Innovators Among Us: Jody Early, Associate Professor

UW Bothell associate professor Jody Early faced a difficult task—challenging her busy Nursing and Health Studies students with a more meaningful learning experience by combining an online Global Women’s Health class with Community-Based Service Learning. So she set out to build community online and offline by carefully bringing together seemingly disparate pedagogical approaches in her Women’s Global Health and Human Rights (BHS 420) online class.“I truly believe it is critical for students in any discipline to have opportunities for authentic, problem-based learning,” Early says. “Including community-based projects in my course allowed the students to transfer what they were learning and discussing online into ‘real time’—to strategize, to problem-solve and to deepen their understanding of all of the factors that impact women’s health and gender equity around the world.” Read more about Associate Professor Early's work on the Trends and Issues in Higher Education page.