Room 308

Peer Learning, Retention, Small Groups, Scholarship of Teaching (sharing of results)

Presenter(s)

• Natalie Curry, Clinical Associate Professor, Social Work

 

 

The BSW Program at Missouri State launched a Peer Group Program in fall 2021 as a way to promote a sense of connectedness among students and retention in the program. In this voluntary program, students are placed in a small group with others from their cohort and a Peer Group Leader creates a group text where regular communication occurs throughout the semester.

The Peer Group Program has been successful in providing a formal structure that allows relationships to form among students, and we believe long-term that it will continue to positively impact program retention.

Key takeaways for attendees are learning about the formation and structure of the Peer Group Program, our results so far, and ideas for how the program could be replicated in other departments.

Room 312

Technology Tools

Presenter(s)

• Annice H. McLean, MSEd, Senior Instructor Reading Foundations & Technology
• Ching-Wen Chang, PhD, Professor, Reading Foundations & Technology

Can you imagine not needing to lift a finger to create a PowerPoint presentation, write an essay, or create responses to discussion questions?

Join us as we demonstrate Artificial Intelligence chatbots such as ChatGPT and discuss the future of coursework knowing that these tools are mostly free and easy to use. We will also look at some AI Detector tools and weigh in on the pros and cons of Artificial Intelligence and chatbots in education.

By the end of the presentation, participants will have a better understanding of ChatGPT and its potential applications, as well as some of the challenges and considerations that come with using AI systems like ChatGPT.

 

Room 313

Student Self-Efficacy, Active Learning, Community Building

Presenter(s)

• Patrick Sullivan, PhD, Associate Professor of Mathematics

• Kimberly Van Ornum, Senior Instructor of Mathematics

In this session we will share our multi-faceted plan to not only improve success rates in MATH 101 but also improve students' self-efficacy towards mathematics with the goal of increasing their potential of success in future mathematics courses as well as other academic courses.

This multi-faceted plan involved not only looking at the intellectual aspect of the course, but also considering who these students were as individuals and how their past experiences with mathematics shaped their perceptions of mathematics as well as how they viewed themselves as learners of mathematics.

Elements of content and pedagogical redesign focused on "meet[ing] students where they were" while also injecting a higher level of rigor into the course will be shared. These elements include:  1) the nature of mathematics that we wanted students to learn, 2) strategies to support active learning, and 3) community building to create a shared commitment. Successes and barriers to success will also be shared.

Attendees will be asked to participate in a discussion of “Imagining their own something better” while leaving with strategies to begin thinking about how to implement their own “something better” learning

 

Room 314

Nonverbal Communication Strategies

Presenter(s)

• Isabelle Bauman, PhD, Associate Professor, Communication
• Nora Cox, MA, Senior Instructor, Communication

 

 

As faculty, we spend lots of time choosing the words we’ll use to spark interest and create meaningful connections in our teaching. We invest more time determining what words our students will learn from during our class time together. Then, we spend a lot of time reading and listening to the words our students share. But it’s not just the words that do the work of communicating, it’s how they’re said, when they’re said, the way class time is used, how and when we show various emotions, that also contribute powerfully to learning.

Decades of extensive research in nonverbal communication make clear that everyone believes nonverbal communication over verbal communication. The majority of communication is nonverbal. For a teacher to be truly effective requires an understanding of the power of nonverbal communication.

In this session, we’ll explore how to understand and harness the power of nonverbal communication in the classroom and beyond. Participants will learn the dimensions of nonverbal communication, the nonverbal codes of communication, and most crucially, learn how to deploy and manage nonverbal communication for teaching effectiveness.

Room 315

Case Studies, Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving, Analysis, Evaluation, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (sharing results of implementation of a strategy).  

Presenter(s)

• Chloe Bolyard, EdD, Assistant Professor, Childhood Ed and Family Studies
• Amber Howard, Clinical Instructor, Childhood Ed and Family Studies
• Stacie Finley, PhD, Assistant Professor, Reading Foundations and Technology

 

Using case studies allows students to analyze real-life scenarios by applying theoretical ideas (e.g., relational pedagogy and equity literacy) to professional practice (Gorski & Pothini, 2018).
Researchers have found the case method deepens critical thinking abilities and problem-solving skills (see, for example, Bonney, 2015; Brown & Kraehe, 2010). Further, analyzing cases enables students to consider multiple perspectives, to practice seeing the complexity of their chosen field, and to evaluate various responses to phenomena.
In our session, we will provide a brief overview of research on the impact of the case method on students' beliefs, practices, and student outcomes.

We will share our experiences using the case method in a variety of teacher preparation courses to enhance teacher candidates’ equity literacy (Gorski, 2016). We hope to engage participants in a dialogue around the opportunities for the case method to enhance their own classrooms and will equip them with several potential cases that could be used in a wide variety of curriculum.

References

Bonney, K. M. (2015). Case study teaching method improves student performance and perceptions of learning gains. Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, 16(1), 21-28.

Brown, K. D., & Kraehe, A. M. (2010). The complexities of teaching the complex: Examining how future educators construct understandings of sociocultural knowledge and schooling. Educational Studies, 46, 91-115.

Gorski, P. (2016). Rethinking the role of “culture” in educational equity: From cultural competence to equity literacy. Multicultural Perspectives, 18(4), 221-226.

Gorski, P., & Pothini, S. G. (2018). Case studies on diversity and social justice education (2nd ed.).

Routledge.Hinsdale, M. J. (2020). Relational pedagogy. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.28

Room 317

Strategies for Leveraging LinkedIn Learning to Bolster Student Outcomes

Presenter(s)

• Debbie Donnellan, Human Resources

This session will focus on how faculty can use LinkedIn Learning resources to engage students and improve their learning experience.

Presenter(s)

• Mathew McKay, PhD, Associate Professor, Geography, Geology, and Planning 

Presenter(s)

• Melissa Penkalski, DNP, Associate Professor, School of Nursing
• Ronda Entlicher-Stewart, DNP, Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Nursing

Presenter(s)

• Amber Howard, Clinical Instructor, Childhood Ed and Family Studies
• Stacie Finley, PhD, Assistant Professor, Childhood Education and Family Studies

Presenter(s)

• Leslie Echols, PhD, Associate Professor, Psychology
• Nancy Gordon, EdD, Director FCTL
• Eric Nelson, PhD, Professor, History
• Stacy Rice, Instructional Designer, FCTL
• Marjorie Shavers, PhD, Department Head, Counseling, Leadership, & Special Education 
• Nicole West, PhD, Associate Professor, Counseling, Leadership, and Special Education

 

Room 308

Professional Learning Communities, Reflective Practice

Presenter(s)

• Patrick Sullivan, PhD, Associate Professor, Mathematics
• Kimberly Van Ornum, Senior Instructor, Mathematics
• Alysia Swearingen, Student
• Tyler McGilvey-James, Student
• Sky Adkihari, Student
• Rachel Heili, Student
• Collin Moore, Student
• Alvaro Hernandez Solis, Student

This past year we co-led a significant course redesign with the goal of improving success rates. The sustainability and success of this course redesign is heavily dependent on our graduate teaching assistants.

While teacher quality is the greatest factor affecting student achievement (Hanushek et al., 1998) often very little attention is given to the pedagogical training of graduate teaching assistants (Ganter & Barker, 2004). This training is especially critical in courses in which students have not experienced a great deal of success. One of our greatest challenges was asking a group of inexperienced teachers to not only understand content but teach it in a way that was unfamiliar to them.

To address this challenge, we formed a professional learning community that met each week to reflect on what was learned the previous week and how our practices could improve over the next week.

In this session we will share their stories focused around the following questions with an eye toward how the learning community supported them: 1) What was the greatest challenge you faced; 2) How did your PLC support your growth; 3) What were specific norms of the group that helped accelerated your growth as a teacher; 4) What recommendations do you have for those attempting to create their own professional learning community?

We will offer tips and strategies to support others in creating their own PLC while also discussing how to overcome barriers to creating a quality PLC.

Room 312

Virtual/Augmented Reality; 
Presenter(s)

• Helena Metzker, Senior Instructor, Chemistry and Biochemistry

 

Virtual and augmented reality has the advantage that it helps students immerse in their learning experiences. This allows students to perceive being physically present in a non-physical world (Ranieri et al., 2022). 360° video is widely accepted and reported as an effective way to enhance practice-based disciplines such as STEM-related fields (Ranieri et al., 2022). Integrating virtual content and real experiences enhances student engagement with their learning because 360° video is perceived positively by the public.

In 2019 I acquired a RICOH Theta V for making 360 videos in Adobe Captivate. The issue I ran into was the learning curve for using Captivate and a straightforward way to integrate the assets into my LMS. When I explored ThinkLink, I found it very easy to use, and the assets created can be easily shared as a web link. The free trial allows the creation of assets and individual connections. However, I recommend acquiring the paid version, which provides content engagement statistics.

Let us look at the interactive asset I created! This is a 360 virtual tour of a chemistry laboratory. The goal is to provide students with an immersive experience of the physical laboratory while educating them about the safety measurements of being in a chemistry lab.
Here is a sample of the type ofhttps://www.thinglink.com/video/1699119716972364771

Learning objectives for the session:

• Equip faculty with a hands-on, low cost and easy-to-use teaching resource.
• Demo the use of ThingLink for creating interactive content.

At the end of the session, my goal is that attendants can test and try out the sample teaching materials. Creating a learning technology community with faculty interested in creating interactive virtual reality assets would be great.

References Ranieri, M., Luzzi, D., Cuomo, S., & Bruni, I. (2022). If and how do 360° videos fit into education settings? Results from a scoping review of empirical research. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 38( 5), 1199– 1219. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12683

Room 313

Integrating Sustainability; Faculty Learning Communities

Presenter(s)

• DJ Perkins, PhD, Assistant Professor, Geography, Geology, and Planning
• Doug Neidigh, Pollution Prevention Specialist, Geography, Geology, and Planning
• Luis Perez, PhD, Department Head, Management
• Alan Tinkler, PhD, Assistant Department Head, English

During the inaugural Sustainability Fellows Program during Spring 2023, fellows participated in four workshops to advance a shared understanding of sustainability, an understanding that centered on the four cornerstones (economy, ecology, society, and culture) and the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. The program also focused on thinking about ways to integrate the practice of sustainability into teaching and learning.

This session will share the conceptual framework for sustainability that emerged during the workshops. This session will also share some of the visioning that resulted from conversations around teaching and learning. This session will provide time for participants to brainstorm ways to integrate sustainability into their practice of teaching and learning.

One goal of the Sustainability Fellows Program is to build community, so this session will also give participants an opportunity to be in conversation with faculty interested in sustainability. Finally, this session will outline the application process for the Spring 2024 Sustainability Fellows Program.

Room 314

Presenter(s)

• Dr. Chris Craig
• Tracy Stout, MLIS, Professor, Head of Research & Instructional Services

This summer a team from MSU participated in the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Institute on Open Educational Resources (OER). The Institute on OER provides a year-long, engagement opportunity for teams to actualize an ambitious strategy to broaden campus engagement with adoption on OER.  

This session will provide lessons learned and future directions for OER on college campuses. The team will also present high-level goals and next steps to help encourage the adoption and use of OER in MSU courses.

Room 315

Social justice; data literacy; quantitative reasoning
Presenter(s)

• Kyler J. Sherman-Wilkins, PhD, Assistant Professor, Sociology and Anthropology
• Catherine H. Hoegeman, PhD, Associate Professor, Sociology and Anthropology

Many students who choose to major in the social and behavioral sciences are drawn to their majors because of their interest in identifying and addressing social inequities. Despite the importance of data literacy and basic quantitative research skills for well-rounded grounding in the social and behavioral sciences, many students see core courses in statistics and methods as nothing more than an annoying barrier that they must trudge through en route to completing their major.

In this session, we will be discussing our strategies for grounding the teaching of statistics and methods in the principles of social justice. Namely, we will be incorporating intersectionality and quant crit perspectives into the teaching of undergraduate methods and statistics courses, thus allowing students to truly understand the relevance of both statistics and methods for uncovering, understanding, and ultimately resolving social inequities.

By the end of the session, individuals will

1) have an understanding of both the intersectionality perspective, and quant crit methodology;

2) understand ways to incorporate both intersectionality and quant crit perspectives into their teaching of methods and statistics;

3) be able to navigate the challenges of incorporating said perspectives into their teaching; and

4) be challenged to continue to innovate their teaching of methods and statistics to ensure that students become adept in both data literacy and quantitative reasoning.

Room 317

Student services; Peer Assisted Study Session Program
Presenter(s)

• Michael Frizell, Director, Student Learning Services

 

 

This session will explore embedded tutoring programs available at Missouri State University. Those programs include the Peer Assisted Study Session Program, an engaging student success service designed for historically challenging classes. Peer Assisted Study Session (PASS) Leaders and Course Mentors support students in navigating challenging course material while teaching them how to study in the discipline.

Writing Fellows are experienced Missouri State University writing consultants. They hold one-on-one consultations with students in specific writing-intensive courses across the curriculum. Each student must meet with their assigned Writing Fellow at least twice to discuss the assignment, writing strategies, and ways to revise and edit the draft into a polished paper the professor will grade.

Writing Fellows work alongside faculty to develop a powerful writing prompt and guide students to develop strong essays while learning about the writing process.
This session will talk about how to request an embedded program for your class – and how to support it during the semester.