As digital resources become more popular, University professors are incorporating more online content into their classrooms. This bridges the gap between different learning styles that traditional education methods donʼt account for.
“I love attending lectures, but a lot of kids don’t because they just don’t learn best that way,” said Arunima Suri, sophomore in Education.
The problem of differing learning styles can be difficult for professors to manage, but online curriculums work to improve these differences.
Suri utilized the Data Science Discovery online curriculum published by University professors Karle Flanagan and Wade Fagen-Ulmschneider to test out of STAT 107: Data Science Discovery.
The Data Science Discovery website houses an online curriculum with videos of Fagen-Ulmschneider and Flanagan explaining concepts, descriptive texts, practice exams and worksheets. The pair is known as the “Data Science Duo” and has gained followers from their website content and social media.
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“I liked that they had … text, interactive stuff and videos online because it basically covers all three learning styles,” Suri said. “Sometimes I would read, sometimes I would watch and sometimes I would just do the practice problems. If I understood it, I understood it.”
The course is an online resource available to University students and non-students.
“Data Science Discovery is sort of this broad idea of, ‘How do we create the best data science resources for anyone in the world and put them online in a free and accessible way?’” Fagen-Ulmschneider said.
Before creating the online data science resource, Fagen-Ulmschneider and Flanagan developed their in-person introductory course for University students.
Starting in Spring 2019, only 18 students enrolled in this in-person course. According to Fagen-Ulmschneider, this academic year, that number grew to 1,800. He credits this increase to the course’s high quality and data scienceʼs rise in popularity.
After COVID-19 shut down in-person classes, the duo developed an online curriculum. Instead of putting the content on Canvas, only available to University students, they decided to devote more time and energy to the project to create a polished version for the public.
Fagen-Ulmschneider explained that, despite his passion for the free online curriculum, publishing their work incited fears about their colleagues’ opinions and the need to ensure all explanations were correct.
Despite these fears, the result provides additional resources and assistance to an already engaging and interactive course.
“I definitely just think they did a really good job in creating the online website,” Suri said. “I think it’s something really hard to do, but you can tell that they actually care. I think the courses that are organized the best and taught the best are always done by professors who really care.”
At the core of this project, Fagen-Ulmschneider and Flanagan aim to support those learning data science.
“We want to make sure that we provide a lot of different modalities of learning so that however you learn best, we’re here to support you,” Fagen-Ulmschneider said.
Those who participate in the in-person course can also find these resources beneficial to their education. They can supplement in-person learning by reviewing the online curriculum, and if they need to miss a lecture, they have resources to catch up on the material.
Currently, online resources for students are not limited to the Data Science Discovery course.
“I filmed everything for all my classes … I don’t want people to miss out because they weren’t there in class, so I filmed all the topics,” said Mark Wolters, professor in Business.
Wolters doesn’t just film for his classes — he manages an online brand through several social media outlets. This includes a YouTube channel dedicated to travel with over 2,700 videos and 1.1 million subscribers, another channel for marketing concepts and lecture notes and an active Patreon page.
Wolters still encourages checking out internet videos to help you learn, even if you aren’t watching him specifically.
“I tell people all the time: If you have a hard time in class, go on YouTube,” Wolters said. “There will be somebody that’s explaining it probably better than your professor or, at least, in a more fun way that might help you learn.”
YouTube videos are just one way Wolters has been working toward his goal of educating as many people as possible.
“I’ll go to conferences for professors, and professors will come up to me and say, ‘Thank you, I used your videos in my class,’” Wolters said.
Even his syllabi are merged into the video realm. Wolters films short videos, releases them online and has students take a syllabus quiz at the start of each semester. Wolters said this has decreased the number of syllabus-related emails he receives from approximately 400 to just two.
Wolters also said that the videos make students feel comfortable speaking with him.
“They see me in class, but by watching the videos, it makes me more approachable,” Wolters said. “Look, I’m here to help my students, so if I’m making you feel more comfortable by making the videos, fantastic.”
The business professor’s ability to connect with his students has even increased his popularity at the University.
“Wolters is the most well-known professor in Illinois,” said Steve Raquel, professor in Business.
Raquel attributed Wolters’ extensive time investment into content creation to his unmatched influence.
Raquel teaches several marketing courses at the University. Since going viral on LinkedIn in 2019, he has given presentations to his students, teaching what he learned from the experience. He also uses internet videos to help bring more perspectives into his classes.
“Recently, in one of my classes, I wanted to teach about observations and insights,” Raquel said. “And I was trying to do it, but I thought, ‘Oh, you know what, there might be a YouTube video that’s a little more effective than me.’ I found one, I shared it; it did a better job than I did.”
Sharing informative videos helps further educate current and incoming students and increases awareness of the University’s brand. For example, the Data Science Duo has contributed to the brand of the data science program at the University by educating large audiences through over 200 videos posted to their YouTube account.
“I tell all the faculty: ‘Make videos,’” Wolters said. “‘Make videos, put them out there, because it can grow your brand, it can grow the education you’re sharing.’”
