March 5, 2025 • 17 mins
Dr. Laura Poms, Director of the Mason Core, joins us again to provide updates on the Mason Core and expand on undergraduate student learning experiences from the Mason Core and beyond.
Resources: Mason Core Website: https://masoncore.gmu.edu/ Mason Core Categories: https://masoncore.gmu.edu/mason-core-course-categories/
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Episode Transcript
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Rachel (00:08):
Hello and welcome to the Keystone Concepts in Teaching
podcast, a higher educationpodcast from the Stearns Center
for Teaching and Learning, wherewe share impactful and evidence
based teaching practices tosupport all students and
faculty.
I'm your host, Rachel Yoho.
In this episode, I'm joinedagain by today's guest, Dr.
Laura Poms.
Dr.
Poms is the director of theMason Core, George Mason
(00:30):
University's general educationprogram, and a professor in
global and community health inMason's College of Public
Health.
She was also our featured guestfor episode five, where we
talked about what teaching inthe Mason Core teaches us about
teaching.
And so with that, we had somegreat conversations if you
haven't already listened tothat, I encourage you to check
(00:50):
it out because that alsoprovides a foundation for our
conversation today.
You don't have to listen to itto follow along in our follow up
conversation today, but it couldbe a great amount of insights
there as well.
Laura (01:02):
I am delighted to be here.
Thank you for inviting me.
Rachel (01:06):
And so when we're talking about the Mason Core,
one of the things that we wantto be thinking about is what
this means to the university.
So whether you're at Mason oryou're at another institution,
the undergraduate corecurriculum can be really
important.
And so the Mason Core here atMason is the general education
program that really works tobuild the foundation for what
(01:27):
and who the Mason graduate is,how we define that as an
institution.
And so that's defined here as anengaged citizen and well rounded
scholar who's prepared to act ina global and diverse world.
And so, with this, as we'retalking about the Mason Core,
this is obviously relevant towhether or not you teach in the
Core, there still will besomething here for you.
(01:48):
So to get us started, talking alittle bit about what the Mason
Core is and what it means to beteaching in the Core helps us
get a good foundation there forunderstanding teaching across
different areas.
In our last episode that youwere here to join us, Laura, you
spoke about teaching yourstudents with that why do I care
(02:08):
question in mind.
Like why should we care orwhatever your favorite variation
as an instructor might be forthat question.
Let's expand on ourconversation, Laura, with the
employers, the people going outinto society as a Mason graduate
and who they can be and whatthey can do as lifelong
learners.
Obviously, all of our courseshelp our students become the
(02:30):
people that they want to be inexisting in different careers
and personal spaces andparticipation in society.
And so as we're having theseconversations and just, you
know, briefly recapping ourearlier conversation, we're
thinking about the Mason Core.
And here, I think it's a goodplace to start with: where are
(02:50):
we, you know, what's been goingon with the Mason Core?
What are the new updates?
What should people know aboutwhether they are or are not
teaching in the Core aboutbasically what's going on in
this space?
Laura (03:03):
Right.
We have made some really greatchanges in recent years to the
Mason Core.
It had not really had a verygood overhaul for about 20
years, so it was behind.
We took some, oh gosh, I thinkabout five years, believe it or
not, and things move a littleslow in education, to really
make sure that we were coming upwith a core that was beneficial
to our students and it wasproviding them what they needed.
(03:25):
One of the first changes we madewas to go from Western
civilization requirement to aglobal history requirement.
We found that about 90 percentof our students come in with
about two years of Americanhistory and governments.
No matter where they came fromin the educational system, they
have this foundationalknowledge.
(03:45):
And so global history builds onthe foundation that was brought
in.
Instead of repeating it one moretime, we're building on a
foundation.
And it focuses on the historicalexperiences that reflect our
diversity as one of the mostdiverse schools in the
Commonwealth of Virginia andsort of helps people see where
students, their families, theircommunities fit into the past
(04:07):
and into the future.
And so it takes a much moremodern approach to the study of
history, and what we can learnfrom it moving forward.
That was the first one which westarted last academic year.
This academic year, 24-25, wehave added a course called
Global Contexts for Mason Core,which is replacing previous
(04:29):
course called GlobalUnderstanding.
Global Contexts, and this onereally relates to some of what
our employers said they neededpeople who can see how to work
with other people from differentcultures, the value of
interconnections, the fact thatthings are related in different
ways that we don't think aboutin a global environment.
It allows students to explorethose global connections in a
(04:52):
particular discipline.
So it's a discipline specificcourse and understands how
global systems interact witheach other and how they create
interdependencies and in somecases into inequalities that
have to be addressed for asustainable world and how it is
all interrelated.
It really focuses on thoseconnections and understanding
what it means to be connected ina global environment.
(05:13):
This one starts this year.
And a lot of people have beenspending a lot of time coming up
with really interesting courses.
I'm very excited to see howthese go.
And I'm super excited forstudents to start taking them.
Rachel (05:24):
From my perspective, it's been really great to see
some of those new courses andreally support some of the
course proposals as well.
So I'd also like to have usdiscuss a little bit of why we
change the Core.
And so especially highlightedhere with the change from global
understanding to GlobalContexts, we're really often
talking about not just needs incontent, but also where the
(05:48):
Mason Core or the undergraduatecore curriculum comes from in
terms of assessment.
And so when we're assessing theMason Core, we're not talking
about assessing the efficacy ofa particular instructor or a
particular student's grade orsomething like that.
But here we're looking at howwe, overall, at a university
(06:09):
level, like big picture sense,talk about assessment in terms
of are the students actuallygetting out of the courses the
learning outcomes that they wereintended to fulfill.
And so I think here, maybe ifyou could tell us a little bit
more about what this transitionlooks like from global
understandings to GlobalContexts for students, but also
(06:31):
about the assessment, you know,what was it about global
understanding that led to someof that change?
Laura (06:39):
Students who do need that global understanding requirement
can take a Global Contextscourse instead, because I do
think they're stronger courses.
Global Understanding didn'treally assess particularly well.
And it was sort of a little bitof a split identity going on
there that meant that studentsweren't really getting any of
the outcomes we wanted, which isnot okay in general education.
We need to make sure studentsare getting those outcomes.
(07:02):
Another one we implemented thisyear was one we call Mason Apex.
And I love that one because ourstudents actually named it.
We got them involved and askedthem what they thought for a
name of a culminating experiencewould be, and they picked Apex.
So it's not very often we get toactually collaborate with our
students and come up withsomething that the faculty and
the students can agree on, butthis was one of those.
And that incorporates what waspreviously known as our capstone
(07:24):
or synthesis courses.
We have students, of course, inabout four different catalog
years right now.
So that's always an entertainingexperience for everybody.
But what it does is it gives thestudents that culminating
experience that allows them todraw on everything they've
learned across theirundergraduate experience.
It's the hands on application ofideas, which is something that
employers really want ourstudents to be able to do.
And it allows them to see allthe interconnections across
(07:47):
their entire major and generaleducation and just general
elective experience how it allrelates together.
So those are the two big ones.
Going forward, we have what'scalled a just societies flag.
It sits on top of other courses.
It's what's called a flag.
So it's not a brand newrequirement.
We did not expand the core.
We've just added a littledifferent twist to some of our
(08:08):
courses.
These courses are currentlyavailable now and they're marked
in catalog with the notation incase you happen to have students
that are interested in topicsaround inclusion and diversity.
Rachel (08:21):
So as a note to our listeners, updates to the Mason
Core are an ongoing topic.
We're bringing you very muchsome of the current events going
on here with the undergraduatecore curriculum So right now,
the Just Societies flag ordesignation is not currently a
Mason Core requirement, but isan option for students if they
(08:42):
are interested in expandingtheir learning in those areas.
They can seek out those types ofcourses and really explore and
take ownership of their owneducation in that way.
So it's a great opportunity forexpanding their knowledge while
it's not currently arequirement.
So maybe this would be a goodtime, Laura, if you could tell
(09:02):
us a little bit more about thecourse.
What might students encounter ina course with a Just Societies
flag?
What might they be interestedin?
You know, some of the diversityof thought or perspectives or
experiences that would bebrought into what they might
actually do in these types ofcourses.
Laura (09:22):
So helping students understand key terms that are
commonly used in society in theworkplace today.
Having them engage with oneanother effectively while they
use those terms and thenidentifying collaboratively
processes for change when we seea place where change is
necessarily needed.
That is sort of really enablingour students to talk to people
who are different from them, yetanother job skill that our
(09:45):
employers are looking for.
It's really a kind of acompetency.
It's an ability to be able to dosomething on an ongoing basis.
So they're pretty exciting.
I think we'll see a few morethings coming forward, but we
are still in the very earlystages of those.
Rachel (09:58):
That's great.
Thank you so much.
And so as we're thinking aboutthe Mason Core, I know if I
reflect on some of the corecourses I took as an
undergraduate, those wereactually some of my favorite
ones.
I certainly didn't perhaps thinkof that at the time.
But really looking back,obviously I like the things in
the majors and the minors andall of that, but I've looked at
some of the arts things.
(10:19):
I've gone to see some of theplaces that we studied in the
architecture sections.
I've done and looked at some ofthe things in different museums
that I've been to in thesignificant number of years
since I graduated as anundergraduate.
So I think these are a greatopportunity to be thinking about
what we're educating, how we'reeducating in these spaces,
because one thing is this mightbe students' only exposure to
(10:43):
these topics in a formallearning environment.
But as we extend some of ourconversation, what else and what
are some of the strategies orlessons, perhaps, from teaching
in the Mason Core that otherfaculty who aren't in those
spaces could apply?
Laura (11:00):
I think that almost everything that you use for good
teaching practice is even moreamplified in Mason Core, simply
because there are newerstudents.
And even if they're coming in astransfer students, they're still
new to Mason and highereducation because they'll have
had the community collegeexperience, which is slightly
different.
I think the most important thingto think about with that for
(11:22):
everybody is making sure thatstudents have the necessary--
don't make assumptions aboutstudents, know your student
body, bring them to where youneed them to be to make sure
that they're there so they canbe successful, and I'm not
talking about like decreasingthe rigor of the content.
That is not at all what we aretalking about, especially in our
sciences.
It's not that.
It's just making things moreapproachable and explaining why.
(11:47):
I think that's really the mostimportant thing.
I can recall back when I used todo an outbreak investigation
when I taught epidemiology andpublic health, and I made them
do it in teams.
And as you can tell, they werenot very excited about working
in a team.
They didn't understand it.
So we took that step back.
We worked on what it means towork in a team.
We had a workshop in class tomake sure that everybody was on
(12:08):
board.
And I told them why they had towork in the team.
And no, it was not because Iwanted to grade fewer papers.
It was because you never do anoutbreak investigation as a
single person.
You just don't.
So it's a skill that thesestudents would need as they went
forward in their public healthcareers.
And that's the other thing weneed to think about.
(12:28):
Sometimes we don't always seethe connection of why someone
might need to develop aparticular skill.
Because we're a little bit farremoved from some of that stuff,
especially as an experiencedfaculty member, we're not really
sure what, why do I do thisagain?
So just take a minute to thinkabout what your assignments are,
the way they are.
Should they be that way?
Maybe they need to be refreshed.
I think sometimes we-- I'mguilty of this, I will have an
(12:50):
assignment that's worked greatfor years and years.
So why should I change it?
And then I suddenly realizedthat, Hey, there was a pandemic.
So I actually need to change it,especially teaching and public
health, but other aspects too.
And then don't forget to thinkabout the modality that you're
teaching in as well.
It's going to be very differentwhen you're teaching the
principles apply, the executionwill be slightly different if
you're all online, if you'rehybrid, if you're in person.
(13:13):
And the trick really for them tobe successful is they need to I
think, see you as someone whocares about them as a student.
You don't have to get involvedin their day to day personal
stuff.
That's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying that you need to seethem as a learner and they need
to see you as someone who caresabout their learning and by
explaining what you're doing andwhy you're doing it.
I think that makes a lot ofdifference.
Rachel (13:35):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think from here, whether we'rein the Core, whether we're not
in the core, we're looking athow do we make things relevant.
How do we help students alsowith some of the things that we
don't think about as often.
You know, often we are sofocused on how much content we
have to cover,
Laura (13:52):
Right.
Rachel (13:52):
Or covering all the things in an even shorter amount
of time that it seems like we'reasked to do more and more.
Maybe there are opportunities todo slightly less.
But even if not, how do wesimultaneously build in some of
those skills, some of the lifeskills that students may not
have an opportunity to gainotherwise?
We could probably do a wholeconversation on just teamwork,
(14:15):
and maybe we will another time,
Laura (14:16):
Hahaha!
Rachel (14:16):
but that I think is a great example there of students
often when put in a team will belike, okay, you do this, you do
this, you do that, and we willnever discuss, we will never
talk to each other, we willsubmit three different things
maybe shoved into one document.
Maybe not.
And so we can see what it meansto work as a team, because these
are the skills that our studentsnot only need, but the employers
(14:40):
also are asking for when we'relooking at this.
So when we talk about the MasonCore, and as we wrap up for
today, you know, some of thethings that the Mason Core helps
our students do and be arereally being better thinkers,
you know, having thatopportunity to explore ideas
within different subject areas,you know, outside of their major
or minors or something likethat, and really help with their
(15:01):
critical thinking skills.
The Mason Core also helps ourstudents become better
communicators, you know, howthey share their ideas, how they
analyze arguments, whetherthat's verbally or through
writing.
It also helps meet some of theuniversity's goals, you know,
having our students, having theMason graduates, become better
citizens, you know, how theyengage with a variety of
(15:23):
perspectives and ideas thatreally help them to cultivate a
more rounded worldview.
And so this also helps, just ingeneral, have a better future.
Our students are gaining skillsthat are useful for work, for
engaging in the world aroundthem, and for life, broadly.
And so with this, I think here,we're really looking at our
(15:44):
keystone concepts being how we,as educators, understand how our
courses fit into bigger picturelearning.
Some of the things, whether weare or are not teaching in the
Mason core, our students arehaving these experiences and
they're bringing informationinto our courses and going out
from our courses with additionalinformation, additional skills
(16:07):
and knowledge to build into thatMason graduate.
And so with this here I reallysee our keystone concept being
how we understand, how weconceptualize, not just our
single course that singlesemester for the students, but
how we all fit in, how we workwith or for the Mason Core, no
matter what we're teaching inthese different spaces.
(16:30):
So with that, I really want tothank you, Laura, for joining
us.
This was a great conversation.
Thank you so much for talking tous about the Mason Core and some
of the exciting opportunities.
Laura (16:40):
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate theopportunity.
Rachel (16:43):
Please make sure to catch our next episode as we
continue to talk about keystoneconcepts in teaching.
We have our episodes every twoweeks, and I encourage you to
subscribe to the podcast on theplatform on which you listen.
And we're happy to have you joinus in whatever space that you
would like to listen.
So thank you again.
Hello and welcome to the Keystone Concepts in Teaching
podcast, a higher educationpodcast from the Stearns Center
for Teaching and Learning, wherewe share impactful and evidence
based teaching practices tosupport all students and
faculty.
I'm your host, Rachel Yoho.
In this episode, I'm joinedagain by today's guest, Dr.
Laura Poms.
Dr.
Poms is the director of theMason Core, George Mason
(00:30):
University's general educationprogram, and a professor in
global and community health inMason's College of Public
Health.
She was also our featured guestfor episode five, where we
talked about what teaching inthe Mason Core teaches us about
teaching.
And so with that, we had somegreat conversations if you
haven't already listened tothat, I encourage you to check
(00:50):
it out because that alsoprovides a foundation for our
conversation today.
You don't have to listen to itto follow along in our follow up
conversation today, but it couldbe a great amount of insights
there as well.
Laura (01:02):
I am delighted to be here.
Thank you for inviting me.
Rachel (01:06):
And so when we're talking about the Mason Core,
one of the things that we wantto be thinking about is what
this means to the university.
So whether you're at Mason oryou're at another institution,
the undergraduate corecurriculum can be really
important.
And so the Mason Core here atMason is the general education
program that really works tobuild the foundation for what
(01:27):
and who the Mason graduate is,how we define that as an
institution.
And so that's defined here as anengaged citizen and well rounded
scholar who's prepared to act ina global and diverse world.
And so, with this, as we'retalking about the Mason Core,
this is obviously relevant towhether or not you teach in the
Core, there still will besomething here for you.
(01:48):
So to get us started, talking alittle bit about what the Mason
Core is and what it means to beteaching in the Core helps us
get a good foundation there forunderstanding teaching across
different areas.
In our last episode that youwere here to join us, Laura, you
spoke about teaching yourstudents with that why do I care
(02:08):
question in mind.
Like why should we care orwhatever your favorite variation
as an instructor might be forthat question.
Let's expand on ourconversation, Laura, with the
employers, the people going outinto society as a Mason graduate
and who they can be and whatthey can do as lifelong
learners.
Obviously, all of our courseshelp our students become the
(02:30):
people that they want to be inexisting in different careers
and personal spaces andparticipation in society.
And so as we're having theseconversations and just, you
know, briefly recapping ourearlier conversation, we're
thinking about the Mason Core.
And here, I think it's a goodplace to start with: where are
(02:50):
we, you know, what's been goingon with the Mason Core?
What are the new updates?
What should people know aboutwhether they are or are not
teaching in the Core aboutbasically what's going on in
this space?
Laura (03:03):
Right.
We have made some really greatchanges in recent years to the
Mason Core.
It had not really had a verygood overhaul for about 20
years, so it was behind.
We took some, oh gosh, I thinkabout five years, believe it or
not, and things move a littleslow in education, to really
make sure that we were coming upwith a core that was beneficial
to our students and it wasproviding them what they needed.
(03:25):
One of the first changes we madewas to go from Western
civilization requirement to aglobal history requirement.
We found that about 90 percentof our students come in with
about two years of Americanhistory and governments.
No matter where they came fromin the educational system, they
have this foundationalknowledge.
(03:45):
And so global history builds onthe foundation that was brought
in.
Instead of repeating it one moretime, we're building on a
foundation.
And it focuses on the historicalexperiences that reflect our
diversity as one of the mostdiverse schools in the
Commonwealth of Virginia andsort of helps people see where
students, their families, theircommunities fit into the past
(04:07):
and into the future.
And so it takes a much moremodern approach to the study of
history, and what we can learnfrom it moving forward.
That was the first one which westarted last academic year.
This academic year, 24-25, wehave added a course called
Global Contexts for Mason Core,which is replacing previous
(04:29):
course called GlobalUnderstanding.
Global Contexts, and this onereally relates to some of what
our employers said they neededpeople who can see how to work
with other people from differentcultures, the value of
interconnections, the fact thatthings are related in different
ways that we don't think aboutin a global environment.
It allows students to explorethose global connections in a
(04:52):
particular discipline.
So it's a discipline specificcourse and understands how
global systems interact witheach other and how they create
interdependencies and in somecases into inequalities that
have to be addressed for asustainable world and how it is
all interrelated.
It really focuses on thoseconnections and understanding
what it means to be connected ina global environment.
(05:13):
This one starts this year.
And a lot of people have beenspending a lot of time coming up
with really interesting courses.
I'm very excited to see howthese go.
And I'm super excited forstudents to start taking them.
Rachel (05:24):
From my perspective, it's been really great to see
some of those new courses andreally support some of the
course proposals as well.
So I'd also like to have usdiscuss a little bit of why we
change the Core.
And so especially highlightedhere with the change from global
understanding to GlobalContexts, we're really often
talking about not just needs incontent, but also where the
(05:48):
Mason Core or the undergraduatecore curriculum comes from in
terms of assessment.
And so when we're assessing theMason Core, we're not talking
about assessing the efficacy ofa particular instructor or a
particular student's grade orsomething like that.
But here we're looking at howwe, overall, at a university
(06:09):
level, like big picture sense,talk about assessment in terms
of are the students actuallygetting out of the courses the
learning outcomes that they wereintended to fulfill.
And so I think here, maybe ifyou could tell us a little bit
more about what this transitionlooks like from global
understandings to GlobalContexts for students, but also
(06:31):
about the assessment, you know,what was it about global
understanding that led to someof that change?
Laura (06:39):
Students who do need that global understanding requirement
can take a Global Contextscourse instead, because I do
think they're stronger courses.
Global Understanding didn'treally assess particularly well.
And it was sort of a little bitof a split identity going on
there that meant that studentsweren't really getting any of
the outcomes we wanted, which isnot okay in general education.
We need to make sure studentsare getting those outcomes.
(07:02):
Another one we implemented thisyear was one we call Mason Apex.
And I love that one because ourstudents actually named it.
We got them involved and askedthem what they thought for a
name of a culminating experiencewould be, and they picked Apex.
So it's not very often we get toactually collaborate with our
students and come up withsomething that the faculty and
the students can agree on, butthis was one of those.
And that incorporates what waspreviously known as our capstone
(07:24):
or synthesis courses.
We have students, of course, inabout four different catalog
years right now.
So that's always an entertainingexperience for everybody.
But what it does is it gives thestudents that culminating
experience that allows them todraw on everything they've
learned across theirundergraduate experience.
It's the hands on application ofideas, which is something that
employers really want ourstudents to be able to do.
And it allows them to see allthe interconnections across
(07:47):
their entire major and generaleducation and just general
elective experience how it allrelates together.
So those are the two big ones.
Going forward, we have what'scalled a just societies flag.
It sits on top of other courses.
It's what's called a flag.
So it's not a brand newrequirement.
We did not expand the core.
We've just added a littledifferent twist to some of our
(08:08):
courses.
These courses are currentlyavailable now and they're marked
in catalog with the notation incase you happen to have students
that are interested in topicsaround inclusion and diversity.
Rachel (08:21):
So as a note to our listeners, updates to the Mason
Core are an ongoing topic.
We're bringing you very muchsome of the current events going
on here with the undergraduatecore curriculum So right now,
the Just Societies flag ordesignation is not currently a
Mason Core requirement, but isan option for students if they
(08:42):
are interested in expandingtheir learning in those areas.
They can seek out those types ofcourses and really explore and
take ownership of their owneducation in that way.
So it's a great opportunity forexpanding their knowledge while
it's not currently arequirement.
So maybe this would be a goodtime, Laura, if you could tell
(09:02):
us a little bit more about thecourse.
What might students encounter ina course with a Just Societies
flag?
What might they be interestedin?
You know, some of the diversityof thought or perspectives or
experiences that would bebrought into what they might
actually do in these types ofcourses.
Laura (09:22):
So helping students understand key terms that are
commonly used in society in theworkplace today.
Having them engage with oneanother effectively while they
use those terms and thenidentifying collaboratively
processes for change when we seea place where change is
necessarily needed.
That is sort of really enablingour students to talk to people
who are different from them, yetanother job skill that our
(09:45):
employers are looking for.
It's really a kind of acompetency.
It's an ability to be able to dosomething on an ongoing basis.
So they're pretty exciting.
I think we'll see a few morethings coming forward, but we
are still in the very earlystages of those.
Rachel (09:58):
That's great.
Thank you so much.
And so as we're thinking aboutthe Mason Core, I know if I
reflect on some of the corecourses I took as an
undergraduate, those wereactually some of my favorite
ones.
I certainly didn't perhaps thinkof that at the time.
But really looking back,obviously I like the things in
the majors and the minors andall of that, but I've looked at
some of the arts things.
(10:19):
I've gone to see some of theplaces that we studied in the
architecture sections.
I've done and looked at some ofthe things in different museums
that I've been to in thesignificant number of years
since I graduated as anundergraduate.
So I think these are a greatopportunity to be thinking about
what we're educating, how we'reeducating in these spaces,
because one thing is this mightbe students' only exposure to
(10:43):
these topics in a formallearning environment.
But as we extend some of ourconversation, what else and what
are some of the strategies orlessons, perhaps, from teaching
in the Mason Core that otherfaculty who aren't in those
spaces could apply?
Laura (11:00):
I think that almost everything that you use for good
teaching practice is even moreamplified in Mason Core, simply
because there are newerstudents.
And even if they're coming in astransfer students, they're still
new to Mason and highereducation because they'll have
had the community collegeexperience, which is slightly
different.
I think the most important thingto think about with that for
(11:22):
everybody is making sure thatstudents have the necessary--
don't make assumptions aboutstudents, know your student
body, bring them to where youneed them to be to make sure
that they're there so they canbe successful, and I'm not
talking about like decreasingthe rigor of the content.
That is not at all what we aretalking about, especially in our
sciences.
It's not that.
It's just making things moreapproachable and explaining why.
(11:47):
I think that's really the mostimportant thing.
I can recall back when I used todo an outbreak investigation
when I taught epidemiology andpublic health, and I made them
do it in teams.
And as you can tell, they werenot very excited about working
in a team.
They didn't understand it.
So we took that step back.
We worked on what it means towork in a team.
We had a workshop in class tomake sure that everybody was on
(12:08):
board.
And I told them why they had towork in the team.
And no, it was not because Iwanted to grade fewer papers.
It was because you never do anoutbreak investigation as a
single person.
You just don't.
So it's a skill that thesestudents would need as they went
forward in their public healthcareers.
And that's the other thing weneed to think about.
(12:28):
Sometimes we don't always seethe connection of why someone
might need to develop aparticular skill.
Because we're a little bit farremoved from some of that stuff,
especially as an experiencedfaculty member, we're not really
sure what, why do I do thisagain?
So just take a minute to thinkabout what your assignments are,
the way they are.
Should they be that way?
Maybe they need to be refreshed.
I think sometimes we-- I'mguilty of this, I will have an
(12:50):
assignment that's worked greatfor years and years.
So why should I change it?
And then I suddenly realizedthat, Hey, there was a pandemic.
So I actually need to change it,especially teaching and public
health, but other aspects too.
And then don't forget to thinkabout the modality that you're
teaching in as well.
It's going to be very differentwhen you're teaching the
principles apply, the executionwill be slightly different if
you're all online, if you'rehybrid, if you're in person.
(13:13):
And the trick really for them tobe successful is they need to I
think, see you as someone whocares about them as a student.
You don't have to get involvedin their day to day personal
stuff.
That's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying that you need to seethem as a learner and they need
to see you as someone who caresabout their learning and by
explaining what you're doing andwhy you're doing it.
I think that makes a lot ofdifference.
Rachel (13:35):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think from here, whether we'rein the Core, whether we're not
in the core, we're looking athow do we make things relevant.
How do we help students alsowith some of the things that we
don't think about as often.
You know, often we are sofocused on how much content we
have to cover,
Laura (13:52):
Right.
Rachel (13:52):
Or covering all the things in an even shorter amount
of time that it seems like we'reasked to do more and more.
Maybe there are opportunities todo slightly less.
But even if not, how do wesimultaneously build in some of
those skills, some of the lifeskills that students may not
have an opportunity to gainotherwise?
We could probably do a wholeconversation on just teamwork,
(14:15):
and maybe we will another time,
Laura (14:16):
Hahaha!
Rachel (14:16):
but that I think is a great example there of students
often when put in a team will belike, okay, you do this, you do
this, you do that, and we willnever discuss, we will never
talk to each other, we willsubmit three different things
maybe shoved into one document.
Maybe not.
And so we can see what it meansto work as a team, because these
are the skills that our studentsnot only need, but the employers
(14:40):
also are asking for when we'relooking at this.
So when we talk about the MasonCore, and as we wrap up for
today, you know, some of thethings that the Mason Core helps
our students do and be arereally being better thinkers,
you know, having thatopportunity to explore ideas
within different subject areas,you know, outside of their major
or minors or something likethat, and really help with their
(15:01):
critical thinking skills.
The Mason Core also helps ourstudents become better
communicators, you know, howthey share their ideas, how they
analyze arguments, whetherthat's verbally or through
writing.
It also helps meet some of theuniversity's goals, you know,
having our students, having theMason graduates, become better
citizens, you know, how theyengage with a variety of
(15:23):
perspectives and ideas thatreally help them to cultivate a
more rounded worldview.
And so this also helps, just ingeneral, have a better future.
Our students are gaining skillsthat are useful for work, for
engaging in the world aroundthem, and for life, broadly.
And so with this, I think here,we're really looking at our
(15:44):
keystone concepts being how we,as educators, understand how our
courses fit into bigger picturelearning.
Some of the things, whether weare or are not teaching in the
Mason core, our students arehaving these experiences and
they're bringing informationinto our courses and going out
from our courses with additionalinformation, additional skills
(16:07):
and knowledge to build into thatMason graduate.
And so with this here I reallysee our keystone concept being
how we understand, how weconceptualize, not just our
single course that singlesemester for the students, but
how we all fit in, how we workwith or for the Mason Core, no
matter what we're teaching inthese different spaces.
(16:30):
So with that, I really want tothank you, Laura, for joining
us.
This was a great conversation.
Thank you so much for talking tous about the Mason Core and some
of the exciting opportunities.
Laura (16:40):
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate theopportunity.
Rachel (16:43):
Please make sure to catch our next episode as we
continue to talk about keystoneconcepts in teaching.
We have our episodes every twoweeks, and I encourage you to
subscribe to the podcast on theplatform on which you listen.
And we're happy to have you joinus in whatever space that you
would like to listen.
So thank you again.
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