Dr. Caroline Parsons is an associate professor of Communication Studies and recipient of UA’s 2022 Morris L. Mayer Award. She teaches a variety of courses through different modalities in the Communications department. Her research interests include instructional communication and interpersonal communication. Watch an interview with Dr. Parsons to learn more about her teaching journey and how she approaches building community in her courses.
Video Transcript:
I am an associate professor of Communication Studies here at The University of Alabama, and I teach courses like interpersonal communication, critical decision-making and capstone seminar in communication studies.
Tell us about your teaching background and what inspired you to become an educator.
Oh, well, I think I always knew I wanted to be a teacher because I was one of those children who lined up her dolls and teddy bears in a circle and taught them “class,” you know, and I was blessed with having wonderful teachers throughout my whole academic life.
And my parents were my first teachers who certainly inspired me to get into teaching and they encouraged me in the teaching of my teddy bears. And, uh, for 30 years, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.
Is there a particular teaching moment or experience that stands out in your career? Could you share that with us?
Well, over the decades I’ve seen a lot of students transform. It is why I get out of bed in the morning. I love to see the light bulbs go off for students in the classroom and for them to become comrades with one another and just to witness their transformation is a, is a real pleasure of teaching.
Um, recently there’s so many good examples, but recently I had a student in my COM 499 senior capstone class, which is sometimes a very intimidating class for students who have senioritis and are about to graduate.
But this particular student was trying to decide on her capstone project idea and, um, she knew she wanted to work in the local community, empowering women. And so she managed to, uh, she selected a local nonprofit to be her capstone project.
She did an organizational field study of a local nonprofit for women. And they enjoyed having her in the staff meetings and in the interviews about the job, so much about the work, that they offered her an internship.
And the internship went so well they offered her a full-time job after she graduated. So that’s one of my students who did what I think we’re trying to empower all of our students to do.
And that is discover their passion for what they want to do with this communication degree, which can be so broad, and then find a place to put those skills to work.
And the student did exactly that. So that’s just one recent example, but there’ve been so many and the students are, um, just a joy when they can transform in that way.
Innovative teaching methods can make a profound impact on students. What unique or creative approaches do you use in your classroom to engage and inspire your students?
Yeah. Engaging students in the classroom is, uh, it requires that you get to know them and community-building is such a big part of my teaching philosophy. Um, I meet the students where they’re at and early in the semester, I work really hard to learn their names and get them to learn each other’s names so that in those first few weeks of the class starting on the first day, you are getting them to say their own name as many times as possible.
And then you’re asking students in the class to repeat the names they remember. And I’m trying to repeat the names I remember, but I feel there’s a lot to be said for memorizing students’ names.
Taking a picture of your class maybe, and, and, um, trying to remember the name of each person in the picture, uh, looking at their pictures on Blackboard, of course. And then when you’re in the classroom with them, try to say their names as, as often as you can, or even get them to use name plates and name tents on their desks so that, um, they really establish an identity in the course and they feel seen and heard.
So the community building and learning names is important to me. I, uh, I do these self-introductions in my class in a number of ways. On the first day of class, of course, we do an in icebreaker and everybody goes around the room.
And I also have them introduce themselves on Flipgrid, which is an innovative tool you can use if you’re teaching online or in person. You can use your Blackboard to refer people to Flipgrid and they make a video introducing themselves, so they’re getting another chance to say their name and feel seen and heard. And I also have them sometimes just use discussion board to introduce themselves, tell a little bit about themselves, put a picture of them doing a fun hobby or activity.
So by week three, I do my best to learn all the names and a little bit about my students and build that community so everybody feels they’re part of the class.
Teaching often involves adapting and evolving. Can you share an example of how you’ve adapted your teaching style or curriculum to better meet the needs of your students?
Yeah, I think listening never goes out of style. So you listen to your students and you watch the way they’re reacting to you in real time during the class. And when something hits, sticks, or hits, you know, take note of what is working for that particular group.
I do a lot of think pair share, which, uh, is in a lot of the educational literature as a way to get a student to think about something at their desk and write about it at their desk quietly by themselves.
And then to pair up with a classmate and talk to that person about the topic. And then to share it with the class. And as they share it with the class, I write it on the board.
So again, the students feel seen and heard, they want to engage whether they’re extroverts, whether they’re introverts, they know this is a safe place where they can grow and they can learn and they see the teacher cares enough to write their ideas on the board, and then we all get to respond to what we think about that.
So again, people feel part of a community and they learn to adapt to one another. And by the end of the class, we’re all transformed because everybody became part of the community.
Collaboration among faculty can lead to innovative teaching practices. Have you been involved in any collaborative initiatives or projects that have enriched your teaching?
Yeah. One of the joys of being in the academic life is getting to collaborate with colleagues. And a couple of years ago I had the privilege of coauthoring an edited volume with my colleague about teaching undergraduate students and advising undergraduate students.
And by working with her and asking colleagues to contribute chapters to this book, we learned about specific techniques that even in 30 years of teaching, I had never thought about how that could work.
And it upped my game significantly. You know, try this tomorrow. And the great thing about teaching is it allows so much creativity and you can change your whole style in one semester’s time.
In one year’s time. You can totally recreate yourself. And the students can tell when you care. And they can tell when you’re trying to change things up to make it more interesting for them.
And they can tell when you’re implementing their ideas. If you ask them for feedback, for example, in the middle of the semester, how are things going? Do you like the teaching methods I’m using?
Is there anything you’d like to do differently? And have them write that on anonymously on a piece of paper. When the students see you stand up and go through some of those pieces of paper and say that you’ve responded to some of those suggestions, they really return the favor by pouring out, um, you know, their obvious interest in learning and knowledge and becoming part of, of being engaged in your classroom.
Finally, what advice would you give to fellow educators looking to enhance their teaching effectiveness and make a positive impact on their students?
Have a sense of play. We have the best jobs on the planet, and students make it so worth your while when you’re pouring yourself into them. They’re they, they give it back.
They want to be part of something interesting, something big. They want to be part of a community. They want to belong and they want to feel seen and heard. And in communication classes, I know for sure, uh, we, we just have a blast.
I’m having the time of my life and we’re just three days into this particular semester. So I, uh, I just say experiment, have a sense of play, have fun with your job.
Because the students want to have fun too, and they love your stories. So, you know, tell stories, have fun and, uh, build your students. The one last thing I wanted to add is, um, to attend the workshop sponsored by UATA.
These have been edifying beneficial, um, opportunities for teachers to build their, their repertoire, to find ideas, to share ideas, and also, um, look into taking Quality Matters courses and get certified as a Quality Matters teaching.
Because when we talk about adapting to the learning environment of 2024, um, we need to be able to use some of these innovative tools in our online courses and in-person courses, large and small, in order to meet the students where they’re at.
So I definitely encourage you to look into some of these opportunities we have right here on this campus.
This has been a production of The University of Alabama Online.