13 Part I: Humanizing Lecture Slides and Course Content

“Online learning has shown me how beneficial recorded lectures really are. Oftentimes, with in-person learning, I have a big fear of missing lecture content or any comments that the professor will make. Any information presented to me in this way feels like a fleeting fact that I have to try my hardest at every moment to catch. Going to the washroom, taking a sip of water, zoning out, or even a longer blink feels like a trade-off between my learning and my natural human functions. Having recorded lectures that I can go back to if I miss something or not understand something the first time diminishes this anxiety.” – Anonymous

In practice, this can look like:

• Reduce the number of ‘new’ scenarios or examples. One research paper describes a statistics course that was entirely about baseball (cool!, and students loved it), except for the final exam, which was about football. Students hated it. They focused on the topic of the example, rather than on the application of statistics. It disrupted their thinking. So, be intentional and carefully curate your examples and connections to the real world. Make sure that they are deep connections, not superficial, so that they ‘hold up’ to multiple references throughout.
• When using pictures or icons, make sure you have diversity represented. Try and find inclusive pictures that resonate with the EDI message you are trying to convey.
• Provide an image description.
• Provide the slides beforehand and add in ‘break’ slides throughout the presentation.
• TAs need to be given paid time to review the slides and teaching notes to ensure they understand the material they are presenting.
• Don’t make creating/sharing/recording lecture slides the foundational time-intensive components of your course – use relevant, quality open educational resources if they are available. It is better to concentrate on the activities and facilitation than creating new content when you don’t have to. There is a great example from a course at Mac: Language, Sex & Gender: built entirely on openly-licensed readings and podcast episodes. Here is the syllabus and podcast playlist.
• When using examples, instead of using just “John Smith”, try using non-white cis names that represents your students. There are examples of this across the disicplines. For example, in anatomy and physiology classes and medical school, the importance of using non-white bodies photos of imagery has been increasingly highlighted lately.
• Make sure sources are up-to-date. It is not fair (nor does it make sense) to include outdated resources while expecting students to use recent sources for assignments.
• Model academic integrity by using information fairly and citing your sources.
• Draw secondary literature / assigned readings from scholars who are part of the same communities that your students are.
• Aim to make readings equitable. For example, if teaching about feminism make sure to include BIPOC feminist theorists.
• Themes are fun. Have a slide deck that’s all pictures of bears, or, puffins, flowers,. I love going with neon hearts for online classes. Use open licensed images as the background. attribute them. Use few words. Be careful with the accessibility of these images (e.g., contrast).
• Avoid Powerpoint karaoke, i.e., lots of words on slides that you’re just reading.
• Remember that slides are for the learners not for the instructor. Use text and images to explain, not to remember what you want to say.
• One instructor mentioned that they hardly show a graph in it’s complete form. Instead, they introduce axes and then have the students either annotate or conduct a discussion, and then straw poll about what trend/pattern the graph is likely to show.
• Lecture slides should not be considered intellectual property. They should always be posted before lecture and made available to students for the entirety of the course.
• Images on slides are not there make the text/content more attractive. They should represent the content to be learned in a different way, such as a metaphor or an analogy. Images and active learning do more than stimulate interest. They help learners engage with content in multiple modes.