Author: Wiston Rodriguez

*Note: Below I added an attachment of the grading rubric I created for this assignment since I am still working on the language I’m going to revise for the Spring 22 version of the course syllabus.

What was it? What is it now? What changed? What’s left to do?

Prior to the seminar, my teaching artifact was very ambiguous in the way it was described and presented. The assignment itself asks students to lead the class discussion (in teams of 2-3). Each class discussion topic and it is assigned by asking students their preferences at the start of the semester. New components of the assignment include: having students provide peer feedback, a structured rubric, and more scaffolding opportunities.

For example, I’ve identified three scaffolding activities that I can engage students with prior to their facilitations. The scaffolding steps below represent new aspects to the project:

Step 1: in-class I will provide students with a mini workshop on how to write effective discussion questions, which they will have to do for their facilitation assignment. The workshop will provide them with examples of close-ended questions (what they should avoid) and open-ended questions (which they should use). I will also put students into teams where I will give them a short article to read, and then they will come up with 2-3 open ended questions.

Step 2: I will provide a mock demonstration of what the class facilitation should look like

Step 3: will consist of a mini workshop that will help students with providing feedback. I find this important because many students may be in a position where they have never had to give feedback. So, the purpose of this to show them what constructive feedback should look like. I will provide examples of non-constructive and constructive feedback. I will have students get into teams of 3-4 and ask them to provide anonymous feedback about the mock presentation that I gave. Then as a class we will look at provided feedback and talk through the strengths and areas of improvement.

Step 4: I will put students into teams of 3-4 where they will have to give a “blitz” presentation on a I/O topic. Afterwards I will give students the opportunity to practice giving constructive feedback here as well. I will have them post it on the discussion board where I will then be able to provide feedback for them.

How does it facilitate student engagement?

The entire assignment is centered around student engagement because it helps students take an active role that helps them reinforce their public speaking skills and encourages them to find ways to engage their audience. I think the engagement aspect is critical for students, regardless if they decide to pursue a career in I/O psychology or not. The assignment requires students to draw on media that covers the topic of the week, create critical thinking discussion questions, and encourages them to incorporate an activity for the week.

How has the seminar influenced your decision-making process for revising your artifact?

It has made me more aware about the importance of scaffolding and has made me realize how intimidating this assignment might come off without easing students into it.

Are there any lingering questions or concerns you want to return to?

Not any that I can think of at the moment!

Attached you will find an attachment of my structured rubric. If anyone has any feedback on how I could make this stronger, I would love to hear it.

Hi everyone! I am planning to revise an existing assignment for my PSY 4181 (Advanced Organizational Psychology) course. The assignment is a “class facilitation” which requires students to pair up in teams of 2-3 (depending on the class size) and to lead the class discussion for the week. The goal is for the team to act as the subject matter experts (SMEs) for the week by presenting the major themes in the readings to the class and integrating. I have emphasized to students that the goal for this assignment is for them to also identify current trends on the topic they are assigned and integrating them into their presentation. The point of this assignment is not to summarize everything in the readings (that’s what my lectures). Instead I tell them to really focus on the “bigger picture.”

Currently, I feel that the assignment is quite vague from a student’s perspective. I’m struggling with findings the balance of how much guidance I should be providing because I don’t want to limit student’s creativity by providing them with strict parameters. While at the same time I don’t want to overwhelm them by providing vague instructions.

I would like to change the assignment by providing more instructions to students. This could be done by providing a structured rubric for students to show examples of the items I will be looking for in their presentation. If possible, I think it would also be nice to incorporate the use of some new tool for students such Blogs@Baruch or the Vlog tool. I also want to incorporate feedback from their peers into the assignment as well, so I’d like to develop a way or system for their peers to give constructive feedback for each presentation. I would imagine this would require a) the use of Qualtrics or some other platform to streamline the process, and b) giving students a “mini-training” on how to provide effective feedback.

If anyone does anything similar for their course or has any additional ideas, I would love to hear them!

Directions for the teaching artifact as currently stated on the syllabus:

For each week, 2 students (possibly 3) will be responsible for presenting the relevant pre-assigned readings, presenting the class with discussion questions, and leading these discussions. This should be an integrated 30-minute presentation that presents an overview of the major themes for the week. In other words, you will act as the subject matter experts (SMEs) for the particular topic of that week. Your role is to present the “big picture” emerging from the assigned readings, not present on every single detail. Successful presentations will use the following strategies:

• Present the topic in a formal way using PowerPoint, Google Slides, etc.
• Engage in active learning instructional strategies that emphasize audience engagement (quick activity, asking broad questions that stimulate class discussion, etc.)
• Gather from sources outside of the assigned readings.
  • External scholarly articles.
  • Information from contemporary mainstream media (e.g., a clip from a news outlet) related to your topic.
  • Case studies related to your topic from real-world organizations.
• Multiple types of media (e.g., videos, handouts, etc.)

In your presentation you should focus on major themes, arguments, contradictions, practical challenges, etc. However, please feel free to be as CREATIVE as possible while also providing the class with the “big picture.”  Presentations must be submitted via Blackboard in advance of your presentation by only one member.

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? 

Hi everyone! My name is Wiston Rodriguez from the Psychology department. I am a 4th year PhD student in the Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychology program at The Graduate Center & Baruch College. All of the courses that I teach (or have taught) are I/O courses (e.g., Intro to I/O Psychology, Advanced Organizational Psychology, Motivation, and Leadership). All these courses have been taught as in-person, hybrid, and/or fully online (synchronous and asynchronous). Outside of teaching, my research focuses on employee well-being, the work/non-work interface, and diversity issues in the workplace.

Could you talk a little bit about that course you’ll be working on during this seminar? 

The course I will be working on during the seminar is PSY 4181 (Advanced Organizational Psychology). This course is an extension of PSY 3181 (Introduction to I/O Psychology) and discussions are structured to look like discussions that at the graduate level (e.g., discussion implications of research findings and discussing solutions to workplace issues).

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!).

1. Summarize, interpret, and critically evaluate theories, and empirical findings in organizational psychology.
2. Apply content knowledge to understand employee’s behaviors in real organizations.
3. Analytically describe how organizations can utilize psychological concepts, theories, findings, and research methods to influence their employees.
4. Demonstrate your ability to collaborate with peers in and outside of the classroom.
5. Deliver your own thoughts to others through written assignments and in-class discussions.

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

I would like to revise an assignment that already exists or see if I can come up with a new assignment for this course. The assignments I’m thinking about revising are either a) the final presentation at the end of the semester where students have to present on an organizational issue and discuss how they would solve it, or b) the class facilitation assignment that students complete as a team of 2-3 students and lead the class discussion. I’m probably learning more towards the class facilitation since students struggled with the engagement aspect of the assignment.