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Workshops and trainings at the UW: Answering the call for change

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Conversations sparked by the launch of the Race and Equity Initiative in April 2015 found faculty and staff across the three campuses looking for ways to learn more and make positive change. As part of its objective to “confront individual bias and racism,” the initiative has worked to provide opportunities for self-reflection and personal learning.

Jeanette James
Jeanette James, project manager, Race & Equity Initiative

A working group was tasked to develop a training program that would provide education and tools around cultural fluency, cross-cultural communications, systemic racism and bias. A pilot launched in spring 2016, and right away the demand exceeded capacity, with more than 450 staff and faculty participants. The planning group for the pilot then incorporated feedback and lessons learned into the next phase of workshops and trainings, designed to serve a greater number of faculty and staff in 2017.

“Our goal is to support staff in enacting changes in their own behaviors and in their own units, such as developing outreach and hiring practices that use this work, and to really be able to use this knowledge to make change wherever they are,” says Jeanette James, Race & Equity Initiative project manager.

Over 700 attendees this year

“We listened to a lot of students, faculty and staff who expressed a need for more education on these issues,” says James. “We want to be responsive to the needs of people who want to deepen individual learning.”

Student-support units that work most closely with students were offered the pilot program first. The trainings were created in partnership with Professional & Organizational Development, a unit of Human Resources, to tap into their training expertise. This allowed the program to offer more workshops at scale with an eye towards ensuring this expanded professional development work can be sustained through future Human Resources courses and offerings.

In total, 24 workshops were held across all three campuses between April and July 2016, and 22 more were conducted throughout winter and spring of 2017. Nearly 1,100 faculty staff will have been served by these trainings since the launch of the program in 2016.

All of the workshops are led by local experts in equity, diversity and inclusion. The trainers bring experience in working with the education and public sectors on topics such as cross-cultural communication, cognitive dissonance and implicit bias.

Meeting participants where they are — and inspiring action

The trainings were designed to appeal to those who are just entering the conversation while offering everyone, no matter their level of expertise, different opportunities to engage in fresh ways.

A variety of trainings are being offered for faculty and staff. Workshops are designed to appeal to those who are just entering the conversation while offering everyone, no matter their level of expertise, different opportunities to engage in discussions of equity, diversity and inclusion in fresh ways.
A variety of trainings are being offered for faculty and staff. Workshops are designed to appeal to those who are just entering the conversation while offering everyone, no matter their level of expertise, different opportunities to engage in discussions of equity, diversity and inclusion in fresh ways.

“Rosetta Lee’s session on cross-cultural communication was excellent,” says Justin Wadland, head of Media and Digital Collections at the UW Tacoma Library. “The training blended together research and scholarly literature, drew on various conceptual models and incorporated her personal experience.” Participants were introduced to key frameworks, terminology and concepts in order to evaluate their own biases and engage with honest personal reflection.

To help people open up, trainer Caprice Hollins wove personal narratives with history. This inspired thoughtful reflection through the lenses of race, class and other factors that shape our perspectives and biases. “If we aren’t identifying the ideas and unconscious biases we bring from the dominant culture’s norms and beliefs, we are not guiding students in ways that help them be effective in their field,” says Hollins. By the end of the training, faculty and staff reported feeling more confident in being able to recognize implicit bias, an important first step. “We have to begin to interact differently,” says Hollins.

Wadland took Hollins’ call to action to heart as he reflected on his experiences working with students in the UW Tacoma libraries. “I feel like the training helped me continue to see how, in my own position, I have an opportunity to learn from other people of backgrounds that are not my own,” he says. “The trainings work through misunderstandings and even conflict.”

More training options in person and on demand

  • Bias in systems: The planners behind the pilot program developed the next iteration of trainings and resources that was launched in February 2017, this time expanding the focus to explore how bias operates in larger systems as well as at the individual level. “We’ve received requests to focus not just on interpersonal issues, but on understanding institutional and systemic bias as well. So now in this next series we are bringing in trainers who are skilled at addressing the broad institutional issues,” says James.
  • On-demand resources: The new series was built upon the pilot’s earlier learning objectives by providing a deeper understanding of interpersonal and structural bias and emphasizing a shared language about bias and racism. Plans are also underway to expand the delivery methods to meet demand without being limited to the scheduling and physical constraints of an in-person workshop: videos, brown bag discussions and other accessible online resources will be added to help faculty and staff understand the issues.

Campus leaders learning from trainings

Jeanette James (right) meets with members of the Race & Equity Initiative subcommittee that coordinates workshops. Photo: Filiz Efe McKinney.
Jeanette James (right) meets with members of the Race & Equity Initiative subcommittee that coordinates workshops. Photo: Filiz Efe McKinney.

Recognizing the impact of individual leaders on institution-wide decisions, UW leaders are pursuing a broad range of trainings to deepen their knowledge at both the individual and structural level and reinforce the values of a diverse, inclusive university. Among those who have attended trainings are the Race & Equity Initiative steering committee, faculty leaders and facilitators, as well as University Advancement leadership. Plans are underway for more leaders and staff to participate in the coming months.

Considering the ultimate goals of the trainings, James says, “Individuals can’t change what they don’t know. The goal is to help people take the blinders off and let them see that they do have the power to make change. Then the question becomes, ‘how do we take what we know as leaders within organizations and make change that’s impactful across our three campuses?’”

The workshop and training organizers developed the series to empower staff and faculty. People can use this knowledge to make positive change wherever they are affecting outreach and hiring practices, reviewing policy, understanding our diverse student body or resolving interpersonal issues.

Learn more about trainings and additional learning resources on the leadership workshops page. Contact equity@uw.edu to request information about hosting a unit or departmental leadership workshop.

Talking about equity, difference and privilege

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Congressman John Lewis urges the UW community to persevere

Rep. Lewis shared his story — now protrayed in the graphic novel “March” — with the UW community in February. Photo: University Marketing & Communications.
Rep. Lewis shared his story — now protrayed in the graphic novel “March” — with the UW community in February. Photo: University Marketing & Communications.

The UW had the distinct honor of hosting U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) at the Seattle campus, Feb. 23, 2017. Says Vice Provost and Dean Ed Taylor, “Lewis’ personal journey from a student-activist to congressman inspires us, as leaders, to maintain that same passion for addressing race and promoting equity that we developed as students, and to look to our students whose passions push this work forward.“ Rep. Lewis, talking about building the Civil Rights Movement, said, “There is nothing more powerful than the marching feet of a determined people.” He urged students to “stand up, speak up, be brave, be courageous, be bold and help create the beloved community.” The Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity hosted the event, with special thanks to the Office of the President.

Watch and Read More:

The Graduate School’s Public Lecture Series prompts discussions of race and privilege

Pedro Noguera, professor of Education at UCLA, discussed strategies for equitable student achievement at Kane Hall on Jan.10, 2017. Photo: University Marketing & Communications.
Pedro Noguera, professor of Education at UCLA, discussed strategies for equitable student achievement at Kane Hall on Jan.10, 2017. Photo: University Marketing & Communications.

Continuing last year’s successful Equity & Difference Public Lecture Series, the Graduate School, in partnership with the UW Alumni Association, focused this year’s talks on privilege. Distinguished speakers from the UW and around the world discuss the role of privilege within politics, education, history and the environment — and how privilege can be more equitably shared.

The Graduate School also developed a companion course series to address the themes of its public lectures. The courses engage participants from diverse backgrounds and disciplines in topics such as racism, power and privilege; transgressions and microaggressions; and how structural factors sustain oppression of minority populations. Offered on all three campuses to graduate students, faculty and staff, these courses have been transformative for participants and for their work as members of the university community. As one student noted, “The more I build upon my own learning of issues with equity and oppression, the more I can both contribute to my existing community and add to it.”

This spring

May 3, 2017 — History, Conflict and Promise: Civil Rights at the UW

Nearly 50 years after UW students organized by the Black Student Union occupied the offices of President Charles Odegaard, a panel of UW alumni civil rights leaders reflect on the legacy of the occupation and the state of the University’s ongoing commitment to equity and justice for all.

The Uw’s Three Campuses Explore Complexities of Free Speech

What does the First Amendment mean in the context of a public university? How can we promote equity and diversity in ways consistent with protecting free speech? The UW community explored these and other questions about speech through events and forums on all three campuses.

Freedom of Speech: A Fundamental Right?

FreeSpeechTalk Flyer Jan2017-final

Jan. 23, 2017, William W. Philip Hall, UW Tacoma

The UW Tacoma community was invited to an interactive dialogue with panelists on a range of experiences with free speech in a range of contexts from education to activism to the arts. The event was part of the Chancellor’s Discussion Series: Standing Together for Justice in Hope and Determination.

Panelists:

  • Susan Balter-Reitz, professor of Communication and Theatre, Montana State University Billings
  • Chris Demaske, associate dean of Faculty and Student Affairs; associate professor of Communication, UW Tacoma
  • Christopher P. Jordan, Tacoma artist/activist
  • Cathy Nguyen, Tacoma poet laureate

Speech & Counter Speech: Rights & Responsibilities

Jan. 10, 2017, wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House

The Race & Equity Initiative hosted three First Amendment lawyers and educators for a structured dialogue exploring how First Amendment law is applied in a university.

Speech & Counter Speech Panelists:

  • Ron Collins, Harold S. Shefelman Scholar, UW School of Law
  • Michele Storms, former assistant dean for Public Service; executive director, W.H. Gates Public Service Law Program at the UW
  • Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law, New York Law School; Immediate past president, American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008)

    • How Do We Define Hate Speech vs. Free Speech within an Academic Community?

    Nov. 17, 2016, North Creek Event Center, UW Bothell

    UW Bothell community members attended an interactive forum facilitated by Kari Lerum, associate professor of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, and Terryl Ross, director of diversity, to discuss how to navigate difficult conversations inside and outside the classroom, specifically, on what constitutes “hate speech” and “free speech” within the context of commitments to academic integrity and campus diversity. Campus inclusion values and conduct codes were examined, followed by break-out sessions for participants to share ideas.

    Developing new means for reporting and addressing bias

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    A critical step toward addressing bias at an institutional level is understanding exactly how individual students, faculty and staff experience bias, and in what ways. In early 2015, Denzil Suite, vice president of Student Life, and Sheila Edwards Lange, former vice president for OMA&D created a task force to assess how bias affects campus community members. The task force, chaired by Q Center Director Jen Self, proposed creating a tool for reporting and addressing incidents efficiently. Based on their proposal, Student Life, OMA&D and Undergraduate Academic Affairs collaborated to launch the Bias Incident Reporting tool in 2016.

    The tool allows users to report incidents through an online form, which is reviewed within two business days by a member of the Bias Advisory Committee, a group of representatives from multiple units, including students. The form asks for details on the incident and allows for relevant uploads such as screenshots or videos. Users can either submit anonymous reports or provide an email address to which the tool automatically sends an acknowledgment. Depending on the particulars and the wishes expressed by the reporting individual, unless anonymous, the committee then reaches out to that person to provide resource and support information. Committee member Ellen Taylor, associate vice president for Student Life, says the tool is a “mechanism for thoughtful institutional approaches, enabling us to accurately and compellingly capture the impact of bias incidents.”

    HATE HAS NO HOME HERE

    여기에 미움을 위한 집은 없다

    មិន មានការស្អប់ខ្ពើមនៅទីនេះទេ

    LA HAINE N’A PAS DE PLACE ICI

    仇恨在这里没有立足之地

    שנאה לא יכולה לחיות פה

    EL ODIO NO TIENE HOGAR AQUÍ

    To report a bias incident, please visit: https://report.bias.washington.edu

    Responses to reports vary by case, Taylor says. “Some bias incidents are crimes, some are violations of university policy, and some are neither. The committee’s goal is to gather information about bias incidents on both sides of those lines and support members of the community in making an official report to police, when relevant, or in addressing the incident in other ways.”

    Taylor emphasizes that hearing from multiple perspectives is crucial to both understanding and addressing bias on campus. The tool alerts UW leadership to the frequency, form and impact of bias events. And the tool and the advisory committee rely on interdepartmental problem-solving and partnership. “Bias affects everyone and our goal of creating an increasingly inclusive campus environment requires an across-the-board commitment,” says Taylor. How the committee incorporates and balances diverse voices is, she notes, “an example of the kind of culture we want to foster: one where differences are respectfully and openly aired and common ground is sought.”

    Report Bias Incidents

    Seattle: https://report.bias.washington.edu/submit
    Tacoma: https://www.tacoma.uw.edu/reportbias
    Bothell: www.uwb.edu/studentaffairs/care-team

    New and noteworthy

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    The president’s new advisory committee to work with campus police

    Part of the Division of Student Life, UWPD plays a vital role in establishing and maintaining a safe and welcoming campus environment. UWPD staff have standing partnerships with the Q Center, Housing and Food Services, Fraternity & Sorority Life, Intercollegiate Athletics, Health & Wellness, Health Sciences Administration and ASUW’s Student Safety Advisory Board.

    In addition, a new advisory committee on campus policing will advise the president on campus safety, specifically as it relates to policing. The main goal is to support UWPD’s vision as a collaborative partner and leader in innovative campus public safety practices, adhering to values of professionalism, respect, integrity, diversity and excellence.

    Members of the new committee will be appointed by the president, with consultation from the university governing and advisory entities. Careful consideration will be given to selecting members from diverse backgrounds and perspectives.

    The committee will begin meeting in spring 2017.

    Growing support for minority-owned businesses

    Last year, 39 percent of UW funds spent on goods and services went toward diverse businesses, including small, minority and/ or women-owned businesses. That figure eclipsed a previous business equity goal of 15 percent of the annual budget for UW procurement.

    Fifteen percent of major capital planning and development projects now contract with small, minority and/or women-owned businesses, up from roughly 1 percent in previous years. This increase is due both to more inclusive business practices and a change in policy that enriches the pool of eligible diverse business contractors and subcontractors.

    Through strategic spending, the UW’s three campuses are working to increase the opportunity for diverse businesses within our local communities through our equitable business practices — and ensure the UW contributes toward a more inclusive state economy.

    Recent books by UW scholars address race and equity

    Recent works by UW faculty address race and equity in the workplace, education, the historical record, medical research, pop culture and more.

    Untitled-1
    Authors from left to right: Sareeta Amrute, Anthropology; Alexes Harris, Sociology; Asao B. Inoue, Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, UW Tacoma; Erasmo Gamboa, American Ethnic Studies; Juan C. Guerra, English and American Ethnic Studies; Bettina Judd, Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies; Suhanthie Motha, English; and LeiLani Nishime, Communication.

    A new regents’ committee on equity and inclusion

    Equity and inclusion are clear UW priorities, reflected at the highest levels. The Board of Regents — the governing body made up of community members appointed by the governor to supervise and manage the University — hold UW leadership accountable to its values and to the public.

    A new diversity, equity and inclusion advisory committee, established in 2016, empowers regents to more directly support and advance the University’s goals on equity: for example, by prioritizing diversity in procurement and contracting.

    New events and opportunities at the Center for Communication, Difference and Equity

    Ralina-Joseph

    The Center for Communication, Difference and Equity, run by Director and Associate Professor of Communication Ralina Joseph, has grown into a vital educational, research and community space for students and faculty on campus. In May, the center will produce a conference on racial ecologies, an event that will bring local scholars and activists together with scholars from across the country to exchange ideas, information and support. In addition, the center has organized a StoryCorps event for May to generate conversations on the theme of “the first time” experiencing racial discrimination. The center will make the digital archives available to UW scholars who are interested in issues of race, identity politics, inequity and storytelling.

    The center will continue to provide educational, research and activist opportunities for students, faculty and community members to better understand and challenge how difference and equity shapes our world.

    Provost SEED Funding for New Programs

    UW schools and colleges are working toward their goals for diversity and inclusion with support from the Race & Equity Initiative. The Office of the Provost recently granted funds ranging from community projects to equity trainings, from actions that address implicit bias to workshops on inclusive leadership, and more.

    The 12 schools and colleges that received funding to bolster equity-focused programs and events are:

    • College of Arts & Sciences
    • College of Built Environments
    • College of Education
    • College of Engineering
    • College of the Environment
    • Evans School of Public Policy and Governance
    • Graduate School
    • Information School
    • School of Dentistry
    • School of Law
    • School of Medicine
    • School of Social Work

    Seed-funding has already been put to impactful and innovative use by schools and colleges. Projects include:

    College of Built Environments
    The Building Common Understanding conversation series is designed to support community among students, faculty and staff.

    iSchool
    The iDEA Project takes an integrated approach to research, curriculum transformation, professional development and outreach around themes of

    Teaching Resources

    Since the 2016 presidential election, the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) has been providing resources and venues of support for instructors, staff and students.

    According to CTL Director Beth Kalikoff, faculty, staff and graduate student instructors are voicing a common concern: how to manage course topics and discussions so that all students feel welcome, respected and safe. In a charged political climate, instructors want to create classroom environments that are inclusive of diverse voices and perspectives — and at the same time protect students against bigotry and hate speech.

    In addition, skills common to so many disciplines — such as research, discourse, evidence analysis and critical thinking — take on renewed relevancy. “Helping students to learn these skills has always been part of the instructor’s charge,” Kalikoff says, “but now more than ever.” Of course, how faculty and staff instructors approach these challenges depends on goals and topics, instructor, discipline and student population. To address varying teaching contexts, the CTL has created new venues and resources for support:

    • Web resources: The CTL website now includes a post-election support and resources page, offering information on upcoming events and relevant articles, blog posts, teaching resources from other institutions and campus resources for students.
    • Events: The CTL is hosting peer-facilitated community conversations on “teaching after the election,” “teaching race after the election” and “teaching as a person of color after the election” — each session open to all instructors, but some are geared toward the distinct needs of faculty, teaching assitants or staff educator groups. Supplementary sessions have been added in response to high demand.
    • Departmental sessions: The CTL has designed sessions on discipline-specific questions, concerns and discussions.

    While teaching contexts vary, Kalikoff says, “UW teachers are all united in their desire to provide students with the resources they need, and to use approaches that honor the course learning goals and the students in the classroom.”

    Keeping history alive with a digital library collection

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    Vivid oral histories from the South Sound get a second life at UW Tacoma

    More than two decades of research by students in Professor Michael K. Honey’s oral history courses was kept in a library storage room — a rich collection of untold stories of working-class Tacoma sadly out of sight and out of mind.

    Honey knew the materials gathered by students supported first-person stories that deserved to be shared widely. So the humanities and history professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences found a way. He collaborated with UW Tacoma Library and funding partners to digitize dozens of bulky 3-ring notebooks that make up the Tacoma Community History Project.

    Michael K. Honey, humanities and history professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences
    Michael K. Honey, humanities and history professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences

    The online collection has preserved his students’ best work, but more importantly, it has kept alive the underrepresented voices of blue-collar workers, minorities and Native Americans of the region.

    For Honey, the experience has underscored a valuable lesson: In many classes across the curricula, students are doing amazing work that deserves to be shared with a larger audience. Faculty, he believes, should remain open to finding ways to share and disseminate that knowledge more widely, as they did in Tacoma.

    What Honey is doing is part of a national trend that seeks to integrate technology with research throughout the humanities. At the UW, the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities offers a number of programs for faculty who wish to bring technology and research together to advance teaching and learning.

    “Before we digitized their work, these oral histories were not readily accessible,” Honey said, pointing to some boxes containing the work of recent students. “Getting them digitized was an important accomplishment.”

    Now, someone anywhere in the world, with access to the UW digitized library materials, can read these oral histories and hear the recordings of real people from the South Puget Sound area.

    ““What they do in my class will live on, and so will the stories of the people they interview.”

    “There are few histories of the South Puget Sound, and our collection provides an important primary source for anyone who would study this region in the modern era,” said Honey, who started the oral history class in 1991, one year after he and others started the Tacoma campus in the fall of 1990. The content of his classes were digitized and made available online in 2011.

    The community history project now has 70 oral histories, and Honey and his UW Tacoma Library partners continue to add to the rich digital tapestry, as students finish the latest interviews. This quarter, some of Honey’s students are expected to interview a number of grass-roots community leaders involved in the desegregation of public schools, as well as add to the interviews of Puyallup tribal members.

    And Honey said he is looking forward to having his students work on oral histories that will focus on the creation of the UW Tacoma campus in future classes. Honey is one of the 13 founding faculty of the Tacoma campus.

    The power of oral histories

    Everyone has a story, Honey tells his students. And students have the power to bring them alive.

    Honey, a gifted interviewer and award-winning author, teaches students skills he learned from a career of tapping into the oral history of underrepresented classes. This includes interviewing black workers in the Deep South during the 1930s for a book titled Black Workers Remember, to his recent book, Sharecropper’s Troubadour, about John Handcox, a beloved African American folk singer and labor organizer who helped shape the labor music tradition.

    Michael K. Honey recently performed the songs of a beloved African American labor organizer as part of an oral history project. Visit Honey’s website to hear the songs.
    Michael K. Honey recently performed the songs of a beloved African American labor organizer as part of an oral history project. Visit Honey’s website to hear the songs.

    “My class focuses on teaching students how to do oral histories. The students do a research project, find someone to interview and off they go to get their stories. But there’s a lot of work they need to do before that conversation starts,” Honey said.

    He teaches them about the methodology of conducting oral history; how to compile documents to back up the stories, where to look for information, and finally how to approach the oral interview.

    “As an interviewer, you have to come from a place of respect. You’re usually learning from an older person,” Honey said. “Oral history is important and demands immediate action because you don’t want these important stories to  be lost.”

    Honey wants others, including faculty, to know that it is not just oral histories that lend themselves to projects that fall under the digital humanities. There’s so much more that deserves to be digitized and shared with the world.

    How Honey brought students’ oral histories out of the box

    Honey spent quite a bit of time thinking about how best to bring his students’ stories to a wider audience. Here’s what he did:

    Start with funding: Digitizing a large collection is an expensive task, so Honey procured funding from Friends of the UW Libraries and the Puyallup Tribe of Indians.

    Strike key partnerships: Honey partnered with Justin Wadland, head of Media and Digital Collections at UW Tacoma. The library provided the expertise and the people to create an online digital collection that is easy to use and readily available. Michael Sullivan, an architect, preservationist and historian, also works with Honey in developing and teaching the course.

    The library sought permission from former students, and their interview subjects and families to publish their materials. It is quite a bit of work because each oral history is accompanied by a research essay, interview recordings, primary and secondary sources and other key documents created by students.

    Make students realize they are part of something big: “I tell my students that as historian, you want to get as close to the truth as you can. We can help preserve history by talking to people who have played an active role in their communities but have been overlooked for one reason or another. As students, they can contribute a great deal of understanding about our communities. What they do in my class will live on, and so will the stories of the people they interview,” Honey said.

    Resources for oral histories:

    Instant feedback via earbuds

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    Bug in the Ear project allows distant learners to connect with their School of Education faculty coaches during critical teaching and learning moments

    Kathleen Artman Meeker’s six-year-old student had three words inhis vocabulary: “No,” “eat” and an expletive that he used to maximum effect in the classroom. The outbursts disrupted the class and puzzled Meeker, who was desperately trying to help him.

    Kathleen Artman Meeker, assistant professor, UW College of Education.
    Kathleen Artman Meeker, assistant professor, UW College of Education.

    And she finally did, thanks to valuable feedback from a behavior consultant who observed Meeker’s interactions with the student. That experience led to “Bug in the Ear,” a 2015 pilot project that tested “in-the-moment” feedback using earbuds and video camera phones to link coaches to educators.

    Meeker, now an assistant professor in the UW College of Education, partnered with colleague Nancy Rosenberg, Applied Behavior Analysis Program Director and Special Education Lecturer, to launch a pilot with educators in an intensive practicum in the Applied Behavior Analysis Distance Education Program.

    The educators work with children with autism and other developmental disabilities on their own, without an advisor present in the classroom. Even when educators videotape their interactions, it takes at least a week before an advisor can see it and provide feedback. This time lag makes it more difficult for educators to put input into action. The “Bug in the Ear” approach helps them overcome this challenge.

    “We do a lot of coaching at our school, but a lot of it is after the fact. A prime teaching moment is often lost because we can’t give immediate feedback,” Rosenberg said. “And many of our students are long-distance learners, so we can’t be in their classrooms.”

    Using earbuds to maximum effect

    Kathleen Artman Meeker, assistant professor, UW College of Education
    Nancy Rosenberg, Applied Behavior Analysis Program Director, UW College of Education.

    As part of the pilot, educators were asked to wear Bluetooth-enabled earbuds and connect to their coaches via the FaceTime app. With cell phone cameras on, coaches could now see and hear them interact with students — providing instant feedback that only the educators could hear.

    With earbuds, “we were virtual guests in our students’ classrooms. We saw what they saw,” Meeker said. “An educator facing a challenging moment with an uncooperative student said, ‘What do I do next?’ And someone was there with an answer! Try this, we told them. And if that didn’t work, we suggested something else. And we could do that in real time, right there in the moment. It was very exciting.”

    Bug in the Ear provides valuable lessons

    The pilot has been reaffirming for Meeker, who remembers well-meaning advice from others who had not witnessed the 6-year-old’s behavior when she was trying to figure it out on her own. Be more firm; don’t take that from him; put your foot down, she heard many times.

    The consultant “saw a pattern that none of us had been able to see. And she seemed to solve this mystery for us about (the student’s) behavior,” Meeker narrates in an educational video made for the School of Education to discuss the potential of Bug in the Ear.

    Maximizing the use of earbuds for coaching involves communicating early and often, and making sure technology is easy to use
    Maximizing the use of earbuds for coaching involves communicating early and often, and making sure technology is easy to use.

    The subtle change in approaching the student, “made a difference for me, it made a difference for (the student), it made a difference for his family,” She narrates.

    And it underscored the importance of having someone else listening in, paying attention to those small details that mean a lot but can be easily lost by an educator working hard to reach a student, Meeker said.

    Their preliminary data has shown a lot of potential for in-the-moment feedback. For example, because teachers were coaxed by their coaches to keep trying new approaches, they more than doubled the number of chances they created for children with autism to communicate.

    “The children talked more and they talked in new ways,” Rosenberg said. “With one student, we saw her confidence grow in every class, and we saw that using technology this way could be very powerful.”

    While the pilot only tested earbuds with educators in a very specialized field, Rosenberg and Meeker said their experiences and results showed that earbuds and virtual coaches could be used in a number of other situations and classes.

    Meeker’s and Rosenberg’s tips for getting the most out of the Bug in the Ear approach:

    Sharpen your coaching skills: Just as a football coach should never yell instructions at his quarterback as he steps back to throw a pass, a long-distance educator coach should know when and how best to offer feedback through an earbud. “Timing is really important. When to prompt a child for an answer or how much to push is a very delicate balance. When you’re watching a teacher interact with a student, you need to know when to offer a suggestion and when to hold back,” Meeker said.

    As part of this process, it is important for the coach and the student to agree to ground rules, such as drawing the line between too much or not enough coaching.

    Debrief after each session: “If you’re going to be in someone’s ear, you have to establish trust,” Rosenberg said. The best way to do that is to communicate early and often. Establish ground rules with the student before that earbud is turned on. “Some students want a lot of feedback. Others expect less. A student may say, “Tell me what to do now! Don’t let me flail!” You have to be ready for that, and ready to have an appropriate answer,” Rosenberg said.

    Use tech tools that are easy to use and maintain: “It is great if people want to use their own phones,” Meeker said. “Today, technology makes remote communications much easier and there’s plenty to choose from — as long as you can establish a stable connection.” Meeker and Rosenberg are currently testing a camera on a swivel that follows the educator.

    Building lifelong learning, with the help of technology

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    UW Bothell lecturer uses interactive whiteboard app to help students learn how to learn

    Erin Hill is a STEM lecturer, Director of the Quantitative Skills Center, and Interim Director of the Teaching and Learning Center at UW Bothell
    Erin Hill is a STEM lecturer, Director of the Quantitative Skills Center, and Interim Director of the Teaching and Learning Center at UW Bothell

    How can technology in the classroom help students learn how to learn? For Erin Hill, STEM lecturer and director of the Quantitative Skills Center at UW Bothell, it is important that students get more out of her courses than just subject-specific skills.

    Hill also wants to develop students’ ability to learn better—in any field. And to do so, she says, “Students need to understand when learning happens. You need to make the learning process visible.”

    In 2014, Hill began to look for a technology to incorporate into her classroom that could show and record learning as it happens—and help her students become more aware of, and adept at, the learning process. Her search led her to compare available tools with her needs.

    Hill’s courses in physics involve frequent collaborative group work, so she wanted an option that would allow her to move among her students while they tackled problems together. She also wanted a way to seamlessly record, share, and interact with her students, showing their reasoning as they worked in real time—while prompting them to communicate their thinking to themselves and the rest of the class.

    Using technology to make learning visible

    After consulting with fellow faculty and experimenting with a few apps, a colleague recommended Doceri, an “interactive whiteboard” app for instructors. Doceri turned out to be well-suited to Hill’s course topics and pedagogical goals.

    Operable from a tablet, the Doceri app displays instructors’ writing in real time from anywhere in the room. By connecting the tablet to a laptop or desktop computer and the projector, it allows instructors to advance slides, open polling software, or write notes while moving around the classroom. Hill can draw and display examples of the concepts she’s teaching; she can also project snapshots of student work and write on those—making student thinking, as well as her own, visible to the class.

    While her students work through problems on their whiteboards, Hill uses Doceri to display and annotate their learning as it happens
    While her students work through problems on their whiteboards, Hill uses Doceri to display and annotate their learning as it happens

    Hill can project two groups’ work side by side, then have each explain how and why they arrived at the solution they did. When a group gets a question right, Hill prompts those students to explain not just what they did, but how they knew they could approach the problem the way they did. Doceri records all questions, notes, and explanations in both audio and video so that it’s all available for students to review.

    Students appreciate that Doceri allows their instructor to be so mobile. That mobility is key to student learning and improves the classroom experience, says Adham Baioumy, a former student in Hill’s Mechanics course who now works as her peer facilitator. Because Hill can move throughout the classroom as she projects and explains concepts—while also sharing students’ work—she helps students feel more connected to the class, and to the concepts at hand, he said.

    The efficiency of this method is also important because it “allows more time for students to be immersed in a concept,” said Holly Gummelt, Hill’s former peer facilitator and undergraduate student.

    For Hill, the tool is doing exactly what she hoped. Hill finds that when she can easily interact with students in this way, she is effectively using their learning processes to teach the course material. “It shifts the dynamic,” she said, “to put the emphasis more on the learner than on the teacher—and learning begins and ends with the learner.”

    Developing flexible learning strategies—for all fields

    Hill lists teamwork, communication, and problem-solving among her priorities for student learning goals. But she also emphasizes the importance of learning how to learn from challenges and mistakes. “Part of learning is play—the ability to revise,” Hill said.

    ““[Doceri] shifts the dynamic to put the emphasis more on the learner than on the teacher—and learning begins and ends with the learner.”

    In Doceri’s whiteboard mode, the app allows students to rethink problems in real time based on discussion and feedback. In Hill’s class, student groups work on small, physical whiteboards; Hill can then display and annotate their work via Doceri as they talk through their own processes and rework the problem themselves. As research has shown, helping students understand why they made errors and how they corrected them fosters better understanding of course content and builds problem-solving skills.

    Hill says that her use of Doceri has allowed her to fully implement teaching practices that best help students learn how to learn. This approach could apply to countless other fields with subject-specific variations. For instructors interested in using technology to help students learn better, Hill suggests prioritizing the following goals:

    • Mobility: The ability to move away from the podium and interact with students as they work gives students a sense of connection to instructors and course material; it also allows for efficient sharing of student learning as it happens.
    • Communication: When students are prompted to talk and write about their own learning processes—how they arrived at a conclusion, step by step—it helps them understand what strategies work, and how they can improve the ones that don’t.
    • Flexibility: Learning from errors and challenges can be extremely productive—when students have opportunities to understand what went wrong, articulate the challenge, and revise their work in real time.
    • Visibility: Instructors can incorporate ways for students to see the learning process at work by displaying student approaches to prompts or problems. In addition, making the instructor’s understanding of the content visible—through projecting notes, examples, and interactions with student work—provides students with a window into how experts approach similar problems.

    “The primary goal of my class is making lifelong learners,” Hill said. Using an app like Doceri supports that goal. She added, “It’s hard to imagine teaching without it now. I could do it, but it wouldn’t be as much fun.”

    The power of personal narratives in the classroom

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    A UW Bothell professor shares how digital storytelling can be a powerful tool for learning—for students and instructors

    During a recent Sociology of Education class at UW Bothell, a reticent student pointedly told Jane Van Galen she never talked about her family or her childhood—and certainly didn’t want to share her story in a video.

    But Van Galen gently persuaded her and her fellow students that their personal experiences provided rich and relevant connections to course material—experiences that could be shared much more powerfully through digital storytelling than a more formal academic paper.

    Van Galen, a professor in the School of Educational Studies at UW Bothell, is working to show faculty that the medium is an effective pedagogical tool that can help enhance student learning in multiple subjects across the curricula.

    Jane Van Galen
    Jane Van Galen, professor, School of Educational Studies

    She has been teaching and researching digital storytelling in the classroom for about 10 years.

    Research has shown that multimedia can help the “digital generation” better understand complex issues. When students are asked to share their own stories within the context of what they’re learning in class, the lessons become more deep-rooted.

    The process of creating a digital story or documentary pushes students’ learning in multiple ways. Students tap into their creative talents, do careful research, think deeply about the question being asked and pay close attention to their script-writing. Many of Van Galen’s students improved their communication skills because they had to organize their ideas and construct their narrative in such a way that the audience can understand a complex subject.

    The core of storytelling

    Digital storytelling is the art of well-told stories. They’re often personal in nature but not always produced in video form. Students use a large array of multimedia tools such as video, audio, graphics and web. And much like traditional storytelling, its digital counterpart also relies on a particular point of view to explore insights into the broader human experience.

    In classrooms, the ideal video is less than 10 minutes—Van Galen tells her students to keep the length of videos between three and five minutes. Their creation and final presentation is more manageable and the story more focused.

    “Students get to create something truly wonderful in a short amount of time. Sometimes, it takes more time to convince faculty that it is an appropriate tool to help students learn,” Van Galen said. “Digital storytelling is not a traditional classroom learning experience. It is very fluid, non-linear, and sometimes faculty and students are challenged by the ambiguity of the process.”

    And because digital storytelling is a flexible form, it can be used in a variety of classes, said Van Galen. She recently taught a class directed at educators: “Telling our Stories as Teachers: Digital Storytelling and Teacher Reflection.” She also held a three-day storytelling class for biology instructors who wanted their students to be able to convey their personal investment in key environmental issues.

    “The work of composing a multi-layered digital story is a deeply reflective process, as students make connections between their own biographies and course content, and then anticipate how audiences will see those connections.”

    – Jane Van Galen, professor

    In her research, Van Galen focuses on social class and social mobility through education. So she knows her students—many of whom hope to become teachers—bring rich but sometimes painful personal histories that could unknowingly influence their lives as educators. The School of Educational Studies’ vision is to develop educators who will promote and support equity in learning.

    Van Galen asks her students to share personal stories through digital storytelling because she hopes that experience will help them better understand how they can teach students to be more inclusive and more understanding of the diversity of experiences everyone brings into the classroom.

    One student’s experience with digital storytelling

    In one of her classes, Van Galen asked her students to explore through their own experience the cost of social mobility and the intersection of social class and education.

    “Many of my students have never told their stories as part of their academic work,” Van Galen said. When they realize that their stories are relevant to what they’re learning, and that other people have an interest in their personal stories—or that they relate to or are inspired by them, “it is very affirming,” she said.

    That was the case for Norma Perez, a student who originally found digital storytelling challenging. And yet, the powerful learning experience made her think deeply about what she could contribute as an educator.

    Norma Perez video
    Norma Perez realized the process of telling her family’s story in Jane Van Galen’s class could make her a better educator.

    “The story I chose to tell reflects the first time I realized my own family, my friends, my neighborhood—we were poor. Growing up in my neighborhood, everyone’s family looked like mine. My mom worked in the candy factory, while my dad worked on the construction site. We spoke Spanish at home and we lived in an apartment. This was normal to me,” she said.

    “It was a difficult story to tell, as it was for many of our classmates, but Jane made our classroom a very safe, non-judgmental, and open environment,” Perez said. “We cried together, laughed together, and supported one another through the entire process.”

    “My story centers on a school field trip, and how it was difficult for my family to pay for it,” Perez said. And so it was for the other kids in the class. “I watched one of my classmates reluctantly pay for the trip with coins, and as I sat there watching him, I realized we were poor. I was nervous sharing my story, as I am sure many of my classmates were too. My classmates didn’t know my background, and often when I tell people my story, they are surprised.”

    Crafting the script for the video was the most difficult part, but it was easier finding images to complement her words. When she finally put it all together, and then got to see her classmates’ work, Perez saw how their individual stories revealed what inspired them to become educators.

    “There’s pain and joy in the journey,” Van Galen said. “People who want to be educators should pause and think about what they’re bringing into a classroom. Telling their own stories can help them make sense of the world around them and be more sensitive to the stories that shaped their students.”

    Van Galen’s tips to bring digital storytelling into the classroom

    Consider taking a short course in digital storytelling: In addition to workshops she offers with UW colleagues, Van Galen periodically co-teaches three-day workshops at UW Bothell with the StoryCenter, a pioneer in digital storytelling, based in Berkeley, Calif. These workshops are open to faculty and staff from all three campuses as well as community members. Email Van Galen for upcoming course information.

    Don’t sweat the technical details too much: Many of today’s students are digital-savvy, with access to all kinds of multimedia tools. In one of Van Galen recent classes, students used as many as eight different video-editing tools. “Some of my students used their cellphones to edit their videos. They know how to work with the basics of these tools, so you don’t have to spend much valuable classroom time showing them how to work a video-editing program.

    “Video editing software is increasingly more intuitive and easier to use. I only spend 20 minutes or so demonstrating a couple of different tools,” said Van Galen, who occasionally helps students troubleshoot technical problems and provides links to online tutorials and help forums.

    Set creative constraints to help students focus their project: The script should be 300-350 words, with a story told in three to five minutes. Van Galen will often ask her students to use Ken Burns-like effects to produce their videos. Burns, an American documentarian, relies heavily on still images in his renowned Civil War documentary. He brings them alive with panning and zooming techniques paired with voice-over and evocative music.

    “I encourage the use of still images and tell my students to think deeply about what sorts of images they may want to use. If you need grandpa’s photo in the video, what do you want people to understand about him?”

    Images are important but pay attention to sound: “Students are often surprised how important sound is,” Van Galen said. It evokes emotion and helps viewers understand subtle points. “Music creates ambiance; music supports the tenor of the story.

    Risk letting go: “As an instructor, I cannot control every step of the process or the final product. I can’t expect my students to have a final draft in the first two weeks. I always tell instructors that producing digital stories is non-linear, fluid and often ambiguous, nothing like an academic paper.”

    Teach students to attribute materials: Creating new digital content is an ideal opportunity to teach the importance of crediting the work of others, including the value and importance of attributing copyrighted material. “There’s no such thing as a ‘Google’ image. It belongs to someone,” she said. That also applies to music, even when it is available royalty-free. UW has its own website explaining copyright and how to properly cite copyrighted materials.

    Students control who sees their stories: “You must deal with your students’ stories with sensitivity,” Van Galen said. While students are expected to share their work in class with fellow students, they decide whether anyone else gets to see the videos. Posting their own videos on the web is always optional.

    Finally, storytelling is everything: Van Galen spends a lot of classroom time talking about the arc of a story and what makes a powerful narrative. First, she gets students comfortable with switching from an academic to a narrative voice; talking in the first person using “I” and “me” is acceptable. And she helps them think deeply about visual metaphors. “What can the visuals do for the understanding of the story?” Van Galen asks students. And these kinds of discussions lead to talking about those little things that make up a whole story.

    For more information, these resources were collected in collaboration with the UW Center for Teaching and Learning:

    Digital Storytelling as an effective instructional tool

    Connecting theories of instructor self-disclosure, critical race theory and instructional communication with digital storytelling

    Can video games solve world problems?

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    Two researchers seeking to solve a real-world problem create a class in a model of interdisciplinary collaboration

    It began, as so many things do, with the realization that a gap exists. Josh Lawler, professor in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, saw there were very few games about climate change that are scientifically accurate—and actually fun to play.

    Josh Lawler, professor of environmental and forest sciences
    Josh Lawler, professor of environmental and forest sciences.

    Knowing that research shows that games are an effective tool for learning, in 2015 Lawler connected with Dargan Frierson, associate professor in the School of Atmospheric Sciences, and they started asking colleagues if they were interested in tackling this problem together.

    The result of their networking includes EarthGamesUW, a group that aims to design games that increase awareness about climate change. EarthGamesUW would also quickly develop into an interdisciplinary independent study course.

    Within a year of its inception, the group has been nationally recognized for producing prize-winning games (two of which are on showcase at the Smithsonian). In Winter 2017, the EarthGamesUW independent study will now be structured around a central classroom experience offering up to 6 credits.

    But the impact extends even further. EarthGamesUW offers students from diverse disciplines—computer science to English, information sciences to education—the opportunity to produce real products and practice professional skills, all while having an impact on climate change.

    Networking for interdisciplinary collaboration

    Dargan Frierson, associate professor of atmospheric sciences
    Dargan Frierson, associate professor of atmospheric sciences.

    Lawler and Frierson recognized early on that the concept of creating games about climate change depended on tapping into the expertise of many others outside their own disciplines. “One of the first things we did was meet with people who knew more about this than we did, and ask if we were crazy for trying this,” says Lawler. “They had the expertise we didn’t have.”

    Together, they turned to a variety of people for advice and participation, including game designers, high school teachers, and professors and graduate students in the Information School, Learning Sciences, Human Centered Design and Engineering, and Computer Science and Engineering’s Center for Game Science.

    “Games hold a great deal of potential for providing experiences that players can learn from,” says Theresa Horstman, research assistant professor for Education Program Games. “It’s not enough to know the facts: games allow players to interact with different contributing factors of climate change as a system in creative, experiential ways.”

    As these new partnerships came together, the idea to create inspiring video games about climate change evolved into an actionable project.

    Frierson says that one of the most rewarding parts of the process was the group collaboration across disciplines. “It’s gotten me out of my building to see all the really cool work that’s happening around UW.” He adds, “It’s occurred to me that probably the UW is the best place in the world to do something like this.”

    From idea to reality: Developing a meaningful independent study course

    Out of this accumulated input grew great momentum. Lawler and Frierson applied for and received funding from the Science for Nature and People Program in Santa Barbara. The funding supported the development of the EarthGamesUW goals, starting with the independent study course.

    In order to attract students from various disciplines, Lawler and Frierson advertised the independent study with the iSchool’s capstone and listed it on the Undergraduate Research website. Through the independent study, students designed and created short games of various types, from board games to video games. They lent their broad expertise—engineering, education, climate science, and narrative-building to produce successful, creative games—games that are actually fun.

    Recognition and awards followed. Two of these student teams created games that won top prizes in the 2015 Climate Game Jam in Washington D.C. Both were subsequently featured in an event at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in January:

    • Climate Quest, a video game, was designed by Zuoming Shi, computer science and engineering doctoral student, and Ben Peterson, Information School undergraduate, in collaboration with Frierson.
    • AdaptNation, a table-top game, was designed by Will Chen, graduate student in aquatic and fishery sciences, and Rob Thompson, graduate student in computer science and engineering, along with Seattle artist Rachel Lee.

    For raising greater public awareness about climate change through games, the combination of fun and factual content is essential. The value of these games is not only that they are original and engaging, but they are also powerful teaching tools, Frierson says. Parents and teachers can trust that the games are scientifically accurate because they are designed by UW students and faculty.

    “I wanted to get involved with EarthGamesUW because I’ve always been interested in making games that will help pass an important message to its users,” says Sally Wei, a junior who is majoring in computer science and minoring in French. “I write novels in my free time, and EarthGamesUW helps me gain experience in storyboard writing as well as programming.”

    Expanding the independent study into an interdisciplinary course

    What started as an independent study option is now being expanded into the classroom: beginning in Winter of 2017, EarthGamesUW will launch a classroom-based course option with a shared syllabus. Frierson credits the College of the Environment and Julia Parrish, professor of aquatic and fishery sciences, with recognizing the potential of EarthGamesUW to provide a combination of classroom learning and the experience of building actual products.

    The new course for 12-15 students will allow students to create games through working both inside and outside the classroom. The course design will allow for a common student experience, while “break out” groups design their own unique projects. To maintain some of the flexibility of the independent study model, the course will be offered for variable credits—anywhere from 2-6, depending on the needs of individual projects and commitments. The new model is intended to satisfy student demand while qualifying for more departmental funding for resources such as paid leadership and research opportunities for students. This investment could help EarthGamesUW reach its goals of K-12 curricula development and possibly even expand to Spanish-language video games.

    Cultivating opportunities to transfer skills beyond the classroom

    Both Lawler and Frierson speak enthusiastically about the many reasons a learning experience like EarthGamesUW can be attractive and valuable to students. Academically, the 5-credit course can fulfill a capstone requirement for departments such as the iSchool. Students can also describe games they designed in resumes and portfolios, and showcase their experience with project management and the ability to work and problem-solve collaboratively and creatively.

    Frierson notes that resilience and persistence—the ability to recalibrate and try again when an aspect of a project is not working—are real-world skills that are highly transferable. Students also experience the benefit of sharing work with peers in a supportive atmosphere, and learn adaptable skills of self-analysis. In creating useful products, students take ownership over their own learning. In addition, students are drawn by the higher purpose of promoting education about climate change.

    Says Lawler, “I’m hoping that the students coming out of these classes will have a better understanding of climate change, but will also have new innovative ideas about how we can learn about climate change.”

    Students are driven to excel with the opportunity to make “real stuff,” says Frierson. “Students today have a lot of extra motivation if their work is going to be seen by a wider set of people, not only their professors. I think the amount of learning they do on their own when it’s got those higher stakes is really impressive.”

    “EarthGames represents a microcosm of the interdisciplinary expertise that is required to productively address big systems like climate change.”

    To other instructors developing interdisciplinary courses, Frierson underscores the importance of flexibility. “You have to not want a certain product at the end of it,” he says, but rather allow yourself to be led by “the talent that’s in front of you.” Frierson adds that he continues to be impressed by student ability and creativity.

    It was precisely the sharing of knowledge and ideas among students and professors across disciplines that shaped EarthGamesUW into an endeavor with ever-growing impact.

    “In a way, EarthGames represents a microcosm of the interdisciplinary expertise that is required to productively address big systems like climate change,” says Horstman. “We will need experts who understand what it really takes to collaborate and work together to solve problems.”

    And it can all begin with a step outside a building, a department, a discipline, to forge the powerful connections that make this possible.

    Top Tips to “Think Beyond Your Building”: Creating Interdisciplinary Courses with Real-World Applications

    • Expand and use your network:
      • Lawler connected with Frierson when he was invited to speak at a lecture series in Frierson’s department. From there, the two pooled their connections – including external partners such as non-profits and local high schools – to “shop around” their game idea. Then they drew on connections from those people to set up a formal working group.
    • Create classroom opportunities for learning transferable skills:
      • While students may need to fulfill a project requirement, others are looking for extracurricular opportunities to learn new skills or add to their portfolio – but they still want to work on something meaningful. These experiences can also help them make their applications for scholarships, graduate school or jobs even stronger.
    • Don’t be afraid to offer enrollment to all majors
      • Open enrollment can result in a wider mix of disciplinary backgrounds than expected, but Frierson says, “You have to look at the group you have, and move in a direction based on who’s there.” For example, a student group composed of scientists and writers might build a more basic design with a “choose your own story” adventure rather than an app with elaborate visuals.
    • Make use of the resources available at a major research university (including Innovators Among Us, by UW-IT Teaching and Learning, the Center for Teaching and Learning blog and others). Check out this resource list, but don’t forget to ask your colleagues and network for recommendations:
      • The eScience Institute offers seminars, working groups, and a Data Science Studio in which researchers across disciplines share ways of fostering collaborative research with technology.
      • The Office of Global Affairs supports scholars across disciplines, institutions, and continents in service of international research, education, and outreach.
      • The Digital Future Lab at UW Bothell brings together research scientists and product designers to develop interdisciplinary projects through a commitment to “radical diversity.”
      • Academic Affairs at UW Tacoma supports teaching and learning and offers faculty multifaceted resources.