Assessing Learning

Comparison of Remediation Models in a Graduate-level Professional Program

Emily Weidman-Evans, Louisiana State University Health Sciences-Shreveport

This poster will compare 3 remediation models utilized by one PA program over the past 5 cohorts when assessing specific knowledge: (1) test/remediation (no retest); (2) test/retest/remediation with test and retest scores averaged to demonstrate competency and determine remediation needs; and (3) test/retest/remediation with original scores recorded as the grade, but remediation needs determined by performance on the retest. Outcomes to be compared include scores on cumulative final exams in each course as measures of short-term knowledge retention, and end-of-curriculum summative exam as a measure of long-term retention. We will also compare student attrition rates and describe the amount of faculty and student time that was required for each model.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Harnessing Hybrid Team Dynamics in Higher Education

Mia Lamm, Johns Hopkins University

In the post-pandemic higher education workplace, fostering positive team dynamics within hybrid work environments has become essential. Our poster session draws from a year-long case study of integrating research-supported interventions with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Teaching and Learning Instructional Design Team. We offer a hybrid team culture and dynamics strategy applicable to various workplace team contexts, including higher education teams. Attendees will gain insights into how we approach cultivating a supportive culture; building trust; and enhancing communication and connections.

You Belong Here: Photovoice to Empower Students with Intellectual Disabilities

Nina Medyk, College of the Florida Keys

Project ACCESS (Accessing Community College Educational Experiences, Social Experiences, & Skills for Careers) is an inclusive postsecondary education program for students with intellectual disabilities at the College of the Florida Keys. This poster will demonstrate how photovoice was utilized as a UDL approach for assessment and engagement during students’ first semester. Attendees will learn how photovoice positively impacted students’ experiences when implemented as a weekly assignment and final project within their College Experience course. Attendees will engage in a dialogue about how photovoice can be applied as a way to improve learning outcomes on the micro, mezzo, and macro levels.

For New Faculty

Mentorship: A Mutually Beneficial Collaboration

Megan Fixen and Beverly Fleischman, Minot State University

Supporting and nurturing the next generation of educators is a fundamental aspect of academia. Unique challenges exist for new faculty members in adapting to the academic environment. New faculty may need assistance with transitioning into their new role as an instructor as well as a colleague. Collaboration through mentorship has a positive impact on teaching, job satisfaction, and enhanced opportunities for learning and growth. This poster presentation will provide practical tips to build an effective mentor relationship. Best practices will be shared for designing and implementing mentorship strategies to develop a thriving academic community.

Inspiring Learners by Crafting Dynamic Classroom Experiences

Jonathan Lim, University of California, Riverside

New faculty often view teaching as the effective transmission of information. However, with experience, we realize a successful classroom is far more holistic. Our poster will share our ideas on how to build a strong learning environment. First, we will help our audience visualize how to craft their instructor identity (in marketing terms, “positioning”). We will then guide our audience in thinking about their “target market”—students and their needs. Finally, we combine this “positioning” and “target market” to form a “product”—the experience resulting from an instructor’s identity interacting with students’ needs. This becomes the learning environment unique to each instructor.

Outside the Classroom

What if Faculty Are People? Leisure Book Clubs for Fun

Cheris Brewer Current and Maria Bastien Valenca, Walla Walla University

The stresses of teaching in spring 2020 coupled with an onslaught of web-based training left many faculty with more professional development opportunities than they could bear. Faculty needed a break. To counter impending burnout and provide opportunities for community and joy, non-professional development book clubs were created in the summer of 2020. At the start of the school year, we convened groups based on the materials selected and facilitated discussions. This format inadvertently created interdisciplinary communities, as faculty did not select materials along disciplinary lines. Book clubs are a faculty colloquium tradition, and cookbooks remain a popular option.

MET2: A Blueprint for Industry Collaboration and STEM Challenge-based Learning

Eric Flynn, MET2 and Jana Brady, National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing

This poster uses the NSF-funded Mechanical Engineering Technologies and Manufacturing Engineering Technologies for Energy and Sustainability (MET²) program as a case study to explore the collaboration between higher education and industry in designing challenge-based learning opportunities for STEM students. It provides an in-depth analysis of the MET² Program, highlighting its industry partnerships, curriculum, objectives, and outcomes. It showcases the program’s success in nurturing students’ technical competencies, as well as their development of essential professional and entrepreneurial skills like leadership, teamwork, and strategic planning.

Effectiveness of Scholarship and Enrichment Program for Female STEM Students

Janey McMillen, Meredith College

To address the national need to prepare more women for careers in STEM and improve retention of talented female students in STEM majors, the Advancing Women’s Education in STEM (AWE-STEM) program at Meredith College has provided scholarships and enriched experiences for academically talented women with demonstrated financial need since 2018. The program aims to enhance the STEM education of these women and retain them through graduation, providing improved opportunities to pursue employment or graduate study in STEM fields. We will describe the program, curricular and co-curricular activities, and findings on effectiveness of activities and their impact on student retention and success.

Preparing Your Course

Designing an Inclusive Mathematics Course at No Cost to Students

Umut Caglar, Florida International University

In this poster presentation, we discuss developing an inclusive mathematics course at no cost to students while maintaining the quality of teaching and learning in a hybrid modality class. We share how we develop the precalculus algebra and trigonometry hybrid course at no cost to students using digital tools, online platforms, and an open education resource textbook. While developing an inclusive mathematics course at no cost to students is beneficial, it is important to ensure that the quality of teaching and learning is not compromised. It is crucial to carefully design and implement the hybrid modality to optimize student learning experiences. With that in mind, we discuss specifically how we structure the course to connect the out-of-class learning to the in-class learning and how we facilitate online, out-of-class, pre-class, and post-class work. We present an interactive learning tool, playposit, combined with guided notes and the textbook that help to prepare students before coming to class. We outline some of the practices we implement that involve providing clear instructions, regular communication, and opportunities for interaction and feedback. Additionally, we discuss using the canvas platform for in-class quizzes to connect the pre-class and in-class work. Finally, we mention students’ post-class engagement outside of class using an iMathAS platform on Canvas.

The Elephant and the Rider: An Approach to Course Design and Collaboration

Angelica Martinez and Emma Silva, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Our poster session will focus on introducing the concept of the rider and the elephant from a course design perspective. Often, as instructional designers in higher education, we are tasked with helping all types of educators build and design their online learning environments using different techniques and strategies. We will demonstrate how the concept of the rider and the elephant applies to course design and online learners and how this collaboration guides educators in creating engaging content and motivating their students to succeed.

Creating Community through Early Communication

Shanda Hood and Joshua M. Girshner, University of Arkansas

To encourage community and belonging before the start of the semester, students in a Survey of Calculus class were provided with a syllabus activity one week before the start of the semester. Questions were embedded within the activity to emphasize important course components, policies, and requirements. Students were also allowed to introduce themselves, ask questions, or share any relevant information. We believe this activity has helped to build a greater sense of community and has helped to clarify course expectations. In this poster presentation, we will share our preliminary results based on a survey of students who completed the activity.

Student Engagement

A Study on Mental Well-Being in the Classroom

Joan Maldonado-Resto and Celicia Little, Bowie State University

College students experience high levels of stress and anxiety due to the pressures of managing academic and social life. High levels of stress and anxiety in students may result in lower knowledge retention and may ultimately lead to withdrawal from academic programs and the university. Utilizing music therapy in the classroom setting may reduce students’ stress and anxiety levels while improving knowledge retention, class satisfaction, and have overall advantageous outcomes.

Utilizing Roles and Responsibilities in Undergraduate Courses Serving IPE Competencies

Nevila Jana and Nalini Broadbelt, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

The poster illustrates the design of an interdisciplinary course on malaria by assigning team members a specific discipline (Chemistry, Biology, and Social Sciences) role and responsibility. Interest surveys will be used to assign specific roles, videos that tackle each discipline’s perspective on malaria will be presented, and worksheets to be answered as a team will enable the desired interaction between professions. The simulation models practice interprofessional collaboration, communication, and conflict resolution, and building respectful relationships between team members. A follow-up reflection assignment assesses the intended interprofessional interactions and the benefits.

Interactive, Engaged Learning Using Low-fidelity Activities/Games: Interdisciplinary Approach

Lynne Madsen, Red Deer Polytechnic

Traditional learning environments have become passive, lecture-style, teacher-centered classrooms. Games enhance the classroom to have a learner-centered approach promoting an enjoyable, non-threatening, interactive, and engaging environment. This approach promotes critical thinking, application of knowledge, problem-solving, communication, and interpersonal skills using hands-on learning. There are many activities/games beneficial in postsecondary classrooms of any discipline. We will be presenting information on the background of why this type of learning is effective for students, some of the challenges, and important considerations when incorporating these activities/games in the classroom.

Enhancing Student Engagement via Contemplative Practices

Lisa Schulte, Xavier University of Louisiana

This poster focuses on enhancing student engagement via contemplative practices. Research conducted during the 2023-2024 academic year will examine the effects of weekly contemplative practices among approximately 60 students enrolled in Positive Psychology. This treatment group will be compared to a control group—approximately 60 students enrolled in other psychology courses. A pretest-posttest design will assess changes in subjective and psychological well-being across each semester, with contemplative practices as expected to enhance well-being. Individuals who experience greater levels of well-being are expected to be more engaged—as assessed by student course evaluations.

Empower Student Learning Teams with a Collaborative Toolbox!

Stokes Schwartz, Michigan State University

Collaborative learning, a high-impact practice, takes numerous forms and yields many possible benefits to students where mastery of course material, connection of their own prior experience and learning to it, related creation of new knowledge, and the cultivation of next-generation skills are concerned. Too often, however, students have difficulty with the collaborative process and founder without instructor guidance. The session proposed will share 10+ ‘tools’ that I provide to students, which facilitate greater empowerment, self-direction, and accountability throughout their collaborative process regardless of course modality.

Technology Tools for Teaching

Breathing New Life into Book Studies: Asynchronous Perusall Reading Communities

Lauren Barbeau, Georgia Institute of Technology

This poster shares a new approach to facilitating a classic professional development program: the book study. Finding meeting options that work for all interested parties poses a challenge. Even when instructors set aside time to attend, they may struggle to keep up with reading assignments. Perusall’s asynchronous engagement platform removes these obstacles. Participants no longer have to attend synchronous meetings. They can read flexibly as they have time while still engaging in a professional development community with instructors across disciplines and even institutions. The poster shares Perusall’s features and strategies we used to promote community in the online space.

Evolution in Technology: AI Tools and Their Future in Education

Maria Elena Guel, University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley

The ever-changing technology field constantly provides new and different opportunities that utilize the latest AI tools that are making their way into the mainstream. The poster presentation will share what AI tools are available and how some use them to incorporate them into education. We will discuss how different disciplines can utilize these various AI tools. Participants will explore how they can create assignments and assessments with the assistance of AI. We cannot pretend that these software programs will go away. If nothing else, we can expect more of these types of software and their limits to be tested.

Using AI to Decrease Anxiety

Shanda Hood and Nama Namakshi, University of Arkansas

For a chosen topic, students in a Survey of Calculus class were asked to create a video presentation using ChatGPT. Students in this course are non-STEM majors with a fair amount of self-reported math anxiety. Using mathematical terminology correctly can be difficult. Using ChatGPT to create a script will reduce this anxiety, allowing students to engage with course material in a less stressful way. Using AI tools will increase comfort with terminology, allowing students to use discipline-specific terms more naturally. We will present our preliminary findings based on data collected from participants about their experience and perception when creating a video presentation using AI.

Surveying of Remote and Mixed Reality-based Laboratory Technologies

Faruk Yildiz, Sam Hosutons State University

The remote laboratory concept has been one of the important research items during the Covid-19 pandemic where most of the institutions moved their classes to online and/or remote modalities. The impacts of COVID-19 pandemic were unexpected and the preparation for the remote lab delivery and/or distance learning were minimal where face-to-face laboratory experiments have been common among Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs. Academic programs mainly offering face-to-face courses with laboratory experiments that are not prepared for remote and online laboratory delivery have struggled. It was an immediate necessity to find ways to deliver traditional face-to-face courses with laboratory experiments to their students remotely via distance learning. Recently, researchers and companies have been investigating and working on remote laboratory concepts and integration into the curriculum. The popularity of remote labs is increasing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the improved speed of the internet but still do not have much attention. The objective of this paper is to find the best current resource available for remote learning labs for STEM majors. The goal is to find a program, company, or university resource exchange to find the best optimal sources for remote learning through virtual labs, via computers, and control systems via the laboratories.

The Online Classroom

Impact of Flipped Learning and Group Problem-solving for Improving Python Programming Skills in an Online Environment

Vibhuti Gupta, Meharry Medical College

Flipped learning reverses traditional learning by providing topic material first to prepare the students for classroom learning and then discussing the topics in the class, working on the problems with the instructor, and finally performing group problem-solving activities. In this research, we have examined the impact of flipped learning and group problem-solving activities for improving Python programming skills of students in an online classroom environment.

Remote Learning of Clinical Skills in Healthcare Education

Darren Koenig, Illinois College of Optometry/Illinois Eye Institute

Distance education in graduate-level, healthcare professions could aid in program enrollment and diversity by appealing to students otherwise anchored at home. Hands-on skills instruction often acts as a barrier to implementation. A pilot study was designed to explore the feasibility of remote instruction of two optometric skills. The provision of didactic materials was similar to in-person instruction with a remote clinical site and collaborating faculty. The results of this small pilot suggest remote instruction is viable and non-inferior to in-person instruction. Survey results revealed that reliable technology is paramount for successful delivery, grading, and student satisfaction.

A Framework for the Health Practitioner’s Online Educational Doctoral Degree

Violet Kulo & Karen Gordes, University of Maryland, Baltimore

This poster will describe an online PhD in health professions education (HPE) curriculum using the lens of the Ewing framework, a model proposing that attention to four interconnected curricular components will facilitate research degree completion. Learner metrics for the first two cohorts indicating that the program curricular structure is effectively scaffolding learners to the attainment of the research degree will be shared. Key lessons learned and recommendations for developing an accelerated online PhD in HPE program will be presented. In addition, curricular elements contributing to learner success will be outlined.