Audio Podcast

Text Transcript

Heidi Burgiel: We're here today with Marisa Hastie, professor of exercise science and program chair of exercise science and fitness management. Welcome Marisa!

Matthew Boyle: Welcome Marisa!

Marisa Hastie: Thank you Matt and Heidi, thank you for having me.

Heidi Burgiel: Professor Hastie, have you made any changes to your course to accommodate your undergraduate students, now that we're back in person?

Marisa Hastie: Absolutely, I feel like our classrooms while they feel somewhat familiar and like home, they were a place that where – they have always been a place I've enjoyed, prior to the pandemic -- coming back to that has been nice, but our students certainly are having some new difficulties as we enter into that traditional classroom and kind of cope with everything that's changing in the world around us. So a couple of the things that I've done -- and these are very simple little things -- have been really to help students become more comfortable, as they have re-entered into the classroom and ease back into what now is face to face learning after a year of hybrid learning.

Using Study Guides to Practice for Exams

One of the areas that students conveyed to me as a major area of concern was they were very nervous about taking exams in person again. They had become so used to taking exams online and whether that was they felt like they could carve out time to be able to focus, to not be distracted by what's going on around them, or how they had set up their personal test taking space or even just in being able to type their answers versus handwrite answers, they communicated to me that they were very nervous about this.

And so, prior to the first exam one of the things that I did was I made a study guide for them -- this is not something that is revolutionary or new in the field of academics – but what I did was I formatted it very similarly to what my exam will look like, so they have an opportunity to actually write on this piece of paper as they study as part of their exam. The day prior to the exam, we have a recitation period where we go over the study guide. One of the ways that I encourage students to complete that is [that] I begin this review session when anybody can ask questions about any aspect of the course material that we've taken a look at over the last few weeks.

But then students who have completed the entire study guide get to stay for this Q and A where we go over in detail all the answers to this study guide. So I really have not had students who don't complete the study guide, which is great, because they know this is a ticket into this practice and recitation period and they see it as a huge advantage.

And the feedback after the first exam really was positive and many of them said, “It looked exactly like your study guide!” The questions weren't exactly what was on the study guide, but the familiarity with taking that test and the content was all outlined for them, ahead of time, so it was just that little step up, which was helpful.

Formative Assessment to Help Students Check Learning

I've also been always been a big fan of formative assessments in the classroom, but I found those are even more important now. So I do a number of very small-point assessments in class where students are essentially by completing it or getting full credit for it but it's an opportunity for them to check their own learning we go over the answers; I read through their answers too when I collect them, and it's great feedback for me to really see what is hitting home in class and what maybe isn't and where they're missing that it also provides a really nice guided review for students who potentially are out of class on that day. Whether it's due to needing to be in quarantine or something along those lines, health reasons, but it gives them an opportunity to practice some material. And those are again another format to practice what's going to be on the exam.

I remind my students often that the exam is not meant to be the first time you've ever seen this material. As an exercise science faculty member, most of my students relate to sport preparation. So game day is not the very first time you've practiced to play, and so I tell them that all of our class sessions are in class assessments our study guides. These are all practicing the plays that they're going to then execute perfectly on the exam in that day because they've done it before.

And even as I use the word perfection, I remind my students that perfection actually is not the goal; you just need to show me what you learned, show me what you know, and if you make mistake, that's okay.

Matthew Boyle: That's very cool; I like how that kind of practice not only helps them focus on the content, but also helps ensure they don't have to cloud up their mental bandwidth with how the test questions will appear, they can focus on the content itself.

Strategies to Facilitate Teamwork & Engagement

Do you have any other recommendations you'd like to share with Lasell Faculty?

Marisa Hastie: You know, I do love team consultations or group work. I think in class we…the advantage to being back together in a classroom is that we can have these very easy little mini-breakouts during a lecture session and so I want to highlight that. Most of my students say they enjoy group discussions; they enjoy team things. I've been able to bring in classroom activities where they stand up and vote by standing in a different position of the room. Or they we have debates, and we see who is going to pull people over to their side of the matter, you know, whatever we're talking about so I try to. I try to make sure that because we are in person that I'm capitalizing on all those newly positive aspects of an in person classroom that students do enjoy and love.

And that's not to say I don't still use Kahoot games and things like that. Our students love those, and anytime I put in Kahoots stuff on the screen in class, it's an immediate, you know, increase in energy in the room, so I really enjoy those things too. I it's for me the most part, is really listening to what they like, it's feedback on the mid semester evaluations that I do, and it's in conversations before and after class, checking for understanding, learning, seeing how they're feeling.

And kind of reading the mood in the room on certain days. Some days, there are days to push through and really cover a lot in depth, you know, material in a very deep manner. And there's other days that, we need to pull back a little bit and practice some kindness to ourselves and to each other in that process.

Matthew Boyle: Nice. Those sound like excellent procedures to make sure that the atmosphere is livened up, but also that you're reacting to the student’s needs as much as you can. That’s all we have in questions; Marisa, anything come up to your mind?

Marisa Hastie: I don't know if you want to include this in, but one of the things that I did on the exam day was I put a very relaxing beautiful image up on the computer screen. So I tell students, when you get in that moment, where you feel like you're panicking and your brain is cramping up, take a minute, take a deep breath, look out on this beautiful dock that goes out into a sunset and the lake and just breathe. And then come back to the exam.

It’s such a silly little thing but being in a classroom with a lot of other people around you, and sometimes feeling the anxiety or the nervousness of everybody in that space too, it impacts our students and while I certainly wish I could give them all that beautiful dock and a sunset to actually be sitting on when they're taking an exam, this is just one little thing. It costs nothing and it takes very little effort to make them just relax a bit or even just smile.

Matthew Boyle: I think you're right. Classroom anxiety can be felt in a classroom where it is very present, and lowering it in a way that doesn't take a lot from the instructor but will provide a lot to the students is an excellent procedure I think.

So yeah, thank you so much for joining us today. And, uh, that's it, :)

Heidi Burgiel: Thank you!

Matt: Thanks so much for listening to us, everybody; faculty interested in learning more about teaching and learning here at Lasell can visit MyLasell at https://my.lasell.edu, or you can send us an email at TLC@lasell.edu, or give us a call: 617.243.2001.

Creative Commons Music by Jason Shaw on Audionautix.com

See you later!