An associate professor in the CSUN Health Science Department made a special presentation about her course redesign at this week’s Associated Students (A.S.) meeting.
Sloane Burke focused her presentation on the redesign of her pubic health courses from a traditional classroom setting to an online learning environment, which will make classes more accessible for students.
“We’re really engaging with technology,” said Burke, who is currently into her third year of teaching at CSUN.
Burke believes that by engaging online with students in an era where technology is popular, concepts and course work will become easier to manage.
“(Students) were born with devices in their hands, so we as educators need to be more responsive to those changes,” she said.
Burke is big on the utilization of photos to keep the reading material more interesting, as according to her, many students tire of constantly reading words on a screen.
Burke said while teaching in a traditional classroom setting, she noticed many of her students seemed to enjoy doing outdoor activities related to the class. Her way of incorporating this same effect with an online class is by assigning students to watch certain episodes from popular television shows that relate to the course.
Burke also incorporates activities such as Jeopardy labs, com-mix.org and Poll Everywhere to make the online learning experience more resourceful.
Jeopardy labs are similar to the television game show Jeopardy except all of the subjects relate to the class.
“These are a fun way to review material useful for students,” said Burke.
Poll Everywhere is an online poll that students can take on certain topics related to the class and commix.com is a website where students and professors are given the ability to make their own comic strip. Burke uses this to insert educational information related to the coursework, in order to make the online learning experiences more enjoyable.
Dr. Burke discussed online exams and asked the A.S. senate what their opinions were on the topic.
Social and Behavioral Sciences senator Adriana Santos commented that she enjoys the use of e-texts, which are textbooks you can buy and view online.
“I would always hate running to my car in between classes to grab my book for my next class,” Santos said. “By having my e-texts on my iPad, everything is more affordable, accessible and sustainable.”
A.S. also allocated $11,100 to three different causes related to CSUN.
$7,500 was allocated for the A.S. senate to purchase a new printer that will allow them to print large posters when needed.
The second allocation was $3,000 for the CSUN Social Work Society’s Diversity Day. This is an annual event that allows students to meet with professionals from specific areas in order to help prepare students to perform social work on families and communities in the Los Angeles area.
$600 was allocated to the Veterinarians of Tomorrow club for their animal wish list fundraiser, which helps raise money to supply pets with necessary food and materials in order to survive and live a healthy life.
