Keystone Concepts in Teaching: A Higher Education Podcast from the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning

S1 E5: What Core Courses Teach Us About Teaching

• Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning • Season 1 • Episode 5

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Dr. Laura Poms, Director of the Mason Core at George Mason University, joins us to explore what Core courses can teach us about teaching.  We discuss content relevant to instructors who are – and are not – teaching in the undergraduate core curriculum program.

Resources: Mason Core Website:  https://masoncore.gmu.edu/, Mason Core Categories:  https://masoncore.gmu.edu/mason-core-course-categories/, GMU Learning Services:  https://learningservices.gmu.edu/, GMU Learning Services Video Series:  https://learningservices.gmu.edu/academic-skills-videos/, Distinguishing novice and expert learning practices: Daley, B. J. (1999). Novice to expert: An exploration of how professionals learn. Adult education quarterly, 49(4), 133-147. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/074171369904900401 

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Rachel:

Hello and welcome to the Keystone Concepts in Teaching Podcast, a higher education podcast from the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning, where we share impactful and evidence based teaching practices to support all students and faculty. I'm your host, Rachel Yoho. I'm joined by this episode's guest, Dr. Laura Poms. Dr. Poms is the director of the Mason Core, George Mason University's general education program, and a professor in global and community health in Mason's College of Public Health. In addition to overseeing the day to day operations of the Mason Core program, she collaborates with faculty across the university to develop, revise, and assess courses in the Mason Core portfolio. Dr. Poms is a highly awarded educator, having received numerous awards, including the Teaching Excellence Award in 2018 for George Mason University, the Master Teacher Award in 2016 from the College of Health and Human Services at George Mason University, and many others. She has a PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from George Mason University, an MPH in Epidemiology, an MA in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, again, all from George Mason University, a master's in public communication from American University, and a BA in psychology from the College of William and Mary, We are delighted to have you here today to talk with us, Dr. Poms.

Laura:

Thank you. Thank you for inviting me.

Rachel:

Absolutely. So in this episode, we're going to be discussing, as you might guess, the Mason Core. But what we're going to be talking about here is really what we can learn from teaching Core courses. So whether you do or do not teach in the Mason Core, there's going to be something here for you. So to get us started, let's talk a little bit about what is the Mason Core and what does it mean to be teaching in the Mason Core.

Laura:

Great. So as you mentioned, it is our general education program. And so what that means, it is the educational background that we want every Mason graduate to have, and that is informed by a lot of different sources. We have it from our faculty what we believe individuals, our region, our country and our planet and even broader society really need for people to be contributing members to society. We use the literature on general education for best practices, and then we also reach out to employers, both in the immediate area and outside to make sure that what we are teaching our students is something that will be of use to them to make them as competitive as possible once they leave George Mason University. W e partner with the American Association of Colleges and Universities or AAC&U for best practices and their reports on what employers are looking for, as well as the National Association of Colleges and Education and Employers which is NACE. They create a lot of material related to what employers are looking for in recent graduates to make sure that we have competitive people out there. So, general education is focused on developing skills for lifelong learning. And what we are doing is setting students up for success, not just for that very first job, but also for all the jobs that come after that for a career. So it is all the things that we want, what a Mason graduate is. and we say that that's an engaged citizen, a well rounded scholar who is prepared to act. And I think that it is probably one of the biggest privileges a faculty member can have to be able to work with students in our general education program. And so to be teaching in the Core is not just the content of what you're teaching, but it is really related to how that content is taught to help our students develop those lifelong learning skills that they need to have.

Rachel:

That's really interesting when we talk about not only the Mason graduate, but when we're talking about an opportunity to teach in the Mason Core. It's a little bit different when we're talking about, as compared to in our field, in our discipline, you know, a 100 level or a 400 level or even a graduate course in our discipline. These are very different. And so, for instance, if someone hands me a syllabus for a course that is in the Mason Core, how much can I customize to my teaching content and style preferences?

Laura:

So the Core has each category of the Core and we have it broken down into different levels. So we start off with the foundation level, which is based on skills, it's things like information technology, quantitative reasoning, oral comm, written comm. And then we have exploration, which is the broad based liberal arts that we think about when we think about traditional general education. And then we have the integration level, which is the upper 400 level courses that are reflective of writing in the disciplines. And then what we have is called Mason Apex, which is the opportunity to integrate the learning. So, within each of those categories, we have learning outcomes that are assigned to those categories that have been vetted by the Mason faculty. So every course that is in the Core must have assignments that are related to those learning outcomes, in addition to whatever the content area is for the particular course. So how much flexibility and customization you have really depends on your department and the category. Some departments have common assignments and requests that instructors use those assignments, but those assignments have been developed in conjunction with a team of faculty members. So it's not something that, you know, an administrator decided was a good idea. It really does work from instructors who have been on the ground teaching these students in these types of courses. Some categories have more flexibility, as you might imagine, if there's a course that is only one section of that particular course, there's a lot more flexibility. All of them should have your particular style. And we do have assessment. Every four years or so each category undergoes assessment to make sure that students are actually getting the learning outcomes and that the courses are designed and tailored to those student needs. One of the changes that we have made over the past year, because we've had a lot of work streamlining the Core and the approval processes and faculty's ability to teach the course as well, is including a course management plan and this kind of rolls into that. So the undergraduate program director in your department is the person you would want to talk to when you find out that you are teaching a Mason Core class and they can tell you what they have in mind for that. They can share with you the common syllabus, if there are any common assignments or what the parameters might be around particular assignments that map back to the learning outcomes so that we are sure that those learning outcomes are covered. So the place that you really want to start once you've been assigned to a Mason Core class is with your undergraduate program director.

Rachel:

And would we have the same advice if you weren't teaching in the Mason Core? If you're just handed a syllabus, would you start with your undergraduate program director, or do you have other advice in that type of situation?

Laura:

I think it's always smart to start with your program director because there are probably learning outcomes. So learning outcomes are established by the faculty in that department and they should not be adjusted by individual instructors, because it's something that's been deemed important for someone who is graduating with that major from that department, and it needs to be addressed. So at some point in some space and time that has been looked at for the curriculum that is developed to go along with that degree program. And it's very, very important that we stay true to those because again, those are also looked at too by outside accrediting bodies. So we want to make sure that our students are getting what we say that they're getting at the end of the day. And that's one of the only ways we know. So I think your undergraduate program director is a really, really good place to start. Another place would be other instructors that have taught the course as well, no matter whether it is a Mason Core class or a course that is in your major curriculum.

Rachel:

I agree. I mean, we have quite a number of programs that have a secondary accreditation like for their professional society and their professional organization that are going to be coming in every few years and checking on that as well. So that's a great point. Thank you. So when we're talking about teaching inside or outside of the Mason Core, because a number of these recommendations really apply in all situations, let's talk about some of your recommendations or strategies or considerations that you have for faculty who are teaching some of these Core courses.

Laura:

So one of the challenges and also one of the joys of teaching a Mason Core course is that these are likely to be students who are non majors, so they're not going to have initial vested interest in the topic area and they may even come into it with not always the most positive of perspectives on the course, and they might be viewing it as something they have to get done like a ticket to punch, a box to check, and we are trying to get away from that kind of positioning in Mason Core, hence the idea that teaching these courses are a privilege. So I think one of the most important things, and probably applies to any course you're teaching, is to do a little bit of foregrounding. Let students know how this particular topic area relates to other areas. So nothing happens in a vacuum. So you want to help students make those connections. What may be obvious to you as a connection may not be so obvious to a brand new student, especially if you're teaching a one or 200 level course where this may be a student's very first exposure to college level education. You really have to be aware of where they're coming from. I call those moments actually in class when I teach I just bring them out and I call them so,"Why do we care?" I just ask that question, and I answer the question for them, and then I ask them what they think too and sometimes it sounds a bit. I guess, abrupt or obvious, but in fact, I have found that it is not as obvious as we would think because most faculty are experts in their fields and our students are what we call novices. They're just learning. So an expert knows the key things to pay attention to whereas a novice thinks everything is important and they can't even filter out what may just be sort of extraneous so you have to keep that in mind. Which also then leads to the next point of maybe loosening up your content a little bit. And a lot of instructors feel that if they have a textbook, they have to cover everything in that textbook and they have to do it. It's an introduction to psychology because I could talk about psychology, having taught that class,"I've got to cover every aspect of psychology from beginning to end. I have only 14 weeks to do it. I need to hurry, hurry, hurry, get it covered." And in fact, what we know is that students don't learn that well with that much content. It's better to loosen up. So instead of 14 different topics, pick the eight most important topics and spend more time on each topic, so students get a chance to engage more deeply with the material and make the connections through reflection or other exercises that help them understand how it fits into the scope of the world and into their lives. If they can see why it matters to them, they're going to buy into the material better and perform better at the end, right? It also works for your majors too. They're going to come in and they're going to learn the material a bit more deeply. You will also know what you've covered in that class and it can be communicated to the major class that comes after that, so they know where to pick up so it can be done if you're doing what we call scaffolding and building that basis for your students.

Rachel:

So to this point, we've talked about the end goals, some of the activities, the outcome, some of these other big picture things. So can you tell us a little bit more, or can we talk a little bit more about how we get there and the process with the students?

Laura:

One thing to really keep in mind that I've noticed that I have to do is to focus not only on the outcome or the product, but also the process that is used by getting there. It's particularly important in a Mason Core class. If you are asking them to do a research paper, you need to ask yourself if they've got those research skills that are necessary to successfully write a paper. So, at the end of the day, you as an instructor factor into the equation as well as the students do. You do not want to be grading a bunch of poorly conceived research papers. This is not fun for anybody. They don't want to write them. You don't want to grade them. So why would you be doing them? So think a little bit more creatively about the kind of assignments you give. If you're asking them to work in a team. Ask yourself, do we really know how to work in a team? And maybe you take a few minutes to go over best practices for working in a team about, you know, deadlines and schedules and not letting other people down and just remind them because they may have had a million and one group projects when they were in high school, but these should be different and most of them are going to come in slightly sour because of all those group projects in high school where people drop the ball. So it's your job to give them some clues on how to be able to do this. There's a lot of material out there that can help you with that. And also really remember that our students come from a wide variety of backgrounds. So their preparation for college is going to be different and we're going to have some variety. So again, many Mason Core courses are the first that students are taking. So think about maybe helping them with their student-ing skills suggest time management. If you can integrate in some test taking strategies into your course managing test anxiety, providing them with resources to get help if they need it in a way that makes it approachable to them. I think it will help them quite a bit. And at the end of the day, if their student-ing skills are stronger, it helps you too because the assignments will be better and you'll be grading better material. So think about if they've developed critical reading skills, which they probably haven't, if they are clear on deadlines and what that means, and make sure that you communicate a lot of this material back to them very clearly in your syllabus and maybe mentioning it in class too, you'll notice they don't always read the entire syllabus. So that's something just to keep in mind. Keep it in there, but make it obvious through Canvas or Blackboard, whatever you happen to be using this semester.

Rachel:

I think these are really great points. And one of the things that we talk about quite a bit is scaffolding. I mean, so no matter what the course is, scaffolding is important. Whether you're teaching in the Mason Core or teaching a 400 level majors course, scaffolding is essential. So we're looking at building a larger project over time from an idea, that maybe you review those ideas, maybe you look at an outline, a draft, maybe have some peer review in there, whatever scaffolding looks like in your area, this can be really useful and a best practice across the board. I really like the idea that you were talking about, Laura, with the, why do I care? Why should we care? Or whatever your favorite variation might be. Having that in there, because that really relates very strongly to when we're talking about increasing relevance. One of the things that higher education broadly can struggle with is the why is this worthwhile? Why is this worth the money? But here we're talking about, especially with the Mason Core, preparing the Mason graduate. What does this look like for, like you were talking about, Laura, with the employers, but also just the people going out into society as a Mason graduate and what they are and can be and can do as lifelong learners. And so as we're talking about this, we can look at that and we can extend that out into all the courses. So whether you're teaching in the Mason Core or not, having that increased relevance and those connections is always useful. Because as you were mentioning, novices don't always see that. Novices aren't always making all of those connections, and they shouldn't be expected to be either. So with that, I really want to thank you, Laura, for joining us. This was a great conversation. Thank you so much for talking to us about the Mason Core and some of the exciting opportunities. And I look forward to having you back soon.

Laura:

Thank you so much. I really appreciate the opportunity.

Rachel:

And catch our next episode as we continue to talk about keystone concepts in teaching. Please subscribe to our podcast to get some notifications, or we're happy to have you join us in whatever space that you'd like to listen. Thank you.