Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Strategic Financial Management, Fina-475, Roberto Stein

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Strategic Financial Management is the new, case-based capstone course of the Finance Major at the UNL College of Business. Introduced in the Fall 2016 Term, it has since been revised and is being continually updated, to better achieve the its academic goals. In this portfolio, I describe the course’s overall structure, goals and main components. I then detail a number of changes made for the Spring 2018 version of the course, and proceed to analyze data pertaining to the outcomes observed from these changes. Finally, I outline potential strategies and further changes that might be implemented in future iterations of …

A Digital Class For An In-Person Discipline: Creating An Online Class For Introduction To Theatre, Ian Borden

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

No abstract provided.

Aecn 376-Rural Community Economics: Engaging Students In Learning, Daniela M. Mattos

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

AECN376-Rural Community Economics attracts students with different economics background and interests. In the three previous years I taught this course I was struggling to find a balance in class activities to make the course more engaging and effective to all students. The usual method of delivery is lecture along with PowerPoint slides. While this is the dominant form of pedagogy, particularly in higher education (Harvard Magazine 2015, Time Magazine 2012), an increasing amount of research indicates that the somewhat passive learning environment of the lecture does not reach all students with the same efficiency. In creating this portfolio, my goals …

Aecn 141- Introduction To The Economics Of Agriculture, Timothy Meyer

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Course portfolio for AECN 141- Introduction to the Economics of Agriculture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Fren 302: Representative Authors Ii-A Peer Review Of Teaching Benchmark Portfolio, Julia Frengs

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio traces the process of the design, teaching methods, and assessment tools I used in my first time teaching a survey of French literature course, FREN 302, or “Representative Authors II.” The primary goal of the course is to introduce students to “masterpieces” of French literature spanning from the Middle Ages to the present. The course is certified for the ACE 5 outcome, which emphasizes the use of analysis and interpretation. My own principal objective for the course, developing student autonomy and critical thinking skills, which intersects with this ACE 5 outcome, is the main focus of this study. …

Adpr 333-001: Design And Layout--A Peer Review Of Teaching Portfolio, Octavio Kano-Galvan

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

No abstract provided.

Mucp 183-983: Applied Music Composition--A Course Benchmark Portfolio, Gregory Simon

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

MUCP 183-983, Applied Music Composition, is the core of the music composition course curriculum for students at all levels, from freshman to doctoral candidate. Like all applied lesson environments, it is a one-on-one, individualized study that principally involves the instructor giving students feedback on their musical works-in-progress. This time-honored paradigm for teaching composition has produced brilliant artists, but is rife with pitfalls and traps that can tarnish a student’s growth: composition pedagogues can coerce students into writing music like their teachers, or can prescribe a curriculum that makes composition accessible only to students who have already played classical music for …

Edps 951: Academic And Behavior Assessment--A Peer Review Of Teaching Benchmark Portfolio, Scott A. Napolitano

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

No abstract provided.

Cyaf374: Purposeful Planning—Reflection And Practice In Enriching Students’ Lesson Design, Kelley Buchheister

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio documents my process of embracing, modeling, and implementing reflective teaching practices to enhance the lesson designs of my prospective early childhood professionals in CYAF374: Curriculum Planning in Early Childhood. Throughout this project I attended to and applied five critical components emphasized in the peer review of teaching project and integrated these ideas within the foundational elements of Japanese lesson study in order to implement instructional practices that would benefit my students. These five elements are extensively discussed throughout the portfolio on multiple levels: (a) understanding the role of reflective practice, (b) identifying goals through backward design, (c) outlining …

Ethn 201: Introduction To Native American Studies--A Benchmark Portfolio, Margaret Huettl

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio traces the process of the design, teaching methods, and assessment tools I used in reconfiguring ETHN 201: Introduction to Native American Studies. “Introduction to Native American Studies” (INAS) is an introductory survey course taken either as an elective or as the foundation of a Native Studies minor. The class size is relatively small, capped at twenty-four students. Students who take this course come from a broad cross-section of disciplines in the College of Arts and Sciences and beyond, although perhaps the greatest portion comes from the Humanities. The course serves as an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of …

Benchmark Portfolio For Soft 261: Software Engineering Iv, Suzette Person

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This benchmark portfolio documents the course objectives, teaching strategies, and assessments for the inaugural offering of SOFT 261: Software Engineering IV at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). This is the final course in the core sequence of software engineering courses taken by students in the new undergraduate program in software engineering at UNL. These courses teach fundamental computer science concepts in the broader context of engineering software. As an ACE (Achievement-Centered Education) 2 course, the instructional material in SOFT 261 is focused on teaching visual communications skills in the context of applying software engineering processes to a real-world software project. …

Reflecting On Edad 840 – College Student Development: A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Corey B. Rumann

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio describes the intended learning outcomes of the EDAD 840 – College Student Development course and the course activities and assessment of student learning connected to those outcomes. The process of analyzing the course and implementation of various course activities, revisions to the course design, and assessment processes are also outlined and discussed. Planned changes based on that analysis are documented and a brief reflection on the process is included.

Stat 380: Statistics And Applications, Yumou Qiu

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio prepares for the introduction level undergraduate statistic course (Stat 380) for the students with calculus background, which includes the course goals, contents as well as teaching methods for large session classes. Analysis and evaluation of student learning are also included. In-class activities and discussion helping students’ engagement are introduced. The homework is assigned by Canvas, which summaries the students’ solution and provides analysis for each student.

Comm 454: Communication And Health Disparities—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Angela L. Palmer-Wackerly

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The current portfolio examines the second iteration of a new course in the Department of Communication Studies, Comm 454: Communication and Health Disparities. The primary goal of the course is for students to understand what health disparities are and how communication (on micro, meso, and macro levels) helps to create, reinforce, and improve these health disparities. Student learning was measured through the evaluation of the above course objective through four assignments: a short reflection paper, 2 teaching lessons, a research paper, and a health disparities communication campaign/intervention. The short reflection paper was examined through thematic analysis, while the latter three …

Engl 352: Intermediate Fiction Writing—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Chigozie Obioma

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Absent the elements of effective writing, there has been a strong debate on whether or not other aspects of creative writing can be taught. Many practicing writers like myself who teach have concluded that a student writer can be guided towards fully actualizing their talent, and this “guidance” is what mostly constitutes teaching. How then do we evaluate the effectiveness of this teaching, and to what extent do students’ individual talent help or stand in the way of effective instruction? How do we plan various learning outcomes and test the success of such strategies over the duration of the ENGL …

Arab 202: A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio, Abla Hasan

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This project examines the impact of adopting a text book of teaching Arabic for nonnative speakers that doesn’t use any English. The project targets “ARAB 202”, second year Arabic, since this course has already used a text book that uses English for instructions and grammar for 3 semesters, ARAB 101 , ARAB102, ARAB 201 and before the new curriculum was available in the market. Students of ARAB 202 will be the first to experience the switch to the new curriculum and therefore can be the best to evaluate the experience. For the project, students were asked to complete a pre-course …

Ides 200: Program, Standards And Codes—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Nathan E. Bicak

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This teaching portfolio documents my teaching efforts for IDES 200, a class in UNL’s Interior Design Program, entitled Program, Standards and Codes. Although I have taught similar content prior to this course, Spring 2017 marked the first time I taught this course. After seven years of teaching the material, and now packaged in a new class, the Peer Review of Teaching project offered the opportunity to critically reflect on course objectives, teaching and delivery methods, the structure of course activities and documenting and analyzing student learning. My primary objective through the Peer Review of Teaching project has been to …

Alec 405: Method Of Instruction For Secondary Career And Technical Education—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Nathan W. Conner

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The objective of this portfolio is to showcase and provide evidence of how students become able to grow and develop in the area of lesson plan development over the course of the semester. This portfolio will also serve to document the importance of providing classroom learning activities that allow students the opportunity to practice and apply the skills that they obtain from new content knowledge. This portfolio will show evidence of the importance that I put on my personal growth and reflection in order to continually improve my teaching and provide the best learning opportunities possible. The course I selected …

Adpr 221: Strategic Writing For Advertising And Public Relations—A Peer Review Of Teaching Benchmark Portfolio, Michael D. Hanus

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The objective for this course portfolio was to document the changes implemented to a core advertising and public relations writing course. The portfolio outlines five proposed goals for the revised course: students should be able to write for an audience, give and receive quality feedback, prepare for novel situations in the workplace, see writing as rewarding, creative, and fun, and learn professional conventions and industry standards for strategic writing. The course was significantly restructured in order to better reach these goals on student assignments, activities, and during lectures. Each goal was assessed with a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. …

Nsst 475: Security In The 21st Century—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Tyler R. White

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This benchmark course portfolio is the culmination of a year’s long planning and execution process to improve an existing capstone course NSST 475. This course has two goals: to teach students about subject matter and to expose them to structured analytic techniques (SATs) before they graduate. This course is a minor capstone which means that the students come from a diverse set of disciplinary backgrounds. I targeted two course objectives to examine for this project with the intention of employing backward course design to think through what students should be learning and how I can improve that process. This portfolio …

Nutr 356: Nutrition Education In The Community—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Virginia Chaidez

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This course portfolio summarizes a thoughtful documentation of a peer review process of teaching for an undergraduate course in community nutrition. The portfolio provides my description of the course and course goals utilizing the 'Backwards Design' approach; a reflection of teaching methods and activities used to enhance learning and reach course goals; an analysis of teaching activities at the end of the semester and planned changes for teaching this course moving forward.

Teac 308: Teaching Mathematics In The Elementary School–A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Amanda Thomas

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio outlines four aspects of the peer review of teaching project, which focused on TEAC 308: Teaching Mathematics in the Elementary School. The first aspect was the explicit articulation of student learning objectives drawn from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All (2014). During this project, the nine objectives were aligned with instructional opportunities and assignments with those objectives. In addition to defining these objectives, the portfolio describes analysis of three components: student progress toward developing and demonstrating productive beliefs about aspects of teaching and learning mathematics, student progress across three …

Mech 350: Introduction To Dynamics And Controls Of Engineering Systems—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Benjamin S. Terry

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

There are two purposes of this portfolio. The first purpose is to outline and explain my approach to teaching this classic and fundamental course. I highlight in detail the purpose and curricula, the desired outcomes, and the goals and objectives. I also describe how the course activities and my teaching methodology support the course objectives. The second purpose of this portfolio is to describe a simple course modification—the introduction of a recitation session—and to test in a preliminary way the effect of this change on students’ attitudes towards the examples worked out in class. The results show that in the …

Engl 254: Writing And Communities—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Rachael Wendler Shah

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This course portfolio analyzes a section of English 254: Writing and Communities, exploring how well the course met individual teaching goals and the departmental course goals for English 254, with a particular focus on how the new English Department mission statement priorities are actualized in the class and how well the class supported learning to communicate across difference. The portfolio includes an outline of institutional context, course outcomes, and student background, as well as a backwards planning chart that demonstrates alignment between outcomes, activities, and assessment strategy. Then, the portfolio examines student data from each of the three major assignments, …

Law 658/G: Weibling Entrepreneurship Clinic—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Brett C. Stohs

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This benchmark portfolio summarizes a study conducted by Professor Brett C. Stohs of students in the Weibling Entrepreneurship Clinic during the 2017 Spring semester. Specifically, the study sought to determine whether students who participate in the clinic develop their professional identities as soon-to-be lawyers. Using qualitative and quantitative measurements, the study determined that participating students do tend to develop their professional identities while in the clinic. This portfolio examines the extent of that development and identifies opportunities for continued course improvement.

Vmed 646: Animal Physiology Ii—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Renee M. Mcfee

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This Peer Review of Teaching Project portfolio focuses on the Animal Physiology II course which is required for first year veterinary medicine students. Weekly quizzes assess baseline knowledge and had been administered individually and in groups. I hypothesized the discontinuation of group quizzes would increase student effort when preparing for quizzes. Unit exams involve scenario-based questions and require students to apply information. I hypothesized the implementation of group exams would help under-performing students improve their ability to apply information they had learned. Exams were still taken individually prior to being taken in groups to encourage adequate preparation. Student impacts were …

Embedding For Empathy: Helping Journalism Students Become Better Reporters | Journalism 446/846: Mosaic—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio, Michelle Carr Hassler

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

As part of Nebraska Mosaic, a senior-level journalism capstone course, students are tasked with interviewing, writing and producing stories for and about refugees and immigrants in Nebraska. But students face a steep learning curve in this experiential learning class. Their knowledge about refugees and immigrants is limited, and they have little understanding of the issues refugees and immigrants face in their new country. Students also have little experience interacting with them, much less interviewing them and writing about them. Using an experiential learning assignment that mimics the journalism practice of embedding, students have an opportunity to develop empathy, gain confidence …

Engl 487: English Capstone Experience—A Peer Review Of Teaching Benchmark Portfolio, Kelly Stage

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio documents the teaching objectives, strategies, and assessments for a capstone course in the English major at UNL. As the English Studies Capstone and as an ACE (Achievement-Centered Education) 10 course at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, English 487 must help students meet key outcomes for the department and the University, but it also allows flexibility and creativity in the methods chosen to meet these requirements and structure the course. This portfolio thereby reflects on the intellectual labor of designing a particular version of these requirements and on guiding students through the design. The assessments included here are measuring traditional …

Teac 908e: Critical Conversations In U.S. Teacher Education Policy And Practice—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Lauren Gatti

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Since compulsory school began in the early 1900s, there have been lively and at times intense debates regarding how teachers ought to be prepared. Current debates are particularly pitched as the achievement gap persists and teacher attrition remains high, made more intense by the level of polarization in the country. Debates in the field of teacher preparation, like the country writ large, are often characterized more by heat than light. Given this reality, I opted to use this peer review of teaching opportunity to think about my graduate course as a place where students could practice perspective-taking and dialogue around …

Meng 3250: Mechanics Of Elastic Bodies—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Jinying Zhu

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio focuses on mechanics of materials (course title: Mechanics of Elastic Bodies), a sophomore level course taken primarily by civil engineering and architectural engineering majors on Omaha campus. It is a prerequisite for broad range of courses in mechanical, civil and agricultural engineering majors. This course studies the mechanics of solids with applications to science and engineering, including stress, strains and deformation in structural elements (axial, torsional and bending), shear and moment diagram for beams, and a brief introduction to material failure mechanisms.

This portfolio describes the teaching methods used to help students understand the fundamental knowledge about material …