Intentional Technologies: Reclaiming Our Spaces

Integrating Learning Experiences and Nudging Student Success

José Bowen, Association of American Colleges and Universities

Additional Materials

Workshop Handout

In his upcoming book, A New 3Rs: Using Behavioral Science to Prepare Students for a New Learning Economy, Dr. Bowen explores the concept of SWEET-- that sleep, water, exercise, eating and time matter most for learning (SWEET) and that relationships are a better prediction of retention.

This workshop builds on those concepts. You can promote student success by how you set up choices (nudges). We can design policies, procedures, schedules and LMS use that will influence behavior and help students take charge of their own learning. We will work on how better to connect study abroad, research, athletics, student health and virtually everything to your campus goals to make “learning everywhere” a reality and improve student understanding and engagement. Everything on your campus matters.

Building a Better Mousetrap: Best Practices for Computer-Based Testing

Will Lewis, School of Information Technology

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Building a Better Mousetrap: Best Practices for Computer-Based Testing

As exposure to computing devices in daily life increases, the use of computer-based testing (CBT) in instructional efforts at universities is becoming more widespread. Several recent studies have identified some of the many advantages of switching to CBT, including: increased student performance (Khoshsima and Toroujeni, 2017), immediate scoring and feedback (Wise, 2019), and increased efficiency (Wise, 2019). However, there are some design and implementation nuances of CBT use that can create pitfalls for instructors and high anxiety for students (Chapell, et. al., 2005; Beckers and Schmidt, 2003). Using current research, hands-on Reggienet examples, and student feedback, this session will offer guidance on the best practices for incorporating CBT into any course.

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Can You Hear Me Now?: Demystifying Technology for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

Stephanie Gardiner-Walsh, Department of Special Education

Approximately 15% of young adults have some form of hearing loss. To put that in perspective, that means that approximately 579 of ISU’s 3860 record freshman class have some form of hearing loss. Most of those students do not receive support through Student Access and Accommodation Services (SAAS)-and many do not know what they need. As faculty, you are asked to universally design for the inclusion of students with sensory disabilities, but unlike in the K-12 setting, you rarely have an expert in deafness or access to turn to for answers to questions or advice in planning.

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Getting “Naked” in Class

Liesel Mitchell, Department of Accounting

Face-time between students and faculty is valuable and we should rethink our use of class time to maximize this valuable asset, according to Bowen, author of Teaching Naked. In this session, I will share how I utilize technology for information delivery and engagement and how I structure class time to create a “naked” classroom, even with over 80 students.

Over the last several years, I have shifted more content delivery outside of class, freeing up time for more interaction during class. I used PowerPoint and Camtasia to create videos and worked with a publishing company to create a website for these videos and interactive activities. I also use ReggieNet tools to engage with students.

During class, I use minimal technology, focusing on interactions with individual students, small groups, and the whole class. Utilizing teaching assistants has been crucial to flipping my course and creating a “naked” large class. I use retrieval activities to help students integrate the material introduced through technology outside of class with the work done in class. Class time is spent practicing and discussing problems and students testing their understanding of the material. I enjoy class time more, experiencing the joy of seeing concepts click for students.

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Mentoring Undergraduate Researchers: A Review of Best Practices and Opportunities at Illinois State

Gina Hunter, Office of Student Research

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Mentoring Undergraduate Student Research

The benefits of undergraduate research (UR) for student success are widely recognized. A broad definition of UR includes scientific inquiry, creative inquiry, and other kinds of scholarship with a faculty member who provides intellectual guidance and initiation into the methods of a discipline. UR is a key component of a student’s professional socialization and results in positive academic, social, and psychological outcomes. Despite these and other benefits, institutions generally give little attention to faculty development of mentoring skills. The Office of Student Research at Illinois State aims to foster UR through both student research support and faculty development. Although UR experiences are highly variable across the disciplines, the Council for Undergraduate Research and others have identified a number of best practices. This session presents an overview of best practices in UR mentoring, provides attendees with key resources and opportunities for networking among UR mentors, and provides information on the Office of Student Research’s new support for mentored student research at Illinois State.

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The Updated Video Project-Students Both Teach and Learn

Marcia Buchs, Mennonite College of Nursing

The use of video in student assignments has been around ever since the use of video recorders came into vogue in the 80’s. The advent of widely available video editing programs in the 2000’s followed by the launch of YouTube in 2005 and video capability of phones has continued to support increasingly pertinent and creative ways that video can be used in student assignments. This presentation focuses on the creation of a video group project assignment that entails students identifying a topic that faculty agrees meets the objectives of a course. The students then write specific objectives and coinciding questions to be incorporated into the unfolding scenes of the video. The script is drafted and members of the group take on the tasks of acting, recording and editing their project. The end result is a video-based lesson/case study that could be presented during the current class as well as used by faculty in the future to teach the topic of the project. This presentation will include excerpts and experiences from such a project that addresses opiate addiction and treatment created by students as an alternative to in-person simulation in their Psych rotation at the College of Nursing.

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Utilizing a Community Performance as a Civic Engagement Project and Fundraiser

Shelly Clevenger, Department of Criminal Justice Sciences

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Utilizing a Community Performance as a Civic Engagement Project and Fundraiser

This presentation will showcase the civic engagement project of CJS 342: Victimology in which students worked with local non-profits to create a performance that acted as a fundraiser. Survivors: Local Stories of Domestic Violence raised money for Neville House and Stepping Stones. Students created art that was part of the performance, took place in the performance and assisted with the planning and execution of the event. The experience of both the instructor and the students will be shared with the audience as well as tips for incorporating performance and fundraising into a course.

Advancing SOTL Through Open Access: A Case Study

Jennifer Friberg, Office of the Cross Chair in The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Anne Shelley, University Libraries

This presentation discusses a case study of the open access journal Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences and Disorders. The journal was co-founded by associate editor Dr. Jennifer Friberg and is published using ISU ReD, the University's institutional repository.

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Challenging the Myth of the “Digital Native”

David Giovagnoli, Department of English

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Challenging the Myth of the “Digital Native”

This presentation will challenge narratives of the “digital native,” a problematic term that constructs students’ digital literacies as being always present and always proficient. Namely, this term is applied to millennial and generation z students, where the ubiquity of smart devices in their lifespans is often incorrectly translated into an assumption of their ability to use certain technologies without further instruction. Indeed, this is a narrative that reinforces classist assumptions of universal access to technology that are not always accurate. I will talk through ways to avoid stereotyping our students’ technological proficiency by showing that there are a number of discrete technological literacies, and then describing ways of making smart choices in selecting classroom technologies to avoid making technology a barrier to student success.

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Concept Maps, Selectivity, and Learning Environments

Elahe Javadi, School of Information Technology
Jianwei Lai, School of Information Technology
Ernest Arko, School of Information Technology

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Concept Maps, Selectivity, and Learning Environments

In this presentation, we discuss the use of concept-map (CM) based learning activities and assessment mechanisms with the intent to counter selectivity in learning. Concepts refer to the building blocks of a given knowledge domain and understanding their relationships enables a higher level of mastery of topics in a domain. Concept maps provide a graphical representation of concepts and the associations among them; the associations are labeled to represent discipline-specific testable propositions. CM-based learning activities and assessment tools can counter selectivity in learning environments. Selectivity represents tendencies of exposing oneself to, attending to, processing, retaining, and recalling only a subset of available information. Selectivity can impair student learning at many levels. Countering selectivity will enable the integration of the course topics and can enhance cognitive complexity. We believe that concept maps can further knowledge integration, which is a critical ‘gluing’ mechanism for creating meaningful learning experiences within and beyond a given course or domain. We report preliminary results of the pilot studies conducted in six course sections. We will engage audiences in an unplugged (paper and pencil) and a plugged (coding) concept map activity. No coding experience is required, the presenters will guide everyone to complete the steps.

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Teaching Mathematics with Technology

Lucian Ionescu, Department of Mathematics

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Teaching Mathematics with Technology

In our advanced technologic society teaching Mathematics using technology is a must. The presentation will advocate supplementing the use of pocket calculators with mathematical software, and particularly Wolfram’s Mathematica. This is a full integrated environment for Teaching-Learning-Research in Sciences in general. Using the free-online available SAGE/CoCalc is a nice supplement, stimulating the learning of Python and “light” programming.

The rationale behind this strategic plan to use advanced mathematical software will be presented; it involves a critical assessment of the roles of formal reasoning vs. relational, qualitative and application oriented.

The presentation will also report on the current opportunities and advanced strategies used in our Mathematics Department, regarding the use of technology in the courses we teach, especially in those targeting undergraduate research.

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Useful Repetition: Simple and Effective

Deborah Johnson, Department of Health Sciences
Beverly Barham, Department of Health Sciences

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Useful Repetition: Simple and Effective

Medical Laboratory Science students are challenged with understanding very complex topics in laboratory medicine and learning the technical language of medicine all at the same time. The rigor of these two requirements can be overwhelming. In an effort to help students be successful, it is possible to infuse a “useful repetition component” within course materials which can be very beneficial for students. Adding an audio component to the lecture notes and allowing students unlimited access to that information after the initial lecture is over can help students master the content. This is also very beneficial for students whose first language is not English. Listening to the pronunciation of the technical terms and hearing the exact same lecture information more than once, gives the student the opportunity to investigate concepts they may not quite understand or to ask questions they may have after having time to better understand the information. Class time tends to be fast paced and students often struggle to keep up with terms and concepts. Allowing every student the option of hearing the same lecture again on their own time, can give students a sense of accomplishment and the confidence that they can be successful.

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Using Technology to Build Effective Student Teams

Traci Carte, School of Information Technology

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Using Technology to Build Effective Student Teams

Group projects have become a fact of life in higher education. These assignments may be done simply to fulfill accreditation objectives or reduce the grading burden. However, with a bit more effort they can add to the students’ learning experience. This session will talk a bit about classroom coverage of group processes. Primarily it will cover the best practice use of technology for collaboration. What’s important to take away is the balance of what students generally already know about technology and how that can be sharpened to turn them into effective collaborators in the 21st century workforce.

The literature on groups/teams and collaborative technology will be used along with illustrative examples from my own classroom experiences. Understanding: 1) when to use synchronous versus asynchronous environments, 2) the nature of the team task and its cognitive fit with different technological tools, and 3) how collaborative technologies and team diversity interact will be discussed.

The intended learning outcomes for students include: best practice temporal patterning of technology use in teams, understanding how to create an inclusive group environment, and (perhaps most importantly) what not to do.

Adopting Devices in the Classroom: Distraction or Enhancement?

Julie Campbell, Department of Psychology
Jodi Hallsten Lyczak, School of Communication
Drew Lugar, Department of Agriculture
Mayuko Nakamura, Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology

The debate concerning device usage in the classroom is an important one. While students typically report that device usage during class can enhance their learning experience, instructors typically report that device usage is distracting (Garcia, 2007). The online teaching platform, Nearpod, requires students to use devices to participate in activities. Thus, using Nearpod in the classroom encourages students to use their devices. Asking students to use devices cultivates questions about whether this platform should be used for teaching. Some of those questions include: Am I tempting students to browse other websites and distract themselves from the class when I ask them to use their devices? By introducing Nearpod in the classroom, am I increasing participation using digital communication, but decreasing opportunities to practice verbal debate skills? Because this platform creates an anonymous, safe space for students to share their thoughts, does using Nearpod enhance the learning environment? Several instructors from different disciplines have adopted the use of Nearpod. In this panel discussion, instructors who are experienced users of Nearpod, will present their observations and criticisms concerning device usage in the classroom and explore the questions posed above.

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Conversations with José Bowen

José Bowen, Association of American Colleges and Universities

Meet with José Bowen and discuss his book, Teaching Naked. Bring your questions, thoughts, and ideas to this casual conversation.

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Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and Learning Environments

Elahe Javadi, School of Information Technology
Rebekka Darner, Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology
Allison Antink-Meyer, School of Teaching and Learning

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Ethics of Artificial Intelligence & Learning Environments

Use of Artificial intelligence (AI) services in daily life and decision making (e.g., college admissions) have created a unique wave of sociotechnical dilemmas. Scientific evidence points to the critical role of diversity in AI field and how widening AI education can contribute to a future when algorithm and data are created and curated by scientific teams who to a higher extent resemble the populations that the algorithms are targeting. AI4ALL and Algorithmic Accountability Act are two examples of initiatives in academia and politics aiming to tackle AI-related dilemmas. This presentation reports a local cross-disciplinary effort for decoding and demystifying AI concepts such as supervised models, algorithmic bias, and optimization for stakeholders with conflicting goals. We aim to expand critical thinking capacities around AI-enabled tools and services in learning environments and daily life (e.g., smartboards, FaceApp) and to shed light on machine-based bias and inequity. We report the preliminary results of AI-for-All (discipline-agnostic) curriculum implementation in a series of one- to three- hour general education lectures and in an after-school AI club for middle-school students. Attendances will be encouraged to design discipline-based AI-focused mini-activities; no prior experience is required. Laptops or tablets will be helpful but not required.

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Ready, AIM, Teach: Using Quality Matters to Apply Technology to Our Courses

Michaelene Cox, Department of Politics and Government
Dawn McBride, Department of Psychology
Daniel Breyer, Department of Philosophy
Linda Summers, Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology

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Ready, AIM, Teach: Using Quality Matters to Apply Technology to Our Courses

What are best practices to consider in the use of technology when developing, reviewing and continuously improving our courses? To support instructional objectives and promote active student learning, the nature and variety of tools used is important to consider, along with other concerns such as technical support, accessibility, data protection and privacy. Evidence-based design principles can help us strategically integrate appropriate technology tools and procedures in the classroom to maximize teaching and learning opportunities. Panelists share experiences and lessons learned from CTLT’s AIM Summer Institute which grounds its program upon such principles developed by Quality Matters (QM). An introduction to the QM rubric of course design standards and peer-review process, with a focus on those dealing with technology, will be followed by a discussion about how the standards can be applied to both online and face-to-face courses for improving course design and delivery.

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We Gave Our Courses a Makeover; You Can Too!

Claire Lamonica, Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology
Adena Meyers, Department of Psychology
Amy Robillard, Department of English
Jamie Smith, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Julie Webber, Department of Government and Politics

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We Gave Our Courses a Makeover; You Can Too!

In this panel presentation, members of CTLT’s Summer 2019 “Give Your Course a Makeover” cohort will share some of their most successful makeover tips and invite session participants to reflect on ways they’d like to make over courses of their own.

Speaker One will share her new, more student-friendly syllabus, focused on critical reading strategies in class.

Speaker Two will explore how adding a reading focused on diversity helped address several key learning objectives in a statistics/research methods class.

Speaker Three will explain how revising the learning outcomes for one course inspired her to revise the learning outcomes for another course as well.

Speaker Four will talk about the new, exciting, and successful approach she took to her “first day of class,” while focusing on the idea of “iterative change”; that is, dreaming big for the long term while making smaller, meaningful changes in the present.

After each panelist has spoken for a few minutes, the panel moderator will invite the audience to reflect on a course of theirs that could use a makeover and consider what form that makeover might take. We’ll also be happy to accept questions from the audience.

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What’s New in Digital Research and Pedagogy at ISU?

Kathryn Jasper, Department of History
Lea Cline, School of Art
Tara Lyons, Department of English
Roy Magnuson, School of Music

This panel reveals the findings of the Digital Humanities Task Force, an initiative founded by Milner Library in 2019. The presentations focus on three specific projects that demonstrate great range and creativity in pedagogical innovations and applications of digital methods and tools on campus. “Shakespeare in Sheets” developed by Tara Lyons and Publishing Studies interns, recreates Shakespeare’s plays in printable and foldable sheets of paper, just as they appeared from the printing houses in his time. Student interns use modern publishing software to reverse-engineer the author’s books in sheets. The website provides downloadable pdf files so that instructors and students can print, fold, assemble, and stitch their own editions of Shakespeare’s early printed works. Roy Magnuson leverages the power of virtual reality and Unity in solsticeVR, which is a unique electronic music composition sandbox where amateurs and professionals alike can freely compose music based on their own original, custom samples. Last, Lea Cline and Kathryn Jasper discuss the implementation of a teaching-learning model suited to the digital age and constructed around collaboration. Their new course, entitled “Field Methods in Roman Archaeology,” involves participants in “actual” research that could result in conference presentations or publications, with faculty or on their own.

Lunch and Keynote Address

José Bowen, Association of American Colleges and Universities

Additional Materials

Keynote Handout

Dr. Bowen's keynote will explore concepts from this book, Teaching Naked.

Technology, social media and gaming have changed the brains and behavior of our students and their assumptions about face-to-face experiences. The greatest value of a physical university remains its face-to-face (naked) interaction between faculty and students, but we need to redesign our courses to deliver this value. Here are easy and practical ideas for how you can better engage students through social media, rethink how and when you use technology, and increase student preparation for better in class engagement.

A Walk in Their Shoes: Teaching for Student Success

Amy Hurd, Office of the Provost
Tina Thompson, Department of Management and Quantitative Methods
Amelia Noel-Elkins, University College

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A Walk in Their Shoes: Teaching for Student Success

Students are changing and require different classroom approaches to be successful. One third of our students are first generation; one third are low income; and mental health issues are on the rise. The changes in our student population are similar to national trends where first generation and low-income students are more likely to report financial, psychological and social difficulties while attending college. Nationally, there are a number of low-cost, high impact approaches that faculty can use to improve student success in their classroom. This session includes a synopsis of the challenges that first generation and low-income college students face from national and local perspectives, and the assets they bring to the classroom. Learn about the research which suggests that lack of academic preparedness is not the reason that first generation students are more likely than their multigenerational peers to quit within the first 3 years of college and less likely to have a faculty mentor. Meeting the needs of our students while maintaining class rigor and integrity of the curriculum are challenging. Join us to get an overview of ways to improve student success by incorporating technology and other best practices in classroom teaching that will not over extend faculty.

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Incorporating Transformational Goals into Teaching Methodologies

Ciera Lorio, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Isaac Chang, Department of Technology
Hakan Ener, Department of Management and Quantitative Methods
Yun Chang, School of Kinesiology and Recreation

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Incorporating Transformational Goals into Teaching Methodologies

Designing, and even redesigning, a course can be an overwhelming process. Most instructors have not received formal training in course design, and many begin by identifying a textbook, the content they want to teach, and the student learning outcomes. However, a textbook and a list of learning outcomes is not enough. Alignment among the learning outcomes, classroom activities, technology use, reading materials, and assessment procedures are critical to successful student learning (Whetten, 2007; Wulff, 2005). Incorporating a transformational goal into course design is one way to align teaching and assessment practices with intended learning outcomes.

Developing a transformational goal requires the instructor to think beyond the course they are teaching. Instructors should ask themselves, “How do I want my students to be changed after taking my course? Five years from now, what do I want my students to remember?” A transformational goal goes beyond the classroom, university, and even the student’s future career. In this presentation, we will define and discuss the purpose of transformational goals, providing examples and instructor experiences from various disciplines. The audience will have opportunities to brainstorm with the presenters and their peers as they develop their own transformational goals.

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Is Undergraduate research the CURE for Student Engagement?

Rebekka Darner, Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology
Gina Hunter, Department of Sociology/Anthropology
Alysia Vrailas-Mortimer, School of Biological Sciences
Nathan Mortimer, School of Biological Sciences
​Andrés Vidal-Gadea, School of Biological Sciences

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Is Undergraduate research the CURE for Student Engagement?

Recently, natural science faculty have begun to engage undergraduate students in scientific practices, discovery, and collaboration by implementing CUREs (course-based undergraduate research experiences). CUREs differ from traditional laboratory exercises, which are typically instructor-defined activities that have a predetermined outcome. Alternatively, CUREs compel students to address a research question or problem that is of interest to the broader scientific community, and the outcome is unknown to both the instructor and students. Furthermore, in traditional laboratory experiences, the risk of generating “messy” data is minimized to allow the activity to run smoothly, while in CUREs, several iterations of experimental methods are planned for so that students can learn to deal with authentic data under guidance. Benefits of CUREs include increased motivation, skepticism, communication and collaboration skills, and self-efficacy among students; when participation in CUREs occurs over multiple courses, students experience increased science expertise, science identity, and enculturation into the community of science. In this talk, characteristics and benefits of CUREs will be presented, followed by a panel discussion with three ISU faculty who have implemented CUREs in their courses. Audience members will have opportunity to ask questions following a facilitated discussion.

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Reclaiming Our Mind Space: Mindful Practices in Higher Education

Anne Fulton, Department of Special Education
Mandy White, Department of Special Education
Jillian Cooper-Richardson, Student Counseling Services

National trends show a significant decrease in the mental well-being of students. According to the National Alliance of Mental Illness (2018), 80% of college students report feeling overwhelmed by their responsibilities as a student and 55% of students considered themselves to have “poor mental health”. This alarming data causes universities to explore ways to improve students’ mental health outside of the traditional counseling center.

To aid in the well-being and mental health of ISU students, Anne Fulton and Mandy White found students in our university courses need assistance with finding ways to stay centered and focused. One of the ways to keep students in the moment with their learning and their lives is through the implementation of mindful practices. By creating the opportunity to practice weekly, overall mental health and well-being are improved. In these secular five-minute mindful moments, students reclaim their mental space in order to harness their focus and attention for learning. The American College of Health Association shows mindfulness has this impact.

Participants will be provided ways to implement mindfulness for themselves as well as their students. Take-aways will include scripts for self-practice, in-class practice, as well as online resources (e.g. YouTube, EdPuzzle, Nearpod).

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SPARKing Students' Learning through Adobe Creative Cloud

Hulda Black, Department of Marketing
Rosie Hauck, Department of Accounting
Bob Carroll, School of Communication
Brent Simonds, School of Communication

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SPARKing Students’ Learning through Adobe Creative Cloud

In the past few years, ISU has expanded their partnership with Adobe to the point now that all faculty, staff and students have access to the entire Adobe Creative Suite. This includes applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro and many more. These applications can be used in a wide-variety of classrooms in all areas across campus. This panel will consist of instructors across the campus who are currently utilizing Adobe applications in their classrooms. They will address how this technology has impacted their teaching and their students’ learning. Additionally, they will address Adobe has added to the skill sets of not only the students, but the faculty well.

After a brief introduction, panel members will share artifacts from their classes to demonstrate the wide variety of roles Adobe plays in the classroom. From something as simple as using Spark to submit a project to the more complex video editing capabilities of Premier Pro, Adobe has something for everyone and every classroom.

Then, the session will take on a Q&A format. Rosie Hauck will moderate the discussion.

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There’s Not an App for That!: Funds of Knowledge Based Teaching

Beth Hatt, Department of Educational Administration and Foundations
Juliet Lynd, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Helen Brandon, School of Teaching and Learning
Kim Taber, School of Teaching and Learning
Ben Webb, University High School
Emily Soto, Prairie Central CUSD
Leslie Romagnoli, McLean County Unit 5

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“There’s not an APP for That!”: Funds of Knowledge Based Teaching

College students today largely seek information by “googling” and watching YouTube videos (Weiler, 2004). But what is lost when students see technology, rather than people, as sources of valuable knowledge? Culturally competent teachers create a bridge between students’ home and school lives by utilizing the backgrounds, knowledge, and experiences of the students to inform the teacher’s lessons and methodology (Ladson-Billings, 2009). One research-based strategy includes tapping into students’ funds of knowledge, which are “the essential cultural practices and bodies of knowledge and information that households use to survive, to get ahead, or to thrive” (Moll, 1992). Many of these cultural practices and bodies of knowledge are derived from ancestral knowledge that has been passed down in families over many generations. This form of knowledge cannot be learned through technology, but instead, necessitates tapping into familial elder knowledge and embodied experience. Simultaneously, technology provides an avenue for documenting various funds of knowledge that typically are passed down orally between family members. Based upon a Fulbright-Hays trip to Oaxaca, Mexico during the summer of 2019, panelists will share what they learned about funds of knowledge-based teaching and how to connect it across a wide range of content areas.

A Guide to Educating Students Through Accessible Course Content

Jen Bethmann, Administrative Technologies
Sarah Metivier, Student Access and Accommodation Services
Morgan Cunningham, Administrative Technologies

Is your course content accessible? If it’s not, it needs to be. This roundtable discussion will provide participants with an understanding of what accessible content entails through an overview of ReggieNet and course websites. Institutional knowledge related to supporting students with disabilities in higher education using accessible course content will also be discussed, as participants are encouraged to think more critically about accessibility in their classrooms from student and instructor perspectives.

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Generation Z: Adapting your Instructional Practices to the Gen Z Mindset

Julie Navickas, School of Communication
Nichole Hughes-Liss, School of Communication
Kate Boutilier, School of Communication
Elizabeth Chupp, School of Communication

As instructors, it is our role to serve our students in the best way we can. However, studies have shown that Generation Z—the students that will be in your classrooms (if they are not already)—need and want different things from their classroom experiences. This roundtable discussion will cover methods for navigating Gen Z’s unique generational traits in classroom settings, and ultimately, will encourage instructors to reclaim their space and adapt a growth mindset while better understanding our newest generation of students.

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Luddite Techno Spaces

Janice Neuleib, Department of English

With an increasing pedagogical need for technology in the classroom, our students are being challenged to work in new and exciting ways. But what if they don’t like these new tools, or technology use in the classroom, for that matter? This roundtable discussion will give the attendees a chance to talk about how our students use technology in our classrooms: what do they resist and what do they embrace, and why.

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Oh My! The Overuse of Technology in Modern Class. Really? Fulbright Students’ Viewpoint and Experience

Do-Yong Park, School of Teaching and Learning
Md Zahidur Rahman, Department of Economics
Robby Anggriawan, School of Teaching and Learning
Syed Anwer Shah, School of Teaching and Learning

What would you do if you stepped into an unfamiliar classroom, in an unfamiliar place, and tried to teach using the technology at hand? This roundtable discussion explores how Fulbright students—and other international students—use instructional technologies in classrooms at ISU and how they compare with instructional technologies available in their own countries. Participants will be invited to discuss instructional technologies as effective learning vs. communication tools; the issues of equity vs. access; the affordability vs. utilization; the status and challenges of instructional technologies in their own places.

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Technological Ambivalence: Moving Away from Technology in the Classroom

John Baldwin, School of Communication
Joseph Zompetti, School of Communication
Nathan Carpenter, School of Communication

Researchers have noted how the use of technology such as laptops in the classroom create a distraction and can lessen students’ learning; in addition, other forms of technology, like PowerPoint and clickers also have their limitations. This roundtable discussion invites instructors to share their perspectives on this issue and their approaches toward dealing with and incorporating technology into their classroom spaces and learning.

Creating New Spaces in Microsoft Teams and OneNote

Rebecca Olson, Department of English
Kristen Grimes, School of Information Technology

Rebecca, an English instructor and former high school English teacher, and Kristen, a user experience technical analyst, hope to show another online space that is available to instructors at ISU. ISU is an Office 365 campus, and Microsoft Teams and OneNote are a part of that package. Rebecca has experience teaching with both older technology, pen and paper, and newer technology, several different online programs. Out of all of these experiences, Teams and OneNote have quickly become her favorites because of their versatility. These two applications work together to create multiple spaces in one for a variety of purposes, which is why they could easily be used in any class. We will show how Rebecca uses them to create different spaces for her classes. Besides being able to write journals and complete assignments that are only shared with the instructor, students can easily communicate and collaborate with peers and the instructor. In addition, they can access multiple resources, from documents to videos, provided by the instructor.

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Creating Self-Reflective Spaces: Facilitating Classrooms to Enhance Diversity Learning Outcomes

Amy Wright, School of Social Work
Christopher Gjesfjeld, School of Social Work

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Creating Self-Reflective Spaces: Facilitating Classrooms to Enhance Diversity Learning Outcomes

A movement to redesign traditional lecture-based courses towards those emphasizing integrative learning pedagogies shows great potential in supporting transformative learning opportunities for students (Booth, 2012). As such, learners must have methods for integrating these abstract ideas, opportunities to connect these ideas with their personal experiences, and be equipped to engage with diverse others through discussion (Kolb & Kolb, 2005). Illinois State University’s Voices of Discovery (VOD) Program is one such model that has been integrated into an undergraduate social work course’s curriculum, with the objective to promote awareness of diverse identities, particularly through the use of student self-disclosure.

Whether or not faculty choose to fully implement a pedagogy of disclosure, experiential learning activities are likely to elicit more frequent student self-disclosure compared to traditional lecture-based environments. As such, questions concerning our role as faculty may arise following a self-disclosure event. Do we respond to the content of the self-disclosure or the student who self-disclosed? Do we refer the student for assistance elsewhere? This session will focus on how we have integrated and managed student self-disclosure in classroom environments. We aim to assist faculty in developing personalized activities, unique to their discipline, that will enhance student self-disclosure, self-awareness and learning engagement.

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Forum Discussion-Agree to Disagree

Arundhati Bhattacharya, Department of Educational Administration and Foundations

College classrooms are microcosms of the broader society. As a teacher of a vulnerable yet powerful age group, I see my role in shaping them as responsible and empathetic young people. Today’s world, fraught with divergent often irreconcilable opinions make it hard for us to engage and present our point of view. My classes focus on making meaningful connections making use of technology to aid this. I use online Forum Discussion as a tool to engage students in critical ideas. Here my pinpointed emphasis is to make sure that students engage respectfully disagree respectfully.

In my brief session, I would like to discuss and welcome comments on how I use Forum Discussion in forming and shaping arguments and how to facilitate students in presenting arguments, views and opinions.

In this, I follow a book titled “They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing” which is designed for undergraduate students (though can be used for graduate students as well) to make arguments. While Forum Discussion is not academic writing per se, I find this tool effective to guide students into the art and style of academic and civil conversations.

Reference:
Graff, G., Birkenstein, C., & Durst, R. (2006). They say, I say. Moves that Matter in Academic Writing.

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iContact: Technology as a Crutch for Public Speaking in Teaching

Jennifer Reichart, Department of Educational Administration and Foundations

Recent research has deplored the “use of technology for technology’s sake” in higher education classrooms. While national trends for teaching and learning centers began to incorporate technology into their titles and missions within the past few decades, we are now witnessing a backlash against that same technology as a poor substitute for traditional student engagement techniques. The harshest criticism states that inexperienced and self-conscious teachers actually use technology as a crutch. On the other hand, centers for teaching and learning now find faculty are enthusiastically requesting training in traditional presentation and public speaking skills to better connect with their students. Further evidence indicates that strong presentation skills without the assistance of technology foster more classroom inclusion as well as engagement. Hang on, PowerPoint; it’s the revenge of the “Chalk Talk.”

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Managing the 24x7 Demands of Online Teaching and Research

Anna Smith, School of Teaching and Learning

Additional Materials

Managing the 24x7 Demands of Online Teaching and Research

Are you dealing with email fatigue? Is the 24x7 nature of online interaction getting you down? Although online networks allow us to work, communicate, and connect at any time and nearly in any place, the constant pings of incoming messages with questions, requests, and even demands, can be draining and distracting. In this presentation, I will share some lessoned learned about ways to address these new realities with students in online and face-to-face courses in order to manage expectations for their time and attention, as well as ours. I will also share effective ways I’ve found to work with my research collaborators in different time zones and countries. We will also look at specific ways to set up the back end of the technologies we use like platforms, apps, and email to give us a much needed reprieve from the constant onslaught. Time will be given for audience members to share their strategies as well.

Applying Efficacy Enhancing Tools Using Technology to Improve Student Success

Jeremy Butler, ISU Police Department

Self-Efficacy, or situation-specific self-confidence, has been shown to be one of the strongest predictors of behavior and success. As teachers, if we explore ways to increase the learner’s self-efficacy within the subject matter, we are certainly more likely to improve their chances of success. This presentation will offer several methods of enhancing self-efficacy using technology as an example for accomplishing this. The presenter will use video motion analysis software to illustrate major points within the Kinesiology and Recreation domain. The theoretical and technological applications for other academic fields will also be discussed.

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Learning to Write and Writing to Learn

Olya Cochran, Department of English

It is hard to imagine modern education without the use of technology. We are so used to seeing students taking class notes on their laptops, needless to say, that contemporary writing classes are always held in computer labs because both students and instructors are required to go digital with assignments and student-teacher communication. But is total digitalization of our students writing experiences, such as typing up e-mails, posts on ReggieNet, typing up papers, provides enough learning opportunities? Have good old pen and paper lost their value as tools for learning and language development? Are handwritten notes and assignments becoming ancient history? The session “Learning to write and Writing to Learn” will provide evidence-based information about the importance of old-school ‘writing technology’ for composition, ESL classrooms, and for any classroom in general. You will learn about a set of strategies and techniques which improve students’ learning, both in class and at home; increase the level of students’ engagement with the classroom material; boost memorization and processing of the texts; increase creativity. Join me for some fun facts and activities, which will boost your learning experience by putting the Symposium stationary and writing utensils to good use.

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Nearpod: Impacts on Student Performance and Classroom Technology Usage

Drew Lugar, Department of Agriculture
Michael Barrowclough, Department of Agriculture

Conducted in an undergraduate anatomy and physiology course in the Department of Agriculture during the 2019 Fall semester, this study investigates the effect that incorporating Nearpod into course lectures has on student academic performance. In addition, the influence that non-educational technology usage has on student academic performance is examined.

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Synthesis Journals as a Path through the Forest

Allison Alcorn, School of Music

Preliminary findings are presented from a SoTL study of data over five years seeking to determine whether synthesis journals can be significantly helpful in students’ learning process in content-heavy courses. The study focuses on a required junior-level music history survey course, “Music History until 1750.” Students typically report feeling overwhelmed by the amount of material and demonstrate difficulty synthesizing and making connections; instead, they frequently seem lost in the details and report a perceived inability to see the big picture of what they are studying and how it relates in any real way to their concentration within the music major--they cannot see the forest for the trees. With the intent of helping students address those difficulties and find a path to lead them through that forest of details, a Synthesis Journal was implemented as a structural component of the course. A prompt was given at the end of every course lesson that was designed to move students from remaining focused only on detail to looking at context, longer-range implications, or connections with other disciplines. The study then analyzed student perceptions as well as exam and course grades to determine whether the Synthesis Journals did, in fact, seem to contribute to a more clear grasp of the content that encompassed not just details but also made connections across a broad scope of considerations.

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Using Innovative Digital Video Technology in Pre-Service Teacher Preparation

Megan Weemer, Department of Health Sciences
Christy Bazan, Department of Health Sciences

Although video has been a part of teacher education preparation for decades, recent research and application of advanced digital video technology (DVT) promises a new level of application in preparing pre-service teachers to become reflective practitioners. With high-stakes video-based assessments of classroom teaching on the rise and technologies for video recording, sharing, and feedback becoming easier, the time is now for teacher educators and researchers to experiment with new ways of using DVT in teacher education preparation. This session will describe the development and implementation of using an innovative digital video technology with pre-service health education students, with the primary goals of improving classroom noticing, developing effective reflection capability, while deepening analysis of teaching and thinking. A variety of ways to easily incorporate this DVT across teacher education disciplines, effective strategies for maximizing its’ use and minimizing departmental costs, along with lessons we learned along the way will be presented. Come join us for a discussion on how to creatively pioneer new solutions in teacher education to meet the challenges of our changing education landscape.

An Iterative and Agile Approach to Community Engagement

Elahe Javadi, School of Information Technology
Emily Saddler, University of Illinois Extension
Cristan Embree, School of Information Technology

In this poster presentation, we reflect upon an ongoing relationship between the University of Illinois 4-H and the School of IT on co-curricular technology-focused educational programs in the community. Building upon concepts and techniques of Agile project management and iterative approach to the development of work, we’ve been designing and implementing collaborative educational programs in which students from ISU teamed up with 4-H students in order to achieve small but measurable and verifiable technological learning outcomes. Variety of formats, structure, duration, and topics have been explored since the fall of 2018. We report students’ reflections on how co-curricular service-learning impacted their sense of purpose, autonomy, and mastery of topics. We also share a set of activity types and format and reflections of community leaders and ISU community members involved in the project.

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Augmented and Virtual Reality; From Consumption to Creation

Mike Jones, School of Teaching and Learning
Kristi Sutter, School of Teaching and Learning

While AR and VR are frequently considered tools to consume media, critics have harshly, and fairly, questioned its need in the classroom. Until recently, educators lacked vetted resources and tools that allow learners to create meaningful experiences.

Access has been limited due to the costly equipment required to participate in the experiences. With the release of Google’s VR Tour Creator and Poly, students now have the ability to access endless media files. These files can be edited and used to create authentic learning experiences or demonstrate understanding in a way that PowerPoint never could. Using tools such as Merge Cubes and CoSpaces students can manipulate resources, from fossils to primary sources, and make meaningful connections. zSpace allows students to model and explore simulations in ways difficult to replicate in the classroom.

VR holds the most potential in its ability to equalize and build on our students’ learning. Students come to us with diverse backgrounds. AR and VR tools can provide common experiences, from a news recording of the Hong Kong protest to visiting distant museums, that will enhance engagement and deepen learning. VR files can even be 3D printed for our low-vision and blind students, maximizing learning for all.

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Changes in Pre-Service Teachers’ Sense of Belonging During Undergraduate Research Experiences

Kara Baldwin, School of Biological Sciences

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have many documented benefits including research process skills, scientific problem-solving skills, and increased interest in subject matter. Research experiences are an effective way to involve participants in the scientific process; however, the culture and social structures within laboratory spaces may impact student outcomes. UREs may occur within communities of practice (CoPs). CoPs have a continuum of individuals moving from the periphery to the center of the community. CoPs require a shared domain, a collaborative community, and a set of shared experiences. Within laboratory settings, students share a domain, they interact with peers, graduate students, and faculty, and they work toward a shared practice. To genuinely belong to a CoP, individuals must be connected to the community or be in the process of building their sense of community through 1) a sense of belonging; 2) a sense of influence and trust; 3) a sense of helpfulness; and 4) a set of shared experiences. This poster presents preliminary findings from pre-service teacher UREs. Through interviews, participants were encouraged to reflect on aspects of CoP. The poster will describe how PSTs sense of belonging changed over the course of the URE.

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Characterizing Changes in Nonscientists’ Knowledge of Evolution in Introductory Biology

Rachel Sparks, School of Biological Sciences

In the current social, political, and environmental climate of the United States, it is critical for nonscientists to have a firm knowledge of evolution in order to make informed decisions about issues including vaccination, climate change, and biotechnology, among many others. Literature on the teaching and learning of evolution indicates that there are gaps in students’ understanding of evolution, particularly as it applies to their daily lives. Thus, an introductory biology course taught through an evolutionary perspective was developed and implemented in 2017, then revised and re-implemented in the 2018-2019 academic year. Data from the re-implementation shows that overall, students’ knowledge of evolution significantly increased on a content knowledge assessment. However, the reasons behind this change are unknown and likely vary from student to student. In order to elucidate how students’ knowledge changed throughout the course, qualitative data from nine students who completed the pre- and post-assessments were analyzed using open coding and thematic analysis to identify patterns within student knowledge. This poster will present case studies of several students’ change in knowledge throughout the course, using excerpts from student work to illuminate how class activities and experiences impacted students’ evolutionary knowledge.

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Exploring Textbook Affordability at Illinois State University

Anne Shelley, University Libraries
Euysup Shim, Department of Technology
Michaelene Cox, Department of Politics and Government

How does technology affect the cost of textbooks in higher education? Large publishers offer high-cost digital texts as access codes and short-term subscriptions, yet students cannot share these resources or sell them at the completion of the course. On the other end of the spectrum, many faculty are using digital publishing tools to adopt and create open textbooks that are free for students. There is interest on campus in responding to this affordability problem. The Textbook Affordability Committee at Illinois State University has a mixed membership of students, faculty, and staff designees from stakeholder offices. The committee is charged with identifying and addressing textbook affordability issues on campus and educating faculty and students on options for minimizing textbook costs. This poster will share information about the current state of textbook affordability at Illinois State University, data from a recent survey of ISU students about textbook costs, strategies for lowering the cost of course materials, and the activities and goals of the Textbook Affordability Committee.

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Flipgrid for Presentation Skills, Cultural Exchanges, Character Education and Self-Explanation

Robby Anggriawan, School of Teaching and Learning

Flipgrid as an online platform which is usually used for online video discussion and designed to facilitate the learning community. It is beneficial by using it in the classroom. Its environment promotes metacognition as well where students can self-reflect, self-explanation, promote character education in online classroom, and exchange cultures where students can ‘meet’ and share collaboratively about prepared topics or lessons with a global audience. Meanwhile, as teachers, it is as a learning tool which can make students more engaged by the use of technology. Not only that, Flipgrid is well-known as an organized online platform which the responses can be seen based on the topics, subjects, lessons, meetings, etc. Both teachers and students are having their own control as well to record, gaining confidence to give opinions and deliver the ideas, and allow teachers to hear from every student, even the ones who are shy or slow to respond. As a result of the study, it shows that Flipgrid is recommended to be used in the classroom with those advantages both for teachers and learners.

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Fog Learning Virtual Laboratories to Augment Online Learning

Mehdi Sookhak, School of Information Technology

Virtual Training Laboratories (VTLs) have been emerged as essential resources in majority of universities to making it easier and less expensive for graduate and undergraduate students to do experiments remotely. The main idea behind of VTLs is to sustain constructing an artificial educational environment by means of cloud computing with the aim of providing flexible access, instant feedback, and top-notch equipment with lower cost for all students. However, cloud computing suffers a considerable latency which prevents it to be applicable for the delay-sensitive virtual labs, for example Multimedia labs. To overcome this issue, I proposed a new concept, namely, Fog-learning Virtual Laboratories (FLVL) on the basis of fog computing. FLVL, indeed, is a decentralized environment to provide Fog services, including computation, storage, and networking, are hosted in the vicinity of end users (edge of the network), and, as a result, reliable access is provisioned to delay-sensitive laboratories. The result of implementation clearly shows the effectiveness of the proposed architecture.

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Getting to know the Oral Proficiency Interview: Translating it to Student-Ease

Susan Hildebrandt, Department of Special Education
Laura Edwards, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Jim Pancrazio, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures

This poster describes an intervention carried out by the co-presenters to assist teacher candidates of French, German, and Spanish on the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI), a high-stakes assessment required before student teaching. The co-presenters, two Spanish faculty members and a French Instructional Assistant Professor, have completed specialized training in how to conduct OPIs and conducted a 90-minute pilot training for approximately 25 teacher candidates from the Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Department (LAN) in September 2019 to translate what they know about the OPI into student-ease. That is, they attempted to make the OPI more approachable by developing student-friendly materials that enable students to learn about the assessment well before they spend $159 for an official OPI. The training primed teacher candidates with a familiarity of the assessment by which their performance will be evaluated near the end of their studies, with the objective that students will be able to understand the highly structured and formulaic nature of the standard-based, holistic assessment of a speaker’s functional ability. This poster describes the training session, the project’s next steps, and the anticipated measurable outcomes: (1) higher first-time OPI pass rates, (2) decreases in OPI retakes, and (3) higher LAN teacher candidates retention rates.

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Grant Writing with Undergraduates: Reflections from a Service-Learning Course Project

Alicia Wodika, Department of Health Sciences

In community health, working with community partners is essential for students to obtain experiences and perspectives that go beyond the text book. In most health education programs, students have a culminating course focusing on program planning, evaluation, and grant writing. These challenging projects provide students with opportunities to address the needs of communities by applying skills they acquired throughout their degree program. The aim of this project was to modify an existing capstone course by incorporating grant writing as the primary focus. Working with three community partners, students in the course worked in pairs to write a grant based on current needs that were identified with the community partners. Grants were developed in preparation to submit to the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation. To measure student learning and growth with civic engagement, students completed pre/post surveys measuring their civic attitudes and perceived ability to make a difference in their communities. Interviews were conducted with community partners to identify the strengths and challenges of the project. Outcomes from the project were two-fold 1) to develop a project that allowed students to use previously acquired skill sets and 2) strengthen student appreciation for community health by incorporating a service-learning project into their capstone experience.

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Learning Biofeedback Using Clinical Devices in Health Professionals

Taeok Park, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Kathleen McMillion, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders

The education of health professionals in fields such as medical speech-language pathology and physical therapy prepares future clinicians to assess and rehabilitate patients in order to provide effective management strategies. Biofeedback is an effective rehabilitation method for health professionals. Using biofeedback during exercises allows patients to modify their force and effort in order to improve physiology. Biofeedback therapy with clinically adapted instruments is an important component in practicing effective management for patients. Biofeedback is addressed by the rehabilitation courses. For example, hands-on learning in the swallowing disorders (dysphagia) course of the speech-language pathology provides students with the opportunity to determine the proper assessment before intervention and can assist in developing objectives for swallowing rehabilitation. Students completing hands-on learning are able to experience simulated situations through the provided visual feedback and record quantitative data as a tool of evidence-based practice. These participating students would experience increased clinical competence in working with patients with dysphagia. This presentation aims to share how to instruct hands-on learning of biofeedback through the use of clinical devices in order to increase students’ clinical knowledge and competence for swallowing rehabilitation. This presentation would help instructors who teach rehabilitation develop the teaching method for students in health professionals.

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Nursing’s Implementation of Computer-Based ExamSoft (NICE)

Melissa Jarvill, Mennonite College of Nursing
Valentina Fillman, Mennonite College of Nursing
Chris Morgan, Mennonite College of Nursing
Desha Cobb, Mennonite College of Nursing

In fall 2019, Mennonite College of Nursing (MCN) implemented the use of ExamSoft in seven undergraduate courses. ExamSoft is a computer-based test (CBT) and assessment management platform offering students a testing environment that mirrors the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), which all nursing student graduates must pass in order to practice as registered nurses. The software offers many features like categorizing questions by topics like degree of difficulty, NCLEX categories, course objectives, or program outcomes so faculty and administrators can provide data driven student feedback, evaluate student performance over time, identify curricular gaps, and evaluate course or program performance. A thoughtful implementation plan and collaboration from many areas contributed to a successful launch. A Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology grant supported the initial faculty training session. MCN information technology staff involvement from the outset of the project and through implementation was integral to a successful launch. MCN administration supported the launch efforts by providing graduate assistants to import exam questions and assist with administering exams. Support from Student Access and Accommodations Services (SAAS) staff allowed for seamless use of CBT by students utilizing testing accommodations. Continued evaluation of outcomes will be essential for sustainability and progress.

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Pre-recorded Complex Patient Interdisciplinary Simulation Experience

Susan Watkins, Mennonite College of Nursing
Antony Joseph, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders

Background: American healthcare is costly, fragmented, illness-centered, and difficult for patients to navigate. National healthcare reform promotes interprofessional team-based patient-centric health-care models that are dedicated to improving population health outcomes. These interprofessional delivery models are associated with improved population health outcomes, however, health profession pedagogy lacks interprofessional education (IPE) platforms that integrate collaborative student learning among disciplines. Ostensibly, IPE is essential for the preparation of students from dissimilar disciplines because it can leverage expertise and resources across the continuum of care. To prepare students for interprofessional collaboration (IPC), health-profession academia should implement IPE programs with a goal of delivering high-quality, cost-effective, holistic, and coordinated patient-centered care.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine the development and perceptions of students and its association with IPC readiness with exposure to IPE simulation video and classroom discussion.

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Qualitative Data Analysis with MAXQDA for Student Research

Michael Gizzi, Department of Criminal Justice Sciences
David Kunkel, Department of Criminal Justice Sciences

Student research can be enhanced significantly through the use of qualitative data analysis like MAXQDA. In this presentation we provide an overview of how a student research project was transformed through the use of a learning tool that enabled the student to conduct the research in a fraction of the time of a traditional project, but also significantly improved learning and theory building.

MAXQDA’s tools make it possible to use visual cues to aid in theory building, and to synthesize note-taking and analysis. The poster focuses on the pedagogical approach used and provides examples from the outcome of the work to demonstrate ways other faculty can use this tool to aid undergraduate or graduate research.

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Reconsidering the Undergraduate Anatomy Curriculum

Eric Walsh, School of Biological Sciences

Anatomy education is currently undergoing widespread pedagogical reform. The existing literature employs one of three strategies to enact change. Studies seek to test the effectiveness of novel pedagogical approaches (e.g. body painting), assess the utility of integrating technological advances (e.g. interactive software), or explore the potential benefits of an altered learning context (e.g., interdisciplinary learning). These approaches share the overarching tactic of changing how students engage with the curriculum. However, research on modifying the curriculum to bolster students’ interactions with it is sparse. Therefore, this study implemented a modified three-week laboratory curriculum designed to teach undergraduate anatomy students the musculoskeletal system. The modified curriculum was inspired by complex systems theory and embodied cognition to emphasize building schemes of knowledge via active learning. Student responses to the Anatomy Learning Experiences Questionnaire (ALEQ) and concept mapping interviews provided quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. Students experienced significantly better outcomes with the modified curriculum, which was supported by interview data, where students expressed the importance of understanding how systems function together. These findings provide the impetus for further research in anatomical pedagogical change and evidence for the hypothesis that anatomical pedagogy should emphasize understanding “how” more than “what”.

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Revision of a Traditional Astronomy Course Using Active Learning

Raymond Zich, Department of Physics
Rebecca Rosenblatt, Department of Physics
Amber Sammons, Department of Physics

We report on the conversion of a general education sophomore-level astronomy course from traditional lecture based methods to a more active learning course. The course was reworked into an active learning environment through the addition of concept-oriented group worksheets, hands-on experimental activities, planetarium-based lessons, and observing sessions. We reflect on the process of this transition and report on factors that led to the adoption of active learning, factors that supported the change, and barriers faced while implementing this change. We compare and contrast these findings with other case studies of instructional change and theories of adoption. In addition, student learning pre to post was measured with the TOAST and LPCI, and qualitative data was collected in the form of 35-minute semi-structured interviews with each student to investigate student learning, attitudes, and perceptions of the course as a whole.

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Science Literacy for General Education at ISU: A Pilot Study

Guang Jin, Department of Health Sciences
Alicia Wodika, Department of Health Sciences
Rebekka Darner, Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology
Jianwei Lai, School of Information Technology
Jared Cihlar, Department of Chemistry
Madeline Moore, School of Communication

This study aims to identify aspects of classroom culture that promote scientific literacy, specifically accuracy-oriented reasoning, in an online environmental health general education course through discussion of controversial topics via forums, problem sets, and public policy voting scenarios. Forums focused on topics related to sustainability, e-waste, emissions, and GMOs. Three problem sets were developed to stimulate students’ accuracy-oriented reasoning regarding immigration and economics, GMOs, and bottled water quality. Students (n=28) were prompted to work through a series of questions and provide their qualitative and quantitative feedback. These questions were designed to identify specific aspects of the classroom culture that facilitate motivation toward accuracy goals. To evaluate whether the learning experience fostered accuracy-oriented reasoning, a pre-post public policy voting scenario assessment was implemented at the beginning and the end of the course. This assessment focused on a controversial topic with factual-based and opinion-based types of evidence (n=10) and from credible sources and non-credible sources. Students’ time spent on the voting assessment decreased from pre (M=39.13 min) to post (M=16.69 min) with the number of evidences analyzed also decreasing pre (M=9.6) to post (M=3.92). Qualitative responses to support their voting decision were also analyzed using a practical inquiry model for critical thinking.

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Student Perceptions of the Agriculture Industry

Maria Boerngen, Department of Agriculture
Bailey Hoerbert, Department of Agriculture

This pilot study addresses the perception of agriculture by non-agriculture students, and agriculture students’ beliefs about those perceptions. In Fall 2018, nine ISU agriculture majors were paired with nine non-agriculture majors to discuss the industry. Through questionnaires administered prior to this experience, we measured the non-agriculture students’ opinions about the industry, and the agriculture students’ assumptions about those opinions. The agriculture students saw themselves as industry advocates, ranking themselves as “moderately confident” in their ability to communicate with non-farmers about agriculture. On a scale ranging from 1 (“Very negative”) to 5 (“Very positive”), non-agriculture majors reported a more positive opinion of agriculture than what the agriculture students believed that group’s opinion to be (p<0.001). On a scale ranging from 1 (“Negatively biased”) to 3 (“Positively biased”), agriculture students perceived a more negative media bias toward agriculture (1.30 vs. 1.67). Follow-up questionnaires evaluated changes in perceptions and beliefs as a result of this experience. Agriculture students reported improved confidence in their ability to communicate about the industry and less negative media bias toward agriculture, while non-agriculture students indicated a more positive overall opinion of agriculture, greater familiarity with farmers’ issues, and a slightly more negative media bias. Data collection is ongoing.

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The Impact of Study Abroad on Preservice Teachers

Miranda Lin, School of Teaching and Learning
Kaitlyn Lutt, School of Teaching and Learning

Study abroad experiences have proved to enhance teacher candidates’ marketability, reflective practice, cross-cultural awareness, and personal confidence (Shiveley & Misco, 2015). Longview Report (2009) indicates that preservice teachers with study abroad experiences are better positioned to develop pedagogical skills and understanding issues from multiple perspectives. Most importantly, study abroad can help the preservice teacher develop intercultural competence and cross-cultural communication skills. Study abroad is believed to be one of the best means by which students can acquire global skills and open up personal and professional opportunities (Tucker, Gullekson, & McCambridge, 2011). In order to understand the effectiveness of study abroad on teacher candidates’ understanding of culture and their classroom practices, 10 participates who studies abroad in various countries were recruited to be interviewed. The research question guided our research, “how do studying abroad impact teacher candidates’ perceptions of teaching?” Preliminary findings indicate that participants all believe that they have learned to understand the importance of understanding other cultures and the differences amongst them and how they impact not only daily life but the education system. Suggestions for faculty who are leading the study abroad program will be discussed.

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The Importance of Agency and Free Access in ENG 101: Incorporating Free Technology Resources and Inc

Edcel Cintron, Department of English
Serenah Minasian, Department of English

This poster will display and expand upon five webpages/apps that are used to create and produce certain types of written Genre and students’ Uptake on their writing process during their academic semester in ENG 101. Here at ISU, ENG 101 focuses on teaching students that their ideas, voice, and antecedent knowledge of writing are an important role when they explore their own meaning of who they are as individuals, but also as writers and researchers. As part of the requirements to teach ENG 101 under the learning outcomes of the Writing Program, both instructors and students engage writing in multiple multimedia and multimodality perspectives to break away from traditional modes of writing, such as composing a five page essay. Therefore, by using Canvas, Piktochart, Kahoot, Flickers, and Doodle, we explain how technology in the classroom can help to solve student problems in terms of access of material and information when engaging different writing practices in the classroom. Promising innovations we see in technology, such as using these free source websites/apps, are that it makes teaching easier, while at the same time, fits to many different learning styles and individual disciplines of our ENG 101 student population.

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We are Here to Help - AT Resources for Instruction

Craig Jackson, School of Information Technology
Carla Birckelbaw, School of Information Technology
Ed Vize, Administrative Technologies
Ben Mengarelli, Administrative Technologies

Our poster discusses the ways that current and future IT resources can be leveraged for classroom instruction. Resources covered will include Microsoft Office 365 (Teams, OneNote), Zoom, and other technologies that teachers can include in their pedagogies. Ultimately, this poster seeks to promote a discussion between AT professionals and instructors on incorporating technology into classrooms.