The A&P Professor: January 2021

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

What a Year! | Pandemic Teaching & More | A Reflection | TAPP 86

In his annual look back at this podcast, host Kevin Patton reviews what we learned this year in A&P teaching. Which was a lot! He also looks ahead to what to expect in teaching—and in the podcast—as we go forward.

00:49 | Looking Back
10:15 | Those Darn Sponsor Messages
14:40 | There's More!
22:49 | Psychic Predictions
38:30 | TAPP Community
47:02 | TAPP Education | TAPP-ed
51:34 | Our Complex Selves
55:35 | Staying Connected

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Looking back we see with great clarity, and what once appeared as difficulties now reveal themselves as blessings. (Dan Millman)

Looking Back...

9.5 minutes

Kevin kicks off his annual debriefing of the last full year of this podcast, which started its fourth year on 15 January 2021. As usual, the podcast seems to have accomplished a lot more than he was thinking.

Podcast Archive | 2020 (all the 2020 episode lined up on one page)
Podcast List (sortable list of all episodes with topics listed)
Pandemic Teaching (all the TAPP resources on pandemic teaching listed in one place)

Those Darn Sponsor Messages

4.5 minutes

Sponsor messages are a fair trade when somebody else pays for your podcast listening. And they give important reminders about programs and services available to you and your colleagues!

There's more!

8 minutes

Some changes and additions over the last year...

And listens are up 30% over last year!
We moved away from Preview episodes, but till have occasional Word Dissections (22 in 2020) and recommendations from The A&P Professor Book Club (7 in 2020).
Kevin's new bestselling book based partly on podcast content: Pandemic Teaching: A Survival Guide for College Faculty. The free eBook was released in April and the paper back is due out any day. books2read.com/pandemicteaching
Krista Rompolski created The A&P Professor Journal Club, which offered three special episodes this year.
- TAPP Journal Club (listing of all the Journal Club episodes)

Psychic Predictions

15.5 minutes

Kevin uses his psychic powers (meaning he uses his mind) to predict trends for the coming year and beyond.

The current pandemic will extend through the next academic year and there may be more pandemics to come.
- Fauci says herd immunity possible by fall, ‘normality’ by end of 2021 (news from The Harvard Gazette) my-ap.us/3ceYHtY
- Avian Influenza Virus (H5N1): a Threat to Human Health (review article) my-ap.us/3pi0CBH
- 100 Years Since 1918: Are We Ready for the Next Pandemic? (interesting slide presentation published just prior to COVID-19 pandemic, links the 1918 pandemic to current needs for preparedness) my-ap.us/3a1NaeO
- 10 infectious diseases that could be the next pandemic (post from a vaccination alliance) my-ap.us/36fp27o
Changes in staffing, working conditions, contract protections, tenure, etc.
- As the Pandemic Hits Campus Finances, Faculty Face Layoffs (article from The Scientist) my-ap.us/3cqmtDt
- Hit by Covid-19, Colleges Do the Unthinkable and Cut Tenure | Schools facing steep drops in revenue scale back the age-old role of faculty in governance (article from The Wall Street Journal) my-ap.us/2M3ZRO0

TAPP Community

8.5 minutes

This year, we took The A&P Professor experience to a new level by offering the new online private community away from distracting social media platforms, tangle email threads, and the roiling sea of available webinars. It's still in its embryonic stage, but we wanted to get it out there during the pandemic when faculty need it the most.

Discussions that matter. In our private space, we can have the vulnerability needed for authentic, deep discussions. Discussions not limited to a sentence or two at a time.
No ads. No spam. No fake news. No thoughtless re-shares. Just plain old connection with others who do what you do!
Privacy. The A&P Professor community has the connectivity of Facebook and Twitter, but the security of a private membership site. None of your information can be shared outside the community, so you can share what you like without it being re-shared to the world. Like your dean, for instance. In our community, you can share your frustrations freely. And find support.
No algorithms. You get to choose what you want to see. You curate your own feed, selecting only those topics that interest you. Join subgroups that resonate with who you are—or who you want to be.
Access to mentors and like-minded peers. Our community is made up of all kinds of people from all over the world, each with different perspectives and experiences of teaching A&P. Find members near you—or far away. Connect with members online at that moment.
Courses, groups, and live events. As the community grows, we'll add mini-courses and micro-courses—some with earned micro-credentials, live virtual office hours with me and other mentors or guests, private special-interest groups, and more.
There is a very modest subscription fee to join our community.
- Deep anniversary discount on subscription to The A&P Professor community (good until end of February 2021) theAPprofessor.org/Insider21

TAPP Education | TAPP-ed

4.5 minutes

Now all the professional development—that continuing education—that you do when you listen to The A&P Professor podcast, read the books recommended in The A&P Professor Book Club, watch the online seminars at The A&P Professor website, any micro-courses or networking you do in The A&P Professor Community, can be documented with micro-credentials! It's the new The A&P Professor Education or TAPP-ed initiative.

Click this link to claim your credential for listening to this episode: form.jotform.com/210247218258150

Our Complex Selves

4 minutes

As we muddle through pandemic teaching, we become more complex. As we cycle through optimism, pessimism, hope, anxiety, triumph, we are changed. Some changes are good; some are not. We'll probably come out of this with some sort of pandemic-related PTSD—at least in terms of our teaching experience. Building resilience and hope are essential. A supportive professional community—and your favorite podcast—can help.

The A&P Professor Community
It's hard to be optimistic after surviving trauma, but it's not impossible. Here's how to start. | We all say we want to move on after terrible periods in our lives, but it can be more difficult than it sounds. (self-help article) my-ap.us/2NCGlsz

If the hyperlinks here are not active, go to TAPPradio.org to find the episode page.

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Transcript available in the transcript box.
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Need help accessing resources locked behind a paywall? Check out this advice from Episode 32 to get what you need! https://youtu.be/JU_l76JGwVw?t=440

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Transcript and captions for this episode are supported by the American Association for Anatomy | anatomy.org
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Distribution of this episode is supported by NYCC's online graduate program in Human Anatomy & Physiology Instruction (HAPI) | nycc.edu/hapi

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Monday, January 4, 2021

Student Evaluations of Teaching II: Proactive, Active, and Reactive Strategies | TAPP 85

Host Kevin Patton continues the discussion about student evaluations of teaching (SETs) with a set of strategies to make them work better, or at least mitigate some of the potentially bad or ugly outcomes. There are things we can do proactively before a SET, actively during a SET, and reactively after a SET. Listen to hear them all!

00:00 | Quotation
00:57 | Student Evaluation of Teaching: Part II
04:16 | Sponsored by AAA
05:39 | Proactive Strategies
12:49 | Sponsored by HAPI
14:03 | Active Strategies
29:52 | Sponsored by HAPS
31:18 | Reactive Strategies
46:15 | Cookies!
48:00 | Staying Connected

The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope. (Barack Obama)

Student Evaluation of Teaching II

3.5 minutes

A brief intro to this second of two discussions of student evaluation of teaching. It's easier to follow this one if you've first listened to Student Evaluations of Teaching I: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly | TAPP 84.

Proactive Strategies for SETs

7 minutes

There's a lot we can do well in advance of student evaluations of teaching being administered. For example, speaking up and signing up to facilitate change in our own institutions.

Mitigating gender bias in student evaluations of teaching (recent journal article) my-ap.us/3oaDXGG
Actual Learning vs. Feeling of Learning | Journal Club Episode | TAPP 83 (mentions value of transparency)
The Case for Transparency | Episode 51

Active Strategies for SETs

16 minutes

There are strategies we can implement as SETs are being implemented, such as promoting greater participation by students and training students on how to evaluation courses and teachers effectively.

Dr. Amy Simolo (HAPI faculty my-ap.us/2XhAJFP) created a tool for use at NYCC that teaches students how to evaluate courses & teachers in a professional manner. Included are six key tips:
- Be respectful.
- Focus on observable behavior.
- Be constructive.
- Offer actionable solutions.
- Stay on point.
- Give constructive and specific praise.
Kevin's briefer message to instruct students on evaluating courses & teachers:
- First, take a moment to reflect on your hard work—that desirable difficulty—resulting in the progress you've made in refreshing all those forgotten concepts and filled in the gaps for those concepts you somehow missed learning along the way. Then, will you please take a moment now to fill out the super-brief, super-easy CourseEval survey?
- Please remember to be professional, respectful, and constructive in your responses. If you do that, stay focused on just this course/instructor, note specific things that helped you, and offer actionable solutions that improve learning, then my bosses (and I) will be more likely to understand and value your opinion. And take actions that will help future students in this course.
End-of-Term Reviews Help Keep Your Course on Track | Episode 17
Mid-Semester Check-Ins Keep Your A&P Course on Track | Episode 38
Krebs Cycle Horror Story | Anatomy Terms | TAPP 79 (explains that outburst when Kevin mentions the Krebs Cycle)

Reactive Strategies for SETs

15 minutes

Some things we ought to be doing after SETs are administered include doing our own surveys, debriefings, and/or reflections—and compiling, reflecting upon, and writing a statement analyzing them. This helps us in the moment, as well as if/when we're challenged by our supervisor. And there are even things we can do to mitigate potential problems with those online professor-rating sites!

End-of-Term Reviews Help Keep Your Course on Track | Episode 17
For quick jotting down of student comments:
- Index card wallet
  - Levenger Pocket Briefcase that Kevin uses amzn.to/2Uwmitj
  - Oxford At-Hand Note Card Case amzn.to/2GmixBU
  - Perotti leather card wallet amzn.to/2IwXct2
- Moleskine notebooks amzn.to/2PkNsCG
- OneNote my-ap.us/2Dzy1SD
- Evernote my-ap.us/2Dq03j4
Where Kevin sends his disappointed students:
- lionden.com/manuel.htm

Cookies!

2 minutes

To prove the point that SETs don't necessarily measure what we are pretending that they measure, it's been proven that supplying students with cookies produces higher scores on SETs. So if we are measuring how pampered students feel, then maybe SETs are indeed the answer!

Kevin's Favorite Blueberry-Walnut Oatmeal Cookie Recipe my-ap.us/386hSn6
Availability of cookies during an academic course session affects evaluation of teaching (research article from Medical Education) my-ap.us/34VVsTt