Include how your practice effectively addresses a problem or need on your campus.
Introductory lecture content is often needed to lay the theoretical and practical foundations necessary for higher order thinking and problem solving. This has been a particular issue in our 100-level accounting courses at Columbia-Greene Community College, because entry level knowledge of the discipline is very low and must be built essentially from a level 0.
However, students with poor notetaking and active listening skills can feel overwhelmed or disconnected from lecture. This was noted most strongly with our asynchronous students, who lack the connection opportunities of real-time classroom settings.
To address this problem, I have developed a practice for live-annotating my lectures.

Include a description of your effective practice, why it is effective, how you did it:
This practice is used both in Hyflex settings - where I lecture live and then provide recordings to asynchronous students - and in fully asynchronous settings where lecture content is pre-recorded.
Basic notes are shared with students in advance of each lecture. These are typically Microsoft Power Point files, as all students have access to PPT for no charge via their student accounts. Students download and/or print these prior to attending class or watching a video lecture. Then, as I teach/record, I build the notes live. Techniques practiced during the recording session include:
• Use of closed captioning & Zoom AI Companion supplement the audio content being recorded. This improves the understanding of my lecture and creates a multi-sensory experience. Zoom AI Companion summarizes each lecture. These summaries are placed in the description section of the class recording in Brightspace.
• Text Highlighting and contrasting color text draw attention to new content additions. The use of highlighting helps students learn to map what they are hearing to a specific location on a lecture slide. The colors help them to see what new information is being added to the slide.
• Explicit notetaking instruction, intentional pausing and "pause, rewind & replay" reminders help students review material multiple times and build their own note-sets with intention. As I annotate, I am very clear about which content on a slide is particularly helpful for homework, project work, or exam preparation. Being able to tell students explicitly how they will use content at a later date and how to get back to it lets them see the value of what they are learning and know where to focus their attention if they get overwhelmed.
What was gained/achieved, and why others should consider it.
There have been several benefits to this method.
• I receive more correctly completed homework. In courses like accounting and math, there are technical steps and objectively correct answers. Helping students get better notes to work from means they are better able to complete homework assignments on their own.
• Review and help sessions are more fruitful. When students aren’t able to complete on their own, our 1-on-1 help sessions are more engaged and effective. Students share their notes, and I can see their struggle points more clearly. We can develop individual improvement plans more quickly and easily. In group review sessions for major exams, students can find accurate information more quickly, and we can cover more questions in an efficient manner.
• Exam & project performance is better. Students review material more, and express higher confidence in their own ability to learn. Scores across the term improve as students use their annotated notes.
• Higher course & program retention. I see a greater number of students completing coursework and meeting course learning objectives since introducing this method. Student achievement is consistent across modalities. As a result, we see more comfortable asynchronous students, and more students engaged in courses that offer this technique.
For faculty who deliver lecture content, I recommend this method to add an explicitly interactive element to the process that improves engagement and performance.