Audio Podcast

Related Resources

Text Transcript

Heidi Burgiel: Welcome back to the Teaching and Learning at Lasell podcast with Matt and Heidi from the TLC. In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Kellie Wallace, assistant professor of Criminal Justice at Lasell.

Matt Boyle: Kellie will be the first presenter at the 2022 Lasell Teaching and Learning Camp, starting on Monday, June 13th. In this episode, we discuss with Kellie the value of group projects and case study scenarios to lay a groundwork for connected learning that meets the needs of the student, helping them learn critical skills for career readiness, while also leveraging their existing creativity to help them succeed in an inclusive, welcoming environment.

-We're here today with Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Kellie Wallace. Welcome, Dr. Wallace.

Kellie Wallace: Hi, thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here and happy pride, everybody.

Leadership and Communication

-Indeed. Welcome Kellie.

-Dr. Wallace. How do group projects address the competencies of leadership and communication?

-That is a great question. And group projects are a great way in our classrooms to effect connected learning in multiple different platforms and modalities. But you know, a lot of students and people in general struggle with the idea of public speaking or due to social anxieties, or perhaps just the way that the American education system has been set up, haven't been positively reinforced in the classroom. They are anxious or nervous, or even afraid to participate in the larger group setting. But that doesn't mean that they're not retaining the material, doing the work, putting in the effort and shouldn't be recognized or given opportunities for participation. So group projects sort of take some of the spotlight away from the individual students and create a group for lack of a better term that the spotlight focuses on as well.

And within that group, they're able to delineate the responsibilities based on how the students feel they are best prepared or where their skillset lies for the specific assignment. So, for example, some students might not feel comfortable speaking in public. However, they might have a lot of really good technical skills. And so putting a presentation together or compiling something into a written narrative or making the edits to make the presentation go from just a basic PowerPoint that, for example, I might use to something actually engaging and that you would want to watch on your downtime. Because some students have submitted fantastic documentary-esque videos and presentations in the past. So my group projects tend to be a little freeform because I don't want to pigeonhole students into what I think they should be doing. I like I like to give them the creative freedom to let those skillsets shine.

For example, I found that one of my criminal justice students who I've had for three years in classes is actually a really talented graphic artist, and that's not something I ever would have known in the standard criminal justice classes because we don't we're not graphic design. That's not, you know, graphic arts aren't part of the core curriculum for C.J. But by giving these free form assignments or these free form opportunities, the student was able to create a gorgeous visual aid for the prison system in America that I now have asked permission and have been given permission to use in classes going forward. Like, it's such a powerful piece of media that I never could have created on my own and had no idea that the student had the capabilities to do so. So these group projects and giving students sort of that freedom to go down the paths that speak to them and not the path I'm directing them down really allows them to showcase those skills that they have. Which, again, absolutely blow me away sometimes, with the level of talent and intelligence and creativity that our students possess in ways that aren't necessarily highlighted in the traditional tests, exams and again, the traditional American educational system.

Guardrails

-Nice. So in an ideal world and that ideal project, the groups help the students prioritize and spotlight their own existing creative skills so that the guardrails that would otherwise be there sort of taken away, you think, or...

-Yeah, that's actually a really good way to phrase it. And, you know, I tend to make myself more flexible and available when I assign these group projects because when I was a student, if I had a professor who gave me an assignment without those criteria and guidelines, I would have anxiety over that. I sometimes need more to go on, right? Whereas other students take it and they run. So it does require a little more of my presence and my attention to each individual group and student to make sure that they're hitting the main points that they're supposed to while engaging in the modality of the presentation, of the project rather, that that speaks to them. But yeah, we have we've pigeonholed what we think education should be or look like. And we, especially at Lasell, we recognize that the needs of our students are changing. But the needs of students overall from preschool, kindergarten, straight through their Ph.D. programs have changed dramatically in the last year, especially because of COVID, but I would say in the last 10, 15 years as well. But the traditional education system hasn't modified itself to keep up with that.

So like I was saying before, there are students who are struggling; I was one myself. I was a middle of the pack student in primary education, in high school or middle school, etc. Just because I didn't have those opportunities or there wasn't the opportunity for the teachers to address something in a different way or spend that time with the student one on one who isn't necessarily grasping the concept in the way that it's being taught, or to provide an alternative assignment other than a standard test for me to showcase that I had been retaining the material. But I did understand it, but I was able to synthesize it. And it really wasn't until my master's program that I was able to have professors who could do those things and really were able to cultivate and foster my intelligence and my creativity. And so I try to emulate those professors that I had who really made the difference to me who are outside of the American education system box, right?

We have these boxes that we think everyone should fit into, but they don't. And so allowing that space, you know, going outside of the mold that's been created for what education should look like and focusing on what students needs are and what they actually want to get from their education because it's not the same for everybody, right? We have students who are coming in because... and I think this is less and less, that the students who come in because they're supposed to or their parents told them they had to. And a lot students now who are coming in because this is what they want to do, they want to explore these topics. They want to explore these potential career or business opportunities. I mean, we have students who have their own businesses on top of taking the classes and pursuing... So again, we have amazing, amazing people in our community and Lasell. We're fortunate enough that we can have these opportunities for creative expression, for creative freedoms, for these creative outlets that aren't just a 25 question multiple choice test. Which I personally would do terribly on.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

-Yeah, when I was listening to what you were saying, I was thinking... because I often thought of those guardrails, what education should look like a twenty five question test, for instance, as like models that keep students from feeling anxious or at sea. But they can really cram them into a very linear, one way system of accomplishment that undermines that kind of creative freedom and is less equitable and less inclusive. Speaking on that particular point, what are some ways that group projects can address equity and inclusion?

-Now that was a great segue. So equity and inclusion really should be core in everything that we do as humans. But unfortunately, it is not, you know, we all suffer from biases and prejudice and stereotypes, and being aware of them is sort of how we individually can combat the larger societal issues that these present. But that's a different podcast. So when it comes to group projects, again, not all students are strong in speaking, are strong and writing, are strong in each component of the project. So it's nice to have multiple people tackling the multiple facets because, you know, they can utilize their strengths and really hone in on those specific pieces. So in terms of the students, it's a lot of allowing them the responsibility and the leadership of their own that they are going to delegate the work.

But there is, you know, I am checking in with them to make sure that everything is smooth sailing. If there are students who aren't engaged, if there are students who are sort of taking the reins a little bit too much. I also have at the end of the project a check in sheet where I have the students provide me with their feedback on how they thought the project went. And it's anonymous in terms of I know who wrote it, but I don't share any of that information with anyone. And I found that the students feel empowered to be honest in those assessments and usually if it went well, everyone in the group says the same thing. And if it didn't go well, everyone in the group says the same, same thing. So that's that's a way that I have tried to make it more equitable for students so that if they do feel like that, they pulled more of their weight. There is a measure for that. There is a way that I will know that and that can be reflected in sort of their assessment for the project. Or if there was someone who didn't pull their weight, that's something that would then have to be addressed with that student individually as well. But the other students shouldn't be impacted by that either. Because, you know, we all had a group project and we either ended up doing everything or there was a student who did nothing. So regardless of where you are in life, when you work in groups, that's going to happen, right? And so part of it is just preparing you for the inevitable, but also that there is some type of checks and balance system so that it isn't one person doing everything or one person not doing anything.

In terms of DEI for the projects themselves and the content of the projects I found that making them more free form allows for more DEI to come in. So the less criteria I provide or the less guidelines I give, the more we're able to bring in examples or events. Or, you know, for a case study, they can pull cases from all over the map, whether that be the country or the world or, you know, decades or whatever the case may be. And so very rare is it that I will tell them this is what you have to focus on in terms of the case, a person, whatever, it'll more be a concept. So for example, I teach a crime and mental health class. And so one of the projects, it's not a group project, but one of the projects is a movie review, and they need to tell me how the movie is depicting the concepts we've learned in class, whether it's correct or incorrect. And I do give them a list of like 30 or 40 movies, but I tell them if there's something that you want to do for this project, just send me the name of the movie. And as long as I can watch it before it's due, then I will. And by doing that, I have gotten suggestions for movies I never would have known of otherwise. You know, some movies that are foreign films or some that are newer, and they just kind of went under my radar.

But again, I'm not pigeonholing them to say, you have to watch, you know, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and tell me everything that's right and wrong about it. It's: What are you watching? What are you engaged in? And then I get to learn how different concepts are being portrayed in these other types of media as well. And for, you know, international and multicultural stuff, that's really important because, you know, in America, we have very ethnocentric view that what we believe is right. Right? So our concept of mental illness, our concept of physical health obviously is the correct concept of these things when in fact other cultures conceptualize them very differently, and I would argue, in some cases a lot better than we do. So it provides me with that world view as well as providing the students with it as well. And then it gives me more in my arsenal of DEI resources that I can provide. And that list of movies does get longer and longer and longer. And you know, I leave that up for the students all year. And like, if you want to knock these movies off, you know, one by one, go for it. Keep the list. Do your thing. And I have students will tell me after the fact, you know, I watch this movie, I watched this one with my roommate, et cetera, et cetera, and they appreciate the variety and the myriad of options that they have as well.

Sample Project

-Thank you. So if other faculty are interested in trying this out, can you give some more specifics about an example of one of these projects?

-Sure. So in my CJ101 class, which is probably the only class where I do give them a prompt, so in my CJ101 class, I create a crime that has happened. It's a pretty generic crime. You know, it's it's a someone broke into a school after hours and vandalized the school. You know, that's just a pretty generic type of thing. And so it's a John Doe situation, and I give them a little bit about the setting. The crime scene. And then, you know, he was apprehended and he's been charged. And then the students have, they have 10 different topics that we've discussed in the course. So the defendant, the victim, the police, the court system, corrections, the defense lawyer, the prosecutor, etc.

So each group picks which one of those concepts they like to focus on. And then their project is how that concept would respond to this particular crime. And of course, you know, when we have the defense or the defendant, they're in direct conflict with a lot of the other concepts. And so they have to talk about that. So they have to talk about what are the what are the priorities for your concept and how is that in conflict with other concepts on this list? And then is there a way that everyone's needs can be met? Is there a way that the defendant can sort of get what they want while the system gets what it wants, so to speak? And, you know, depending on which concept they picked or how they addressed it, oftentimes through things we've discussed, there are ways to synthesize the two competing needs so that everyone gets their goal met in some way, shape or form. But that's not how our system currently works. So they have to go beyond what actually happens and incorporate other concepts. We talk about that. Could it... like restorative justice, for example, that could happen in our system, but don't necessarily we don't use that currently as a as a response across the board.

So it allows them both the synthesis of the practical application of how the system currently works, but also the integration of this more theoretical material about here are things that we're trying on smaller scales or that are working in other places. So how could that work in this particular case? And so not only are they focusing on their concept, but they have to think about the other concepts that are related to this crime and how theirs directly conflicts with that. And honestly, at the heart of DEI is a lot of conflict, right? It's a lot of power struggles and power dynamics, but oftentimes there is a way to have everyone's needs met. Not saying everyone gets 100 percent of what they want, but there oftentimes is a compromise so that everybody can walk away feeling like they've been heard feeling like they've been validated, feeling like they've been justified in some way, shape or form. Again, not how our system currently works, but there are applications we can use.

And so that is, again, in giving them that freedom to do whatever they want for the project -- so I have students submit podcasts, I have students submit documentaries, I'll have students give traditional presentations in class. That also is enforcing the DEI on this individual and student level to again give them the freedoms to create the modalities that are most effective and most beneficial for them.

-That was very cool. I like how such a scenario ties the concepts to a very practical, albeit hypothetical situation. Are there some other practical elements to keep in mind as you design scenarios for projects that you'd recommend people consider?

-Sure. So as I was recounting that scenario to you immediately, I thought about the recent school shooting and thought that a trigger warning is appropriate for a lot of these types of things. And I was just watch... I just watched the newest season of Stranger Things, and I really appreciate, I'm not sure if either of you have see that, but I really appreciate it in the beginning, how they did give kind of a trigger warning to address the recent school shooting. Not that anything that happens in the season is at all reflective of that. But it is about kids in school and there is bullying that takes place. And so it was... I really appreciate the fact that they acknowledge this and that while we're not showing stuff that is directly correlated with what's happening, we are showing stuff that could be sensitive to these folks because of the situations in the world. So you do have to be careful of that and trigger warnings. I, if I'm pulling something from real life, and I do use a lot of real world scenarios, it's usually something we've already talked about in class or I do a debriefing beforehand to say that this is the trigger warning. These are the types of things we're going to talk about. And unfortunately in criminal justice kind of need a trigger warning for every class because it's criminal justice, right? So we're dealing with the with the violent offenders. We're dealing with the victims. We're dealing with the aftermath. And, you know, classes like interpersonal and domestic violence, especially, like that's the totality of the course.

So definitely letting students know what to expect ahead of time and providing that space, also providing a space for them to process after the fact. There's a very different there's a big difference between what we do and what the counseling center, What therapists do. You have to be cognizant of that line. But as as the professor, you can still provide a space to process what they're learning, what they're consuming or what they're feeling as a result of the information that's being provided to them. Knowing that the counseling center is a next step resource, should that be necessary in that situation. So especially just what's what's going on in the world today? I would say that's the biggest thing to keep in mind is just how these hypothetical or real world situations could impact people or could resonate with people. And being aware of that, you might need to give a debriefing before and after for a lot of these concepts.

You also don't want to pick concepts or events that are beyond what the students are interested in or capable of grasping. And so, for example, you know, I remember when 911 happened, I was in college. I didn't understand the gravity of it at the time. It's not something I think I would have been able to process and discuss in the class as fully as I was able to after the fact and years later. And so while there is an importance of taking these major world events -- so for example, what's happening in Ukraine right now -- I'm not sure that's something that I as an undergrad would have understood the levity of and would have been able to really discuss and process in a way that was substantial to me. And I'm just speaking from my own personal experience. So that's not necessarily something that I would use as a larger class example because I know that not all students would be able to grasp it for whatever reason. And I mean, I'm a C.J. person now. So obviously that's something that now I would be interested in. But at the time when I was an undergrad, it wasn't something that resonated with me.

So I've given assignments... Another assignment in a criminology class is pick a current event and talk about what theory supports the, the culmination of this event. And so I did have several students for that assignment pick what's going on in Ukraine, and they were able to talk about it in ways that were meaningful and significant to them, which I think worked a lot better than saying everybody has to focus on what's going on in Ukraine and write about what theory they think explains why this is happening. So again, meeting the students where they're at and speaking to their, not only needs, but what they want. I do a lot of polling in the beginning of my classes about what do you want to learn from this class? What are you interested in? Like, what do you want us to talk about? And I think that allows for more engagement because they know that not only did they participate in that discussion, and so what we're talking about is what you said you wanted us to talk about, but they also know that they have a power, they have a voice in the classroom. It's not just me steering the ship or dictating how things should go.

And then they're interested. They're like, Oh, I know that we're going to talk about Jeffrey Dahmer in a couple weeks because, you know, we had that conversation in the beginning of class and that was decided. So I found that I do get more engagement from students, not only in the initial discussion about What do you want to learn about? What do you want this class to be about? but also throughout the semester. Because again, they feel that they have that influence, they have that power to determine how the course was structured and how we're navigating the material.

Guidance vs. Guardrails

-That brings up another question, if you don't mind.

-Of course.

-As I was listening to what you were talking about, about taking potential scenarios from, well, what's happening in the news at that particular moment or allowing the students to bring in the things that which they are interested in, contextualizing that within the context of your courses, objectives and activities. I always thought about trying to do that. For instance, writing classes that I have taught were saying, You can write about whatever you want to write about, and sometimes there's always this inevitable response from students of I don't know, what do you want me to write about? You're the teacher, aren't you?

-Yes.

-To which my response is "Well, I want you to write about what you want to write about." That's just this circle of the guardrails. The students want the guardrails in place because it does come back to what you said about Ukraine saying, I don't really know what this means. I don't have enough of background and context about the situation to really feel like I could dive into it. I want you to give me my guardrails Mr. Boyle. And I was like, well, I don't want you to have the guardrails. And I guess, would you be able to speak a little bit to that reaction the students have or how to address that when it comes?

-Sure, because we definitely have that situation. So I'll give you a practical example of an assignment I just provided. So I had a forensic psychology course at the top this year. And so their final was to pick anything we talked about over the semester, pick anything they wanted, and to create a final project in some way, shape or form around that concept. And so when I'm... when I show them the final, we have a conversation. So it's not just here's the instructions, bye! So I say to them, you can pick any of the topics from the syllabus. Like, any of the modules. You can't do any of... So for that class, the last half of the class, we did in-depth case studies on specific offenders and I said, you know, you can't do any of the offenders we reviewed in class, but there's a plethora of them out there to choose from. You can pick any offender, whatever you want, as long as it relates in some way, shape or form to forensic psychology.

And I did have a few students who were "I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with this." And so again, that's where it requires more presence and attention on my behalf to meet with those students one on one or to have those email conversations about what you want to write or what you want to focus your... First of all, what you want to focus the project on, and then what do you want the project modality to be? Students, I found, have an easier time with that, figuring out how they want to structure the project than they do, figuring out what they want to do the project on. I will say this was a mostly psych class. It was, it was a psych class. And so it was mostly psych students. So I didn't know them as well as I know the CJ students because a lot of them, it was my first time having them in class. But this is where getting to know your students and you know, their participation and being present before and after class for students to talk to you and also being present on campus and in the community, getting to know who they are helps inform me as to what they're going to want to do their projects on or where they might want to hold that focus.

So again, there were a few students in that class who had a little bit of difficulty. It's like, "Oh, well in previous classes, you know, you really enjoyed focusing on... or you've really been passionate about prison and their treatment of inmates in prison. And so, you know, there's a whole field of correctional psychology that we talked about. So perhaps you can focus on how psychologists work with folks who are incarcerated or, you know, different evaluations that take place while people are incarcerated versus taking place in the mental..." So those conversations and also those... when you have a less formal education in the classroom and a more fluid... So my classes, there's a lot of discussion. There's a lot of talking among each other. And like, it's not me, just rote reading off slides. If they have a question, if they want like... Kind of like you said that if they want to have a conversation about something related, unrelated, great! Let's do it. Because that's where the most beneficial information comes from.

And that's, that's what students remember. They remember those conversations that kind of organically happened that weren't related to the course material, necessarily directly. Or they remember talking about the current events or things. You know, in one class, we talked about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. But that was a really engaged conversation, and we were able to relate it back to a lot of the things that we were talking about in class in terms of stigmas and stereotypes and violence and when it's OK and when it's not, et cetera, et cetera. So being present for students to give them that guidance and also make sure they're staying on track with what they're doing because it can be really easy to go down -- let's say Jeffrey Dahmer -- to go down a Jeffrey Dahmer rabbit hole and then present something that maybe is about Jeffrey Dahmer, but didn't quite meet the assignment criteria. So I do also create criteria. So if you're doing a paper, it has to be this if you're doing a podcast, it has to be this, if you're doing a pamphlet, it has to be this. So I do give them the guidelines for what I would call the most common formats for presentations or projects. But I tell them, like the student with the graphic design. They asked me, you know, "I'd like to do a visual about this". And I said, "great!" Like, that's not something I could create, but great! And you know, and I gave that student specific criteria for them. But again, it's all it's all sort of the same criteria in terms of sources and how long , blah blah blah. It's just the different formats it's modified to meet. You know, a podcast versus a paper. -Thank you. Makes a lot of sense. There's a difference between guidance and guardrails effectively.

-I like that. Yes.

-Well, thank you so much for joining us today, Kellie. And if you would like to join in to the Teaching and Learning Camp happening on June 13 through the 15th this summer, 2022, Dr. Wallace will be speaking on designing group assignments for connected learning on Monday, June 13, starting with a workshop at 10 a.m. in the morning and going on in some hands-on practice all throughout the day. So we'd love to have you there for it and thank you so much for joining us today, Kellie. Thank you both so much.

-This has been a pleasure. I really enjoyed it.

-Absolutely. Thank you. 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 Shah on Audionautix.com See you later.