Author: Paulina

Dear Fellow Seminar Participants,

I can’t believe we are at the end of this seminar! It’s been a journey learning from the instructors and participants this semester.

After attending workshops and sharing ideas via blogs/vlogs, I have decided to focus on two goals while working on my teaching artifact (my course syllabus.) My two goals are:

1. To increase accessibility for students, and readily provide access to the tools and resources available to them to set them up for success.
 
2. To move away from a “contract” style syllabus and embrace more humanizing community-building content.

I believe both will increase student engagement and allow students to get more out of the course.

Some (highlighted) changes I have made so far:
-I have added learning goals beneath course objectives.

-I have made some small adjustments regarding accessibility that I have encountered as a challenge for students this past semester.  

-I am adding a section entitled “How to get the most out of this course” which includes helpful tips and student resources. This is a work in progress.

Some changes I have yet to make:
-Every syllabus I have received in my life has looked the same and therefore the syllabus for my course has followed suit. The document is mostly text and I highly doubt my students are reading it in its entirety. I would like to revamp the look so the text is broken up with images, important information such as contact info is more prominent, and so that the doc is less boring/intimidating overall. I like how the Student Guide to Online and Hybrid Learning is laid out and I’m also considering a slide deck format that was presented in the “It’s on the Syllabus!” Workshop.

-My current introduction was taken from the standard course syllabus I inherited from my department. I am considering crafting a warmer introduction.

Finally, it has been challenging to keep up with the deliverables for this seminar while balancing life’s other priorities, but this has been a reminder that the students we serve are doing the same balancing act at a different, potentially more challenging time in their lives (in a pandemic no less!) It has been great learning with you all and I hope we can stay in touch. 

Please see my draft for my teaching artifact below.

The artifact I have chosen to revise is my course syllabus for Business Fundamentals (BUS1011) Recitation. Currently, I am teaching a remote course, but I would like for the syllabus to be flexible as I am teaching in-person for Spring 2022. Furthermore, most of the syllabus content was provided to me by the department, and I imagine most of the descriptions are not read by students. I have modified some aspects of it after taking an Online Teaching Essentials course at Baruch, but would like to modify it further so that it is less contractual and more student-centric with components like expectations, learning goals, helpful resources, etc. I would also like to include a section with guidelines and tips for students to encourage engagement and ensure students get the most out of this course.

In terms of engagement, I would like to foster an environment where students are comfortable reaching out to me as well as their classmates. I have found it challenging to foster proactive communication, particularly in a remote setting.

You can check out my teaching artifact below.

1. Hi! Nice meeting you! Could you introduce yourself? What department are you from? What courses are you teaching or have been teaching? What are the classes you teach like, such as format or class size? Is there anything you want to tell us about your teaching, research, or other projects? 
   
   Hello! My name is Paulina Baltazar and I am an adjunct professor teaching BUS1011 REC here at Baruch (Aaronson Department of Marketing & International Business). This is my second semester teaching and both my semesters have been completely remote due to the pandemic. Since I am a relatively new instructor I am trying to learn as much as I can – this is my second teaching workshop and I am excited to learn about student engagement.
   
2. Could you talk a little bit about that course you’ll be working on during this seminar? 
   
   The course I am working on is BUS1011 REC (Business Fundamentals: The Contemporary Business Landscape). The recitation portion of the course is integrated with a weekly lecture. While the large lecture covers the theoretical and conceptual framework of business fundamentals, the smaller recitation portion focuses on real world applications including, MS Excel Basics, Business Communications, Resume Basics, etc. There is also a semester long Shadow-a-Company group research project. 
   
3. What are the listed learning goals of your course? They could be ones provided by the department, or ones that you have written for your syllabus? Please list them (pasting is fine!).
   
   I do not have learning goals (yet) – however I do have course objectives provided by the department.
   
   Specifically, recitation emphasizes the following with respect to the five pillars through the Shadow-a-Company research project:

1. Ethics awareness:  The research project is required to thoroughly address the ethics awareness, such as corporate social responsibility, and ethical implications of the business plans.  Ethics in information literacy competencies also needs to be considered, such as proper use of the reliable and accurate information, and critically evaluating and avoiding the use of the misinformation without any factual proof which proliferates and is widely spread in the digital information. 

2. Quantitative Analytical Skills:  The Shadow-a-Company research project requires the quantitative analysis using the Excel spreadsheet.  Quantitative exercises in the Excel eBook are designed to analyze various concepts and models in business, and can be applied to the data collected for the Shadow-a-Company research project. You will interpret the results, derive managerial implications, and present your recommendation.  You will be able to understand better and gain more from the class if you bring a laptop to class. The library has laptops that are available for you to rent if you do not want to bring your personal laptop. We will use the recent version of Excel in class and on the final exam. You may use a PC or Mac, and any version of Excel to complete the homework assignments because you will just be graded on having correct answers.

3. Communication Skills:  Recitation is designed to enhance students’ communication skills in a business setting. Your assignments in recitation will allow you to develop a foundation of Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint knowledge from which you can build. This course aims to help students become proficient communicators and contributors in a team setting. Thus, group work and class demonstrations/discussions are emphasized in recitation, with an objective to improve students’ ability to accomplish performance goals while respecting others and learning from multiple viewpoints. Students will also receive detailed feedback on written assignments to assist with their development of core business writing skills.

4. Information literacy competencies:  Students develop the information literacy competencies by defining the information needs for the research project, and develop the data collection plan for the Shadow-a-Company research project.  The data source may include various data bases available at the Newman Library, and digital sources.  The data collection requires the thorough reliability and validity check as you learn in large lecture.  This requires the critical evaluation of the data collected to ensure that the data are relevant and reliable without any bias nor without any misinformation which becomes rampant and spreading widely in the digital domain lacking any factual proof.  This is essential for the secondary data, but also applies to the primary data collected through survey, personal and group interviews. 
   
   Global awareness:  The global awareness is essential, and the global business theories and concepts introduced in large lecture are useful to analyze and apply to the Shadow-a-Company research project.  This further needs to be properly addressed in the recommended strategy.

Please see below. For the recitation portion specifically, my draft learning goals are the following:

a. MS Excel Basics Proficiency: By the end of the course students will have a working knowledge of basic Excel functions and business analyses.

b. Written & Oral Communication Skills: By the end of the course students will understand how to communicate in a professional business setting.

4. What class materials are you planning to develop? What goals do you have for them?

I joined this course because I am having trouble fostering engagement in a remote setting. I am thinking about developing a document that would outline how students can be successful in the course or something related to the semester-long group project which has been difficult for students to manage in my experience.