Innovations in Pedagogy Conference 2018

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Innovations in Pedagogy 2018 Conference Team

The Center for Teaching & Learning appreciates the extra time and efforts of the Conference Team!

Photos used in this program were provided by UWG’s University Communications & Marketing Department and the Center for Teaching & Learning (IiP2017 photos)

Innovations in Pedagogy facilitates engaging conversations about best practices in teaching and learning and provides a forum for sharing ideas across disciplinary boundaries.

May 15 Room 106

Room 110

Room 112

10:30 – 11:30

PRESENTATIONS

WORKSHOP

WORKSHOP

10TALKS

PRESENTATIONS

PANEL

Make ’Em Give a $#*+: Establishing Inquiry & Intrigue in Your Classroom on Day One

How Artificial Intelligence & Service Learning Influence Student Success

Fitting Study Abroad into Your Academic Plan

Can We Talk?

Maintaining a Balanced Level of Communication in Your Online Classes

Setting Up Your Classes for Student Engagement

Shifting Paradigms of Faculty Success & Effectiveness

What Do You Know About First-Year Seminars? Successes & Challenges

WORKSHOP

WORKSHOP

WORKSHOP

PANEL

10TALKS

PRESENTATIONS

PRESENTATIONS

Discovering the Source of Authentic Pedagogy

Free the Textbook: Using Library Resources for Low-/No-Cost Courses

SoTL Brainstorming Session: Learn Ways to Conduct Research in Your Classroom

Increasing Student Engagement & Success through Service Learning

Helping Students to Reflect and Create

Creating Caring & Collaborative Environments for Learning

Approaches to Improving Instructional Strategies in STEM

Lunch, Nursing Atrium

12:15 12:15 –

Keynote Address by Dr. Claire Major, room 106

1:15

2:30

2:45 – 3:45

PANEL

WORKSHOP

PRESENTATIONS

WORKSHOP

WORKSHOP

PANEL

Pedagogical Innovations in STEM Education

It’s Okay to Bring the Cheese Puffs: Fitting the Professional & the Personal into One Life

Mindful & Contemplative Teaching Practices

Claire Major’s Interactive Lecturing: Principles & Practices

EVERYONE Benefits from TILTing Your Assignments

If You Can’t Beat ’Em, Join ’Em: Using Social Media as an Experiential Learning Tool

WORKSHOP

PRESENTATIONS

PANEL

WORKSHOP

WORKSHOP

PRESENTATIONS

Inclusive Teaching: Meeting Our Students Where They Are

Techniques for Enhancing Online Pedagogy

Being a Productive Researcher While Still a Valued Educator

Claire Major’s Interactive Lecturing: Principles & Practices

UWG Online Dossier Preparation

Leading Students to Revise & Reimagine Content

(First Iteration)

(Second Iteration) 3:45

Room 218

WORKSHOP

11:30 –

1:30 –

Room 122

coffee, snacks, & fellowship

9:15

10:15

Room 121

Open Session: Nursing Atrium Lobby

8:45 –

9:15 –

Room 115

Prize Drawings, Nursing Atrium

9:15 – 10:15

PAGE 1

WORKSHOP

ROOM 106

MAKE ’EM GIVE A $#*+: ESTABLISHING INQUIRY & INTRIGUE IN YOUR CLASSROOM ON DAY ONE Jenna Harte (English)

Mark Hendrix (English)

Research shows that establishing solid, meaningful partnerships and relationships between students serves as a factor in lowering DFW rates. While first-day icebreaker-style exercises can be tedious, holding intentional discussions offers the opportunity to harness individual students’ knowledge for the benefit of the class. It’s possible to provide this training on the first day of class by allowing students to interpret a text—specifically, each other—through a series of low-stakes questions that attempt to determine their partner’s academic major, turning a day usually spent in legalese and lists of required texts into a purposeful tone-setting experience. In addition to teaching the concepts within our respective disciplines, we must deliberately provoke inquiry and intrigue. In order to build and sustain momentum in a course, it’s useful to draw students’ attention to patterns within texts or topics. Making this process of establishing patterns transparent to students bolsters their interest in life-long learning as they first see how texts are connected to one another, then to themselves, and even to their societal backgrounds. The good news is that this work doesn’t require changing your texts, but instead offers the opportunity to think about why you’ve chosen them.

PRESENTATION SESSION

ROOM 110

HOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & SERVICE LEARNING INFLUENCE STUDENT SUCCESS Presentation 1: From Concept to Reality: Artificial Intelligence and Student Success Annemarie Eades (Information Technology Services) This presentation will guide attendees through the evolution, application, and benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education. While adoption is limited and AI has not yet become widely recognized as an effective pedagogical method, AI chatbots, teaching assistants, and customized learning materials are gaining traction in higher education. Some even believe that educators of the future will likely need an introduction to AI. Participants in this session will see how AI is being leveraged for enrollment management, student persistence, and other areas of the student lifecycle. Participants will also be provided with ways in which AI can be leveraged in their classrooms.

Presentation 2: Is This Really Helping you? Strategies for Teaching and Learning in Graduate “Service” Courses Elizabeth Kramer (Music) This presentation will explore the many so-called “service” courses that students take just because their curriculum requires it, bringing beliefs and expectations to courses that they may not perceive as being directly related to their major or their choice of profession. This presentation will discuss being an advocate for a discipline and trying to help students connect their learning in class with their broader educational and career goals. We will also examine four helpful strategies, formed through multiple years of reflection and the use of a formal post-course survey, along with how the implementation of these strategies in a graduatelevel course has led to preliminary observations about their effects. Although there are clear differences between teaching undergraduate and graduate students and differences between teaching “service” courses and other focused major course, these strategies could be of interest to a wide variety of teachers.

9:15 – 10:15

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WORKSHOP

ROOM 112

FITTING STUDY ABROAD INTO YOUR ACADEMIC PLAN

Yvette Garner (Biology)

Jessica Renard (Office of Education Abroad)

First-time Biology in Belize faculty program director will describe study abroad program creation: pitfalls, knowledge gaps, and successes. This will provide attendees with insight into the faculty program director's perspective, which they can apply to their own efforts to launch new study abroad programs that would be facilitated by the Office of Education Abroad. Attendees will also get the opportunity to envision their ideal study abroad trip, looking at student recruitment, budgets, due diligence concerns, and get feedback on their ideas from the practical experience of the presenters. Based on insights from the faculty program directors, Education Abroad staff will discuss modifications and new processes to anticipate potential issues in new program creation. Attendees will learn about associated benefits that come with taking on the faculty program director role which include additional presentation, publication, and collaboration opportunities.

WORKSHOP

ROOM 115

CAN WE TALK? MAINTAINING A BALANCED LEVEL OF COMMUNICATION IN YOUR ONLINE CLASSES (PLEASE BRING YOUR DEVICE!) Phyllis Snipes (Educational Technology & Foundations)

Mary Beth Slone (Educational Technology & Foundations)

Need some sure fire ideas about how to increase and maintain communication with your online students?

Wonder no more! The presenters will share tried and true practices they use within their undergraduateand graduate-level courses that will present good ideas about how to establish authentic communication in an online world. Examples of the ideas in action will be demonstrated in existing courses in CourseDen. The audience will be engaged through discussion and conclude with a “ticket out the door.” Please be sure to bring your smart phone, tablet, or laptop to get the most of this workshop.

10TALKS

SETTING UP CLASSES FOR STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

ROOM 121

Talk 1: Zagged Instead of Zigged: Same Cognitive Load – Corey Maggiano (Anthropology) After designing a course to address many interests and needs, my good intentions introduced unforeseen sources of cognitive overload. I will share my experience working with an “unfit” pedagogy, the sources of cognitive strain, and my best efforts so far to increase pedagogical fitness.

Talk 2: Creating Community Online – Angie Branyon (Ed. Technology & Foundations) Blackboard Ultra offers successful real-time chatting online. I will discussion how I have used this tool to engage my students in optional but highly recommended discussions that answer questions about the course, pose questions about course-related topics and allow students to guide the direction of the discussions.

Talk 3: Pre-Service to Professional: A Hybrid Course to Prepare Pre-Service Educators for Career Readiness – Morris Council (Literacy & Special Education) I will share how to structure a hybrid course systematically for students to master content, professionalism, and other skills for meaningful careers in diverse teaching settings via innovative teaching strategies regularly to expose students to expert practitioners and the environments in which they served those with disabilities.

Talk 4: Stacking the Deck: Using Odds Randomizers as Pedagogical Tools – Ryan Bronkema (Communication Sciences & Professional Counseling) Breaking students into groups, or helping to assign them topics is tricky. Using odds randomizing tools (dice, cards, coins, number generators) can help ease the process. Gaming tools offer us a chance to randomize how we group our students (or the likelihood that they have to take a particular action in class).

9:15 – 10:15

PAGE 3

PRESENTATION SESSION

ROOM 122

FRESH PARADIGMS FOR FACULTY SUCCESS & EFFECTIVENESS Presentation 1: 4DX in the Classroom Brad Prince (Richards College of Business) Learning Goals? Supporting materials? Assessments? Rubrics? Accessibility? What happened to the joy of teaching? Sometimes the “busy-ness” of being a professor today takes away from the joy of teaching. We can’t just teach because we love to teach. We are not allowed to only have a “mental map” of our content as subject matter expert, but we must document that map with learning goals, learning objectives, supporting documents, assessment, and more. Then we must assess our work to demonstrate continuous improvement.

Data are collected and analyzed, and reports are written and submitted. What happened to teaching for the pure love of the classroom? Is it possible to change our mindset such that we can enjoy teaching in spite of the “other duties now required” to be a college professor? Join this presentation to learn about a paradigm shift that helps you take the whirlwind of the day job and put it to work for you!

Presentation 2: A Comprehensive Faculty Development Initiative – Focusing on Pedagogy, Scholarship, & Leadership Susan Welch (Nursing) Linda Mason Barber (Nursing) Learn from School of Nursing faculty about how the accreditation process offered the opportunity to review pedagogical effectiveness. Using the National League for Nursing’s competency tools, the SON revealed specific areas for faculty development. The SON Center for Nursing Education Excellence is offering this program that reflects nurse educator competencies and addresses pedagogy, educational scholarship, and leadership in nursing education. The program’s pedagogy component includes curriculum, evaluation, and teaching and learning; the scholarship component mirrors Boyer’s research domains of discovery, integration, application, and teaching; and the leadership component of the program addresses new faculty orientation, academic citizenship, professional role development, and mentoring. Participants will leave with a copy of the SON Faculty Development Program Model and will share their experiences.

PANEL

ROOM 218

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT FIRST-YEAR SEMINARS? SUCCESSES & CHALLENGES Beth René Roepnack (UWG|Online) Tijan Drammeh (Political Science) Christi Fain (Literacy & Special Education) Jamille Howard (Housing & Residence Life) Farooq Khan (Chemistry) Shanee' Murrain (Library) Mikhail Beznosov (Political Science) First-Year Seminars (FYS) are an important component of the LEAP West Initiative. FYS courses are designed to introduce first-year students to the importance of lifelong, active learning and the value of intellectual inquiry as keys to both academic success in college and professional success beyond college. A second goal is to provide students with opportunities for meaningful, intellectual, and professional dialogue with faculty members to develop mentoring relationships and foster positive interactions throughout their college careers. Eight instructors from the diverse pilot group share their experiences of teaching the FYS with the goal of providing information for future instructors and refining the content and methodology for future offerings. Each participant will share their successes and challenges in a two-minute presentation and will then invite questions from the audience so that we can engage in dialog about a variety of aspects that include content, media, politics, critical analysis, methodology, reliability of sources, and student engagement.

This panel will benefit potential FYS instructors as well as instructors in a wide variety of disciplines.

10:30 – 11:30

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WORKSHOP

ROOM 106

DISCOVERING THE SOURCE OF AUTHENTIC PEDAGOGY

Tom Peterson (Educational Technology & Foundations) Ashlee Pollard (Student Affairs & Enrollment Management) Josh Moore (UWG Graduate Student) Mileigh Rabun (UWG Student) Special Guest (Youth) We took a risk nine years ago and started a unique intervention program here at UWG that is transforming youth who come from high-risk settings and some of our soon-to-be education undergraduates—one that sheds light as to the source of authentic pedagogy. This workshop will provide an opportunity for further exploration of the source of good pedagogy and connectedness that deepens learning and gives both teachers and learners renewed purpose. Discovering the source begins with the lifelong process of self-discovery and identity. This workshop examines those areas in challenging youth and college students that promote increased levels of safety, emotional stability, trust, vulnerability, self-awareness, and a desire to fuel interest in learning. By presenting an opportunity for exploration of how teachers become a conduit to transforming their students, this intimate workshop creates space for all attending to become vulnerable and share how they have experienced similar moments in their classes and how it changed the learning environment.

WORKSHOP

ROOM 110

FREE THE TEXTBOOK: USING LIBRARY RESOURCES FOR LOW-/NO-COST COURSES Joe Marciniak (Library) Jessica Critten (Library)

CJ Ivory (Library) Kimberly Britt (Library)

Nearly 67% of students will drop, fail, or withdraw from a course at some point during their studies because they cannot afford the cost of a textbook. Reports from over 24 Open Educational Resource pilot programs across USG institutions show savings for students while maintaining or improving learning outcomes. USG’s new low-/no-cost designation aims to help make our courses more accessible and affordable to students.

Understandably, some instructors might feel uneasy about the implications of this new designation. In this panel, however, attendees will learn how much the Ingram Library has to offer for choosing high-quality and affordable course materials. Panelists discuss how to locate and integrate journal, newspaper, magazine articles, print books, and ebooks directly into CourseDen for their students to access easily. They will also explore how using “free” materials from the library may actually improve their pedagogy and increase student engagement and retention in their upcoming courses.

WORKSHOP

ROOM 112

SoTL BRAINSTORMING SESSION: LEARN WAYS TO CONDUCT RESEARCH IN YOUR CLASSROOM Katy Green (Literacy & Special Education) Stacey Britton (Early Childhood through Secondary Education) Faculty at a comprehensive university are often encouraged to combine teaching and research in order to enhance their teaching, as well as increase their publications. Yet many faculty may be unaware of how to conduct research in a college classroom. This brainstorming session brings colleagues from across UWG on using innovations of pedagogy, discovery, reflection, and evidence-based methods to research effective teaching and student learning. Participants will find out from various faculty members more about how to conduct Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) research, learning different successful ways to turn their pedagogical practices into research articles and publications, as well as discovering journals to publish their SoTL articles. By the end of the session, attendees will be encouraged to brainstorm a research idea, and development preliminary methods of research, to use in their own college classrooms.

10:30 – 11:30

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PANEL

ROOM 115

INCREASING STUDENT ENGAGEMENT & SUCCESS THROUGH SERVICE LEARNING Ashley Dycus (English)

Shannon Finck (English)

Stacey Morin (English)

In 2017, UWG implemented the SL designation to courses meeting the Service Learning requirements, including meeting current course objectives and having a mutually beneficial relationship with a community partner that includes 10+ hours of service. The addition of the SL designation directly aligns with both the LEAP West initiatives and the University’s mission statement of Service Learning is a high-impact educational practice, proven to be beneficial to students both academically and socially. These courses increase student engagement, boost understanding of course content and critical thinking, and allow students opportunities for real-world applications related to course objectives/content. Although the benefits of Service Learning courses are documented, many educators are apprehensive about implementing SL facets into their courses or believe that they must create an entirely new course to earn an SL designation. This panel seeks to identify the key components of Service Learning, including community partnerships, exercise, and reflection—while also providing various approaches to weaving SL requirements into already established courses. Panelists will also share experiences and successes of their SL courses from previous years.

10TALKS

HELPING STUDENTS TO REFLECT & CREATE

ROOM 121

Talk 1: Training to Be Mentally Fit – Anne Merrem (Sports Management, Wellness, & Physical Education) Want to observe and calm your mind’s activity or help your students to focus in your classes? Try this cycle of two 3-minutes guided meditation exercises—easy to implement and easy to analyze for yourself and for your students. This TenTalk offers a snapshot of looking in and letting go—again and again.

Talk 2: The Link Between Confidence & Body-Awareness – Jennifer McCarthy (Theatre) My simple strategy for engaging students in the classroom is to help build their confidence by providing opportunities for presence building and “power-posing.” It takes two minutes before a big presentation or test to drastically increase students’ confidence, along with the ability to present themselves professionally.

Talk 3: Transitioning Students from Content Consumers to Content Producers – Sunil Hazari (Marketing) To show how active learning engages students in the learning process, I will share exercises, projects, and the free and low-cost tools that can help students take their audio/video/graphics/multimedia presentations to the next level for showcasing their authentic learning experiences to potential employers.

Talk 4: Storytime! That Time My Professor Almost Died—& I Enjoyed It – Janet Genz (Biology) People respond to stories that are simple, truthful, emotional, and valid. This reenactment will demonstrate how to grab and keep the attention of I’m-here-because-it’s-required students. Anyone can apply this technique to any discipline by drawing from their own experiences. If successful, your students might not even notice you are sneaking in course-related content!

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10:30 – 11:30

PRESENTATION SESSION

ROOM 122

CREATING CARING & COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENTS FOR LEARNING Presentation 1: Caring Learning Environments in the Online Setting Cynthia Brown (Nursing) Delene Volkert (Nursing) Including caring in online settings can be challenging because online communication be difficult. It is important for faculty to create a caring online setting using best practices to enhance presence, engagement, and learning. The presenters will explore approaches to caring communication between student-student, faculty-student, and faculty-faculty. Each of these approaches includes crucial strategies for building a caring learning environment. Also, the option for online co-teaching can add to the students’ learning experience with input from two caring faculty. Additional benefits are that faculty can learn from and support each other, along with pre-semester planning for workload division, calendar coordination, careful planning regarding course design, and participation in a meaningful teaching experience for faculty and students.

Presentation 2: Purposeful Collaborations in the Classroom Brandy Chambless (English) This presentation explores an exercise that can be used in any classroom in which writing occurs and in which you wish to engage your students actively in critical thinking skills and in purposeful, collaborative feedback. Together, we will examine a method for structuring collaborative assignments that promote the students’ authentic engagement with both the course content and with each other. The audience will learn about how the process provokes students to move beyond passive contact with course material and instead engage actively and critically with course concepts. The process also prompts students to reflect on the feedback given and received, sharing the insights gained from work deliberately through purposeful feedback.

PRESENTATION SESSION

ROOM 218

APPROACHES TO IMPROVING INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES IN STEM Presentation 1: Fifty-Fifty Chance or Phone-a-Friend: Managing Students’ Perceptions of Using Concept Maps as a Study Tool Erin Duckett (Biology) A failing grade can discourage first-semester students, especially in a large lecture-style biology course.

Often, these students do not know how to identify, retain, and recall key concepts. This presentation looks at a multi-year research project that collected data on the need to equip science students with better strategies to help them encode, recall, and retain concepts, principles, and processes. Using concept maps as a study tool, students seemed to perform better in their introductory biology courses. The presentation will examine the factors affecting student performance. Attendees will explore how concept mapping works as a note-taking strategy in selected undergraduate biology courses to achieve outcomes aligned with student recall and retention of material. Qualitative data collected and improvements through the project will be discussed.

Presentation 2: Effectiveness of Manipulatives in a Probability Instruction Veena Paliwal (Math) Manipulatives have been found to be effective in increasing mathematics achievement, but their use in mathematics instruction is not clear and often debated. This presentation looks at a present study to investigate the efficacy of manipulatives in facilitating understanding of probability concepts in pre-service teachers. Twenty-five pre-service teachers, enrolled in a probability class, received intervention using manipulatives to promote learning of conceptualizing probability and of understanding theoretical and experimental probability. Based on a pretest-posttest design, the results revealed manipulatives promote learning of the probability concepts. Study participants reported that the probability lessons using manipulatives assisted in academic and emotional progress. Educational implications will be discussed.

11:30 – 12:15

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LUNCH IN THE ATRIUM – 11:30-12:15 Reflecting on your own teaching & learning What are you learning today that you might incorporate in your classes?

What connections have you made today with colleagues?

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What do you still have questions about? Where might you find answers?

12:15 – 1:15

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KEYNOTE ADDRESS

12:15 – 1:15

ROOM 106

1:30 – 2:30

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PANEL

ROOM 106

PEDAGOGICAL INNOVATIONS IN STEM EDUCATION Scott Gordon (Math) Anne Gaquere (Chemistry) Carrie Carmack (Math) Nick Sterling (Physics) Janet Genz (Biology) Yvette Garner (Biology) Erin Duckett (Biology) In 2016, the University System of Georgia funded a new STEM initiative grant project for up to 3 years with the overarching goal of enhancing STEM education at the UWG. Under this umbrella, the COSM faculty were eligible to apply for mini-grants, approved by their respective department chairs and reviewed by the committee who manages the grant. So far, 13 mini-grants have been funded and have either been implemented or are being implemented. They all aim at creating or redesigning a STEM course which the objective of making it either more innovative in the way the content is delivered or more appealing and relevant to our students. Several of the mini-grant recipients are eager to present their work to the UWG community in an effort to share their results and thoughts on their journey in innovations in pedagogy.

WORKSHOP

ROOM 110

IT’S OKAY TO BRING THE CHEESE PUFFS: FITTING THE PROFESSIONAL & THE PERSONAL INTO ONE LIFE Kate Theobald (Office of Undergraduate Research) Ashley Dycus (English) Women in higher education often live in the pursuit of “having it all”: a successful career, advanced degrees, a beautiful family, social-media-worthy cooking, and a flawless look. We often say “yes” but secretly wonder if we can actually find “balance.” When teaching and other career obligations claim our attention, when our families demand our focus, and when we crave time to do something we love, is it really possible to have it all? This workshop will explore how we as women and individuals fit into our own lives alongside the demands of working in higher education and outside of work. With both a faculty and staff representative leading this session, we will talk about “work-life balance” and what that looks like in practice. We will also combine research and lived experience to consider how we can give our best selves to our students and to our families while making time to take care of ourselves. Participants will also engage in self-reflection and dialog—and will receive a list of recommended texts and resources to explore after they leave the workshop.

1:30 – 2:30

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PRESENTATION SESSION

ROOM 112

MINDFUL & CONTEMPLATIVE TEACHING PRACTICES Presentation 1: Mindfulness, Mental Fitness, & Creativity: How Maslow, Bloom, & Chakras Connect to Performance Anne Merrem Jill Drake (Sports Management, Physical Education, & Wellness) (Early Childhood & Secondary Education) How we are situated determines our ability and availability to create, consider, contribute, and learn.

Maslow created a hierarchy of needs—and Bloom the order to thinking skills. The Indian Chakras combine these insights, and the Sage performance scales show us how we can better recognize our students’ emotional and mental fitness, even as they change from one class meeting to the next. Join in to take a look at a new combination of perspectives on learning. Who or what inspires? How do we recreate this inspiration again and again? How can we move our students from being externally motivated (grades and rewards) to becoming increasingly self-driven and pursuing their passion within our topics? Mindfulness exercises can elevate mental fitness. Come and join me for an interlude of mindfulness in movement and speaking.

Presentation 2: A Contemplative Approach to Critical Thinking Alan Pope (Psychology) While reading, students often lose the author’s argument by holding on to their own associations to the text.

This can lead them to assimilate the text into their own preexisting views, rather than opening themselves up to new ways of thinking. Worse, students may resist the text altogether by dismissing the argument on the basis of perceived differences in cultural values. These reading habits can lead classroom discussion to degenerate into casual conversation instead of an in-depth examination of the text. This presentation will share a pedagogy that brings self-awareness to the process of reading and classroom discussion. Maintaining this focus enables students to think critically about the author’s argument and evaluate its actual merit before situating it within larger contexts of meaning. As a form of contemplative reading, students learn not only how to follow a text’s argument, but also how to reflect on and transform themselves in the process.

WORKSHOP

ROOM 115

INTERACTIVE LECTURING: PRACTICES & PRINCIPLES

Invited Speaker: Claire Howell Major (University of Alabama’s Higher Education Institute) Ever looked out across your students only to find them staring at their computers or smartphones rather than listening attentively to you? Ever wondered what you could do to encourage students to resist distractions and focus on the information you are presenting? Ever wished you could help students become active learners as they listen to your lecture? Building on her keynote presentation, Dr. Major’s workshop offers participants the opportunity to dive into the major practices and principles of interactive lecturing. This session will help faculty to reframe their thinking about the false dichotomy of active learning and lecturing.

Participants will find out more with concrete tools and techniques to boost student learning and engagement in their courses. Because of the nature of this workshop, space is limited to approximately 65 participants.

Note: Dr. Major will conduct this workshop again at 2:45 in room 115.

1:30 – 2:30

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WORKSHOP

ROOM 121

EVERYONE BENEFITS FROM “TILT”-ING YOUR ASSIGNMENTS

Marina Smitherman Dalton State College

Jesse Bishop Georgia Highlands College

Rod McRae UWG’s CTL

Based on work from the Transparency in Learning and Teaching Project (TILT) at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, this workshop shows participants how to make a class assignment more transparent by clearly defining its purpose, the tasks students will perform, and the criteria for success. We provide examples of assignments that have been made transparent in these ways. We report research results that reveal how using transparent assignments can positively affect student learning. Ample time will be provided for participants to work in small groups to discuss ways they can build transparency into their assignments, and then to share their ideas with the larger group. Faculty from across all disciplines will find this session helpful for learning how to make course assignments transparent to students, which can lead to an increased sense of belonging, self-confidence, and retention.

PANEL

ROOM 122

IF YOU CAN’T BEAT ’EM, JOIN ’EM: USING SOCIAL MEDIA AS AN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING TOOL

Keith Pacholl (History) Molly McCullers (History)

Nadejda Williams (History) Colleen Vasconcellos (History)

Faculty often bemoan student addiction to social media. And yet, the world of social media could open up opportunities for engaging students outside of class—and doing so in a meaningful yet fun way. This panel presents three case studies on the use of social media as an experiential learning practice in History courses: 1. Playing with Past and Present: By using different social and digital media, students learn to think historically and from different perspectives by linking the past and the present through modern technology.

2. #history: After sections with a blog assignment showed higher levels of student engagement than those without it, subsequent students then used social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, resulting in an overwhelmingly positive response both in class and on final course evaluations.

3. Tweeting the Roman Republic: Students in an upper-level course on the Roman Republic take on roles and engage in political role play, while using Twitter, as they run for Consulships, and thus experience firsthand the tumultuous political world of the Late Roman Republic.

One-Minute Paper: For 60 seconds, jot down what you liked about your favorite session so far.

2:45 – 3:45

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WORKSHOP

ROOM 106

INCLUSIVE TEACHING: MEETING OUR STUDENTS WHERE THEY ARE Ryan Bronkema (Communication Sciences & Professional Counseling)

Our students come to our classes with diverse identities that constantly are at play as they live and learn. As instructors, we need to be cognizant of how we prepare our courses to be inclusive and sensitive to the identities present in our classes. In this workshop, we will explore several different ways that we can evaluate our courses and instructional techniques (e.g., designing a course or course introductions) to make sure we are continuing to develop ourselves in ways that make our classes more welcoming to our students. This interactive session will call on the philosophical foundations of ally development and will have several resources available.

PRESENTATION SESSION

ROOM 110

TECHNIQUES FOR ENHANCING ONLINE PEDAGOGY Presentation 1: VoiceThread to the Rescue: No More Sterile Discussion Board Assignments Connie Barbour (Nursing) Anyone who has ever taught online has probably assigned students a question for which they must create an original discussion board post and then respond to peer posts. You might need to make the response post due on a day different than the original post. You might have to specify word length for the post and even have to run the post through Turnitin to determine whether the students are plagiarizing. But now imagine seeing your students’ faces and hearing their voices as they present their answers, share their thoughts, and respond to questions their peers asked of them—creating a truly “humanizing” discussion occurring in an asynchronous, online learning environment. The presenter will show how to achieve using VoiceThread, a web-based application. The presenter will also share why you want to consider using VoiceThread in your online courses. Additionally, examples of assignment activities, as well as grading rubrics, will be provided.

Presentation 2: Online Orientation to Improve Online Student Success Sally Richter, Tammy McClenny, Delene Volkert, Kelly Dyar, Dianne West, & Charles Akin (Nursing) Student retention in online courses is a concern for students, faculty, and administration. Providing an orientation is a vital step in helping students navigate the online learning environment successfully and to improve retention rates. The gaps in preparedness for online learning can include navigating CourseDen, accessing resources remotely, participating in asynchronous course activities, and engaging with faculty and with other students. This presentation will demonstrate how a team of faculty and staff collaborated to create an innovative, comprehensive online orientation that includes how to navigate the learning management system, advising and library resources, writing resources, and the program of study expectations and support systems. With enhanced orientation through the accelerated learning modules, students become familiar with the online learning environment, which promotes success in the 100% online programs of study.

2:45 – 3:45

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PANEL

ROOM 112

BEING A PRODUCTIVE RESEARCHER WHILE STILL A VALUED EDUCATOR Stacey Britton (Early Childhood through Secondary Education) Katy Green (Literacy & Special Education)

As a comprehensive university, we are often challenged with how to conduct research effectively and maintain high efficiency within our instructional practice. This panel will serve as a discussion platform for understanding the various avenues to developing meaningful publications. Through co-constructed dialogue, participants and presenters will share knowledge about strategies for personal organization in teaching and writing—and how they allow one to inform the other. Specifically, one presenter will share her experiences with organizing works-in-progress, submitted, and accepted manuscripts and insight into how she successfully turned classroom practice into meaningful products. A second pair of discussants will speak on how they manage time for teaching, writing, and personal life while being prolific in their fields and valued educators.

Finally, we will discuss journal opportunities both on and off campus that are comprised of authors, reviewers, and editors from the University of West Georgia.

WORKSHOP

ROOM 115

INTERACTIVE LECTURING: PRACTICES & PRINCIPLES

Invited Speaker: Claire Howell Major (University of Alabama’s Higher Education Institute) Ever looked out across your students only to find them staring at their computers or smartphones rather than listening attentively to you? Ever wondered what you could do to encourage students to resist distractions and focus on the information you are presenting? Ever wished you could help students become active learners as they listen to your lecture? Building on her keynote presentation, Dr. Major’s workshop offers participants the opportunity to dive into the major practices and principles of interactive lecturing. This session will help faculty to reframe their thinking about the false dichotomy of active learning and lecturing.

Participants will find out more with concrete tools and techniques to boost student learning and engagement in their courses. Because of the nature of this workshop, space is limited to approximately 65 participants.

Note: This session is the second iteration of Dr. Major’s 1:30 session.

WORKSHOP

ROOM 121

UWG ONLINE DOSSIER PREPARATION

Lara Willox (Educational Technology & Foundations) This workshop will support pre-tenure faculty who will be required to submit their Promotion and Tenure dossier online in the future. The workshop will share how to access the appropriate template, copy it, and then how to set up their dossier. All participants will have the opportunity to create their dossier during the workshop, and receive additional tips for organizing materials and preparing the online dossier.

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PRESENTATION SESSION

2:45 – 3:45

ROOM 122

LEADING STUDENTS TO REVISE & REIMAGINE COURSE CONTENT Presentation 1: Never Finished: The Role of Constant Revision in the Classroom Laura Lee Beasley (English) The poet Elizabeth Bishop famously waited years to find the perfect words for lines of her poetry. When asked in an interview for the Paris Review how long it took her to write her poem “The Moose,” Bishop replied “That was funny. I started that years ago—twenty years ago, at least—I had a stack of notes, the first two or three stanzas, and the last.” This presentation will focus on rethinking revision as a singular opportunity for students and will, instead, encourage faculty to integrate revision throughout the semester.

Tied to “productive discomfort,” this presentation will consider the pedagogical possibilities of dwelling in unfinished work for extended periods of time and how this can reduce students' anxiety about their own writing and grades. Finally, the presentation will explore examples of unfinished and revised work from a variety of artists and authors that be can be used to support students’ own revisions.

Presentation 2: Book Cover Design Project: Engaging Students with Unfamiliar or Challenging Material Erik Rodriguez (Sociology) If you asked most students (or even some faculty), what is on the cover of their textbooks, few could tell you.

Even fewer have ever considered how decisions about the book cover were made or what the images and words represent—or could represent to various readers. This presentation will share a creative strategy that encourages student engagement with unfamiliar or challenging material by having them design a new book cover for the textbook. This approach works in any type of class in a variety of ways and is especially useful in an introductory course in which students have only a rudimentary knowledge or understanding of the course content. It can also be used to encourage students to reflect on uncomfortable topics, engaging students early on while thinking critically about the subject matter. Maybe they will even buy the book!

Participants will come away with a new tool for student engagement with the course material and with each other. A handout with sample instructions and facilitation techniques will be provided.