Thread by @DrKillgrove

Since all the cool kids are doing it, here are my suggestions for faculty finding themselves required to pivot to online biological anthropology courses this week. (Thread!)

#anthropology #pedagogy #online #COVID2019 #coronavirus

Tricks to putting (particularly introductory) courses online = 1) split your lectures into short videos using Camtasia/Zoom/etc.,
2) link to others' video resources (e.g., @SciShow), and
3) ask your students to do their own research/homework/lab projects.

I'd recommend making sure everything you do is *asynchronous*. You don't know when/how/if students have broadband access. You don't know their home responsibilities (caregiving duties, etc.). Best not to assume everyone can call in/zoom/skype for a synchronous meeting.

For intro to biological anthropology, here is my (now a bit dated) syllabus from my previous job:

academia.edu/30769884/Intro…

For example, there are primate cams at zoos worldwide. Have students watch and record behavior. There are 3D models of hominin skulls all over the place, like this page from the Smithsonian, so students can collect data and compare morphology:

humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/3d-co…

I have a bunch of labs made up for online intro bio anth, so feel free to email/DM me and I'm happy to share!

My advice is pretty much the same for Intro (four-field) Anthro, whose syllabus is here:

academia.edu/30774626/Intro…

And for pivoting a forensics course, I did a "forensics in the media" online class that students really enjoyed, under a similar model. Short videos, ask students to critique and discuss media presentations of forensics/osteology.

academia.edu/27899139/Foren…

Best assignment for that forensics class? Having them watch some short videos I made on ethics, and then asking them to figure out how much it costs / how easy it is to buy real human bones on the internet. They were shocked, and it led to fantastic discussions!

Finally, I've never moved an osteology course online, but in Florida, we always had to have hurricane contingency plans in the event the university was closed for a week or two. Also, my students couldn't always study in the bone lab. So my grad students did this project...

"ROGeR" is a digitized human skeleton from the UWF teaching collection. The 3D models are annotated with basic osteological landmarks, that are clickable so students can learn more about them.

poweredbyosteons.org/2016/04/digiti…

These human bone models can be browsed on a smartphone, computer, or tablet, and are available at SketchFab. Project was led by @theanthrolife and @janiejaneh, presented as a poster at the 2016 AAPAs.

sketchfab.com/mzechini/colle…

Hope these resources help those of y'all scrambling to move your courses online. Feel free to email or DM me with questions/requests for labs/etc. I'm teaching exclusively online now, and have plenty of ideas for how you can make your life easier and your students' learning fun!