The 2020 Teaching Professor Annual Conference Poster Sessions.
Three Minutes Three Slides Presentation
Samrat Thapa, University of Lynchburg
Educators in the upper-level undergraduate science courses often spend the bulk of the semester on foundational concepts and little time on current research. Student’s exposure to the recent advances in scientific research facilitates application and higher understanding of the foundational concepts. Despite this being a high impact teaching practice, limited lecture time prevents many instructors from implementing it. We present an instructional strategy we call 3M3S. It consumes minimal lecture time and disseminates current research in the classroom setting. Each student orally presents a current research using three minutes and three slides. They are graded on comprehension, engagement, and communication.
ScreenCasting for Inclusion, Engagement, and Clarification
Jerrod Yarosh, University of South Carolina-Lancaster
The presentation focuses on utilizing screencasts in weekly produced videos to promote inclusion, engagement, and clarity for students. The casts run approximately three minutes and address student questions about class material in a different learning modality than originally presented. The presentation covers the rationale and process of screencasting as inclusive practice for learners who have different learning preferences/needs (i.e. closed caption, slower playback speed). Additionally, how the videos increase student engagement with the course and instructor and helps clarify course content for students via new examples and explanations that can be reviewed at their convenience.
Using Videos to Promote Self-Learning
Sherry Lin, Texas A&M University
In the traditional face-to-face classes, instructors may struggle to cover all the materials and provide relevant examples within the limited classroom time. Using existing videos found online or by making self-created videos, instructors can emphasize the important concepts discussed in class while providing additional examples. This approach allows students to constantly have an easily accessible database of reference material that they can draw on when needed. This strategy helps self-learning and accountability as well as provides an invaluable tool for students who might identify as ESL or who have difficulty keeping up with a professor’s speech during normal instructional periods. Students who encounter problems outside of class that prevented attendance that would have been largely left behind or lacking in understanding of key concepts can also utilize these videos allowing them to better utilize the instructor’s limited tutorial times.
What Achievement Gap? Interconnectedness in Active Learning Classrooms (ALCs)
Aurora Pun, University of New Mexico
There is a persistent achievement gap between underrepresented minority (URM) students and their White non-Hispanic peers in college STEM courses. Adopting active learning pedagogies (Haak et al., 2011) and adjusting classroom climate (Eddy and Hogan, 2014) are suggested as remedies. Our research specifically demonstrates diminishing achievement gaps by teaching courses in active learning classrooms (ALCs) and encouraging student interactions with their peers and instructors.
Instruction in ALCs helps to close the achievement gap found in STEM courses through greater interconnectedness between students and instructors. We examined concept-inventory learning gains and results from the Social Context and Learning Environments survey (SCALE; Baepler et al., 2014) within different demographic groups in chemistry and geology classes. There were no significant differences in learning gains based on gender, socio-economic status (SES), or ethnicity. Students who identified as low SES, female, or URM had more positive impressions of their learning interactions with peers and teachers.
Improving Oral Health Education: IPE Activity Physician Assistant and Dental Hygiene Students
Rachel Fink and Alicia Elam, Augusta University
This Interprofessional Educational Activity was designed to improve the knowledge and confidence of our Physician Assistant (PA) students and Dental Hygiene (DH) students in oral pathology, physical exam techniques, professional education, professional roles in the treatment of patients, and when to refer to each other. Interprofessional Educational Activities are learning opportunities that open the eyes of our students to other occupations in a related field. These activities promote a great learning experience that goes beyond our individual fields and ultimately promotes collaboration amongst these professionals in the future.
Preparation and Engagement: Active Learning Strategies to Enhance Student Success
Natasha Nurse-Clarke and Brenda Hernandez Acevedo, Lehman College City University of New York
The purpose of this innovation strategy was to help students come to class more prepared for lecture, help them participate more actively in a large lecture class, and to help them understand new and abstract concepts better. Various technologically enhanced strategies were implemented into a medical surgical nursing course that included activities such as weekly quizzing, weekly simulation experiences, case studies, hand-written note taking, and in-class polling. As a result, students expanded their knowledge as evidenced by an increase in standardized exam scores from 80% to 89% when compared to a previous cohort, and better preparation for class after completing posted worksheets.
Teaching using Project-Based Learning (PBL) in a Health Professions University
Michelle Young and Nalini Broadbelt, MCPHS University
This presentation will describe the pedagogical framework of project-based learning (PBL) that incorporates critical thinking, dialogue, reflection, and responsible action. The pedagogical layout to assist students is to pose a driving question (a problem). The students will then gather scientific data, construct explanations and arguments as empirical evidence is revealed, generate questions and make connections among various fields, design experiments, explore social ramifications of the issue that are currently taking place, examine current solutions and propose new strategies that can combat the problem.