so reminding the students that that person engaged you in conversation 324 00:19:51,984 --> 00:19:55,285 and while, while you understood them. 325 00:19:55,325 --> 00:19:56,685 So now you're that person. 326 00:19:57,095 --> 00:19:57,395 Right. 327 00:19:57,405 --> 00:19:58,845 That's you now, right? 328 00:19:58,845 --> 00:20:05,575 And so when they kind of see it in that way, I think it enables them to, to, to 329 00:20:05,595 --> 00:20:10,174 understand that, Hey, you know, at the end of the day, even if I say all of the 330 00:20:10,175 --> 00:20:12,415 wrong things, it doesn't really matter. 331 00:20:12,454 --> 00:20:16,495 It's just, I'm, I'm trying and, you know, continue, continue to 332 00:20:16,495 --> 00:20:19,355 try, I guess, in linguistics, it's called your affective filter. 333 00:20:19,355 --> 00:20:23,535 You know, how self conscious you are to say certain things, you know, 334 00:20:23,535 --> 00:20:25,094 that you're not that good at yet. 335 00:20:25,455 --> 00:20:30,215 Um, but, you know, students work towards that, but yeah, I, I, I'm just 336 00:20:30,215 --> 00:20:33,034 a huge fan of just students, act... 337 00:20:33,615 --> 00:20:37,875 Students engaging with other students in a collaborative way. 338 00:20:37,925 --> 00:20:40,834 I feel like that has promoted the most success. 339 00:20:41,970 --> 00:20:46,550 And, you know, bringing it back to the Portfolio and the Portfolio also 340 00:20:46,550 --> 00:20:50,440 contributes to this, even outside of the classroom, you know, for, 341 00:20:50,639 --> 00:20:54,639 for the, for I always go back to the concept map activity or students 342 00:20:54,679 --> 00:20:57,179 getting started on the final projects. 343 00:20:58,070 --> 00:21:02,040 If I don't know, or maybe I've been dragging my feet or, you know, maybe I've 344 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:05,610 been partying too much, or maybe this could maybe have too much stuff going on. 345 00:21:05,610 --> 00:21:06,710 I just couldn't get to it. 346 00:21:07,150 --> 00:21:13,959 If I, I know I can go log on to, and look at, see what Kelly's done so far and get 347 00:21:13,959 --> 00:21:16,889 an idea of, okay, so this is the standard. 348 00:21:16,930 --> 00:21:19,090 So let me see what if I can get right. 349 00:21:19,090 --> 00:21:21,720 Or this is some, she has some things like this. 350 00:21:21,750 --> 00:21:22,960 Oh, that's a good idea. 351 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:23,380 You know? 352 00:21:23,380 --> 00:21:27,800 So I think even outside of the class, the virtual community that's provided by the. 353 00:21:29,500 --> 00:21:31,580 It's not something you're going to get on Canvas. 354 00:21:31,620 --> 00:21:36,060 Like, I just did a whole master's program on Canvas at the University of Virginia. 355 00:21:36,330 --> 00:21:40,950 And every time they would ask us to go back and comment on something someone 356 00:21:40,950 --> 00:21:44,110 else said, it took 30 minutes to find it. 357 00:21:44,610 --> 00:21:47,499 You know, it's like, you don't have that issue with Digication. 358 00:21:48,270 --> 00:21:51,450 It's like, I know exactly where it is, what I'm looking for. 359 00:21:51,990 --> 00:21:55,220 Yeah, yeah, I know that's a little all over the place, but 360 00:21:56,100 --> 00:22:00,830 no, but I, I think it's a good point because you know, when you are in this 361 00:22:00,940 --> 00:22:09,779 kind of setting, creating that community and level of comfort with one another 362 00:22:09,779 --> 00:22:15,590 to kind of break down the barriers of, um, You know, feeling, you know, 363 00:22:15,590 --> 00:22:20,990 feeling uncomfortable, but being able to engage with other people that are also 364 00:22:20,990 --> 00:22:25,160 in that kind of similar uncomfortable space, you know, maybe at different 365 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:31,250 levels, um, you know, it's something that, you know, it, it can be scary and 366 00:22:31,269 --> 00:22:34,420 sometimes people have to kind of bravely. 367 00:22:35,165 --> 00:22:38,495 Seek out what expectations are. 368 00:22:38,554 --> 00:22:43,665 And I imagine that, you know, once they start looking to see what 369 00:22:43,685 --> 00:22:47,205 other people in the class are doing, that they're naturally kind of 370 00:22:47,245 --> 00:22:51,634 connecting with some of those people when they're in the course, too. 371 00:22:51,895 --> 00:22:56,084 Or maybe continually going back to look at some of the same students, 372 00:22:56,314 --> 00:23:00,810 kind of, work because they've seen it as an exemplar and something that 373 00:23:00,810 --> 00:23:05,160 they want to, you know, a level that they would like to be able to reach. 374 00:23:05,669 --> 00:23:10,960 Um, and I do think that, you know, because it's oriented around the 375 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:16,270 individual, it's easier for students to be able to, to find each other. 376 00:23:16,660 --> 00:23:18,990 And get inspired by one another. 377 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:24,150 Um, you know, even within a learning management system, if you're able to 378 00:23:24,150 --> 00:23:27,690 kind of dig down into an assignment and see that it's something that someone 379 00:23:27,740 --> 00:23:33,739 submitted, it's not connected to a body of work that, that they've done. 380 00:23:33,790 --> 00:23:38,100 So you may be able to access an individual document, but you wouldn't be able 381 00:23:38,100 --> 00:23:42,290 to kind of go through and click and browse and learn about that person and 382 00:23:42,330 --> 00:23:43,990 see other things that they've done. 383 00:23:43,990 --> 00:23:47,965 And, you know, they kind of become these launch points to learning 384 00:23:47,975 --> 00:23:52,055 other aspects of who the individuals are that are that are in their 385 00:23:52,055 --> 00:23:53,815 course, I think, in a different way. 386 00:23:54,045 --> 00:23:59,144 So I, maybe I also spoke about it in a roundabout way, but I completely 387 00:23:59,145 --> 00:24:05,505 understand what you're saying, and it's an intentional part of what we created. 388 00:24:05,605 --> 00:24:06,355 Right? 389 00:24:06,475 --> 00:24:13,360 Um, you know, when we were teaching, we wanted that kind of, um, 390 00:24:14,460 --> 00:24:20,300 motivation that happens when you can see the success of other students. 391 00:24:20,300 --> 00:24:28,319 You know, it creates a, it lights a fire under you and helps you kind of have a 392 00:24:28,319 --> 00:24:31,689 vision for what you might grow into also. 393 00:24:32,595 --> 00:24:33,924 Yeah, 394 00:24:35,685 --> 00:24:36,285 I agree. 395 00:24:36,804 --> 00:24:37,425 Yeah. 396 00:24:37,504 --> 00:24:41,225 So, um, I know we're getting close to the end of our time today. 397 00:24:41,284 --> 00:24:46,595 Um, but I did want to just kind of touch quickly on, so we were 398 00:24:46,874 --> 00:24:51,385 talking a little bit about students being able to, you know, share 399 00:24:51,385 --> 00:24:54,174 their stories with one another. 400 00:24:54,404 --> 00:24:57,254 And I was curious if you've. 401 00:24:58,460 --> 00:25:06,230 experienced students sharing some things that maybe you hadn't anticipated and 402 00:25:06,269 --> 00:25:13,979 if, you know, how other students in the course may have responded, um. 403 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:18,110 You know, you touched a little bit on students kind of maybe feeling some 404 00:25:18,110 --> 00:25:22,790 more empathy towards each other because they were finding themselves in, in 405 00:25:22,820 --> 00:25:26,930 similar kinds of places, but do you have something like that, that you might share? 406 00:25:28,110 --> 00:25:32,359 So there's always students that, that take assignments to the next level, right? 407 00:25:32,380 --> 00:25:36,800 That, that, and so like, we're talking of exceptional examples and the 408 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:41,559 professional portfolio is, is one of those where I give them a pretty basic 409 00:25:41,639 --> 00:25:46,870 template, you know, and encourage them to, to definitely make it their own 410 00:25:46,870 --> 00:25:48,460 again, as their professional template. 411 00:25:48,510 --> 00:25:54,799 And so students have taken, take a few students over the couple of 412 00:25:54,799 --> 00:25:59,749 years that I've done this, have taken this to another level, right? 413 00:25:59,780 --> 00:26:02,620 So they've added other pages and just read. 414 00:26:03,325 --> 00:26:07,695 Information in a more efficient and concise way that I've then, then 415 00:26:07,695 --> 00:26:09,795 adapted that into the template, right? 416 00:26:09,795 --> 00:26:12,144 Cause these are just exceptional ideas. 417 00:26:12,824 --> 00:26:17,235 Students also surprised me with the concept map activities, you know, like I 418 00:26:17,375 --> 00:26:21,395 give them some examples and most students either follow those sorts of examples, 419 00:26:21,395 --> 00:26:25,674 but you know, students will take the final project to the next, to the next 420 00:26:25,674 --> 00:26:30,535 level, or with topics that, I never really thought about before, you know, 421 00:26:30,535 --> 00:26:32,615 I give them a bunch of suggested topics. 422 00:26:32,615 --> 00:26:37,535 I remember one very vividly a couple of semesters ago, a student, a student 423 00:26:37,565 --> 00:26:42,555 did a project on what happens to the clothes that don't sell in the world. 424 00:26:42,575 --> 00:26:44,365 Like where do these clothes go? 425 00:26:44,605 --> 00:26:49,294 Apparently they go someplace like in Chile or Columbia or something like that. 426 00:26:49,534 --> 00:26:54,824 There's just like this huge kind of mountain of just brand new clothes. 427 00:26:54,864 --> 00:26:55,354 Yeah. 428 00:26:55,355 --> 00:26:55,699 Yeah. 429 00:26:55,740 --> 00:26:59,450 And so I was like, wow, this is just such a creative, a creative topic. 430 00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:05,319 I haven't had very many situations where students do any, any sort of 431 00:27:05,490 --> 00:27:09,050 things that, you know, maybe share something too personal or something 432 00:27:09,050 --> 00:27:11,740 like that on a portfolio that, um. 433 00:27:12,430 --> 00:27:18,980 You know, but students, students regularly, regularly comment that their 434 00:27:19,030 --> 00:27:24,419 portfolios, looking at other people's work on the Portfolio was a main, a 435 00:27:24,420 --> 00:27:28,229 main source of to gather information? 436 00:27:28,259 --> 00:27:28,829 Sure. 437 00:27:28,844 --> 00:27:32,634 But also to know where they, how they need it to perform. 438 00:27:32,684 --> 00:27:36,834 So it kind of makes it like this, you have to put your best foot forward 439 00:27:36,844 --> 00:27:39,034 because all these other students are too. 440 00:27:39,574 --> 00:27:46,094 And, and you know, if you're not right, if you get a grade, if you get a C and, 441 00:27:46,094 --> 00:27:49,954 you know, I often tell students, if they ask like, why did I score so low? 442 00:27:49,954 --> 00:27:55,004 I'm like, well, why don't you go look at X, Y, and Z's portfolios and you can see. 443 00:27:55,585 --> 00:27:59,045 You can see where, and I'll, I always let students resubmit. 444 00:27:59,504 --> 00:28:01,185 That's something that I always do. 445 00:28:01,195 --> 00:28:04,685 Like if I, if you're going to engage more with the material, I'll change your grade. 446 00:28:04,715 --> 00:28:05,315 Yeah, sure. 447 00:28:05,315 --> 00:28:06,254 Yeah, go do it. 448 00:28:07,305 --> 00:28:07,605 Yeah. 449 00:28:07,605 --> 00:28:12,294 So, you know, it's good for students to look at other students work, but 450 00:28:12,294 --> 00:28:17,395 also it kind of engenders this kind of competition in the class and yeah, and 451 00:28:17,405 --> 00:28:20,735 students just bond because, you know, they know they got to get through it. 452 00:28:21,524 --> 00:28:22,135 Yeah. 453 00:28:22,370 --> 00:28:23,150 Wonderful. 454 00:28:23,650 --> 00:28:28,190 Well, Matthew, thank you again so much for joining me today. 455 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:33,530 It was wonderful to have this opportunity to speak to you and I'm very excited to 456 00:28:33,540 --> 00:28:38,169 be able to share your, your stories and experience with, with our listeners. 457 00:28:39,020 --> 00:28:40,139 Thank you so much, Kelly. 458 00:28:40,159 --> 00:28:42,090 It's been an honor to, to chat with you. 459 00:28:42,090 --> 00:28:43,240 I'm very excited. 460 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:43,760 So thanks. 461 00:28:44,264 --> 00:28:44,794 Absolutely. 462 00:28:45,284 --> 00:28:46,034 Take good care. 463 00:28:46,495 --> 00:28:46,875 Alright. 464 00:28:47,065 --> 00:28:47,405 Bye. 465 00:28:47,685 --> 00:28:48,005 Bye. 466 00:28:49,285 --> 00:28:52,935 Coming up next, we'll be chatting with Kate Sonka, Executive 467 00:28:52,935 --> 00:28:54,085 Director of TeachAccess. 468 00:28:54,665 --> 00:28:55,645 Here is a quick preview. 469 00:28:56,515 --> 00:28:58,534 Everybody should know a little bit. 470 00:28:58,945 --> 00:29:02,884 Um, so one of the phrases that we like to use a lot is we are 471 00:29:02,884 --> 00:29:04,405 about breadth more than depth. 472 00:29:04,925 --> 00:29:07,465 Um, and you, you kind of hinted at this in a few different ways. 473 00:29:07,895 --> 00:29:11,405 Um, but this idea that we're really trying to get a lot of people 474 00:29:11,405 --> 00:29:12,704 to know at least a little bit. 475 00:29:13,230 --> 00:29:15,560 Um, of course that doesn't mean that it will take care of 476 00:29:15,610 --> 00:29:17,080 all the accessibility needs.