Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons^™

Resident Scientists-In-Schools: Harnessing Altruism In Stem, Alison Sloat

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

The Resident Scientists-in-Schools and the STEM Teacher Development Academy program helps to diversify and expand the STEM pipeline in CCSD schools.

An Integration Of Online Education's Career Readiness And Life Design Badging Program Into A Milestone Course, Sheila Janofsky

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

No abstract provided.

Using The Touchstones Discussion Method For Common Reader Discussions​, Nathan M. Slife, Chelsie Hawkinson

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

The Touchstones Method empowers students to find their voice within an inclusive and collaborative discussion.

Instructors can use this method to facilitate discussions of the UNLV Common Reader Program. This program provides incoming undergraduate students with a common intellectual experience discussing a select text.

Principles from the Touchstones Methods can used to facilitate conversation of any text that is used in this Common Reader program.

Counseling Skills For Educators, Craig Hall

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is touted as a diverse campus. Indeed, students represent a wide range of demographics concerning race, gender, identity, socioeconomics, physical and mental ability issues, as well as non traditional students and those the intersectional representation of multiple demographic groups. It is incumbent upon educators to provide safe spaces for all students. This is an equitable practice. How can educators be more equitable? By using counseling skills in their education such as: empathy, active listening, belief in the capabilities of students, and avoiding labeling students. It must be noted that the use of counseling skills …

Why Ask That? Low Stakes Questions Build Engagement, Van Whaley

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

A few low-stakes questions during the term build engagement, encourage persistence, and can improve learning outcomes.

During labs, students work together to learn Anatomy & Physiology… plus answer these Engagement Booster Questions.

The Need
/="/">Students need to meet classmates. After two years of online-only education, returning to in-person labs is a new experience many students find uncomfortable and challenging.

The Existing Resources
/="/">Students in the same lab have several similarities that include enrolling in the same lecture section, similar schedules, the same completed prerequisites, similar majors, and career aspirations.

The Goal
/="/">Building engagement between students should help …

Working Smarter, Not Harder: Using Canvas Outcomes To Promote Student Success, Jacob D. Thompson, Beth Barrie

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

Promotes the adoption of Canvas Outcomes. Canvas Learning Outcomes can bolster student success, improve program assessment and course design, and ease assessment burdens on administrators, colleges, departments, and faculty.

Ai And The Future Of Academic Integrity, Jesse Fitts, Rachel Bovard

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

In this poster, we provide recommendations for assignment types in light of the AI chatbot ChatGPT.

Video Homework: Visualizing Homework Assignments To Help Comprehension, Jorge Ramon Fonseca Cacho

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

Multimodal delivery of information has been shown to be preferred to one mode of delivery. Instead of only providing homework assignments to students as a PDF, printed paper, or a Canvas LMS text prompt, we propose augmenting the assignments with a video explaining it verbally, or conversationally, and visualizing the assignment. Not all students process information the same way and some may be more responsive and engaged to audio visual content than just text such as visual learners or individuals who struggle reading long text prompts.

A Return To Humanity In Teaching, Stephanie Foote

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

In The Courage to Teach, Parker Palmer (1998) writes, “Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher” (p. 10). As Palmer (1998) suggests, teaching and identity are interwoven, making teaching an act of vulnerability. Despite this, we often create our courses in ways that protect us, and ultimately, create distance from the students we teach. This piece explores ways to return to the humanity in teaching by understanding ourselves and our students and using these collective understandings to create inclusive and responsive learning environments, regardless of course modality.

Building Relationship-Rich Opportunities Online, Shirley P. O'Brien, Kelli Spayd

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Mentoring is an important process in building rich relationships in learning. The use of e-mentoring as an innovative strategy to promote a relationship rich experience for faculty and students is described. Data collected reinforces learner-centered professional value in the promotion of student engagement.

The Importance Of Relationships In Service-Learning Projects: A Case Study From Eastern Kentucky University, Tara Pulaski, Josiah Coleman, William Mccann, Erin Presley

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

A graduate course at Eastern Kentucky University included a significant Service-Learning project that evaluated and made recommendations about the University’s Writing Intensive program in collaboration with University administrators. The project’s goals included making sure that students have quality writing courses, that faculty are supported in teaching Writing Intensive courses, and that students develop the writing skills necessary to be successful in their professional lives. Additionally, the goals of Service-Learning center both on learning outcomes and community engagement, making it an effective method for cultivating this collaboration.

Humanizing Learning: Concepts And Strategies To Design And Implement Now, Melony Shemberger

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Humanizing teaching supports the affective and cognitive dimensions of learning. The concept often is used in online education, but it is necessary for any modality to build a learning environment that is relationship-rich. This article discusses the principles and elements of humanized learning, helpful theoretical frameworks, and strategies that can be implemented and practiced in any instructional setting.

When Love Hurts: Confronting William Styron’S Racial Misery In College Composition Classrooms, Natasha D. Moore

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Acknowledging and attending to how professors feel about their students is an often ignored but fundamental component in creating relationship-rich pedagogy. This paper references William Styron’s “This Quiet Dust” to facilitate a transparent discussion about how we truly feel about Black Language, its role and use in the academy, and how these feelings ultimately shape how our Black students experience our encounters with them.

A Student-Faculty Partnership In Redesigning Renewable Assignments, Cindy Hayden, Haley Rickard, Amanda S. Hansford, Tyler Bush

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

This article explores the experiences of OTD students and one faculty who redesigned assignments as a method for students to co-create their own learning. Twenty-two students completed five newly designed renewable assignments in a clinical orthopedic course. Students then provided feedback individually and as a group at midterm and the end of the semester on the assignments including templates, grading rubrics, and assignment instructions. Redesigning course assignments can take more time before and during the semester. The gain is more student involvement and effective engagement with the course materials in the teaching-learning process.

New Normal Feels Anything But: Practical Strategies For Mental Wellness In The Pandemic Classroom, Maria Bane, Maggie Freeman

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

The COVID-19 pandemic continues highlighting the need for relationship-rich education, even while presenting challenges related to mental health and isolation for students and faculty. Return to face-to-face instruction has signaled a “new normal” that might feel anything but normal. This discussion draws on James Lang’s principles of small teaching, the idea that faculty can make small, manageable changes to teaching that significantly improve student learning and avoid faculty burnout. Specifically, motivation and growth mindset are explored to offer practical tips for promoting mental well-being in the classroom.

Building Faculty Relationships To Enrich The Educator And The Educated, Katie Twist, April Hatcher

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

At the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, we implemented a longitudinal faculty development program for interested educators to practice applying foundational teaching concepts and to provide space to discuss sensitive and challenging teaching experiences. The program was created to help develop and maintain a community of medical educators and assist with their teaching portfolio for promotion. Here we describe the thematic organization of the faculty development program organized into pre-work, in-session, and post-work components.

Relationship-Rich Pedagogy: Cultivating Positive Classroom Experiences For Undergraduate And Graduate Students, Casey E. Humphrey, José Juan Gómez-Becerra, Susan Skees Hermes, Gaby Bedetti, Russell Carpenter

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Felten and Lambert’s (2020) relational pedagogy encourages faculty to create educational experiences that ensure every student experiences a genuine welcome and deep care; is inspired to learn; encounters a web of significant relationships; and explores questions of meaning and purpose. These principles promote student success at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. This essay will provide methods to incorporate Felten and Lambert’s relationship-rich strategies into courses ranging from general education to the graduate level.

Applying Universal Design For Learning (Udl) Principles For Building Intentional Student-Faculty Relationships In An Online Graduate Program, Robert Legary Jr.

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Student engagement in learning and relationship building among faculty and students can be challenging in an online learning environment. Relatedness and positive engagement with other students and faculty foster positive learning outcomes. The intentional application of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) engagement guidelines and checkpoints (CAST, 2018) with Chickering and Gamson’s (1999) Seven Principles for Good Practice accommodates learner variability and promotes relationship-building experiences. In an online M.Ed. program, key elements and strategies of the UDL engagement guidelines and the Seven Principles are integrated in curriculum, teaching methods, and learning activities. Implications for practice related to the application of …

Guide To Relationship-Rich Education In Teaching & Learning: Introduction To The 2022 Pedagogicon Proceedings, Russell Carpenter, Kevin Dvorak

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

The Guide to Relationship-Rich Education is a compilation of teaching strategies that promote relationship-rich education strategies (Felten & Lambert, 2020) across higher education contexts. In this guide, teacher-scholars present relationship-rich strategies and corresponding analyses across teaching and learning environments.

Ungrading General Education: Preliminary Results From A Pilot Study, Stacey J. Korson, Eric B. Meiners, Matthew Howell, Alison Buck, Kaitlynn Moody, Matthew P. Winslow, Travis L. Martin, Anne Fleischer

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

A group of faculty members representing more than 20 courses listed in the Eastern Kentucky University General Education curriculum participated in a pilot program to test and measure the effectiveness of “ungraded” pedagogy. “Ungrading,” as defined by the group, can be any conscious effort to move student emphasis away from grades and onto learning. Given this definition, ungrading took many forms in the pilot: gradeless classrooms, grading contracts, and greater choice of assignments by students, to name a few. At the end of the semester, quantitative and qualitative data was gathered from student course evaluations; DFW and retention rates were …

Training University Tutors To Work With Bilingual Students, Sara Incera, Haleigh Hamilton, Angie J. Marroquin, Socorro Zaragoza, Trenia Napier, Lara Kristin Vance, Ashley Matthews Sweat, Judith L. Jenkins

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

The purpose of this project was to train university tutors to improve their support of bilingual students (ESL/ELL students). We developed an evidence-based training session that emphasizes university connectedness and cultural inclusion. This one-hour training included background information, tutoring tips, and time for discussion. The majority of tutors (44 out of 47) reported learning something helpful they could use when tutoring. While this intervention was specifically designed to target bilingual students, most evidence-based tips discussed here are applicable to all students. It is crucial to provide tutors with the skills and resources necessary to better connect with their students.

Fiction, Literature, And Visual Art As Case Studies In Introductory Courses, Kelly Grenier

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

This paper explores the usage of art in the college classroom to teach political theories and concepts. Rethinking how instructors can teach introductory political science courses to students socialized in a contentious political culture, this paper argues that art-based assignments in lieu of traditional case studies are well-suited to this challenge. Offering examples from an introductory political science course, this paper demonstrates the approach in action and offers suggestions to apply this approach in other disciplines and institutional settings.

In-Class Laptop Use For Student Learning: A Pilot Study, Jiyeon Park, Abigail Aulbach

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

While laptops are considered an effective and critical learning tool, the effects of in-class laptop use on student learning remain controversial. Although many recent studies have found that in-class laptop use may produce negative effects in higher education, college students increasingly utilize their laptops in classrooms. To effectively integrate laptop use into lessons, we examined the effects of behavior strategies concerning in-class laptop use by undergraduate students. Throughout the course of a semester, participants were provided visual prompts, including "Red", “Yellow,” and "Green" codes, in accordance with class activities. The students’ attitudes and perspectives regarding the strategy were surveyed and …

Transforming Education: Using The Connectedness Cycle As A Framework For Instruction, Kimberly Vigil

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

The connectedness cycle is an emerging framework for practice that advances the understanding and implementation of relationship-rich educational practices. These relationship-rich educational practices allow for more meaningful student engagement, and they serve to enhance academic outcomes. When embodied and implemented by faculty, the connectedness cycle has the ability to transform education.

Using Interteaching In A Fully Asynchronous Online Honors Seminar Course, Steffen Wilson, Steven Shisley Dr.

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

This paper describes the modification of the Interteaching approach to simulate a seminar course in the asynchronous online course format. Each unit began with students answering a set of questions about a reading. Next, students had an interteaching discussion by reading and provided a brief comment on their classmate’s answers to each question. After this discussion, students completed a record sheet summarizing their reaction to the discussion and providing the course instructor with any remaining questions about the article content. Each unit ended with the course instructor providing students with a recorded wrap up video that discussed their unanswered questions …

International Social Work Field Education, Shelli Gregory

DSW Capstone Projects

International Social Work Field Education (ISWFE) involves a set of unique challenges. For the literature review of this capstone project 20 peer-reviewed journal articles written between the years 2009 and 2018 were reviewed to answer the following research question: What are the unique challenges associated with ISWFE and the best practices for combatting these challenges? The challenges most frequently mentioned in the literature are the perpetuation of colonial mindset; students experiencing emotional vulnerabilities, stress, & distress (guilt, shame, loneliness, fear, helplessness, isolation, and homesickness); supervisory issues; language barriers; funding; culture shock, disequilibrium, or clash; safety concerns; administrative problems such as …

Understanding The Implications Of Work Based Learning For Students Pk-12 School Systems Institutions Of Higher Education And Hosting Organizations, David Naff, Amy Corning, Meleah Ellison, Albion Sumrell, Zehra Sahin Ilkorkor, Jennifer Murphy, Ciana Cross

MERC Publications

This literature review by the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) and Institute for Collaborative Research and Evaluation (ICRE), in partnership with the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership (V-TOP) and State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) explores work-based learning and its implications for PK-12 institutions, institutions of higher education, and hosting organizations (e.g. employers). The report also provides background information about the foundations of work-based learning and concludes with a series of recommendations for practice, policy, and future research related to work-based learning. There is also an accompanying podcast episode where report authors discuss the key takeaways with …

First And Lasting Impressions: Creating Course Tour Videos To Guide Online Students, Melony Shemberger

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Online course design has gained increased attention in education, given the global health crisis brought on by COVID-19. Students need to familiarize themselves at the beginning of an online course to be successful. An important item often overlooked, however, is the inclusion of a course tour video, which can help serve as an effective orientation for a student new to the course. This article will share best practices and insights on how to make a brief video guiding students to navigate a course more effectively, setting them up for success.

Does Your Student Know? Being Intentional With Quality In Designing Online Instruction, Melony Shemberger

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

This article guides instructors to incorporate intentionality as a communication construct when designing a learning experience, especially online. Intentionality is communication planned around a learning goal by the instructor through cognitive decisions. Based on the research, the author shares the details of a faculty development course she created.

Feed More Back: Multimodal Feedback Toward Relationship-Rich Writing Courses, Jessica Mattox, Cyndy Lopez Guerrero

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Our goal is to use feedback to increase student understanding of audience and purpose in collaborative writing projects. One-on-one feedback is difficult to accomplish in classes with large caps and multiple process-based writing assignments per semester. Providing detailed feedback is time-consuming, so writing instructors often resort to generic comments or even quantitative rubrics. We implement multimodal feedback strategies that foster meaningful connections in the classroom. In these proceedings we have integrated a multimodal feedback plan into two of our assignment sequences: 1.) an Instruction Set, Usability Test, and Results Memo, and 2.) The Freshmen “Theory of Writing” research paper process.