Student self-assessment that promotes learning

Student self-assessment that promotes learning

Patricia Childers

Communication Design (COMD)

Graphic Design Principles, Typography

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

A self-assessment activity for reflection and reinforcement.
• low stakes, high impact activity to promote deep learning through engagement
• a mechanism to help focus on specific goals
• a tool to help students track progress towards their goals
• a tool to guide educators in the effectiveness of their communication

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

Inquiry & Analysis
A pedagogical approach to student review that not only reinforces student learning, but reinforces that they have learned. The goals this student classroom experience is to support the analysis of creative and critical thinking through the use of HIEPs,

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This activity can be introduced at the conclusion of any student project. Classroom time in minimal, about 20 minutes based on the amount of material reviewed. There is no out-of-class time.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

The low stakes activity requires the project rubric and copies of the final project. Students self access using the rubric. Student assessment refers to specific examples, footnoted or cross-referenced directly on the copy of the final project.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

The rubric development is based on the General Education inquiry of Knowledge and Skills using specific project criteria. This course in not part of a college-wide assessment. The project in itself is not graded. I find that student's responses are a true reflection of the student's understanding. "When the act of self-assessing is given a learning-oriented purpose, students' self-assessments are relatively consistent with those of external evaluators, including professors." [Lopez, R., and Kossack, S. (2007). Effects of recurring use of self-assessment in university courses. Int. J. Learn. 14, 203–216. doi: 10.18848/1447-9494/CGP/v14i04/45277]

I do review the activity to insure that student's response indicates that they correctly understand the material. Any discrepancies are reviewed directly with the student to correct misconceptions. In this way, the activity reflects the impact of my communication of the material through the student's response. If student understanding of the material is low, I know that I need to change me approach.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

The activity works well and I use it several times a semester. The biggest challenge is the response of a few students to "having" to grade themselves. One student reminded me that grading is my job, not theirs. I explain that periodic, external replay of learned input patterns strengthens synaptic connections—the combination of structural plasticity, synaptic plasticity and self-generated reactivation not only stabilizes synaptic turnover but enhances their connectivity and associative memory. This explanation tends to erode resistance. And generally, many students have stated that they better understand the concept after the self assessment. The assessment is altered to support each different assignment.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/pchilders-portfolio/2023/05/16/student-self-assessment-that-promotes-learning/

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/pchilders-portfolio/wp-admin/post.php?post=266&action=edit

Interactive Video Assignment

Interactive Video Assignment

Catherine Monchik

Dental Hygiene/ New York City College of Technology

Periodontics 1217

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

This collaborative assignment from DEN 1200 will continue on- A case study will be assigned to you by Professor Marsh, please use this case study for Periodontics 1217, to create a 2–3-minute interactive video explaining to your patient their periodontal health status, periodontal stages and grades or if the patient has gingivitis, how it can progress into periodontal disease, explain treatment options and substantial response by explaining, why their chosen recommendation benefits the patient and what other recommendations might you consider to a fellow classmate.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

Integrative learning with the application of theory to practical problems, integrating ideas or concepts, and understanding and connecting ideas from other courses. Connections to different disciplines, oral and written communication, and connections to experience.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

I plan to discuss it at the beginning of the semester as they will start their written assignment for the other course. I will devote any time necessary to explain instructions and go over anything that is unclear. The time out of the classroom by practicing and having an outline set should be roughly three to four hours.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

This will be a collaborative assignment from DEN 1200- A case study will be assigned to you by Professor Marsh; please use this case study for Periodontics 1217, creating an Interactive Video Assignment. This will be a continuation of your paper. Please carefully use the Rubric below to guide your presentation. You will need to record a video from 2-3 minutes discussing and answering the questions below. You may record yourself using any mobile device or application, but please ensure the link you submit downloads and opens without issues. For example, you may upload a YouTube video link you created, an MP4 file of your video, or a video application format like Vimeo. The recording assignment file should include last name, first name, and case value (e.g., Smith, Stage I, grade B), and be submitted on OpenLab under Student Video Posts.
Please answer these questions:
1. Depending on your patient’s case, what would you say about their periodontal health status to the patient?

2. Explain to the patient the periodontal stages and grades or if the patient has gingivitis, how it can progress into periodontal disease. (Please use visual aids as we would with a patient)

3. Explain treatment options and plan of action to slow down or stop the progression of their disease (ex: root planning and scaling, any intervention methods, and homecare) to the patient.

4. Provide goal-targeted feedback in a supportive manner offering a substantial response by explaining why their chosen recommendation benefits the patient and what other recommendations you might consider. (Give goal-targeted feedback in a supportive manner) Respond to someone with a different patient case than yours, which can be a different section than ours.

It is a low stakes assigment.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

Oral communication and integrative ACCU rubric assessing the organization (content is a structured presentation), language (persuasive and professional manner), delivery (effective/2-3 minutes) connection to experience (profound understanding of the field), and their reply (substantial reply to a fellow classmate). It's worth 5% of their grade.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

This activity worked well with my students. They learned a lot from each other. I would repeat this assignment. It was very valuable for the students to learn and understand the concepts and periodontics. They could incorporate their new skills into the other classes, the 1200 seminar and the 1200 clinic. The feedback from the students is that they made their interactive video multiple times learning where their communication needed to be stronger with their patients. The only thing I would change is to clarify the assignment instructions. Some details were not missed. The students were creative with this assignment and used the platform to its fullest ability pretending to have a live patient and split screen. I was very impressed with how the project turned out.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

Speak the Word:Slam Poetry as a Pedagogical Tool in the World Language Classroom

Speak the Word:Slam Poetry as a Pedagogical Tool in the World Language Classroom

Ines Corujo-Martin

Humanities

SPA 3302 Survey of Modern Spanish Literature

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

Slam poetry is a type of spoken-word poetry that combines poetry and performance in front of an audience. This creative writing activity will be implemented in the course SPA 3302, which explores key themes of Spanish literature and culture from the 19th century to contemporary times through reading, analysis, and interpretation of dramatic plays, short stories, poetry, essays, and novels. Students are introduced to literary terms, literary genres, techniques of literary analysis and language construction (like simile, alliteration, personification, metaphor, etc.), as well as to the work of a wide range of authors. This course is offered every spring semester and is a designated Writing Intensive course.
The purpose of implementing a slam poetry activity is for students to read, enjoy, and interact with poetry in a meaningful and personal way, approaching the poetic genre as a living spectacle that allows us to link writing and performance. Even though this course includes essays, weekly class discussion in online forums, formal presentations, and reading assignments, there is a lack of systemic creative, engaging activities. This activity aims to help students connect the course content with their personal interests and translate what they learn in class to create their own texts based on the readings and materials.
Throughout the activity, students are expected to:
• Read, analyze, and interpret a selection of poems
• Write their own poem (1 draft + 1 final version)
• Peer-review poems written by classmates in small groups
• Attend a virtual slam poetry performance online
• Perform their own poem in class during a conclusive slam poetry session

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

With this activity I aim to achieve the learning goals described below:
• Develop students’ reading, writing, and oral communication skills in Spanish, while they put into practice all four language skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening) and increasing confidence in using Spanish as a tool of communication
• Exercise literary analysis and poetic techniques, in addition to exploring the relationship between text and performance
• Show new approaches to reading and writing, while promoting the use of Spanish in a creative way
• Offer an instrument of personal expression to think critically, while connecting course materials with own interests and life experiences
• Create bonds with peers in an online environment and develop a sense of community in the classroom
• Embark on a personal journey through another language and become active agents of their language acquisition

The proposed activity integrates the following General Education SLOs:
Oral Communication:
• Delivery techniques (posture, gesture, eye contact, and vocal expressiveness) make the performance compelling, and the speaker appears polished and confident
• Message is compelling and shows a high degree of originality and ownership. Uniquely conveys ideas and emotions with words and phrases
Written Communication:
• Poetic genre. Correctly incorporates and utilizes the stylistic features and format of the poetic genre (literary devices, rhyme, structure, mood, tone, etc.)
• Use of Spanish language. Very few errors in sentence structure and mechanics; exhibits good to excellent command of Spanish and professional terminology; sentences are complex, and vocabulary is sophisticated; skillfully communicates meaning to readers with clarity and fluency
• Writing Process. Effectively works on the different stages of the poem to achieve the best final version of it, incorporating changes from peer review activities
Reading
• Analysis/Interpretation. Correctly identifies and evaluates ideas or arguments in a poem. Able to compare or contrast information competently between different sources. Uses information from the poem to make sophisticated interpretations, while making connections to other situations

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This activity is implemented during the second module of the course, which is divided into four modules. The second module centers around the study and analysis of poetry, and it is developed over the course of 4 weeks.
The activity timing is structured as follows:
– Week 1: Presentation of the assignment, guidelines, and evaluation rubric. Preliminary short, guided activities to read, analyze, and interpret poems. Brainstorming of topics and samples of poems from previous courses
– Week 2: Watch a slam poetry session online (15 min) and write a short reflection of 250-300 words on the OpenLab site. Write and submit the first draft by the end of Week 2
– Week 3: After submitting the first draft students receive individualized feedback from the professor a few days later on how to improve the content and use of Spanish (grammar, vocabulary, syntax). Through a peer-review session in small groups of three during class students evaluate each other’s poem using a peer review guide. In-class time is also devoted to practice the performance in small groups in class and give feedback to each other
– Week 4: Final version of the poem. Slam poetry performance session during class
In total, this activity will use 4 hours in class; and it is expected that students work 4-5 hours outside of class.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

No previous preparation is needed for this activity. SPA 3302 is a course fully conducted in Spanish and the majority of students are native or near-native Spanish speakers, which facilitates writing, reading, and performing creative texts. The instructions of the activity are provided on the OpenLab site and explained in detail during class.
Even though this is a low-stakes activity, the final version of the poem is part of a semester high-stake final project – a writing ePortfolio created through the OpenLab that students develop throughout the semester. The ePortfolio compiles all the formal and creative writing assignments of the semester with a final reflection on the project experience, which accounts for 40% of the final grade. As a high-impact practice derived from American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), implementing an ePortfolio within the course seeks to enhance students’ learning experience, promoting active learning. Through this assignment students have the opportunity to document their learning over an extended period of time and reflect on their work. Moreover, the activity proposed connects to other high-impact practices due to its focus on collaborative learning through peer-editing, discussion groups and exchange of ideas, in addition to diversity/global learning. Since this course is fully conducted in Spanish, students are already exploring another culture, life experiences, and worldviews different from their own. As a designated Writing Intensive course, SPA 3302 also focuses on the process of writing through several formal and informal assignments to help students develop skills in academic and non-academic writing.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

For this activity, I designed a rubric adapted from different AAC&U VALUE rubrics that incorporates a balanced assessment of oral communication, written communication, and reading learning outcomes. See the link to the rubric that I developed below. Interested users of this rubric are welcome to make adaptations and additions to tailor it to their specific pedagogical needs and class context. This course is not part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

I couldn't implement this activity this semester, and instead of it, students had an in-class poetry workshop in which they analyzed poems and wrote one creative poem. Due to the extensive course content and other assignments, I decided to simplify the slam poetry activity and design shorter, scaffolded exercises over multiple class sessions since students needed to become familiar with reading and analyzing poems in Spanish and identifying poetic techniques (e.g., rhyme scheme, poetic devices, etc.). However, I am looking forward to implementing it this coming Fall 2022 as I believe that it will help students improve their written, reading, and oral skills, while at the same time enjoying playing and creating new meanings through words.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Rubric: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12BExs6fFxYyeLicrqDsUCD3FE_B2Jago/view?usp=sharing

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

GenEd Seminar Winter 2022 assignment

GenEd Seminar Winter 2022 assignment

Laura Andreescu

Restorative Dentistry

Living Lab General Education Winter 2022 seminar

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

For the Living Lab General Education Seminar Winter 2022 I chose “Reading” as the main SLO. I developed and introduced a reading class activity for the laboratory section of the Dental Implant Prosthetics course, in which we read a scientific article titled “Provisional Restorations Options in Implant Dentistry” by Dr. Robert Santosa and published in the Australian Dental Journal, October 2007.
I chose this article because at that time, the lecture section of this course covered this topic and, the students were working on the laboratory project of fabricating a 3-unit provisional restoration for dental implants on teeth # 9 and # 11. After reading the article and having discussions students completed an informal assignment in which they had to answer few questions (short essay) about what they learned. This informal assignment was not graded and instructed the students to concentrate more on the concepts than the spelling and grammar. Based on the students’ responses, I concluded that most of them have a good understanding of this topic. However, this class activity sparked interesting discussions and students were able to evaluate what are some of the gaps in their knowledge.
I am planning to have at least one more similar class activity, and if the time permits to have a formal assignment, as homework, in which they will have to read and article and summarize it in an essay form. This homework will be graded, and I will provide the reading grading rubric as developed during the General Education seminar. The goal for the Student Learning Outcome is to familiarize students with reading and understanding scientific concepts and dental vocabulary presented in different forms such as peer-review journals, professional blogs, etc.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

My goals are to develop students reading abilities, which will helped them gain knowledge and be better prepared in their careers.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This class activity took place at the end of the laboratory session and it took approximately 15 minutes

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

This informal assignment is not graded, but is intended to show students their level of understanding of class topic and for me to see what areas of course instructions I need to develop more.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

I used the informal assignment as a feedback to evaluate the students' level of understanding of course materials.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

Yes. I will use this type of class activity in the future, because it is a barometer of how well they are doing in this course

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

Comprehensive Understanding of Cardiovascular Medications

Comprehensive Understanding of Cardiovascular Medications

Dora-Ann Oddo

Dental Hygiene

Principles of Dental Hygiene Care III (DEN 2300 Seminar)

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

This activity will provide dental hygiene students to gain an understanding in cardiovascular medications and how to apply this knowledge to patients’ medical history as part of their assessment process. This activity requires dental hygiene students to gain proficiency in oral communication, information literacy, and the understanding of cardiovascular medications related to their patients’ disease/condition. Students will participate in a collaborative assignment by gathering research on cardiovascular medications. After students formulate their research, students will verbally present this information to the class. In addition, the students will upload their PowerPoint presentation on OpenLab, and review classmates research based upon a rubric scale. The verbal and written discussions of this activity support critical thinking and creates meaningful in-depth discussions among students.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

The aim of this activity is to encourage verbal communication and information literacy about patients with cardiovascular diseases/condition. The learning goal for each student is to aquire an understanding of cardiovascular medications including indication of use, oral implications, side effects, and adverse effects. This activity will enhance students’ learning and the ability to ask critical thinking questions when assessing a patient’s medications. This activity encourages oral communication, information literacy, undergraduate research, working collaboratively and using open digital pedagogy.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This activity will be implemented mid-semester and performed in the classroom for a duration of thirty minutes. The out-of-class time for students can range from one to two hours based upon their research, developing a PowerPoint, uploading the PowerPoint to OpenLab, and writing reflections on one or two students’ post.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

This activity is a low-stakes assignment. The instructor will randomly select students by using the Wheel of Names. Each group will consist of three students. After the students are divided into groups, the instructor will assign each group a cardiovascular medication.
Student will be given these questions to answer:
1. Identify the brand and generic name.
2. What is the indication for use?
3. What are the oral implications?
4. How does medication affect dental hygiene treatment?
5. Does this medication have any drug interactions?
6. What is the pharmacologic category?
The students will work collaboratively with their assigned groups by researching and answering the questions. Each student will be responsible for creating a slide as part of the group’s PowerPoint presentation. The students will have a week to prepare the PowerPoint and gather information to present to the class. The lead of the group will be responsible to upload the PowerPoint on OpenLab.

The second part of this assignment will culminate
a week later when the students present the PowerPoint to the class. Students will have the opportunity to ask their peers questions. Each presentation should be about five to ten minutes. After the presentation, the students write a review on OpenLab based upon a rubric scale.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

This activity was developed by Oral Communications VALUE rubric. The students will be evaluate using Oral Communication Value rubric to assess proficiency preparedness, knowledge, and the ability to effectively communicate information to their classmates.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

This activity has not yet been implemented.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

How strong you should hit a ball to break a glass?

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Viktor Boiko

Physics

General Physics I (Phys 1433, Phys 1441)

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

The Project is based on the work of Pyotr Kapitsa, who was famous physicist and Nobel laureate. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Kapitsa)
He published book “Problems in Physics”, which include problems for discussion. These problems did not give all conditions and details for a solution, so a student can choose them.
One of such problem is: “What must be the speed of a tennis ball that can break glass?”
I modified a little bit this problem and student should find an answer on a question “How strong you should hit a ball to break a glass?” (What force should be applied)
To find an answer students should use all Physics laws and principles from a semester (Physics I) and to choose all conditions what they need for the solution.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

What should student use during the project:
Physics
Imagination
Abstract and critical thinking
Understand how and which questions to ask
Basics of engineering design
Analytical thinking and mathematical calculations
Technical/report writing
Backward thinking
Calculation in a new soft/web program
Working with data
Working in a group

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

This project is one thirds of a semester. Students should do it at home. All steps would be describe during class time and all questions would be discussed in a class.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

Students will have step by step instructions for this project.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

CRITICAL THINKING VALUE RUBRIC, PROBLEM SOLVING VALUE RUBRIC, WRITTEN COMMUNICATION VALUE RUBRIC, READING VALUE RUBRIC, CREATIVE THINKING VALUE RUBRIC (Project with wide borders for advance level of the course)

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

Student are interested in the project, they ask a lot of questions. The assignment requires a good level of knowledge and some students have difficulties. In this case more time for a discussion should be during a class.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

Programming in Python

Programming in Python

Marius Constantin

CET

EMT 1111

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

In the midst of the challenges we went through this Spring semester, I decided to address the priorities of general education using some critical and innovating teaching strategies, such as collaborative assignments and projects on OpenLab, ePortfolios, open educational resources to further engage my students in the new academic context.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

Research has shown that online learning is generally less effective than face-to-face interaction and that students who are already struggling are likely to be harmed the most.
My goal is to compensate the drawbacks of remote instruction: self-discipline, time management, anxiety and depression due to isolation.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

The entire semester.

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

In terms of high impact educational practices, I will consider collaborative assignments and projects and ePortfolios. While I will continue to request that each homework assignment to be completed and submitted individually, multiple attempts are allowed and the highest grade to be recorded. At the end of the semester, a final project in a form of a computer program will be assigned to 4 groups of students, and each student needs to have his/her collaborative share. This final project will weight 30% of the final grade for each student in the group and needs to be posted on OpenLab.

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

Inquiry and Analysis is the rubric I chose to assess the students’ needs. For a proper inquiry I need to identify what doesn’t work for them and then analyze these findings by chunking down information into smaller parts, or from abstract to more specific concepts for a better understanding.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

To compensate for the lack of physical presence I will continue to provide, and even improve, a supportive learning environment where all students feel comfortable participating.
Attendance was the foremost concern, followed by internet connectivity issues.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

I shall continue to use My Programming Lab, a excellent cloud-based tool, for the following reasons:
a. it provides a personalized learning experience that improves results for each student;
b. it contains a set of programming exercises correlated with the textbook that are focused on
a particular topic;
c. the feedback offered to students helps them master the syntax, semantics and basic usage
of Python programming language;
d. autonomous practice, where the feedback provided allows students to easily identify both compiling and logic errors in their code.

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

A Mock Cultural interaction between a Hmong immigrant family and American Doctor

A Mock Cultural interaction between a Hmong immigrant family and American Doctor

Lisa Pope Fischer

Social Science

ANTH 2000: Medical Anthropology

Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity

This is a teaching exercise, or module, that will lead up to a mock interaction between a Hmong patient and American doctor. Essential to Anthropology is the ability to be sensitive to cultural differences. In terms of understandings of illness, one culture may have a different interpretation of, and different treatment for particular illnesses. I designed this exercise by drawing on issues and concerns presented in Ann Fadiman’s work with Hmong immigrants (1997, 2000). The objective of this module is to teach students skills of perception and interpretation. The module begins with reviewing some basic anthropological concepts and key terms. The duration of the exercise requires preliminary preparation such as assigning the readings to the students. The in class activity should allow time to discuss and review the material. This exercise would be suitable for smaller class sizes no larger than 40 but perhaps could be modified for a lecture demonstration or online learning if students handed in written descriptions.

Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?

The General Education Outcomes that the assignment aims to achieve are: Intercultural knowledge and Competence.
This lesson addresses: Cultural self-awareness, knowledge of cultural worldviews, empathy, shared forms of communication, curiosity, and openness .The objective of this module is to briefly outline the anthropological concepts of “cultural relativism,” “worldview” and “emic/etic” as tools for understanding that different cultures may interpret illness differently. This is important in terms of making diagnoses as well as treating patients in a culturally sensitive manner. Cultural relativism is an approach in anthropology that tries to maintain a neutral non-judgmental stance, showing both “empathy” for cultural differences, as well as “openness” to see cultures that are different from our own without bias. This exercise looks at beliefs regarding health and illness from Hmong culture teaching “openness” to other perceptions of health. A young girl is misdiagnosed due to cultural misinterpretation causing dire consequences, so the aim is that students can imagine their perspective, to learn “empathy.” “Worldview” is a concept central to anthropology, looking at how individuals perceive their world and their place in it, which can be different in different cultures. Emic and Etic are common concepts in anthropology that try to show differences in perception, “cultural self-awareness,” the emic being the perspective of the people we study, and etic being the outsider’s perspective, the perspective of the anthropologist who analyzes the culture. This assignment in particular looks at an example where communication between cultures lead to a horrible outcome for one little girl, and the aim is to try to understand and create “shared forms of communication” to avoid such a tragedy again. As a mock patient and doctor interaction, the students learn “curiosity” and “critical thinking” as, they articulate responses based on two different cultural worldviews related to health and healing showing ability to see things from multiple cultural perspectives. In terms of High Impact Educational Practices (HIEP), this exercise uses collaborative learning. Diversity and global learning, and community based learning. It will become part of my Open Lab site for ANTH 2000: Medical Anthropology, and Blackboard.

Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?

The in class activity should allow time to present the concepts and themes, and have students perform the mock patient and healthcare practitioner scenario, followed by discussion of the issues raised in the reading and presentation. One standard hour –fifteen-minute class period would suffice but allowing a class period to view the film might expand the topic. This exercise would be suitable for smaller class sizes no larger than 40 but perhaps could be modified for a lecture demonstration if students handed in written responses to the discussion questions.

Film Suggestion:
“Split Horn: Journey of a Hmong Shaman” (2001, 56 minutes)

Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?

The module begins with reviewing some basic anthropological concepts and key terms. The Fadiman book The Spirit Catches You, wonderfully exemplifies issues of cultural difference and perceptions of illness, but she also has a short article that focuses on epilepsy that can also be used to illustrate cultural difference. A full-length film documents the story of a Hmong shaman, (Split Horn), but you can also use short video clips to illustrate the point of cultural difference. The duration of the exercise requires preliminary preparation such as assigning the readings to the students and handouts for the mock patient/healthcare practitioner interaction.

Fadiman, Ann. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1997.

Fadiman, Ann. "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down": Epilepsy and the Hmong. Epilepsy & Behavior: E&B [Epilepsy Behav] 2000 Feb; Vol. 1 (1), pp. S3-S8.

Activity: Cultural Perceptions
I.Review the Anthropological concepts either using PowerPoint or in handouts. This exercise gets students to think about how we might be quick to judge other cultures (ethnocentrism), yet also understand how others might perceive us.

KEY TERMS/ CONCEPTS:
Cultural Relativism: Anthropologists attempt to be neutral non-judgmental observers that take into account the culture’s practices relative to their own cultural understandings.

Ethnocentrism: People might judge a culture’s practices in a negative manner simply because they might be different from their own. Anthropologists try not to be “ethnocentric” or “Western centric” as it is important to understand why a culture might perceive or do something rather than judge it in a prejudice manner.

Emic/Etic: Anthropologists use the concept “emic” to explain the perspective of the people one studies. How do the people perceive their culture? How do they interpret the world in which they live? In contrast, the anthropologist must also retain the “etic” perspective, the view of the scientific observer. The etic perspective allows the anthropologist to step back and analyze the culture using the various theories in which to interpret a culture’s practices (i.e. Cultural Marxism/social conflict theory, Functionalism, Practice theory, Reflexive Anthropology/writing culture, etc.)

Worldview: Refers to how a person views their world and their place within it. Whereas some people may define themselves and behave according to a religious worldview, an atheist can also have a worldview. Different cultures may have different types of worldviews that affect perceptions of time and space, feelings about moral behavior, how they think about and how they seem themselves within their society.

Culture Bound illnesses: These are illness that might be found within particular societies.

Mind/Body dualism: Western medicine tends to separate understandings of how illness in the body might be separated from the mind whereas many cultures see the two as closely related.

II. Give illustrative examples to spur discussion about ethnocentrism and cultural relativism. Encourage students to look at cultures in a culturally relative way by reminding them that people outside our own culture may view American practices as unusual as well.

1. Female brutality or beauty? Female circumcision is a practice in which elders cut off a young woman’s clitoris to prepare her for womanhood. Some refer to this as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). This practice evokes much debate about brutality and mutilation of women, yet studies indicate that women from these societies may perceive this practice as a means to obtain purity and femininity (Gruenbaum 2006). Ask students in what ways do American women brutalize their bodies in the pursuit of femininity or beauty? To shock them you might show an image of the Cat lady who has had too many plastic surgeries, or a hyper thin anorexic looking fashion model. (See suggested short video clips from youtube below – following the bibliography)

2.Food delicacy or garbage? Students often cringe when they hear that in some cultures grub worms or monkey brains might be considered a delicacy, however, there are foods that Americans eat that other cultures might find repulsive. How, for example are grub worms similar to shrimp? For people outside the United States, peanut butter might look like mud or feces. People might perceive fine cheese as smelly rotten dairy. In the south, or even at the Coney Island Nathans, one can buy fried frog legs. Americans often perceive French food as elite fine food, yet they make “escargot” from common snails, and they perceive horsemeat as a healthy specialty.

III. Discuss how the above examples illustrate an understanding of “ethnocentrism,” but also connect to the idea of “emic” and “etic” as a matter of different cultural perceptions. Expand their understanding of emic /etic by connecting to an example of interpretations of cultural illness.

In Freed’s (1999) work, “Taraka’s Ghost”, a young bride in a strange new village experiences spirit possession, but is this a form of anxiety attack or depression? Would anti-depressants work if she truly believed she needed a shaman to remove the spirit? Several anthropologists have looked at the culture bound illness “Susto” prevalent among Mexican and other Hispanic communities in which they believe a person who has a sudden fright or trauma may develop loss of energy, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, and depression. Whereas from a Western medical perspective “susto” might be explained as a psychosocial illness in which the person becomes antisocial and uses the excuse of illness to withdraw, “susto” also has underlying physical symptoms that may be covering up serious illnesses such as diabetes (Poss & Jezewszi 2002) or tuberculosis (Rubel and Moore 2001), or hypoglycemia (Bolton 1981).

IV. Instigate discussion of the suggested Fadimon reading with a mock patient and doctor interaction exercise. You can have student volunteers improvise a discussion between an ill person and a healthcare practitioner or have the students all do the exercise in pairs. The exercise creates a scenario between a Hmong immigrant family with a sick daughter and a Western medical practitioner. Discussion should follow the exercise.

HANDOUT FOR STUDENTS:
Each student will improvise or act out a “scene” that depicts a Hmong patient with a healthcare practitioner. We will discuss the reading in light of themes that result from this mock patient/doctor exercise.

PERSON ONE: You are a Hmong immigrant whose baby daughter is sick. Based on what you read in Fadiman’s article or book, how might a Hmong patient describe and present their illness.

Consider the following:
The immigrants understanding of the illness or self-diagnosis: The spirit catches you and you fall down. Her older sister slammed the door so loudly that her spirit was scared out of her and she fell down. Illness may have many causes but can be due to a loss of the soul to a malevolent spirit. It might be a sign that she will grow up to be a high status Shaman who can go into a trance and see the spirits and in this regard this illness (epilepsy) is highly distinguished and should not be cured as it may lead to prestige later in life.

Cultural perception of illness and health:
• Will not take pills if the colors are inauspicious.
• Will refuse surgery, anesthesia, autopsies, blood tests, and spinal taps.
•May wear a white “spirit string” on wrist that can’t be cut off while they are ill as their soul might endlessly wander.
• Hmong traditional medicine may include herbs, amulets, and animal sacrifices.

PERSON TWO: you are a health care professional and you are trying to understand or interpret what the person is saying to develop a diagnosis. Based on what you read in Fadiman’s article or book, how might a Western Doctor describe and interpret the illness.

Consider the following:
Western Medicines cultural understanding of illness:
• Customs and traditions – desensitized empathy.
• Cultural taboos- perception that only Western medicine can cure and to look at “alternative” practices would be inappropriate. There may be legal rules or “taboos” in treating patients, especially children.
• Hierarchies—tend to be “rational” and controlling.
•Have their own language that an ordinary patient might not understand.

What type of questions does a typical healthcare practitioner ask?
• What is your name, your date of birth
• What brought you in today? What is your illness?
• What kind of symptoms are you experiencing?
• What is your medical history? Do you have prior ailments, surgeries, and/or allergies?
• What medications do you take?
• Is there a family history of illness? Does heart disease or diabetes run in your family?
• Can your occupation play a role in your illness?
•Review of systems: do you have headaches, vision troubles, trouble swallowing, nausea, etc.

How might a Western doctor interpret the Hmong explanation about a malevolent spirit causing the illness?
Symptoms /diagnosis from Doctor’s perspective: At first the doctors did not understand the parents and thought Lia had bronchitis or pneumonia and prescribed antibiotics. After the third time taking Lia to the hospital they saw she was suffering from a sudden attack of seizures or convulsions.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AFTER MOCK PATIENT/DOCTOR INTERACTION:

1. How might differences in language affect diagnosis and treatment? Why is it important to have access to skilled interpreters? What might be the challenges of having an interpreter?

2. How might cultural differences affect diagnosis and treatment? How might it be helpful to practice both allopathic and folk medicine? What are the challenges?

3. How did the patient interpret the doctor? What did they think about the doctor and his/her treatment of them?

4. How did the doctor interpret the patient? What did the doctor think about the patient? (I.e. “noncompliance” – patient’s refusal to disregard instructions)

5. What is the “culture of medicine”? How do Western doctors perceive health, illness, diagnosis and treatment?

6. How is Western medicine linked to legal practices (i.e. Child protective services/child endangerment, Brain dead = death) and how might this conflict with the patient’s perspective?

7. Why is the patient’s view of their illness important even if it is culturally different from the Western Medical perspective?

8. How might there be inequality between doctor and patient? How might a patient’s perception of doctor’s as authority figures impact their interaction with the doctor?

9. Why is it important, as Fadiman suggests, for health care practitioners to “develop certain habits of listening, empathy, and flexibility” (2000: 6).

10. Why does Fadiman suggest doctors to ask : What do you think caused this illness? What do you call this illness? What are you most afraid of?

Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?

Assessment for Intercultural Knowledge and Competence:
Student Learning Outcomes (SLO): Cultural Self Awareness, Cultural Worldview, Empathy, Verbal and Non-verbal communication, Curiosity/critical thinking, Openness.

(SLO) Knowledge: Cultural Self Awareness.
Intercultural Experience.
“The experience of an interaction with an individual or groups of people whose culture is different from your own. Intercultural/cultural differences: The differences in rules, behaviors, communication and biases, based on cultural values that are different from one's own culture(AAC&U).”

Assessment of Cultural Self Awareness:
Emic and Etic are common concepts in anthropology that try to show differences in perception, “cultural self-awareness,” the emic being the perspective of the people we study, and etic being the outsider’s perspective, the perspective of the anthropologist who analyzes the culture. The exercise tries to get students to understand Hmong cultural beliefs from their perspective (emic) but also be able to analyze and interpret them from an etic perspective (The anthropologist or doctor)

(SLO) Knowledge: Knowledge of cultural worldview frameworks.
“Worldview is the cognitive and affective lens through which people construe their experiences and make sense of the world around them(AAC&U).”

Assessment of cultural worldview frameworks.
“Worldview” is a concept central to anthropology, looking at how individuals perceive their world and their place in it, which can be different in different cultures. This exercise looks at the worldview from American culture in contrast to Hmong culture.

(SLO) Skills: Empathy.
"Empathy is the imaginary participation in another person’s experience, including emotional and intellectual dimensions, by imagining his or her perspective (not by assuming the person’s position). (Bennett 1998)"

Assessment of Empathy.
Cultural relativism is an approach in anthropology that tries to maintain a neutral non-judgmental stance, showing “empathy” for cultural differences. This exercises looks at beliefs regarding health and illness from Hmong culture. A young girl is misdiagnosed due to cultural misinterpretation causing dire consequences, so the aim is that students can imagine their perspective.

(SLO) Skills: Verbal and nonverbal communication.
Articulates cultural understanding of verbal & nonverbal forms of communication and show ability to create shared understandings.

Assessment of Verbal and nonverbal communication.
This assignment in particular looks at an example where communication between cultures lead to a horrible outcome for one little girl, and the aim is to try to understand and create “shared forms of communication” to avoid such a tragedy again.

(SLO) Attitudes: Curiosity/critical thinking.
Able to question and articulate responses showing ability to see things from multiple cultural perspectives.

Assessment of Curiosity/critical thinking
As a mock patient and doctor interaction, the students learn “curiosity” and “critical thinking” as, they articulate responses based on two different cultural worldviews related to health and healing showing ability to see things from multiple cultural perspectives.

(SLO) Attitudes: Openness.
Suspends Judgment in valuing their interaction with culturally different others.
“Postpones assessment or evaluation (positive or negative) of interactions with people culturally different from one self. Disconnecting from the process of automatic judgment and taking time to reflect on possibly multiple meanings” (AAC&U).”.

Assessment of Openness.
Cultural relativism is an approach in anthropology that tries to maintain a neutral non-judgmental stance, showing “openness” to see cultures that are different from our own without bias. This exercises looks at beliefs regarding health and illness from Hmong culture.

Association of American Colleges and Universities. "Intercultural Knowledge and Competence VALUE Rubric." 2009. https://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/intercultural-knowledge.

Bennett, J. 1998. Transition shock: Putting culture shock in perspective. In Basic concepts of intercultural communication, ed. M. Bennett, 215-224. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.

Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?

I have not been able to run the ANTH 2000 “Medical Anthropology” class yet for lack of enrollment, but I hope to try to offer it in the Spring 2021. I am not sure how I could adapt this lesson for online learning if that should continue, but perhaps have students write response papers.

Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.

Materials needed
1) Anthropology key terms
2) Readings:
Book: Fadiman, Ann. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1997.
OR
Article: Fadiman, Ann. "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down": Epilepsy and the Hmong. Epilepsy & Behavior: E&B [Epilepsy Behav] 2000 Feb; Vol. 1 (1), pp. S3-S8.
(Available thru City Tech library article database EBSCO)
3) Xerox of mock patient/healthcare practitioner scenario (https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/popefischeranth2000medicalanthro/files/2020/06/Intercultural-Knowledge-and-Competence-for-ANTH-2000-Medical-Anthro-.pdf)
4) Optional: Video “Split Horn: Journey of a Hmong Shaman”. Or you might show a short video clip from youtube that shows a Hmong Shaman doing a ritual cure (See suggestions below after bibliography of references and suggested reading).

Other Resources
Possible links:
•Pdf course notes
•Powerpoint slides
•List of online resources
• Google images are a good way to find pictures AND Youtube.com has a number of short video clips.

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READING:
Arntfield, Shannon L., Kristen Slesar, Jennifer Dickson, Rita Charon “Narrative medicine as a means of training medical students toward residency competencies” Patient Education and Counseling. Volume 91, Issue 3, June 2013, Pages 280–286

Bolton, Ralph (1981) “Susto, Hostility, and Hypoglycemia” Ethnology , Vol. 20, No. 4 (Oct., 1981), pp. 261-276.

Fadiman, Ann. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1997.

Fadiman, Ann. "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down": Epilepsy and the Hmong. Epilepsy & Behavior: E&B [Epilepsy Behav] 2000 Feb; Vol. 1 (1), pp. S3-S8.

Freed, Stanley A. and Ruth Freed (1999) “Taraka’s Ghost,” Natural History, October 1999, pp. 84-91.

Gruenbaum, Ellen. “Sexuality Issues In the Movement to Abolish Female Genital Cutting in Sudan.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Vol. 20, Number 1, (2006) pp. 121-138

Hahn, Robert A. and Marcia Inhorn (eds.) (2010) Anthropology and Public Health, Second Edition: Bridging Differences in Culture and Society.Oxford University Press.

Kleinman A, Eisenberg L, Good B. Culture, illness, and care: clinical lessons from anthropologic and cross-cultural research. Ann Intern Med 1978;88:251–8

Oubre, Alondra. Shamanic trance and the placebo effect: The case for a study in psychobiological anthropology. PSI Research, Vol 5(1-2), Mar-Jun, 1986. pp. 116-144.

Poss, Jane and Mary Ann Jezewski (2002) “The Role and Meaning of Susto in Mexican Americans' Explanatory Model of Type 2 Diabetes” Medical Anthropology Quarterly , New Series, Vol. 16, No. 3 (Sep., 2002), pp. 360-377

Rubel, Arthur J. and Carmella C. Moore (2001)”The Contribution of Medical Anthropology to a Comparative Study of Culture: Susto and Tuberculosis” Medical Anthropology Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 15, No. 4, Special Issue: The Contributions of Medical Anthropology to Anthropology and Beyond (Dec., 2001), pp. 440-454

Thompson, Jennifer Jo Ritenbaugh, Cheryl Nichter, Mark. Reconsidering the placebo response from a broad anthropological perspective. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, Vol 33(1), Mar, 2009. pp. 112-152.

Suggested photograph images or videolinks:
Film Suggestion:
Split Horn: Journey of a Hmong Shaman

The spiritual healing of Hmong Shamanism (7:28)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymJnUHxqRpE

ASA Documentary: Second Generation Hmong Shaman (33:39)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrSZBsGn-4M

Anorexic Models: The curse of fashion modeling (2:47)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK-Lhy-HqCs

Extreme Plastic Surgery (8:42)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R149OXxsGg

The link on Open lab includes the handout I would give students:

Click to access Intercultural-Knowledge-and-Competence-for-ANTH-2000-Medical-Anthro-.pdf

Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab

Click to access Intercultural-Knowledge-and-Competence-for-ANTH-2000-Medical-Anthro-.pdf