Spring 2022 Teaching and Learning Innovation (TLI) Series
The Teaching and Learning Innovation (TLI) Series* features presentations and workshops aimed at providing practical takeaways, to enhance the academic repertoire of faculty and teaching staff, in support of teaching, learning, and scholarship.
Goals include:
- offering new methods and ways of thinking about classroom and academic instruction;
- presenting creative ways to engage students in their own learning experience;
- providing ideas for small teaching changes that have a big impact fostering opportunities for dialogue between peers, focused on teaching, learning, and scholarship.
New TLI Sessions will continue to be added…please check back to see the new additions!
Please contact us at fctl@eku.edu with any questions or for more information.
*When registering for a TLI, please be sure to note the format. Most Spring 2022 TLIs will be held face-to-face in the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning Classroom (Crabbe Library 318), with a live streaming option for those who are unable to join in-person. However, some programs will be held online only, and those will be noted as such in the description.
Whether in person or online, please register using the Zoom registration links below for each event.
January 2022
The Flipped Classroom: An Interdisciplinary Discussion
January 24, 2022; 11:00am – 12:00pm
Facilitators: Dr. Leah Simpkins, Dr. Karina Christopher, and Mr. Christopher Perry
Online via Zoom only
The Flipped Classroom is a blended learning model in which traditional ideas about classroom activities and homework are reversed, or “flipped.” In this model, instructors have students interact with new material for homework first. They then use class time to discuss the new information and put those ideas into practice. This TLI will explore the flipped classroom across multiple disciplines, via an interactive discussion.
Encouraging Student Attendance & Participation in Class: Panel Discussion
January 31, 2022; 12:20 – 1:10pm
Faculty Panelists: Dr. Jim Fatzinger, Dr. Matthew Howell, Dr. Jill Parrott, Dr. Leah Simpkins, Dr. Susan Skees-Hermes, and Dr. Matthew Winslow
Moderator: Dr. Jamie Shaffer
Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (Crabbe Library 318) and online via Zoom.
One of the most common struggles for faculty members is how to keep students attending class and remaining engaged. With students being pulled in so many directions, attendance can suffer, which may negatively affect learning and success. In this session, faculty panelists will share practices that have helped them overcome this challenge. Participants will also receive a video with additional tips. Start your week off with this lunchtime panel, and leave with some new strategies to enhance attendance and participation.
February 2022
Working Off-Campus: How Student Employment Can Impact Success and Engagement
February 7, 2022; 3:30 – 4:30pm
Facilitator: Dr. Melissa Dieckmann
Online only via Zoom.
Maximizing student retention requires us as an institution to evaluate and respond to non-academic barriers to academic success. Students who are employed outside the university often face obstacles that result from the demands and responsibilities of their jobs. In this session, we will share the results of an EKU student survey on outside employment with the goal of developing a faculty-focused workgroup to delve into this issue in more depth, identify barriers that outside employment places on student success, and brainstorm strategies that faculty and administration can implement to support working students in achieving academic success.
Information Literacy for Mortals
February 9, 2022; 1:25 – 2:15pm
Facilitators: Heather Beirne and Trenia Napier
Online only via Zoom.
This TLI will build on Project Information Literacy’s (PIL) Provocation Series. Prior to the TLI, attendees will read the Series’ essay from Mike Caulfield, “Information Literacy for Mortals” [3702 words] (found at https://tinyurl.com/ilformortals).
In his essay, Caulfield (a research scientist leading the UW Center for an Informed Public’s rapid response efforts around election misinformation), advocates for a more generalized, “less is more” approach when it comes to information literacy instruction. During the TLI, facilitators will lead a discussion of the essay by asking a series of questions explicitly prepared by the PIL Provocation Series Team to provoke a dialogue by “deliberately bring[ing] information literacy conversations into spaces outside of the library world.”
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Focus on the Figures
February 10, 2022; 11:00am – 12:00pm
Facilitator: Dr. Judy Jenkins
Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (Crabbe Library 318) and online via Zoom.
Figures in scientific literature are not embellishments; they are THE main event. However, our abilities to value and read figures vary. “[S]tudents often learn content they do not yet understand from representations they do not yet understand” (Rau, 2017). In this session we will explore assessable strategies to support i) science majors learning to critically read scientific figures in texts and discipline-specific literature, and ii) non-science majors learning to critically read scientific figures (towards science-literate citizens). To get the most out of our time together, bring along figures from your courses.
Transitioning to eCampus from a Faculty Perspective
February 15, 2022; 11:45am – 12:45pm
Facilitators: Jessica Price and Aaron MacDonald
Online only via Zoom.
Health Services Administration faculty will discuss their experience as they transitioned from a traditional on-campus program to an eCampus program. The faculty will identify roadblocks and challenges they encountered, as well as lessons learned throughout the transition, in hopes of helping other programs that may also be considering the transition to eCampus.
Critical Reading Instruction Across Disciplines
February 17, 2022; 2:00 – 3:15pm
Panelists: Dr. Anne Cizmar, Dr. Leslie Hardman, Dr. Gill Hunter, Dr. Lisa Kay, Dr. Michael Lane, Dr. Jamie-Marie Miller, and Prof. Barry Spurlock
Moderator: Dr. Lisa Bosley
Online only via Zoom
Join a panel of EKU faculty to discuss development of more intentional critical reading instruction. Instructors from across disciplines will describe active, metacognitive approaches they have implemented to improve students’ critical reading.
Creating Wicked Students
February 18, 2022; 12:00 – 12:50pm
Facilitator: Dr. Matthew Winslow
Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (Crabbe Library 318) and online via Zoom.
Climate change, poverty, social media, addiction — these are all wicked problems, or problems that have more than one cause and require complex, nuanced solutions. Our students will be the people who must solve these (and more) problems. Therefore, our students need instruction and practice on how to deal with wicked problems. Fortunately there is an excellent book about creating wicked students by Paul Hanstedt, and this session will draw from that book.
Writing Up Your Qualitative Data
February 21, 2022; 3:00 – 4:00pm
Facilitator: Dr. Dana Howell
Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (Crabbe Library 318) and online via Zoom.
You have conducted your interview and your focus groups, asked your open-ended survey questions, maybe even conducted observations. Now that you have your qualitative data, how do you report your findings in writing? This session, a follow-up to fall’s Qualitative Data Coding, will focus on best practices for sharing your data in writing.
March 2022
Critically Reading the Screen
March 2, 2022; 2:30pm – 3:20pm
Facilitator: Dr. Jill Parrott
Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (Crabbe Library 318) and online via Zoom.
Students’ use of self-selected texts in research projects is often shallow, demonstrating a lack of deep understanding of authors’ arguments, conceptual frameworks, methods, and conclusions. In a collaboration between QEP and EKU libraries, this session will offer ideas for facilitating student research projects by promoting metacognitive strategies to help students select, read, analyze, and synthesize scholarly articles and other research materials.
Meeting Students Where They’re At: Faculty-in-Residence Panel
March 7, 2022; 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Facilitator: Dr. Jose Juan Gomez-Becerra
Panelists: Libby Hannon, Dr. Jamie Shaffer, John Strada, and Ashley Thompson
Online only via Zoom.
This session will explain how to build a relationship-rich education outside the classroom through student-faculty interactions in residence halls. The current and previous faculty in residence at EKU will share their experiences on connecting with students through housing. Housing professionals will answer questions and provide insights on faculty opportunities to access spaces, resources, and students who live on campus. In this session, faculty will sketch an event that they could possibly host in collaboration with living learning communities (LLCs) or the office of Housing and Residence Life at EKU.
Fair and Meaningful Assessment in STEM Courses
March 9, 2022; 1:00 – 2:00pm
Facilitator: Dr. Judy Jenkins
Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (Crabbe Library 318) and online via Zoom.
In an ideal world, our assessment tools (homework and exam questions, lab reports, presentations, etc.) accurately measure students’ knowledge and skills. Yet, we may question the fidelity and fairness of our assessment tools for a variety of reasons. Did the way the question was structured or worded impact the accuracy of students’ responses? Do my assessments fairly assess the understanding of the students in my class who are English language learners (ELL) or students for whom English is a second language (ESL)? Are my assessment tools aligned with the skills and ways of thinking I’m trying to assess? How can we differentiate between students’ levels of understanding and their levels of motivation?
During this session we will examine different assessments commonly used in STEM courses, considering ways the structure and wording influence all students’ chances of providing accurate responses. We will also investigate the meaningfulness of the information provided by our assessment tools and our grading strategies. To get the most out of our time together, please bring representative assignments, exams, and lab reports from introductory and advanced courses that you teach.
Empowering Student Veterans and Validating Veteran Testimony
March 21, 2022; 1:25 – 2:15pm
Facilitators: Dr. Travis Martin and Maggie Frozena
Faculty Center for Teaching & Learning (Crabbe Library 318) and online via Zoom.
How do you respond when a veteran opens about their experiences in writing or class discussion? In 2018, there were nearly 900,000 military-affiliated college students (Holian and Adam, 2020). In fall 2020, 1,400 of the 14,465 students at EKLU were military affiliated (Institutional Research). Veterans bring a wealth of knowledge to their classes. They’ve often travelled the world and seen humanity at its extremes. And they’re educators, having been responsible for the training and well-being of others. Yet, many faculty members lack basic knowledge about veteran identity, and national research shows that campus trainings tend to focus on deficits, not strengths (Hart and Thompson, 2013). This session will highlight instances of faculty encountering veteran testimony, teach ways to validate and inspire student veterans, and explore platforms and opportunities for student veterans to educate the campus community.
Critical Reading in the Introductory Classroom: Course Preparation Assignments as Transformative Teaching Strategy
March 22, 2022; 1:30 – 2:30pm
Facilitator: Dr. Amanda Green
Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (Crabbe Library 318) and online via Zoom.
How can we improve student reading and engagement? Course Preparation Assignments (CPAs) are low-stakes writing assignments based on the readings, which encourage and model critical reading strategies. They also prepare students for class discussion. This presentation will provide results from a years-long study of the impact of CPAs on student reading and preparation in Introduction to Cultural Anthropology courses, both in-person and online. The basic structure and sample materials will be provided, and participants will craft their first CPA assignment.
Canceled
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English as a Second Language (ESL) Student Panel
March 28, 2022; 11:15am – 12:05pm
Facilitator: Dr. Socorro Zaragoza
Faculty Center for Teaching & Learning (Crabbe Library 318) and online via Zoom.
An informational panel discussion with ESL students from different language backgrounds. We will discuss cultural differences, inclusion, school connectedness, and ESL students’ experiences at EKU. Snacks and drinks will be provided.
Join us for Part 2 of this ESL series on March 29!
JASP: A Fresh Way to do Statistics
March 28, 2022; 1:30 – 2:30pm
Facilitator: Dr. Jerry Palmer
*Online only via Zoom
JASP is a free, open-source statistical program, designed with the user in mind. In this session, Dr. Jerry Palmer will introduce participants to JASP, and showcase some of its capabilities. No experience with JASP is required.
Effective Teaching Practices for English as a Second Language Students
March 29, 2022; 9:30 – 10:45am
Facilitator: Dr. Sara Incera
Faculty Center for Teaching & Learning (Crabbe Library 318) and online via Zoom.
This session will consist of an informational presentation focused on what factors increase academic satisfaction in English as a Second Language (ESL) students at the university. We will also discuss practical tips for staff and faculty to better help ESL students. Snacks and drinks will be provided.
Writing the Narrative Report for General Education Assessment
March 30, 2022; 9:05 – 9:55am
Facilitator: Dr. Erin Presley
Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (Crabbe Library 318) and online via Zoom.
Narrative reports are due for all General Education courses as part of the assessment process by May 6. In this session, we will review expectations, look at examples, and discuss best practices. By the end of this session, participants will be ready to write their own effective reports.
Gender Equity in the Classroom
March 30, 2022; 2:30 – 3:20pm
Facilitators: Dr. Lisa Day, Dr. Alison Buck, & Vern Cooper
Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (Crabbe Library 318) and online via Zoom
Recognizing students by the name that aligns with their gender identity can help increase feelings of belonging and student success. This session will talk about simple ways that faculty can create a welcoming environment for all students in the classroom and will introduce the new EKU Name Database.
April 2022
How to Make Difficulties Desirable: Teaching in the (Post) Pandemic
April 1, 2022; 11:00am – 12:00pm
Facilitators: Dr. Mary Daniels (H.W. Stodghill, Jr. and Adele H. Stodghill Professor of Spanish and Chair of the Spanish Program, Centre College) and Dr. Diane Persellin (Professor of Music Education, Trinity University)
*Online only via Zoom
Desirable difficulties, or requiring students to work harder in the initial phases of learning can lead to deeper learning. However, how do we justify creating conditions that make making learning more challenging for students whose lives have been turned upside down by Covid 19, racial tensions and political instability? Learning applications related to desirable difficulties such as generating knowledge, allowing for confusion, and spaced practice are powerful tools to help students get back on track.
Growth Mindset: Writing New Generation Exam Questions
April 20; 2022; 10:10 – 11:00am
Facilitator: Dr. Molly Bradshaw
Online only via Zoom.
Multiple choice items on comprehensive exams are a favored evaluation technique. However, some evidence suggests that this methodology may still fall short in evaluation of critical thinking. The nursing profession is starting to implement what they are calling, “New Generation” Exam questions. Examples of question structure includes Matrix, Hot Spot, Extended Drag and Drop, CLOZE, and Extended Multiple Response. Other professions may find utility in this approach as it is rooted in case analysis. The purpose of this presentation is to review examples of these item structures and discuss application across disciplines.