POSTER C3

Posted byScholarly Teaching in LinguisticsPosted inSession C

All in With Google Slides: Virtual engagement and formative assessment in introductory sign language linguistics

Leah C. Geer, California State University, Sacramento

This poster shares my “all in with Google Slides” approach to building engaging, searchable, self-paced slide presentations. This method was inspired by challenges of virtual instruction in an introductory sign language linguistics course. These slides allow students to gauge whether they’ve mastered the content through formative assessments in the slides.

Watch this 1-minute video

Learn more here

Link to accessible Google Doc can be found immediately below the following image:

Image of POSTER C3. Background image: Mostly transparent grid of a slide deck. There is a mix of images and text but these are mostly indiscernible because of the transparency. First slide screenshot: Screenshot of a slide labeled “1.3 Mental Grammar.” Bullets on the slide read “Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics”. The middle three are bolded. Next to the bullet list is an image of concentric circles reiterating these levels of linguistic structure. Next to the image is the thumbnail of a video. There is a small video icon in the top right corner of this slide. Slide thumbnails screenshot: Images of slides with an informal, formative assessment built into the slides. The first reads “Let’s Play a Game”, the next has instructions for the activity and the third has the first question. Next there is a slide that says “Answer,” followed by the slide with the answer to the question posed two slides prior. Final slide screenshot: Screenshot of a slide labeled “Getting Started” with text below it, some of which is a different color indicating the presence of a hyperlink. Next to the text there’s a screenshot of the Twitter Profile for ASL SLAASh, which students are directed to through the hyperlink on the slide. There is a paperclip logo at the bottom of the slide indicating embedded materials.

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic forced instruction online, presenting significant challenges for teaching an introductory sign language linguistics course. To meet this challenge, I completely revamped how I design slides that are engaging, searchable, self-paced and include built-in formative assessments.

Screenshot of a slide labeled “1.3 Mental Grammar.” Bullets on the slide read “Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics”. The middle three are bolded. Next to the bullet list is an image of concentric circles reiterating these levels of linguistic structure. Next to the image is the thumbnail of a video. There is a small video icon in the top right corner of this slide.
Image 1: Google slide featuring searchable text and short embedded video elaborating on slide content
Images of slides with an informal, formative assessment built into the slides. The first reads “Let’s Play a Game”, the next has instructions for the activity and the third has the first question. Next there is a slide that says “Answer,” followed by the slide with the answer to the question posed two slides prior.
Image 2: Illustrating an engaging formative assessment using Google Slides
Screenshot of a slide labeled “Getting Started” with text below it, some of which is a different color indicating the presence of a hyperlink. Next to the text there’s a screenshot of the Twitter Profile for ASL SLAASh, which students are directed to through the hyperlink on the slide. There is a paperclip logo at the bottom of the slide indicating embedded materials.
Image 3: Illustration of logos indicating embedded content in Google Slides

Discussion

Students have shared that they appreciate

  • interactive slides
  • built-in assessments to gauge mastery of course content
  • how quick it feels to work through the slides because the lecture videos are short and broken up with activities
  • having access to additional resources as needed.

References

  • Börstell. C. [@c_borstell]. (2019, September 27). #GlossGesang: “Always present sign language data in a visual format (videos/images) without relying solely on glossing.” Is this a good definition? #TISLR13 (Compare it to the #BenderRule: “Always name the language(s) you’re working on.” [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/c_borstell/status/1177498599992610823 
  • Hill, J. C., Lillo-Martin, D. C., & Wood, S. K. (2019). Sign Languages: Structures and Contexts (Routledge Guides to Linguistics) (1st ed.). Routledge.
  • Hochgesang, J.A., Crasborn, O. & Lillo-Martin, D. C. (2017-2020) ASL Signbank. New Haven, CT: Haskins Lab, Yale University. https://aslsignbank.haskins.yale.edu/

Additional Materials

Click here for accessible Google Doc of supplemental materials and accompanying videos.

This presentation is part of the organized session on Scholarly Teaching in Linguistics in the Age of Covid-19 and Beyond at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. For correspondence regarding this particular presentation, please contact the author(s) at the email address listed above.

Check out our other POSTER panel presentations:

POSTER Session A: Course Design [11:00am]
  1. Using a Class Wiki to Facilitate Community and Linguistic Inclusivity (Bjorndahl)
  2. Offline vs. Online Modalities in Extracurricular Programming (Lucovich)
  3. Diversifying the Field: Activities to make linguistics more relevant (Mantenuto)
  4. ADA Compliance and Teaching Linguistics Online: Best practices and resources (Miller)
  5. Contract grading in Introductory Linguistics: Creating motivated self-learners (Paraskevas)
  6. Course Design Principles for a More Diverse Professoriate (Truong)
  7. Rethinking Extra Credit: How gamification can reduce grade inflation and strengthen soft skills (Welch)
POSTER Session B: Learning Activities [11:30am]
  1. Podcasting in a Pandemic for Teaching, Outreach, and Justice (Anderson, Bjorkman, Desmeules-Trudel, Doner, Currie Hall, Mills, Sanders, Taniguchi)
  2. Interactive Activities for Asynchronous Introduction to Linguistics (Curtis)
  3. Team Based Learning and English Grammar: Building community and lowering affect (Launspach)
  4. Replacing Traditional Sections With Teams-based Groupwork: Remote learning and beyond (Lee)
  5. Journaling About Progress and Errors (Nordquist)
  6. Making Online Group Work Appealing Through Wikipedia Editing (Stvan)
  7. The impact of Metacognition in Linguistics Courses (Vallejos & Rodríguez-González)
POSTER Session C: Teaching a Specific Topic in Linguistics [12:00pm]
  1. From “Hello World!” to Fourier Transforms: Teaching linguistics undergraduates to code in ten weeks or less (Blaylock)
  2. Active Learning and Self-regulation in Introductory Syntax (Bunger)
  3. All in With Google Slides: Virtual engagement and formative assessment in introductory sign language linguistics (Geer)
  4. Fostering Learner Investment Through Objectives-based Evaluation and Structured Independent Research Projects (Nee & Remirez)
  5. Teaching Grammaticality with Online Tools (Rapp Young)
  6. Ten Trees a Day: How Gwilym the Trilingual Buffalo and Insights from Learning Science Can Improve Syntax Skills (Santelmann)
  7. Teaching Teachers Phonetics: The design and implementation of an asynchronous online English phonetics course (Weinberger, Almalki & Olesova)

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