Faculty Spotlight:Dr. Janice Ziarko
Since 2003, I have been a systems engineering instructor and course manager for the JHU Engineering for Professionals program, while working full-time in a federally funded research and development center. After retiring in 2018, I was able to sign up for the 2019 Faculty Forward program. This experience created a deeper awareness for me about student engagement and the bench strength of JHU faculty across the university.
One surprise for my own teaching was discovered by taking a Blackboard course in the program. I gained new insights about online learning and the use of technology from the student perspective. Taking an online course as a student “learning about learning” from education professionals stepped me through the same delights and frustrations that my students experience. I have a new appreciation for how we implement our courses.
This experience created a deeper awareness for me about student engagement and the bench strength of JHU faculty across the university.
A change implemented in one course that I teach and manage was setting the same baseline and course structure for multiple sections of the same course, virtual or live. Finding ways to bring forward the expertise of individual instructors teaching different sections, while relying on recorded content by one instructor on a topic, was part of this change. Improved grading rubrics helped to calibrate all of the instructors teaching the same course. The upgrades to the rubrics also helped to better clarify expectations to the students. An instructional designer worked with me to make this change.
Open discussions as part of the Faculty Forward program revealed many new insights from my colleagues, including a discussion about new approaches to engage students in online discussions. One exercise that was part of the on-site agenda stands out in my memory. The topic was “Ultra-Engaging Online and Blended Learning.” Dr. Curt Bonk, the facilitator, jumped onto a table to begin a discussion. In a few seconds, he grabbed attention and engaged us as students! My approach to developing a new course will include a better way to engage students in live streams for online discussions using a tool such as MS Teams.
Keywords: Faculty Forward Fellowship
Contributor Bio
Dr. Janice Ziarko, Faculty Forward Fellow, Cohort 2019
Dr. Ziarko has worked on federal agency programs and projects for Treasury/IRS, DoD, NASA, EPA, GSA, DOI, and the USPS. In the 1990s, she joined Litton/PRC’s Federal Systems leadership team as a Measurement Program Manager for a nation-wide USPS telephony acquisition program and member of the USPS Corporate Internet Steering Committee. In 2018, she retired from MITRE where she was a Program Manager/Systems Engineer for organizational analytics, technical workforce development, and systems engineering efforts. Since 2003, she has taught systems engineering courses with JHU Engineering for Professionals.