Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Teaching The Engineering Cycle Through A Series Of Projects, Eric Hawker, Mark Carlson

Professional Learning Day

The goal of this session is to show how a series of similar engineering projects can help students not only understand the engineering cycle but also other aspects of engineering such as communication, inclusion, goal setting, and planning and organization. Attendees may choose to bring their own safety eyewear.

Mastery Based Grading For Secondary Mathematics, Anderson Trimm

Professional Learning Day

Dr. Trimm will discuss in detail his design and implementation of a mastery grading system in calculus at IMSA and how it offers many benefits over traditional grading. Dr. Trimm will also explain how it makes creating assessments and grading easier and less work for the teacher, while being more accurate.

A Look Into Leadership, Emma Wilson

Professional Learning Day

IMSA’s Leadership Education & Development program (LEAD) is a student-facilitated course for sophomore students. We believe that leadership can be learned so we take an intricate look at various definitions, theories, models, and conceptualizations of leadership. Students are challenged to think critically about leadership during peer-to peer facilitated class discussions, hands-on exercises, and group work. Join us to dive into this course while participating in hands-on, leadership-based activities that are great for the classroom!

Earth & Environmental Storylines For A More Sustainable & Resilient Illinois, Cheryl Manning, Nicole Ladue

Professional Learning Day

Illinois critical zone scientists and engineers are studying how human behaviors and
environmental changes affect Earth’s thin layer from solid bedrock to the tops of trees.
Inspired by critical zone science, Illinois teachers collaborated to create seven NGSS style storylines addressing regional sustainability and resilience issues including soils, invasive species, flooding, erosion, water scarcity and quality, subsidence, and Illinois’ connection to the Gulf of Mexico dead-zone. Learn about these storylines and how to create your own. Attendees must bring a computer.

Animated Puppets: Coding And Creating With The Humanities, Devon Madon, Jeff Sweeton

Professional Learning Day

CodeCreate coaches students in basic circuitry, media and performing arts, robotics and computer programming, illustration and 3D design. We will facilitate a hands on experiences with animated puppetry and engage the audience in meaningful considerations of intersections of art, technology and other forms of diversity. We will also be previewing and discussing free and low-cost tools and methods and their role in common curriculum. Attendees must bring a computer

Computational Thinking In Physics Class - Without Programming!, Peter Dong

Professional Learning Day

Computational thinking and the use of computers to solve problems is rapidly becoming an indispensable skill, and physics class is one natural place to develop it. However, the perceived necessity of learning a programming language can deter both teachers and students from approaching this crucial topic. We will show how a simple spreadsheet can be used to solve remarkably complex physics problems, some of them analytically unsolvable, in just a few minutes. Attendees must bring a computer.

99 Problems? Pbl Can Help: An Intro To Problem Based Learning, Nicole Ross, Allison Albert

Professional Learning Day

Classroom engagement got you down? Perhaps Problem Based Learning (PBL) can help. PBL is an instructional technique that engages students in content-based problem solving of a real-world issue. In this session, participants are immersed in a short PBL experience, learn the fundamentals of PBL implementation and begin the design process by exploring how to identify a real-world problem that can be solved by the students in their classroom.

From Dropout To Doctorate: A Phenomenology Of The Self-Determination Of Individuals Who Persisted To Completion, Nancy Catherine Hamilton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of former high school dropouts in the Continental United States who self-determined to persist to doctoral degree attainment. The theory that guided this study was the self-determination theory with support from the self-efficacy theory and adult learning theory. These three theories framed this study, which sought to discover the motivating factors, life influences, and perseverance required of former high school dropouts who determined to re-enter academia and pursue an education to the doctoral level. The problem this study sought to address was the need to discover the …

Innovative Assessment Feedback Practices In Higher Education: A Path Towards Building Learning Circles Or Just Closing The Feedback Gap?, Mihaela A. Lynn

Journal of Graduate Education Research

Considered a vital aspect of learning, feedback is usually a common element in instructional practice. In higher education, assessment feedback has been found to lack the ability to impact student learning. Therefore, recent feedback literature has stressed a change in practice to address this issue. This review examines the extent to which innovative assessment feedback practices succeed in engaging undergraduate students to use the feedback they receive. Findings indicate that making assessment feedback a dialogic, reiterative process that provides opportunities for reflection and interaction with peers can enable adaptive engagement and promote mastery learning. However, most of these affordances revolve …

The Future Of Early College: An Interview With Dr. Leon Botstein, Dumaine Williams

Early College Folio

The first public, tuition-free Bard High School Early College (BHSEC) opened in Brooklyn in 2001. Today, an entire network of Bard Early Colleges operates in partnership with public school systems to offer students affordable access to higher education in a cohesive, engaging environment. Simultaneously, alternative takes on early college (Early College High Schools, dual enrollment, early entrance) have proliferated across the United States, providing even more opportunities for younger students to earn college credit.

In December 2022, the author, Dean of Bard Early College, sat down with Bard College President Leon Botstein to examine how the pandemic made new demands …

Preliminary Pages, Jennifer Brown

Perspectives In Learning

preliminary pages

Introduction To Transparency In Learning And Teaching, Mary-Ann Winkelmes

Perspectives In Learning

Introduction to Transparency in Learning and Teaching

Institutionalizing Tilt Across A University, Judy O. Grissett

Perspectives In Learning

Transparency of learning and teaching (TILT) is key to student success, as it allows students to understand directions and make concrete steps toward completing a set of tasks. The present paper outlines the early stages of a campus-wide program at one institution that infuses TILT practices across campus in the classroom as well as non-academic units. TILT practices make the purpose, required tasks, and criteria for success clear to students in everyday campus interactions with faculty and staff. TILT programming for faculty and staff is described, including strengths, challenges, and future directions.

Facilitating Tilting As A Faculty Community, Debra Palmer, Carrie Bachhofer, Allen Brown, Alaina Kaus, Michele Mckie, Thelma Sexton

Perspectives In Learning

In this paper, we describe our perspectives and experiences working as one of several small groups within a campus-wide program at our university to help implement transparency in learning and teaching (TILT) principles. Faculty were asked to implement TILT into lower-and upper-level courses, as well as co-curricular activities, by transforming some aspect of their course or activities to be more "transparent," meaning students would be able to better understand its purpose and value and how it relates to their major, future career, and personal lives. The program followed a faculty learning community (FLC) model, where members supported one another through …

Positive Impacts Of Tilt: Two Professors’ Journeys In Creating More Student-Centered Teacher Education Courses, Michael Crosby, Rebecca Short

Perspectives In Learning

As the K-12 classroom changes to support the needs of our every-changing society, so should the teacher education courses change on the university level. Additionally, the focus on higher education has become more student-centered with an emphasis on transparency in teaching and learning (TILT). The purpose of this article is to highlight the positive experiences two teacher education professors had using TILT to examine assignments and course syllabi. The journey of developing transparent assignments and student-centered syllabi is time-consuming, challenging, and on-going, but the benefits of a student-centered classroom are invaluable.

The Impact Of Transparent Instructions Upon Academic Confidence And Writing Performance, Ellen Cotter, Kerri Ann Battle, Cedarian Holsendolph, Jonathan Nguyen, Annabelle P. Smith

Perspectives In Learning

Recent demographic changes in college enrollment have led to an increased emphasis on retaining students. High-impact practices such as transparent assignments are one possible way to encourage student retention, but more empirical data related to student outcomes are needed. In this quasi-experimental study, students received either transparent or standard instructions for written assignments and completed a survey of academic confidence. A pre-test/post-test design was used to examine potential differences associated with instruction type. Results indicated no significant differences in essay scores or survey responses between conditions, and there were no consistent trends indicating improved performance in the transparent condition. Implications …

Can Tilt Be Used To Teach Study Tactics? A Case Study In A Biology Classroom, Anne Jacobs

Perspectives In Learning

Recently, there has been a movement encouraging instructors in higher education to use the Transparency in Teaching and Learning (TILT) framework when designing assignments. This framework helps instructors clarify their expectations and evaluation criteria. Making assignments more transparent may result in greater student success. However, it is less clear how this framework can be applied to classes that use exams as a main method of assessing student learning. One option might be to use a TILTed assignment to introduce students to learning tools to improve their studying. I did this by giving students in an introductory biology class an assignment …

Making Composition-I Count: “Tilt-Ing” The Course To Better Aim At Student Learning, Anish Dave

Perspectives In Learning

This article is being submitted on behalf of the author for consideration in the TILT special-topics issue. An abstract was not included with the manuscript.

Promoting Student Success With Tilt In Asynchronous Online Classes, Sabrina Wengier, Lorraine Dubuisson

Perspectives In Learning

Research has shown that the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TiLT) framework is an equitable practice that promotes student success by emphasizing the purpose and real-world applicability of academic work (Winkelmes et al., 2019). Most of the research on TiLT has focused on in-person instruction. In this article, we chronicle our implementation of TiLT as a “guiding philosophy” (Carpenter et al., 2021) to (re)design our asynchronous, online classes. As instructors, we noted that TiLT made a tangible, positive difference in student ownership and engagement in classroom tasks. To understand TiLT’s impact on students, we conducted a small-scale study in which …

Facing The Crises Of Higher Education: Reflections On A State University’S Experiment With Tilt, John Lejeune, Judy O. Grissett

Perspectives In Learning

Facing the Crises of Higher Education:

Reflections on a State University’s Experiment with TILT