Education Commons^™

Developing Teen Health Information Literacy, Sharon A. Weiner, David Walker, Kathryn Dilworth, Lalatendu Acharya, Lisa Kirkham, Bethany Mc, Laura Henzl

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

This presentation discusses a health information literacy project for teens that was a collaboration between librarians and experts in health communications and school administration. They co-developed and co-taught a required high school health course in Spring 2016 using student-centered active learning techniques. The course project was a “Teen Health” website developed by the students.

Unpacking Mooc Scholarly Discourse: A Review Of Nascent Mooc Scholarship, Maureen Ebben, Julien Murphy

Maureen Ebben

The rapid rise of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) signals a shift in the ways in which digital teaching and learning are engaged in and understood. Drawing upon a comprehensive search of nine leading academic databases, this paper examines the initial phase of MOOC scholarship (2009–2013), and offers an analysis of these empirical studies that conceptualizes themes in MOOC scholarship and locates them within a chronological framework. Two key phases of scholarship about MOOCs are identified, each with associated research imperatives and themes.

High-Altitude Ballooning In 3rd Grade, Emily L. Mathews, Brianna Marszalek, Bernhard Beck-Winchatz

2017 Academic High Altitude Conference

In this poster presentation we report on a high altitude balloon project conducted with third-graders from Gower West Elementary School in Willowbrook, IL in spring 2016. In the weeks before the launch students used a vacuum jar to investigate the effects of pressure changes on different objects, substances and sounds in the classroom and conducted pressure, temperature and wind measurements inside and outside of their school using Vernier probeware. To learn how to use the balloon tracking equipment and how to fill a balloon and prepare it for launch, students simulated a flight with a tethered balloon outside of their …

Raise Your Cards - A Look At Plickers In An Adult Learning Environment, Megan Taylor

SIDLIT Conference

At SIDLIT 2015, the session on the free Plickers polling system dazzled many of us. Members of the National Weather Service Training Center immediately began integrating this tool into their classes. In this session, we will review our successful integration of Plickers. We will also examine the results of using this technique with adult learners with a predominately introverted, scientific mindset. This session will also include information about what has and has not worked. Are you unfamiliar with Plickers? No worries, we will do a quick overview of this tool at the beginning of the presentation.

#Dearnextpresident: Passionate Student Engagement, Terri Summey

SIDLIT Conference

Engaging students in the educational process is something that educators struggle to achieve. To increase student engagement in a course long research project, this faculty member decided to build on causes that students are passionate about. Using a hashtag / video campaign sponsored by Fusion.net, #DearNextPresident, students identified and researched causes that they want the next President to focus on. At the end of the semester, students’ findings were presented in a variety of formats, including a video asking the next President to support their cause and presenting facts about the issue. Because the research focused on a topic that …

Save The Day With Voicethread!, April Robbs

SIDLIT Conference

VoiceThread comes to the rescue to promote speaking, listening and learning in asynchronous settings and is an especially powerful tool in the Human Services and Communication online classes at Ottawa University. Its web-based platform can be used as a stand-alone tool, or can integrate many of the major LMS systems. Participants can interact with multimedia presentations by recording audio (microphone or from a phone line) comments, video (webcam) comments, and by uploading an audio file from their device. This session will explore how Ottawa University uses class debates, student presentations, persuasive appeals, and class discussions to engage students.

Minimizing Student Frustration While Maximizing Faculty Satisfaction Using Simple Course Design, David Martin, Norbert Belz, Nellie Modaress

SIDLIT Conference

AyidStudents are demanding the use of online options to receive information about courses, complete assignments, and participate in class discussions. This form of education requires different knowledge, skills, and attitudes from course instructors. The growth of these programs has inspired change in how these types of courses and programs are designed and delivered to meet quality standards. This presentation will identify ways to both meet quality standards and provide improved student experiences through the use of standardized course design features in learning management systems.

Going From Quality Learning Objectives To Quality Assessments, Kendra Barker

SIDLIT Conference

Great course design requires strong learning objectives that power quality formative assessments. In this session, participants will gain a deeper understanding of how to use Bloom’s Taxonomy to write learning objectives that create formative and measurable outcomes, when working with a qualified Subject Matter Expert. Participants will learn the “do’s” and “don’ts” of writing assessments, types of assessment questions to use, and how to format those questions to meet the course’s learning objectives.

High Tech Plus High Touch, Robert Carlson

SIDLIT Conference

Presentation and demonstration on the integration of current technologies with tested teaching strategies, and hands on student work. In this ‘whole enchilada’ approach, this veteran instructor demonstrates the careful balance between technology and more traditional classroom techniques.

Activities, Assignments, And Design Tools To Promote Self-Regulated Learning In Online Classes, Deborah Taylor

SIDLIT Conference

Studies have shown that the most successful online students are motivated and self-regulated. What if we could use activities, assignments and design to help all of our students become self-regulated learners? In this session I will share some research based instructional strategies, as well as some suggestions for activities and assignments that can be used across the curriculum to promote behaviors that will strengthen their self-regulation skills in online classes. Several design tools will be shared that have been proven to promote student success in online classes. This information can be used by faculty teaching online classes and instructional designers …

Incorporating Active Learning When You Feel More Like Ant Man Than The Hulk, Ann Lindbloom

SIDLIT Conference

Active Learning is a key component when attempting to increase online retention. The overwhelming number of techniques can make instructors wish for super powers to determine which to implement in their courses. Initial research suggests reflection, individualized learning, and social media as important places to start. This session will provide 30 techniques that can be implemented online or onsite, offer some real-life implementations and success, and encourage audience participation for additional discussion. The focus will not be on new technologies, but rather how to incorporate these methods using basic tools found in most LMSs.

Cutting Time, Not Corners: Rapid Prototyping In Instructional Design, Joelle Pitts

SIDLIT Conference

Trends in digital teaching and learning combined with the learning preferences of college students result in an ever-increasing need for digital learning objects and experiences. Time, budget, and environmental restraints compound instructional design challenges, resulting in too many projects spread over too few staff members. Rapid Prototyping (RP) is an iterative design process originating from the software engineering sector. Adapted to instructional design, RP allows academics to facilitate the design, development, and assessment of multiple learning objects to maximize resources, while catching problems early in the development stage. Discussion will center on how RP can overcome common instructional design problems. …

Video To Enhance Face-To-Face Or Presence And Interaction, Brent Anders

SIDLIT Conference

This presentation will be geared to both face-to-face and online instructors. It will show the many ways video can serve as a superhero by being created and used to help with instruction of the course content as well as to help establish and increase instructor presence. Additionally different ways of using video will be shown to help with student-student, student-instructor, and student-content interaction. An exemplar course will be shown with embedded video showcasing the different uses and techniques of video use.

Quantum Teaming: How To Create A Virtual Internship To Provide Online Students With Real-World Experience, Desiree Depriest

SIDLIT Conference

KapConsulting is a one-of-a-kind online internship at Kaplan University consisting of Kaplan Radio, Kaplan Financial, and KapTechnology. Students from diverse backgrounds come together to run a virtual real-world agile company. KapConsulting explores the applicability of quantum concepts, entanglement, superposition and uncertainty, in creating an environment where synergy can occur naturally among virtual interns. Superposition is a measurable phenomenon that occurs when each individual team member contributes their skills and many “Clark Kents” become “The Justice League.” This presentation discusses creating a collaborative environment where quantum teaming occurs and how KapTechnology implements strategies to achieve win-win synergistic outcomes.

Session A-2: Lincoln And Douglas: The Debates, The Background And Why What You Say Matters, Lee Eysturlid

Lee W. Eysturlid

This presentation will get at the important meanings and usages of the famous debates for the Senate that took place between Lincoln and Douglas in the state of Illinois. Attendees will gain a working knowledge of the event and explore ways to make use of it in class. Finally, the session will align the materials presented with the Common Core standards dealing with the "integration of knowledge and ideas" as well as "reading and writing for literacy".

The Noyce Teacher Academy Reflections 2015-2016, Martin Rosenman

Open Educational Resources

Highlights of selected topics and activities by Noyce Teacher Academy fellows.

Retention Effects Of An Experiential Pedagogical Approach, Kelsea E. Adams

Senior Honors Projects

The quality and nature of delivery of education, especially at the K12 level is a major focus of the education reform movement. As an aspiring teacher, I am interested in developing a personal understanding of the efficacy of different modes of delivery. A large body of studies has examined the differences between experiential learning versus traditional classroom learning as well as effects on student retention. Traditional classroom learning involves literary texts, PowerPoint presentations and teacher-centered learning. In contrast, experiential learning is a hands-on, real world experience that provides students with an environment to expand their critical thinking skills and apply …

Pax Populi: Utilizing Technology And Education As A Means To Achieve Peace, Anand Balar

Engagement & Service-Learning Summit

This project of Pax Populi was presented to the students in the Honors course called Beyond Afghanistan taught by Dr. Brite as an opportunity to do service learning. The goal of Pax Populi as taken from their mission statement is to “put the tools of peacemaking into the hands of ordinary people through initiatives that advance peace through education and economic development within a framework of human rights.”

The tool we used in this case was Skype web conferencing to communicate with an Afghan tutee the students were individually partnered up with to teach English skills to whether they be …

Best Practices Developing Service Learning Protocol For Hospitality Administration, Mary Olle, Chay Runnels, Gina Fe Causin, Todd Barrios

Faculty Publications

Developing Service Learning Protocol for students in the Hospitality Administration program at Stephen F. Austin State University provides an opportunity for students to experience these values such as networking, commitment, and building self-confidence. In 2015 SFA Hospitality Administration faculty made a decision to institutionalize service learning throughout their program. This presentation discusses its implementation.