Category: What’s New

When the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism approached her to help create an online section of TOUR 200: Introduction to Travel and Tourism, Dr. Rebecca Kelley knew that her training and experience with teaching online combined with a high demand course would lead to a great online opportunity for Mason students. As communication, business, and other majors seek TOUR 200 as a useful and informative elective, the online option has served as a great complement to any program while helping to meet high enrollment needs.

“I’ve been an adjunct at Mason for ten years. We had one section on campus ten years ago. Now we have three exclusively online sections in spring and fall semesters and two in summers,” says Dr. Kelley. “TOUR 200 is a great course for anyone at Mason. It’s good for students to get familiar with a different industry from the industry perspective, not the tourist perspective, and learn how it impacts the economy, their career path, and their lifestyle.”

A New and Intriguing Industry

For the online section of TOUR 200, Dr. Kelley uses recorded lectures to cover course content, weekly discussions or case studies where students are required to read and respond to each other, and exams or projects that serve as checkpoints. Because the course material translates well and is easy to comprehend in an online format, her students do well in the course and rarely have difficulty with the format.

“I try to teach them not only the material, but also how to relate to others, how to work in virtual teams, and how to communicate online,” shares Dr. Kelley. “Students are attracted to tourism and events management because it’s a quickly evolving and new field with global and economic impacts. Students really get interested in learning more, and distance education allows them to engage in the industry and learn to work as a team.”

Student-Centered Assignments

Dr. Kelley also incorporates engaging projects to spark student interest, explaining, “I encourage them to visit two different locations, even online. I tell them to get out in the world. Students are so engulfed in what they’re doing, they sometimes miss the world. Get out there and experience what’s out there, and they’re often surprised by what they find.”

The first project is a site visit analysis where students are able to pick any attraction or destination to visit, such as the International Spy Museum or the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and analyze it from a management perspective. For the second assignment, students make an event pitch to a tourism operator. With ideas ranging from Claymation videos and a Meal Ready to Eat program to toilet paper dress contests, Dr. Kelley notes, “They’re allowed to be creative as long as they meet the criteria, and they continuously surprise me with what they come up with.”

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TOUR 200 is offered every semester and is open to all majors. Check for upcoming availability on the online courses page.

For more information on the fully online minor in tourism and events management, see the online minors page.

In spring 2015, over twenty new online courses launched at Mason, including PHIL 309: Bioethics. As the course explores major ethical decisions and issues in medical and health care fields, the face-to-face sections often have a waiting list as nursing, biology, neuroscience, and other majors who may potentially face significant bioethical decisions pursue the course.

“Online sections are a way to give more students access to the course. Also, many students are pinched for time, so just to have one class where they don’t have to go to campus can really make a difference,” explains the professor, Dr. Derek Boyd. “This is one of the best philosophy classes to have online because there is not so much theory. Students seem to like the focus on real world topics.”

Issues covered in the course include many of the prominent moral and ethical concerns in the medical and health care field, including abortion, euthanasia, organ procurement, cloning, and human genetic engineering. The relevance of the topics covered in this course is able to capture student attention, as Dr. Boyd notes, “Right off the bat, it’s interesting.”

The online format is also useful in serving as a hub for external resources that speak directly to the subject matter of the course, including videos from National Institutes of Health (NIH) and readings and lectures by leading authors in the field. In the online format, Dr. Boyd is also able to leverage the function of discussion boards to help students explore the depths of these issues.

In fact, as spring 2015 was the course’s pilot online semester, Dr. Boyd has viewed the initial semester as a great learning experience for teaching online and is already planning updates for upcoming semesters, including the addition of more debate-style discussion questions.

“Discussions and dialogue are critical for philosophy instruction, and Dr. Boyd has designed his PHIL 309 course with regular discussions and has created an environment of open communication and discussion for his students,” explains Dr. Darlene Smucny, Assistant Director for Quality in Online Instruction at Mason. “The asynchronous online format provides all students with opportunities to participate in the class discussions and allows more thoughtful reflection and interaction with course content, with the instructor, and with each other.”

For psychology majors at George Mason University, PSYC 372: Physiological Psychology is a required course for both the BA and BS degree programs. Plus, the course can also be taken as partial fulfillment toward the information technology requirement for Mason Core. However, as a content-heavy and demanding course, PSYC 372 is often met with reluctance from students. Dr. Jennifer Sontag Brielmaier, who teaches various courses in behavioral neuroscience and biological psychology at Mason, enjoys the challenge of getting her students interested in the relationship between behavior and biology.

“Not all psychology majors are interested in this course, and not many are interested in this type of psychology. They worry that it involves too much hard science and a ton of work, which can make this course very intimidating,” she admits. “I’ve always considered this a fun challenge to get students excited about the course and interested in the materials.”

In an attempt to engage student interest in the field and make the course content more accessible and convenient, Dr. Brielmaier recently transitioned the course to an online format.

Guiding Students through Challenging Content

As noted in the Mason Catalog, PSYC 372 explores various aspects of neuroscience, including basic neuroanatomy, neural and synaptic transmission, and neural and biological mechanisms as they relate to behavior. The course is very content-heavy, and students are expected to learn many new terms and technologies prevalent within this subdivision of the field. Given the challenges of this course, one of the greatest benefits that the online environment affords is constant access to course materials and lecture videos.

Providing accessible “chunks” of information through 10-15 minute course lecture videos, Dr. Brielmaier helps her students to effectively interpret and engage with the content. “I think the students appreciate being able to view the lecture videos at their own pace and to replay any parts that aren’t clear,” she explains. In addition to this approachable lecture style, Dr. Brielmaier also attempts to capture student interest with supplementary materials and instructor presence, as she notes that these can be challenges to the online format.

Students also comment that the ability to revisit the content and lessons helps decrease the level of stress in the course. “I took Psych 372 online instead of face-to-face because […] it was such a difficult topic I wanted to be in my own comfort zone to relax me for this class,” explains psychology major Bobbie Nelson. “This course is the one course most psychology majors try to avoid. I heard so many bad things about this course! But taking it with Dr. Brielmaier was not as bad as I had thought.”

Keeping the Student Perspective in Mind

Many PSYC 372 students opt for the online format for convenience, and this is a thought that Dr. Brielmaier shares. “In my opinion, the greatest benefit to the online learning environment is the flexibility it offers both the students and the instructor,” she suggests. “A lot of Mason students are taking classes while working or raising families, and online courses can make it a bit easier to juggle all of that.”

In fact, Dr. Brielmaier kept the student perspective in mind, especially those who have never taken an online course, as she developed the online section. Piloting the first online lesson with her face-to-face students, she was able to incorporate student feedback and determine the most effective course structure. She says, “I had students submit a survey for extra credit, asking them to provide comments and suggestions for improving the course. Almost all completed it, sharing an overall positive experience, and over half explicitly commented that they enjoyed the online lesson.”

Dr. Brielmaier continues to make adjustments to the course to ensure that her students are successful. Having streamlined the weekly tasks, she now requires one individual assignment or a group activity each week, rather than both. She notes, “I think this helps students feel a bit less overwhelmed with the course tasks but allows interaction with classmates to remain a prominent part of the course.

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Interested in taking Physiological Psychology with Dr. Brielmaier? PSYC 372 is available completely online each semester, including summer! See masononline.gmu.edu/courses for more information.

Needless to say, snow days can really throw a wrench into the semester. And sure, it can be great to have an unexpected day off. But who really wants the semester to last longer or extend further into exam week? One solution is to weatherproof (or emergency-proof) your course, and Learning Support Services (LSS) has developed a few quick and simple strategies to help Mason faculty prepare for the inevitable.

“One of the rumors running around campus is that you can’t teach if campus is closed. Not true!” says Joseph Balducci, Manager of the Online Learning Resources team in LSS. “Snow is the latest set of challenges, but think of whole realm of reasons to create some flexibility within your course schedule. Converting a few things that you were going to do in class to an online environment is one really easy way to reclaim some of that class time.”

Artful Preparation

For Lynne Scott Constantine, an Assistant Professor in the School of Art, the lessons learned from last February have inspired careful planning and preparation for future snow days. In fact, she now includes her students in a weatherproofing conversation at the start of the semester. Also, through a range of alternate assignments like written responses and podcasts, students can complete coursework asynchronously and stay on track for the semester. With the discussion board in Blackboard, the interactivity of this seminar-style course can continue to flourish online.

“To be honest, I live in fear of anything resembling the challenges of last spring!” she shares. “I think the experience has changed my teaching in two specific ways: first…I now think of classroom management as a joint responsibility, [asking] students to talk through tough issues with me for a shared response; second, I have tried to rethink the thread of the [course] ‘narrative’ not as a taut directional line but as a series of loops and spirals.”

For faculty members who find that snow days cause a major disruption to the course schedule or even to class morale, they might consider Professor Constantine’s strategy from last spring – to ‘reboot’ the course. “We decided to make fools of ourselves,” she explains. “I brought in eight instruments, anything from a bass to a flute to an accordion. Everyone randomly chose a song to play on an instrument that they’d never played before, and it totally changed the feel of the class! Just let the students help you figure out the best solution.”

Resources and Support

In the event of an emergency or weather crisis that prevents students from attending class, Learning Support Services (LSS) has developed an academic preparedness guide to introduce alternative instructional options to Mason faculty. Topics cover communicating with students, delivering lectures and presentations, collecting assignments, and providing feedback, just to name a few. Also, several Just-in-Time videos are available for faculty who would like to become more familiar with Blackboard.

“Through discussion boards, blogs, wikis, even Kaltura, you can convert classroom activities to the online environment. But moving assignments or lectures online doesn’t mean that you have to rely on a tool that’s unfamiliar. It may even be as low-tech as phone conference or an optional study session,” says Balducci. “Just set clear expectations for your students. Put something in your syllabus to prepare them for alternative solutions.”

For more information and tips for weatherproofing your course, visit the Learning Support Services website.

Integrated directly into your course, Blackboard Collaborate is the perfect tool for virtual class meetings or office hours. See the LSS website for other Just-in-Time videos. Video courtesy of LSS.

Mason is dedicated to providing a culture of rich academic knowledge and experiential learning opportunities for all students, and one way to help achieve this is online learning. With hundreds of online sections to choose from each semester, all Mason students can take a combination of online and face-to-face courses to customize their learning experience and create a flexible schedule that fits their needs.

One such student is Anna White, a junior at Mason. After switching majors from dance to tourism and events management, White had some catching up to do for a few major courses. In the interest of time, she decided to see what options were available online. She quickly found that this hybrid academic approach allowed her to do much more than simply catch up.

“Even taking just one or two online classes greatly opens up my schedule. I can then fill my days with experiential learning in the industry, followed by online learning at night,” shares White. “Plus, I can fully engage in a class while still participating in more activities on campus. Online classes allow me to get the best of both worlds.”

Skill Building through Challenging Courses

With just one or two online courses mixed into her academic schedule, White has maximized her involvement across campus and focused on earning valuable professional experiences in the events management industry. What is most impressive is that she has accomplished all of this while taking courses full-time.

She has completed a variety of Mason Core and major requirements online, from introduction courses on computing and nutrition to TOUR 190: Wedding Planning and Management and PRLS 460: Sport and Recreation Law. This semester, she is enrolled in an online section of TOUR 340: Sustainable Tourism. Taking online courses has encouraged White to test and build her time management skills, engage fully in classes and coursework, learn to communicate effectively, and find a work-life balance.

“The good experiences that I’ve had with online courses have included student-to-student interaction, interesting assignments, and professors who are available and responsive,” says White. “My favorite online class was [TOUR 230] Introduction to Hospitality Management, because I was able to engage in group discussions, independent work, and field work. I had to work the hardest in this class, but it truly paid off. Online courses are what you make of them.”

Making the Most of Experiential Opportunities

Since her first year at Mason, White has jumped on every opportunity to develop professionally. The summer after her freshman year, she interned at Jungle Island in Miami, where she planned everything from weddings and galas to corporate events. Currently, White volunteers as Vice President of Events for Mason Ambassadors, coordinating admissions events and planning the annual celebratory banquet. She states, “As an ambassador, you’re a member of a group of leaders and a face for everyone to look up to. It’s a great experience. Years after giving my first tour, I’ve had students come back and interview to be ambassadors themselves.”

When St. Jude Children’s Hospital held an interest meeting to bring Mason Up ’til Dawn to campus, White didn’t hesitate to take on the role of Executive Director. She is also an active sister of Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, and she has worked as an event planning intern with Weekends at Mason, as a special events intern with the National Wildlife Federation, and as a senator in Mason’s Student Government.

“Experience is everything in my major. Online courses have given me room in my schedule to help plan admissions and fundraising events, coordinate with volunteers, and create budgets. These special experiences that I’ve chosen to be a part of would not be available if I didn’t have a flexible schedule,” explains White.

Looking Forward to Endless Possibilities

This semester, White hopes to further her career goals through a part-time job. Starting with guest services, she would like to practice her knowledge from the classroom through direct experience in the hotel industry, greeting guests, booking rooms, and solving routine issues before hopefully moving into event planning. As for her dream job, she is still deciding between a corporate environment, perhaps at an international resort, or a management position for a non-profit organization. By adding online courses to her schedule, White is well on her way to building the knowledge and experience she needs to be a career ready graduate.

But Anna is not simply an online learner. She is a dedicated Mason Patriot, and regardless of the career path she chooses, she recognizes Mason’s role in helping her get there. She shares, “I will say Mason has been the best experience ever, and I would never change my decision to apply to Mason. It has given me everything I could possibly want and more, experience, opportunities, and the tools I need to move on to my next step in life.”

“Not one word, not one gesture of yours shall I, could I, ever forget…”
– Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Summer courses are a great way to stay on track or even get ahead with academic goals, and an online format allows Mason students to take courses from anywhere. Whether you’re a local, out-of-state, or international student – or even traveling or on vacation – you can take online courses in your own time, from wherever you may be.

For students enrolled in FRLN 330: Topics in World Literature, the flexibility of online learning is only one of the many benefits. Dr. Christensen and her students spend five weeks diving into one of Leo Tolstoy’s most famous works, Anna Karenina, and it is clear that her students come away with more than just a fulfilled Mason Core requirement.

“This is a great general education course, and students truly learn a lot about literature,” says Dr. Christensen. “All students do well, and very few have taken this course and not ended up enjoying and really getting into the work.”

So, what elements make this the ideal summer course?

Challenging Content

As she only has five weeks of May and June to cover a novel full of rich cultural references and influential literary themes, Dr. Christensen sets clear expectations from the start. She organizes her Blackboard course in an intuitive and accessible way, and she spends the first week acclimating her students to the novel. Despite the fast pace of a summer session, Dr. Christensen aims to give her students the tools to read a text carefully and thoughtfully.

With an English translation as close as possible to the original Russian, she sees Anna Karenina as an excellent opportunity to teach students about Tolstoy’s background and to explore how the Russian language works. Given the complex content and compact timeline, Dr. Christensen maintains a consistent presence throughout the course to help students master an understanding of the material. She provides lecture videos, weekly individual feedback, and online multiple choice quizzes to engage students and ensure their success.

She shares, “With such a tight schedule, students must read carefully, and that can be a big challenge. But it’s such a great book, and they are able to get into a habit to meet the same requirements each week. If they know what’s expected, they do well.”

Meaningful Connections

Spending most of their time interacting with one another through discussions and group work, all 35 of Dr. Christensen’s students introduce themselves during the first week. They are randomly placed into small groups to collaborate on prompted questions, and these groups change each week to allow all students the chance to work together. This promotes a more personalized and thoughtful discussion when coming together as one large group for the final week of class.

“Online, students really have the chance to learn how to be good conversationalists. I incorporate asynchronous discussions so that my students can contribute wherever and whenever they have the time,” says Dr. Christensen. “They never have to come to campus, they just have to maintain a presence throughout the course. I’ve had students participate from Europe, California, and all different time zones.”

A Passionate Professor

Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the course is Dr. Christensen’s passion for the subject. Because most of this course is built and doesn’t require extensive updating, she looks forward to it each year as she is able to focus entirely on teaching and engaging with her students. With changes to curricula and class flow, this cannot always be accomplished in a traditional face-to-face setting. As with Tolstoy’s quote above, Dr. Christensen teaches this course with the hope that it instills a passion in her students, inspiring them for semesters to come.

“Sometimes it takes a great course to spark a student’s interest in literature, and this course can do that. I love what Tolstoy brings out in readers. He really makes them think, and I see such intelligent work and improved writing from my students,” shares Dr. Christensen. “Every year I think maybe they won’t like [Anna Karenina], but every year they get into it. I hope to teach this course every summer for as long as I can.”

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Did you know that all Mason students must complete the Mason Core general education requirements? Try FRLN 330 (Anna Karenina) with Dr. Christensen this summer – it is currently the only online course that fulfills the 3-credit Literature requirement!

For more information on available online courses, visit https://live-web-gmu.edu.help/courses/.

As the semester progresses, many offices on campus are finding new ways to support access to a quality education for all Mason students. One such office is the Assistive Technology Initiative (ATI). Part of the Office of Compliance, Diversity, and Ethics, ATI hosts accessibility experts who are trained to support individuals with disabilities and specialized learning styles. In addition to those with specific accessibility needs, the ATI team is also dedicated to providing free services and trainings to all Mason students, faculty, and staff.

“Accessibility applies to everyone, not only to those with disabilities,” explains Kara Zirkle, ATI’s IT Accessibility Coordinator. “To achieve an accessible education for all students, we are growing our focus to recognize and support a variety of different learning styles.”

One tool that helps ATI address and achieve this goal is Read & Write Gold. A texthelp^TM product, this popular text reading and writing software features a customizable toolbar and includes elements of reading support, writing and editing assistance, study and research skill building, and more.

A Natural Fit for Online Learning

Available for PC and Mac users, Read & Write Gold provides a variety of features that fit the needs of diverse learning styles. Software elements include document scanning and conversion, reading text aloud, highlighting, extracting text into audio formats, citation assistance, and speech-to-text, just to name a few. Some of these key features make the program a natural fit for online education. To start with, the program is already integrated into the Blackboard learning management system (LMS), so any Mason user can log in and download the program from the Blackboard module.

Other useful elements for online learning include Scanning, which allows you to scan print or digital documents directly into Read & Write Gold, as well as the Study Skills function. With the Study Skills Highlighters, for example, users can digitally highlight words or sections of text from any Microsoft Word document, PDF file, or internet article. This is an excellent tool for courses that involve online reading or studying, because these highlighted sections can be pulled into a new document to serve as a study guide, outline, or collection of sources for a research paper. Also, Speech Maker allows the user to select text and create an audio file, which is helpful for online learners who listen to documents on mobile devices.

“Read & Write Gold is a robust program that features something for everyone, and it’s especially useful for the online community,” shares Stephanie Robbins, ATI’s Program Support Specialist. “As long as you have a Mason ID and password, you can benefit from this program for free with no limit, so you can download the program to multiple devices.”

Ideal for Improved Reading and Writing Skills

While the program is a natural fit for the online learning environment, it is also a valuable tool for any student working to improve reading comprehension and writing skills. Perhaps the most popular function of the software, Text to Speech reads content from Word documents, PDF files, and internet articles aloud. Dual highlighting notes both the current sentence and word being read aloud, allowing the user to follow along with ease. Even the reading voice is customizable.

“Read & Write Gold is a great tool for international students who speak English as a second language. The combination of functions helps to build proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in English,” says Robbins. “Also, the interface is intuitive and easy to follow, pulling familiar toolbar elements from Word and providing a highly customizable experience.”

Other useful reading comprehension tools include an enhanced dictionary with word prediction capability, vocabulary assistance with word choice, spelling, grammar, and spellcheck, a pronunciation tutor, and a translator function. The software also provides citation assistance for MLA and APA styles.

Additional Resources

For faculty looking for a convenient way to create lecture videos and transcripts, ATI provides training on how to utilize the Speech to Text function in Read & Write Gold as a starting point. Another helpful tool for this purpose is Dragon NaturallySpeaking, which is a better fit for those who prefer to ‘speak off-the-cuff’ rather than prepare a detailed transcript ahead of time. This software is available for faculty working with the Instructional Design (ID) team housed in the Division of Instructional Design and Technology (DoIT), though all faculty are eligible for a demo and training through ATI.

So, whether you need assistance with reading comprehension, a more robust tool for studying online, or a quick and easy method of creating course transcripts, Read & Write Gold is a free resource that offers something for everybody. Zirkle notes, “It may seem like it’s too good to be true. But in this case, it’s not!”

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From accessibility testing and informal assessments to captioning and technical support, the Assistive Technology Initiative (ATI) provides many free services and trainings to the Mason community.

For full video tutorials on Read & Write Gold, visit ATI’s Video Training Library. Tutorial topics include how to utilize the toolbar and functions such as Study Skills, Speech Maker, Scanning, and PDF Aloud.

For more information or to schedule a software demo or training, contact [email protected].

Now is the perfect time to take advantage of a few of Mason’s many resources that are available for free to faculty and staff. Whether face-to-face or fully online, many courses use Blackboard to host course information and important resources. The Online Learning Resources (OLR) team can provide you with valuable expertise and a variety of trainings that prepare you for the many functions and aspects of Blackboard.

As part of the Division of Instructional Technology (DoIT), an arm of the Information Technology Unit (ITU), OLR supports the Blackboard learning management system (LMS) and provides training, strategies, and best practices for fostering student engagement and interaction through the LMS and other tools such as Blackboard Collaborate, Kaltura, Respondus Monitor, PB Works, and iTunes U.

“We have a lot of resources to offer. Faculty can play with new tools and see how one helps or how else we might directly meet their course objectives,” says Joseph Balducci, Manager of Online Learning Resources. “One new tool available is Course Blogs, powered by WordPress. Instructors have used the tool to create new types of interaction with their students, and students will likely encounter this software in professional environments.”

Training & Workshops

Blackboard is a robust system with many functionalities, including the ability to access external software and plug-ins from within the LMS. Balducci explains, “Blackboard acts as the hub for many of the resources available to faculty and staff. Our new media management platform, Kaltura, is deeply integrated so that users do not even realize they are accessing a separate system.”

Whether for a basic overview or advanced knowledge of Blackboard, the OLR team is a valuable resource available for free to all Mason faculty and staff. Many face-to-face and webinar-style workshops are scheduled throughout each semester, but OLR also encourages one-on-one or small group meetings to suit all users’ needs. Some of the workshops available include the following:

• Blackboard Courses 9.1 Basics
• Blackboard Courses 9.1: Assignments/SafeAssign
• Blackboard Courses 9.1: Grade Center
• Blackboard Collaborate Basics
• Kaltura Media for Blackboard
• Camtasia Studio 8: An Introduction to Screen Capture
• Camtasia Studio Advanced

For a full schedule of workshops, please see http://workshops.gmu.edu/workshops/online-learning-resources/.

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Have questions about trainings or workshops offered by Online Learning Resources? Contact [email protected].

Math can be a challenging subject in any format. But Prof. Joanna Boyette of Mason’s College of Science has discovered a few teaching strategies that allow her students to flourish – even online. “Once you go online, you rethink how you do everything else, in a good way,” she explains. “I’m redefining my own role in the classroom, asking questions as opposed to just answering them and putting together materials for students to do well and succeed.”

Prior to piloting her first online section of MATH 108 Business Statistics, Prof. Boyette even flipped her face-to-face course and entrusted that community of students to help her hone in on areas of improvement. Since then, Prof. Boyette has made continuous improvements to both her online and face-to-face courses, though two of her key strategies remain the same – setting clear expectations and encouraging meaningful interaction.

Clear Expectations

Online students not only access course materials at varying times, but they often underestimate the amount of work involved in online courses. To achieve an active and successful learning community, setting expectations in online or even flipped courses is important as the professor and students must be engaged and committed to making that mode work together.

“Conversing across technology is a bulky process, and math is such a written and verbal language. It’s important to create a safe space to ask questions,” suggests Prof. Boyette. “I also offer YouTube lectures and orientation videos to help students adjust to the online environment. You start to expect more from students, and then you can get to the heart of the material – the good stuff.”

While initially skeptical of the numerous assignments and high expectations of MATH 108, Jishnu Neupane found the online experience to be rewarding overall. “We had to do Piazza homework that linked to XYZ homework, which linked to the discussion board problem solving, and it was all tied up with a writing assignment,” explains Neupane. “I loved every part of the course. It challenged me to the max, and I found each part essential to hammering out the concepts.”

Meaningful Interaction

To help her students achieve this satisfaction and success within a challenging and demanding math course, Prof. Boyette emphasizes the importance of constructive interaction to develop class management and communication skills and create a personalized, productive dynamic.

“[The course] allowed us to interact with one another in the class through Piazza, which helped build an understanding of the concepts,” notes Usman Tahir. Rangin Hassan agrees, “My favorite part was probably the discussion board entries we had with the different students and helping each other out. It made it feel like it was a real class rather than just sitting on a computer.”

While group work creates an essential sense of community in a virtual environment, it also ensures consistent productivity and a chance for the professor to observe as well as engage. “These [online and flipped] modes are self-sufficient. If I miss a class, students don’t feel my absence or like anything was missing, because they are confident within their groups,” says Prof. Boyette. “I get to look at what students are doing and get a peek in how their brains are working, watching that feedback between students.”

Opportunities for All

As an option to fulfill the Mason Core requirement for Quantitative Reasoning, MATH 108 is a course that every Mason undergraduate can take. While Hassan saw the online course as an opportunity to avoid early morning commutes, Tahir enrolled in order to stay on track with prerequisite requirements after switching majors. In addition to scheduling and commute benefits, online courses also allow Mason to reach a growing population of non-traditional students.

“I really like teaching online. I get to help improve students’ technical proficiency and participate in a lot of dynamic communities,” shares Prof. Boyette. “Thinking about student populations that truly benefit from online learning, helping people reach those opportunities, and reaching a new demographic of students – I really enjoy that, and supporting these students is an important role for Mason to play.”

Prof. Boyette is committed to ensuring her students’ success, and her passion for reaching and supporting new student populations through the online medium is inspiring. In the words of one of her students, “The most interesting aspect of the class was Professor Boyette herself.”

In the past year, George Mason University has truly stepped up its drive to achieve the goal of becoming a model well-being university. Offices and departments like the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being have boosted the number of fun and creative well-being activities available on campus, and students, faculty, and staff are embracing the value of a healthy lifestyle, whether at home, at work, or in class.

When it comes to supporting the university’s mission of well-being, Professor Luanne Norden of the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism is an active advocate. In her online section of HEAL 110: Personal Health, Professor Norden strives to get her students interested in their own health, motivating them to improve their overall well-being and empowering them to thrive in all aspects of their daily lives.

“This personal health course is really all about recognizing specific aspects of personal health and identifying ways to improve it,” she explains. “I’m leading my students to more information and resources to put them in charge of their own health, and that’s my ultimate goal.”

Engaging Students through Personal Interests

So how does Professor Norden capture her students’ interest in studying personal health? Easy – the content is directly relevant to them. One of the projects in the course, and a student favorite, is a personal change plan. Students set a health goal to work on throughout the semester, ranging from exercising three times a week to drinking more water, eating more fruits and vegetables, and getting more sleep. There is also an optional health assessment, which provides students with private information to help set effective goals.

At the midpoint and end of the semester, students report on their goals and methods for achieving them. “Students really like this project! They like the fact that they have to set a goal to improve their own health, and all along the way they’re gaining more knowledge,” says Norden. “Ultimately, they like that the course is directly relevant to their own personal interests.”

Providing a Comprehensive Look at Well-Being

Another great aspect of the course is that it offers a comprehensive look at well-being. Topics cover mental and emotional health, fitness, nutrition, environmental health, and much more. For the chapter on mental and emotional wellbeing, the content is tied to something that all college students find useful at one point or another – stress management. As a fun assignment, Professor Norden has students test out different stress management strategies and report on them, discussing tools that Mason currently offers and potential opportunities for the future.

What’s more, Professor Norden illuminates the value of a lifelong commitment to well-being, and she often finds that many students extend their efforts and goals past the barrier of a given academic semester. “Really this course is about presenting the concepts required just to live an active life,” she says. “One of the discussion boards focuses on lifetime activities, so I introduce them to all different types of options, like badminton, curling, even pickleball. Since some of these activities are new to them, they’re always interested to discuss them and learn more.”

Creating an Accessible Learning Environment

To support the students’ personal interest in the course content, Professor Norden ensures that the Blackboard course is easy to access and navigate. She breaks the semester content into weekly schedules or modules, with a quiz or assignment due for each. For the module on nutrition knowledge, students keep track of what they eat for a few days and assess the nutritional value of their typical meals.

She suggests, “My goal is to make it easy for the students to learn the content. After all, the content is what we want them to walk away with! My students often comment that they really like the structure of the course, as it’s easy to stay on track and everything makes sense.”

To achieve this, Professor Norden makes constant efforts to update and improve the course, adding or modifying sections, providing more information, and incorporating student feedback. At the midpoint of each semester, she distributes an optional survey to gain students’ perspective of how the course is going. She notes, “I tweak the course all the time, which keeps it interesting for me, too. I’ll even get a new idea from a conference or professional development session and say, ‘That’s a neat method, I want to do that instead!’”

Fostering a Well-Being Community Online

If students aren’t sure whether online courses are right for them, HEAL 110 is a great place to start. Students who work full-time or have other commitments can complete work during the evenings or on the weekends, and healthy activities can be easily integrated into any aspect of their daily routine. Plus, this course brings together students from all levels – freshmen to seniors – which cannot be accomplished in many courses yet allows for active and robust discussions.

Professor Norden happily shares, “Students say they actually like doing work in this course! In addition to the content being relevant and vital to everyday life, the online environment has received a lot of favorable feedback. Many students have commented that [HEAL 110] was their first online course and was a great experience. It is the perfect course for students to try online.”

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Professor Norden was also the recipient of a 2013 Distance Education Award! Part of the annual Human Resources Outstanding Achievement Awards ceremony, this award is given to a faculty and staff member whose efforts support quality online course offerings at Mason.