UMBC Mic'd Up
UMBC Mic'd Up
Elevating Education: Strategies for Transformative Teaching and Learning
Dennise Cardona sits down with Samantha Berg, a dedicated PhD candidate in Human Services Psychology at UMBC. Samantha shares her enriching journey through the College Teaching and Learning Science Graduate Certificate Program and offers valuable insights into how this program has been a game-changer for her.
Discover how the program's dynamic approach to teaching has equipped Samantha with a diverse set of techniques for engaging learners of all kinds. From creative learning activities to the art of curriculum design, this conversation sheds light on the myriad ways education can be elevated.
🌟 Highlights:
The Power of Diverse Teaching Techniques
Designing Engaging Curriculum: Beyond PowerPoint
Embracing the Future with AI in Curriculum Development
The Supportive Community of Peers and Dedicated Faculty
🚀 Whether you're an educator, a student, or simply passionate about the art of teaching, this episode offers invaluable insights into the world of higher education. Join us in this exploration of how education can be transformed and elevated.
📚 Dive deeper into UMBC's College Teaching and Learning Science Graduate Certificate Program: https://professionalprograms.umbc.edu/college-teaching-and-learning-science/
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell to stay updated with our latest episodes!
#Education #TeachingStrategies #UMBCGraduateProgram #TransformativeLearning #ElevateEducation
Dennise Cardona 0:00
Welcome to UMBC Mic'd Up podcast. My name is Dennise Cardona from the Office of Professional Programs at UMBC. Today we are going to be talking with a current student in our college teaching and learning science graduate certificate program. Her name is Samantha Berg, I hope you enjoy this episode. Hey, welcome to the podcast. It's wonderful to have you here. Samantha on UMBC's Mic'd Up podcast.
Samantha Berg 0:25
Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
Dennise Cardona 0:27
So I understand you are currently in the graduate program, the certificate program for college teaching and learning science at UMBC. How is that going for you so far?
Samantha Berg 0:40
It's going really great. I really appreciate the coursework and the faculty commitment to it. And I'm really enjoying learning about teaching.
Dennise Cardona 0:49
Absolutely. So just to give us a little background, could you let us know what the path was, led you here to the program at UMBC?
Samantha Berg 0:58
Sure, I am a current PhD student in UMBC's, Human Services Psychology program. And I was I learned about this teaching certificate program through one of the faculty members in my department. And it sounded like something that would be really interesting, because I have done, I have been a graduate teaching assistant before this, and undergraduate teaching assistant as well. So it seemed like something that would be really interesting for me, because I really enjoyed those positions I had. So I wanted to learn more. And it's sort of just one thing led to another and then I started taking the certificate program.
Dennise Cardona 1:35
How is that being a PhD student candidate, as well as in a certificate program? Is that, how do you balance that all out?
Samantha Berg 1:45
I think I think it works well, because I feel like the certificate program, it's really great in that it balances well with schedules. So in my certificate course, some of my classmates are working professionals, some are other students as well. And they tend to be really good about the learning schedule, there's usually asynchronous learning options. So I didn't find it hard to balance at all. The PhD part is a lot of work, that's for sure. And I don't want to take away from the fact that I, we have assignments in our teaching certificate program, but it was nice that it was structured in a way that I could do it when it worked for me during the week.
Dennise Cardona 2:25
Absolutely. So you're in the PhD program, you're in the certificate program, what kind of what is your ideal future look like when it comes to the career path that this will, these both of these things will lead you to?
Samantha Berg 2:38
I think I'm still learning, I'm still figuring out my ideal career path. But I know that I like to have teaching be part of it. So if I'm my PhD is in Human Services, psychology, and it's focusing on clinical psychology, so even if but even if I end up working as a clinician, I'd still like to teach in an adjunct faculty position of some kind. Or maybe I do more of a full teaching position and do clinical work on the side or something like that. But I know that I just really enjoy working with learners, I enjoy designing lectures, and I enjoyed the the aspect of of teaching. So I know I want that to be part of my life in some capacity.
Dennise Cardona 3:18
It's interesting, because you and I both share similar interests when it comes to learning and teaching I just graduated from, with my master's in Learning and Performance Technology at UMBC. And that's I went into that program, just taking one course at a time thinking I'll do a certificate program at first. And then I just loved it. I loved learning about learning theories, and just the application of learning and how to design curriculum. It's amazing when you think about the future and your potential when it comes to helping learners get to that mastery that they need in order to be successful out there in the world. And I don't know about you, but I felt like that was probably my biggest pull towards that industry is just knowing that hmm, I can help. I can help bring them to that mastery by learning the science behind instruction, because there is a science behind it. Sure, some of it's an art. But I think for the majority if there is a science behind it, there's a way to develop curriculum that helps bring learners to that engagement that we all strive to do that we all strive to meet as instructors, and even as students, right we want to be able to be engaged when we're taking these classes and I've had both, I've had both experiences and so it's really great to be able to be able to learn how to design that when so far in the program the certificate, in the certificate program. How has, what have you learned so far? Have there been any lightbulb moments for you in the classroom learning about how to this design curriculum in an adult learning environment?
Samantha Berg 5:04
I think maybe I guess not necessarily a lightbulb moment. But there was a section of a course that I was taking where it was different techniques for teaching, like different learning activities for different group sizes. And I had known about a couple of them. But this grouping of suggestions for learning activities, there must have been over 15 or 20 different, completely different activities. And I think I was just struck for a second, that you can really get creative. As a teaching professional, you can really get creative as someone who's trying to engage. And there's not a lot of activities that people would so call up to their minds, like people would just know how to do. But once you learn how to do them, and once you see how to do them, they stick with us. I think that was a big thing, realizing that there's not just one way to teach, and I had known a little bit even you don't have to do, for example, just PowerPoint slides, you could do discussions, but there's way more than that. There's, there's significantly more than that as well.
Dennise Cardona 6:08
Absolutely. Yeah, like role playing,
Samantha Berg 6:12
There's role playing,
Dennise Cardona 6:13
Yeah, it's a lot of fun. I don't know if you've experimented with AI yet, when it comes to cost curriculum, have you towed into learning how to use AI to brainstorm different activities for learning for being able to apply learning in the classroom?
Samantha Berg 6:32
I haven't yet but I could definitely see the application.
Dennise Cardona 6:35
Yeah, it's fun. So I was currently designing some learning for this Fall semester, I teach. And I learned, I went into AI chat GPT. And I just played around with some ideas and you have to tweak it, it's not something that you can just take verbatim and go run with, I think that you want that human element and you want to be able to really think about your learners and your learning audience. But it really does help. It's almost like an assistant, a creative assistant, to be able to bounce ideas off of and say no, I don't like this, tweak it this way. And it's just it's really fascinating. And I'm really interested to see where AI and technology takes curriculum development and all of that. Just learning science. I'm really curious where the future is and what that looks like.
Samantha Berg 7:25
Yeah, I think it'll change the way that everything is done.
Dennise Cardona 7:30
Absolutely. So enrolling in the program, enrolling in the graduate program, what were your expectations? What were the expectations from the program? And have they been met so far with what you've taken?
Samantha Berg 7:45
I think I think overall, I expected to learn more about the theory of teaching to learn about pedagogy to learn about the not only how to be a good instructor, but how do you design curriculum and how to do the basic components that aren't so intuitive as people would think. And I think it's been meeting my expectations. level of how to design your course syllabus, so that it's done on how to design your course curriculum so that it makes sense and what our learning objectives. And I think I really appreciated that it went beyond just how to teach and into how to design a course, which I found to be very helpful.
Dennise Cardona 8:32
That's really powerful. Yeah, absolutely. That sounds like really great takeaways to be able to go out there and apply that right away with what you're doing. In terms of the peers in your program. Was there much, is there much collaboration on you working on projects together? And what does that look like?
Samantha Berg 8:53
Yeah, so in each of the courses that I've taken, so far, there's been opportunities to provide feedback to classmates on various insights, things like discussion posts, and even some virtual real time discussion in some cases. And I found that my classmates and I were able to share our unique perspectives that informed the material we were learning. So none of, in at least the courses that I've taken so far, none of my classmates and I had the same background and the same position. So it was really interesting to see what everybody was talking about what we were all discussing and what our perspective was, and then to give good feedback on that and learn from that, for example, I'm still currently a student, there were people who are working professionals, there are people who are students and working professionals and at different levels throughout as well like different levels of being a student different level of being working professionals. That was really, I found that really helpful to be able to learn about the course through the lens of different folks.
Dennise Cardona 9:48
Absolutely. There's a lot of power in that. Absolutely. What about the faculty? How are the faculty contributing to your learning process and your learning journey?
Samantha Berg 9:58
Yeah, I would definitely say the faculty really practice what they teach. So in the courses that I've taken so far, I've been able to learn about effective methods to teach college learners while taking part in these methods as a student. And I really appreciate that the faculty in the program seem very dedicated to teaching and committed to answering any questions students have. And each of the courses that I've taken with different faculty, everyone on the faculty has made it very clear, they're there to answer questions. They're there as support, they're there to teach. They're there to help us learn. I always felt supported, as well as too, in my first course that I took, and to name somebody in particular, Dr. Susan Bureau taught my first class in the program. And I really appreciated her specific feedback on submissions, and the time she allowed for meetings to discuss course content.
Dennise Cardona 10:41
Absolutely. Among the courses that you've taken so far, has it been a favorite?
Samantha Berg 10:47
I think, actually, I don't have a favorite course. And I thought about it, but I don't think I do. I feel like the material, it really builds on itself. And to say one is my favorite. I mean, like, let's also including everything from all these other courses, I will say I have enjoyed the material and each of the courses I've taken.
Dennise Cardona 11:02
That's a great answer. And you're right. It's all about scaffolding and everything builds on each other. And I understand that that's a great way to learn, though, right? Is scaffolding, is starting with a great foundation, having a great base, and then building those skills from there. And yeah, absolutely. So is there any additional information that you want to share maybe with a prospective student, somebody listening in on this podcast or viewing this on YouTube? Who might be really interested in learning about college teaching and learning science and how they can become learning professionals out there? What if they're on the fence about do I really need this certificate program? What would you say to them?
Samantha Berg 11:50
I would say go for it. If you've been thinking about it, I found it to be not only interesting, but some it was an enjoy. It's something I enjoyed as being part of my schedule is being part of the coursework I'm doing as a student. And it's something that I think I've learned a lot about, I think, I think every teaching professional at some point should have to take something where they learned a course like this. And I know that they have like workshops available and things like that. But I know that also not everybody has the same amount of learning about teaching. And I found that this is the program that's going to equip you with the tools and the skills you need to be the most engaging, effective and really supportive instructor to students. I think another thing logistically I would mention is the coursework is primarily online. And I found this to be really beneficial with my tax schedule. It is something to be mindful of, though, just for students to be aware of, but I found it to be very helpful.
Dennise Cardona 12:42
Yeah, that's a good point I, I absolutely understand, especially working professionals, it's can can be very desirable to be learning in an online format. So you don't have to commute to campus and extend your your day even longer than that. So that's a really good point. Thank you. Thank you for bringing that up. So I want to thank you so much for being with us today sharing your insights about the program. It's been wonderful to hear your journey so far. And really, wish you great success as you move forward in your PhD program and you finish out these courses in the certificate program.
Samantha Berg 13:19
Yeah, thanks so much for your time and for inviting me today.
Dennise Cardona 13:23
Thanks for listening to this episode. I hope you enjoyed it. If you'd like to learn more about our offerings, do a search for UMBC college teaching and learning science graduate certificate program, or simply click the link in the description.