Topical Area 1: Preparing Your Course

Gaining Knowledge and Experience in Real-World Settings Through Active Learning

Nelda Mier, Texas A&M University

The active learning approach was used to design a course titled “Principles of Health Program Management.” This poster aims to provide insights gained from this course, which are applicable to different academic fields. In this course, active learning activities engaged students in establishing local partnerships, developing and delivering program materials, recruiting participants, and self-reflecting. Students’ reflections showed that their main lessons learned included how to collaborate with local leaders; lead and work in teams; manage programs in community settings; be more confident as public health practitioners; and be professionally prepared for their future jobs.

Topical Area 2: Assessing Learning

Using Self-Reflection to Assess Learning

Ann Marie Ade, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

This poster presents ways to use self-reflection in various ways to assess student learning. Three specific methods will be examined: the use of an ePortfolio, the use of journals and blogs, and the use of reflection in final examinations. The presenter will provide examples used in composition courses developed and taught by the presenter and discuss how they can be applied in other disciplines, as well. The benefits of self-reflection will also be outlined, including, but not limited to, increasing student self-awareness, aiding student critical thinking skills, decreasing plagiarism, and assessing whether or not course learning outcomes are being met.

Topical Area 3: Student Engagement

Directed Study—How “Rapid Research” and Collaborative Projects Boosts Research Interest

Amitoj Singh Sawhney, Juhi Patel, Lopa Patel, Nalini V. Broadbelt, Michelle A. Young, and Nevila Jana, MCPHS University

The responsibility of this project rests on the student’s emergent scientific ability and/or experience in the field to propose a research project. Students become knowledgeable about the Internal Review Board (IRB) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) requirements, and grant application process to accomplish their research. Students work collaboratively with peer/s and instructor/s to investigate, problem-solve, and summarize findings while improving interpersonal and professional skills. The final outcome of this project is to present a meaningful solution or outcome of their hypothesis at a research symposium.

Facilitating Student Engagement and Maintaining Course Flexibility without Losing Your Mind

Jennifer Baumgartner, Louisiana State University

The poster addresses two key questions of many college teachers: how can I support flexibility for students’ needs while also making sure they engage during class? And how can I do all of this without losing my mind? The drive to engage students in class and still remain responsive to individual needs can sometimes seem like competing priorities, however, this poster will share the Flexible Engagement model that visually displays how these priorities can overlap and be achieved. Positioned not as opposites on a continuum, but instead, a matrix allows us to see these critical priorities more clearly. Examples of instructional approaches that support these priorities are also included. Finally, the issues of instructor time and energy will be addressed.

Topical Area 4: Technology Tools for Teaching

Using Telerobotics to Enhance Distance Learning in Health Sciences

Alicia Lohmann, Texas Woman’s University

Introduction to the use of a telerobotic tool, called the Double Robotic, to assist in distance learning between two classrooms or from the community to the classroom. Poster to provide examples of classroom supervision during labs between two classrooms while distancing due to COVID-19, as well as bringing live sessions from the community to the classroom. The Double Robotic system allows for close up engagement using an Ipad and WIFI connectivity driven by the instructor.

Tech Tools for Collaborating and Sorting

Karen Gentsch, East Texas Baptist University

Concepts sorts are simple small group or individual activities where students are given vocabulary terms. This poster will show what this looks like using Flippity.net and Google Drawings. Collaboration with peers has been found to promote critical reflection and thinking among college students. Two resources for doing this without face-to-face contact are Whiteboard.Fi and Google Jamboards. This poster will have a brief description of each resource, directions for how to use each, information on where to watch tutorials/learn more about each resources, and examples of student products created in the college classroom.

Topical Area 5: Online Teaching & Learning

Students’ Experiences during Remote Teaching: A Perspective from Mid-Quarter Inquiries

Cecilia Gomez and Patricia Turner, University of California, Davis

This qualitative study explores students’ self-reported learning experiences at an R1 university during the rapid transition to remote teaching in 2020. We aim to better understand students’ perceptions regarding what helps students learn and what limits student learning in a remote teaching context. We also identify emerging themes regarding teaching practices that support or hinder student learning during remote teaching. This study uses anonymous, mid-quarter inquiry student surveys from a variety of courses and academic disciplines. The poster presents the results of our analysis and discusses evidence-based teaching strategies that promote student learning in a remote context.

Topical Area 6: Teaching Specific Student Populations

Using Deaf Language Mentors to Engage Students

Holly Pedersen, Minot State University

Interpreter Training & Sign Language programs prepare professionals to bridge communication between individuals who are deaf or hard hearing (DHH) and use sign language and those who do not. A specific challenge faced by pre-service programs in rural areas is lack of a large and diverse population of DHH individuals that students can interact with directly to acquire sophisticated American Sign Language (ASL) skills and authentic cultural exposure. MSU addressed this problem through a novel program that used DHH native ASL users from across the country to mentor candidates via distance technology to build conversational language fluency and enhance cultural competence needed for the field.

Time Management Skills Impact on Health Studies Practicum Students

Jodi Bower and Stacy Starks, University of Louisiana at Monroe

This session will include information about time management interventions used in an internship course for senior health studies students. Students underwent pre-assessment surveys and then completed three intervention activities to help improve time management skills. Upon completion, students completed a post assessment survey to see if time management skills and self-efficacy had improved after the intervention activities. The ATMS-S and Bandura Self-Efficacy for Self-Regulated Learning scales were used to evaluate pre- and post-assessment data.

From Theory to Practice: Graduate Students’ Perspectives of Microteaching in an Interactive Lecture Framework

Patricia Turner, University of California, Davis

This poster presents graduate students’ perceptions of microteaching, a technique used in teacher education to engage students in planning/teaching a lesson to peers, with substantial peer and instructor feedback. Students taught using an Interactive Lecture format. A thematic analysis was performed on 25 post-reflections collected over two terms from students in a seminar on college teaching. The poster discusses the pedagogical concepts/skills students used in their microteaching; the changes to their teaching they reported after microteaching; and  the role of peer and instructor feedback in this teacher development process. This poster presents the results of our analysis.

Topical Area 7: Equity, Diversity, Inclusion

A Strengths-Based Approach to Facilitating Inclusion in Online Higher Education

Justina Or and Melissa A. Milliken, Grand Canyon University

This poster shows how faculty may employ a strengths-based approach to facilitate inclusion in online higher education. The commonly used deficit-based approach in higher education is disadvantageous to students from underrepresented backgrounds whose circumstances may easily become the center of attention. By employing a strengths-based approach, faculty view problems as opportunities. They address these opportunities by considering the student’s strengths and resources. The poster illustrates the strategies faculty can use implement a strengths-based approach in online higher education, such as measurement, individualization, networking, and intentional application.

We’re All in this Together: One State’s Formation of a Special Education Consortium

Holly Pedersen, Minot State University and Katherine Terras, Certification Central

The nation is experiencing an acute shortage of special education teachers. As state departments of education wrestle with programs and policy changes related to this shortage, the impact is felt by institutions that prepare these future professionals. Issues faced by these institutions are complex and particularly challenging in rural areas where smaller numbers often equates to a smaller voice in decision making. This poster describes the efforts of one rural state to bring together special education preparation programs and other stakeholders to form a consortium to ensure our voice was heard at local and state levels to positively impact the direction of the field.

Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion by Finding Your Mathematical Roots

Linda McGuire, Muhlenberg College

Studies on climate in undergraduate STEM education make clear the urgent need to better understand the barriers that inhibit student persistence and success in STEM, particularly among underrepresented minority, first-generation, low-income, and female students. This poster links existing literature to the development of a semester-long project that can be adapted for use in mathematics (or other) courses ranging from introductory level, general-education classes to advanced courses in the mathematics major. Through the intentional creation of mathematical family trees and writing their own mathematical biographies, this project is designed to battle “belonging uncertainty” and to invite and challenge students to “self-situate” in relation to the history of mathematical and scientific knowledge.

Topical Area 8: Teaching in the Health Sciences

Inter-professional Simulation Education among OT, PT and Nursing Students

Alicia Lohmann, Wayne Brewer, and Teresa Maharaj, Texas Woman’s University

This poster shows the effectiveness of Inter-professional Education on self-efficacy among occupational therapy, physical therapy, and nursing students during simulation lab experiences and inter-professional collaboration amongst faculty from conception to completion with pre- and post-qualitative analysis using the Self-Efficacy Inter-professional Experiential Learning Scale.

Topical Area 9: Instructional Vitality: Ways to Keep Teaching Fresh and Invigorated

Using National Public Radio (NPR) as a Text

Karen Holley, Georgia State University-Perimeter College

The poster provides ideas about different assignments using National Public Radio (NPR) broadcasts and transcripts to enhance writing, analytical reading/listening, critical thinking, research, synthesis of ideas, argumentation, debate, creativity, time management, note-taking, and decision-making. Assignments range from simple written summaries to comparisons about news coverage of an incident to in-depth research, from planning a broadcast to developing a philosophy of life. Students are challenged to engage the “text” in all of its forms, live programming, podcasts, and transcripts as they explore a wide range of programming that covers the academic disciplines as well as popular culture, often marrying the two in a way that will assist students in understanding how their academic studies inform their lives beyond the classroom.

Teaching Excellence: Moving from Student Centered to Informed Peer feedback

Maria Reid and Erica Caton, Florida International University

Annual evaluating teaching practices nationwide within institutions of higher education, regardless of rank, usually revolve around student satisfaction surveys. Current practices are biased, particularly toward women and minorities. So, the need for alternative tools of measurement as well as other sources of data for exploration and development of pedagogy are paramount. Peers have been identified as a reliable, competent and less biased approach to this burgeoning issue. This topic will assist both those seeking peer review and those willing to engage in the process. This poster looks at the response to changes in teaching evaluation on an institutional and departmental level and looks at the creation of a training course to educate faculty on the use of appropriate feedback for peer review of courses, syllabi, and assignments.

Topical Area 10: For New Faculty

Toward Open Educational Resources (OER)

Kapila Dissanayaka, Motlow State Community College

Open Educational Resources (OER) are educational materials that are openly licensed, freely available online, and modifiable with proper attribution to original authors. Since OER have the potential of replacing publisher textbooks of many collegiate courses at zero cost, the use of OER can reduce the overwhelming cost of college textbooks. Also, the use of OER can induce relatively high student enrolment and completion rates of collegiate courses. However, the awareness about OER must be improved substantially among collegiate faculty to make the proper use of OER for college education. Hence, this poster presents the fundamentals of OER and reviews the impact of OER on college education.