6.8 Faculty spotlight: Janice Stewart

Janice Stewart

In her edX course, Gender and Sexuality: Applications in Society, Dr. Janice Stewart posts weekly announcements that include short, informal videos where she reflects on the week’s discussions and activity. The videos create an opportunity for her to highlight material from the course lecture, provide commentary based on student activity in the discussion forum, and make connections to relevant current events. Video announcements are an effective way for online instructors to provide generalized feedback and respond to students. This approach is particularly effective in large enrolment courses, where it may be time consuming to respond to individual student questions. The informal nature and responsiveness of the videos increases the sense of connection between students and the instructor and increases the sense of instructor presence.

Here is an example from Dr. Stewart’s course:

Gender and Sexuality: Module 3 is Open!

Well done!

It was great to see how active the Discussion board was for Module 2. Starting these kinds of complicated discussions can be difficult, but as a class you really stepped up and talked about complex and challenging subjects with a great deal of dexterity and sensitivity. I was particularly impressed with the respectful ways you addressed both the topics being discussed AND each other. I have posted a video discussing some of my reflections in the Module 2 Wrap Up.

This week we are going to take a look at some elements of pop culture—and think about how pop culture is intricately involved in ‘making’ and ‘unmaking’ our ideas of sex and gender. We are going to look at a wide range of pop cultural forms—Shakespeare, fairytales, drag, TV, Netflix, video games, activist art installations—to investigate how femininity, masculinity, and everything in between are produced, represented, and consumed.

I am really looking forward to reading what you have to say about your own favourite pieces of fiction this week. You will be using tools like the Bechdel test to assess these pieces of fiction and the implications of passing and failing of these tests. This class has already shown it can engage intelligently with complex topics and show sophisticated insight and a real understanding of underlying structures that might be overlooked by casual observers.

See you in the Discussion Board,
Janice