For our last SPARK Community of Practice Lunch this semester, Mark Leckie from Geosciences and Heath Hatch from Physics joined us to discuss their uses of SPARK for managing their large lecture courses.
Professor Leckie describe himself as a “SPARK rookie” but said he has found it to be an important tool for managing his large lecture Oceanography class. He started off by discussing how SPARK has been useful for managing communications; he encourages students to send messages to him using the SPARK mail tool to keep those communications separate from his normal email inbox. He makes heavy use of SPARK for delivering content in the form of PowerPoint slides, videos, and links to web resources. I was particularly impressed by Professor Leckie’s clear organization of his content in SPARK where material is neatly grouped by the test it is connected to. Organization is important for any tool you use to post materials online but when your audience is composed several hundred undergraduates, having a well-structured and coherent system is paramount. In addition to organizing course content, Professor Leckie also uses the GradeBook to manage exam scores so that students can conveniently keep track of their progress through the course.
The topic of posting PowerPoint slides in SPARK prompted a spirited discussion about of the merits of doing so among those in attendance. Several folks offered input on their different techniques and experiences when posting this type of material before class, after class, or in condensed as exposed to extended formats via SPARK.
Heath Hatch has been using SPARK for several semester and stressed that he chooses which tools to use in SPARK based on what “makes the instructor’s life easier.” Over the semesters, he has built up a wealth of content and tutorials that he makes available to students via SPARK. Heath Hatch makes extensive use of a tablet PC when lecturing as well as a program called Camtasia to record these lectures as screencasts. SPARK is used to post these screencasts so students can review what was covered in class and access screencasts he has recorded previously on supplemental topics. As an instructor, Heath says he strives to “never do what I hated as a student,” so he attempts to keep things as organized and structured as possible. An interesting use of SPARK that Heath employs is allowing students to retake exams online in SPARK (effectively as open-book, group exercises) for additional points on the exam taken in class. In this way, some students who are willing to spend more time on the exam outside of class can improve their grades somewhat; with SPARK handling the tracking and grading for this activity.
Many thanks to our presenters from this session! Be sure to look for more SPARK Community of Practice events next semester.
[Thanks to Alex Deschamps and Doris Peterson for contributing to this post.]