March 1, 2013

Nita McKinley: Increasing student participation by going online

Dr. McKinley, an associate professor of Psychology in the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences department at UW Tacoma, was a 2012 Tech Fellow and taught “Lifespan Development” (TPSYCH 220) as a hybrid course in 2012. She says: “For me, this was an intermediate step toward learning to do it online” and as of winter quarter 2013, she is teaching the course completely online. She adds that she plans to convert her class “Body Image and the Psychology of Appearance” (TPSYCH 405) to a hybrid course next year.

Benefits for students: “I find it difficult to have any meaningful discussion in a large class; frequently, just a few students participate and the majority are silent. By adding an online component where students worked in small groups (five to six people) to discuss a topic, come up with a position, and write a group position paper together, I believe more students were much more engaged in the discussion.”

Student learning: “My impression was that more students were engaged in discussion. I also thought the papers produced were equivalent or better in quality to papers I get in other classes.”

One successful approach: “I found the FAQ discussion board useful. It meant I didn’t have to answer the same question multiple times by email. It did take some training on my part to get students to post questions rather than email me.“

Why try it? “For me, developing the online course has been very exciting and challenging. I’ve enjoyed learning the technology and thinking about my teaching in new and creative ways.”

Learn More

Read the full Provost report on how UW faculty are enhancing teaching with technology.