Brooks’ Classroom Innovation Making Lasting Impression on Turner College Finance Majors

When COVID-19 hit the United States and institutions of higher learning went virtual, traditional models of teaching and learning were no longer useful. Educators were forced to innovate. Turner College finance professor Joshua Brooks adapted in a remarkable way. “When we went into lockdown, I taught myself video editing software and created a YouTube channel to begin posting short problem solving videos for each of my [finance] classes. I continue to build on this and have found it to be invaluable for teaching business analytics and managerial finance,” Brooks explained. Brooks also elevated his contact with students by communicating with them each week through announcements and e-mail messages. To bring a human element to spring semester of 2020, he provided his classes weekly photographic updates of a flower garden his family planted and cultivated during quarantine. “Several students emailed me at the end of the [spring 2020] semester thanking me for the pictures of the garden’s growth [and] to say that it was an encouraging thing they looked forward to each week during that very challenging time. As instructors, we have an important role not just in teaching our students but also in encouraging them to think of themselves as capable of far more than they ever expected,” Brooks added.

Brooks’ efforts to deal with the pedagogical effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have not gone unnoticed. He was nominated for the 2023 CSU Teaching Innovation Award, largely on the basis of these efforts. This recognition also follows previous accolades for Brooks, including being named a semifinalist for the CSU Excellence in Teaching Award, prior receipt of the Turner College Teaching Award, and earning “exceptional” ratings in teaching across each of the last four academic years. The beauty of all the work that Brooks put into developing YouTube-based resources for his students during spring of 2020 and beyond is in its permanence. “This content continues to benefit my students to this day, and my colleagues and I have discussed how we can strategically leverage this repository of work for our current students . . . I am grateful to my supervisors and colleagues who have been supportive as I try new things in the classroom and am thrilled to be a part of a university that prides itself in both academic and pedagogical excellence,” Brooks concluded.

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