The following are the course syllabi for the classes I served as the instructor of record at Georgia State University.
“Excellent teacher, by far the best. Very knowledgeable, understanding, encouraging, and passionate. The course setup was very well organized and helpful. Thank you for the unbiased education of our government, hard to come across professors who simply provide education without personal political input”
“He clearly knew the course material well. He was willing to go back and lose time in class by re explaining something someone did not understand...He actually graded our assignments to help us do better rather than to just pass or fail us”
“Professor Luke was very accessible throughout the entire course to answer any questions we had in regards to the content and provided study guides and the chapters in which we were supposed to read at midnight so we didn't have to wait to get started”
"I most appreciate how willing and accessible the instructor was through the entire course"
“I would very much so recommend American Government online to any student who is determined to do an online course. Professor Luke is a very good instructor and although it is an online course, we have weekly lecture videos that he uploads to college. They are a completion grade but there are questions in them that test your knowledge and help you understand the content more. 100/10”
“I enjoyed Professor Luke's expanse of knowledge in the topics covered in class as well as the clarity in his voice when he spoke. Also, his PowerPoints were very informative which I appreciated when paired with lectures given. Overall, I was interested in a topic despite initially thinking I would not be intrigued”
The following are the slides to compliment my lecture on linear regression in Introduction to Political Research. This lecture generally takes place over two course periods, roughly 150 minutes. Difficult to represent in the PDF format, I design these slides to be engaging as possible with moving elements and emphasis placed at crucial points. This lecture takes place towards the end of the semester, around week 11, so the students have been previously exposed to much of the equations and concepts. The class concludes with a demonstration of how the linear regression process functions in excel, not presentable here. I have the students guide me through this process, first calculating the slope coefficient and intercept, then presenting these estimates in scatterplot form. The students are then encouraged to apply this process to their own research papers, if applicable, in preparation for submission of the final draft.
It is imperative in online courses to supplement digital textbooks with additional materials. This is especially applicable when students are learning about complex topics. This video was one of fifteen video lectures I recorded, produced, and published for an online section of Introduction to American Government. Not shown in the video is the use of PlayPosit at several points to stop the video and have students answer questions posed in the lecture. I also supplemented the lecture with slides and visual references to improve student retention. As a student in this course stated, "The professor uploaded videos with hidden questions that really helped exercise the information taught in class."
This video is the result of a student project at the Zoukis Research Collaborative. In brief, the students had one week to research a specific issue facing currently incarcerated women, write a short script summarizing what they found, and record their findings. As graduate project lead, I guided the students both in the research and recording phases, and produced the following video. Providing students with a goal other than graded materials can motivate them to go beyond their perceived limitations. This also allows the instructor to embed lessons and material within these supplemental projects. The students learned research, critical thinking, and critical writing skills beyond what would normally be expected within a week. The students were highly motivated throughout this experience, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing their work manifest in a tangible form.
The following are examples of the improvement in student writing during the Fall 2020 Senior Seminar course. These two assignments were submitted over the course of a month, with several intervening assignments. The student both incorporated my comments and suggestions, and unilaterally improved their writing through practice.
The following is an example of the student presentations during the Fall 2020 Senior Seminar course. The students were responsible for selecting a topic, performing research on that topic, and crafting a research design for their final course project. The students were required to then present this research to the rest of the class.
Copyright © 2023 Russell E. Luke IV - All Rights Reserved.