Teaching Physiology in a Large Lecture During Covid: The Power of Reflection and Learning Who My Students Are

Abstract

The year 2020 brought challenges to every facet of our daily lives, and higher education was no exception. As a member of the teaching faculty at a large, diverse, and multicultural university, it was an overwhelming task to make the online experience in a large lecture course as impactful as it was when offered in person. Systems Physiology at Rutgers University is a junior/senior level course for exercise science majors and a recommended elective for students considering the health professions. In the fall 2020 semester, I wanted to do something beyond teaching physiology. I reached out to my network of friends and colleagues in the professional world of healthcare, science, and education. Between March 2020 and August 2020, I conducted twelve interviews with individuals in different avenues of the science and healthcare world ? one medical student, two physician assistants, one physical therapist, one athletic trainer, two physicians, one dentist, one medical researcher, one pharmacist, one high school chemistry teacher, and one coach. Students were required to watch at least two of the interviews. The assignment worth ten percent of their grade was to write a one-page reflection on the impact of these two interviews along with a self-reflection of where they are in discerning their own career path. Student feedback on the assignment was overwhelmingly positive, with one student commenting that ?this was an assignment I did not even realize I needed.? An unintended outcome of this assignment was that I was able to learn so much more about the backgrounds, motivations, challenges, and aspirations of the students in my course. I intend to assign and improve on this reflection writing in the future and encourage others, in this distracted, fast-paced world, to challenge their students to pause and reflect.