Su'ad Yoon, PhD

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Pedagogy Example #2 

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Implementation Report: Engaging Presentations with Technology

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Describe Plan: For this implementation, I used a website called “PopGen II” as a simulation activity alongside my PowerPoint presentation. This is a website that models population genetics and microevolutionary processes. I used this website (by sharing my screen) to show them how to run simulations, and then they followed along with a worksheet. After running several simulations, I returned back to my PowerPoint to go over basic concepts and help them interpret the simulations. The goal of this activity was to make the content more engaging, by having them follow along with the simulation rather than just passively listen to a lecture on population genetics. Students were given a week after the presentation to finish the worksheet, although it was short enough that they could have finished it during section.

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Examine Implementation: Overall, I think the activity went well. Students were engaged and asked questions during the simulations, which I think would not have happened if I had simply given a traditional presentation. The only challenge I encountered was switching back and forth from my slides to the website, which was slightly inconvenient. In the future, I should poll students to see what they thought of the activity/presentation. After I grade the worksheets (next week), I will be able to get a better sense of how students did with the assignment.

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Offer reflections: Overall, I think the activity was a success. It was more engaging for the students compared to a traditional presentation. However, it was nice to still have the PowerPoint slides available for them (posted after class). That way, they could review the slides after class if needed. I also posted a recording of the discussion section so that they could review everything we went over regarding the simulation activity.