Teaching and Learning Technology 2013

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PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS

OPENING KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Dr. Richard M. Felder - Hoechst Celanese Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering; North Carolina State University

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IMPORTANT: The presentation linked above is intended only for participants who registered for or attended (or both) the Teaching and Learning 2013 conference. Please DO NOT forward the link to anyone who did not attend the conference. Thanks!

~ Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (STEM) Education in Five Years—Or Sooner

Time, Date, and Location: 10:30 a.m. - Noon, Thursday, March 14, BCH 125

Higher education in technical disciplines is currently in a turbulent period. Chronic industry complaints about skill deficiencies in recent graduates, government commission reports supporting those complaints, and the growth of outcomes-based accreditation systems throughout the world all call for major transformations in the ways curricula are structured, delivered, and assessed. High student attrition rates and a growing ability of on-line universities to compete successfully for college applicants heightens the impetus for reform. As might be expected, many faculty members and administrators are less than enthusiastic about proposed changes, arguing that the existing system functions well and needs no radical revision.

The ongoing debate involves four focal issues:

1. How should STEM curricula be structured?
2. How should STEM courses be taught and assessed, and what role will technology play? 
3. Who should teach?
4. How should the teachers be prepared?

This talk outlines the opposing positions on each of these issues—the traditional position, which has been the predominant approach of the past five decades, and the alternative position—and offers predictions about the probable outcomes. It also establishes the need for solid research to confirm the effectiveness of alternative instructional methods and materials.

CLOSING KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Dr. John Hogan - Associate Professor of Geological Science and Engineering; Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T)

~ Technology Assisted Teaching – Enhancing Creativity by Taming Mediocrity

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Time, Date, and Location: Noon - 1:30 p.m., Friday, March 15, BCH 125

Scholarship requires training and directed practice. For every discipline, there is a language, a fundamental skill set, and a historical body of knowledge to be mastered. Successful scholars are recognized as having achieved technical prowess in their disciplines. Scholars are also original thinkers. They advance their disciplines, incrementally, often episodically, by creating new knowledge. Investing in creating new knowledge requires delayed gratification as many of the benefits (e.g., new technologies) are realized by society well after the original “esoteric” discovery was made. In contrast, there is a societal immediacy for a steady source of a reliable, technically trained, workforce which drives educational practices. Colleges and universities continue to provide an educated workforce but possibly at the expense of graduating a greater percentage of scholars; those that possess both technical expertise and a propensity for originality. Many of today’s leaders (e.g., Bill Gates, Steve Jobs) can be viewed as Black Swans—having achieved momentous breakthrough discoveries by pursuing education outside a formal curriculum. This suggests an imbalance exists in educational practices. Opportunities for budding scholars to develop nascent creative skills are marginalized by adherence to “town crier” technology as the dominant educational tool for the delivery of facts and basic technical skills. This talk discusses the emerging technological opportunity to rebalance educational practices more towards fostering holistic scholarship in students. By adopting technology to deliver content, basic training, and assessment, faculty will be free to use their unique scholarship skill set during face to face time to assist students with acquiring the higher level learning skills and provide directed practice necessary to becoming complete scholars.

~ Lightning Round

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Presenters: EdTech Students; Missouri S&T

Track(s): N/A

Time, Date, and Location:

12:00 - 12:30 p.m., Thursday, March 14, BCH 121

11:15 a.m. - Noon, Friday, March 15, BCH 121 (Encore Presentation)

Each presenter will speak for no more than five minutes. This will provide the audience members with a brief overview of six programs that are intended to make our daily lives easier.  The best part of this presentation...? All of these programs are absolutely FREE!   

1 ~ You Bring the Movie, We'll Bring the Popcorn!

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Presenters:
Michael Porterfield - Instructional Designer: Center for Teaching and Learning; University of Missouri-St. Louis
Keeta Holmes - Instructional Designer and Assistant Program Director: Center for Teaching and Learning; University of Missouri-St. Louis
Dylan Herx - Instructional Designer: Center for Teaching and Learning; University of Missouri-St. Louis

Track(s): Hands-on Activity; Teaching with Technology

Time, Date, and Location: 1:00 - 2:00 p.m., Thursday, March 14, BCH 115 (Computer Lab)

Learn about Mozilla’s new product Popcorn-Maker in this hands-on workshop. Bring your own material to remix or use ours to combine audio and video with web content such as articles, links, maps and more. 

2 ~ CANCELLED! -- The Wiki Way: Student Generated Content and Discussion on Nursing Theories

Presenter: Eric Kowalik - Instructional Designer; Raynor Memorial Libraries; Marquette University

Track(s): Teaching with Technology; Blended Learning; Best Practices in Teaching
   Strategies

Time, Date, and Location: 1:00 - 2:00 p.m., Thursday, March 14, BCH 120

After being subjected to too many student seminars on nursing theories filled with dull PowerPoints and subdued discussion, a nursing professor wanted a better way. Working with an instructional designer, the course was redesigned to require students to create a Wiki page on a chosen nursing theory and facilitate a weeklong online discussion where the other students would apply the information from the Wiki page to a given case study. The results were students creating well-researched Wiki pages and engaging in deep discussions about nursing theories and has led the professor to continue to utilize this assignment.

3 ~ Apple and the STEM: Teaching with iPad

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Presenter: Qiang Dotzel - Assistant Professor of Mathematics; University of Missouri-St. Louis

Track(s): Teaching with Technology

Time, Date, and Location: 1:00 - 2:00 p.m., Thursday, March 14, BCH 121

Qiang Dotzel is an iPad user, using it to teach, to correspond and to assess students’ understanding in the classroom or online. It’s been a fun experience for both Mrs. Dotzel and the students.

4 ~ My Big Campus - Classroom Tranformation for the 21st Century

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Presenter: Brenda Spurgeon - Instructional Technology Facilitator; Rolla Public Schools

Track(s): K-12 Education; Blended Learning

Time, Date, and Location: 1:00 - 2:00 p.m., Thursday, March 14, BCH 124

My Big Campus is a safe online extension of the classroom where teachers and students can meet to discuss class topics, complete assignments, and view pre-screened educational content, including YouTube videos and web sites, from the Educational Resource Library. Preview how to use My Big Campus to manage your classes, students, and teaching resources. Districts and individuals using My Big Campus no longer have concerns with Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Google Docs as My Big Campus is designed to meet all of the needs for a 21st Century school. My Big Campus is a free service for individual classrooms or for districts who are LightSpeed customers.

5 ~ BLACKBOARD SPONSORED PRESENTATION: Blackboard Learn Innovation, Roadmap, and Resources

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Presenter: Brian DeKemper - Account Executive; Blackboard, Inc.

Time, Date, and Location: 1:00 - 2:00 p.m., Thursday, March 14, BCH 125

This Blackboard session will provide an update on the latest features and enhancements released this year as well as a glimpse into the product roadmap for Service Pack 12 and Blackboard xpLor. Brian will also provide the attendees with a guide to the free programs and resources offered by Blackboard for system administrators, designers and educators to aid in upgrade and adoption.

6 ~ Beyond Lecture Capture: Interactive Uses for Tegrity

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Presenters:
Michaella Thornton - Assistant Director for Instructional Design; Saint Louis University
Kyle Collins - Associate Director for Academic Technologies; Saint Louis University
Megan Buckley - Systems Analyst and Product Manager for Academic Technologies; Saint Louis University

Track(s): Blended Learning; Hands-on Activity

Time, Date, and Location: 2:20 - 3:20 p.m., Thursday, March 14, BCH 115

While educational technologies such as Tegrity Lecture Capture are especially adept at providing rewindable learning artifacts of past lectures in higher education, there are many more active, learner-centered assessment applications and research-based pedagogical strategies professors can use both inside and outside of the classroom. Join us for this 60-minute workshop where participants will actively investigate, discuss, and share additional ways to leverage Tegrity in the classroom, including--but not limited to--using Tegrity to create bite-sized tutorials, to showcase individual/small-group presentations, to highlight ways professors and students may give formative feedback on projects and writing assignments, to explore the collaborative note-taking and bookmarking features of Tegrity, to build digital resource libraries, and much more.

7 ~ Advanced Features of Google Apps

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Presenters:
Nathan Weaver - Senior Video Production Specialist; Video Communications Center; Missouri S&T
Rachel Robertson - Video Production Specialist; Video Communications Center; Missouri S&T

Track(s): Teaching with Technology; Blended Learning

Time, Date, and Location: 2:20 - 3:20 p.m., Thursday, March 14, BCH 120

Google Apps for Education is always growing and improving, and new features often get missed. Nathan Weaver and Rachel Robertson will be taking a deeper look at some features that are often overlooked. They will look at maximizing Google Sites, Google Drive Docs and Video, Google Groups, Google+ Hangouts and more.

8 ~ eFellows Session: Presentation & Workshop

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Presenters / Facilitators: Educational Technology Staff - Missouri S&T

Track(s): Blended Learning

Time, Date, and Location: 2:20 - 3:20 p.m., Thursday, March 14, BCH 121

Listen to your fellow faculty, eLearning veterans, tell the real story behind course redesign for blended/online and their perspective on the eFellows Program.  Get honest, candid answers to the question “what do you wish you’d known before you started down the path of course redesign?” and other questions you might have.

This workshop is for S&T instructors interested in participating in the Missouri S&T Provost’s eFellows Program for 2014. The eFellows Program is designed to incentivize and support faculty to redesign courses using best practices for teaching methodologies and technology for blended or online delivery. Mini-grants are available to support the redesign process as well as focused support and instructional design expertise from Educational Technology. Participation in this workshop is required before applying to the 2014 eFellows Program. Program materials and application packets will be distributed at the workshop.

9 ~ CANCELLED! -- Web 2.0: Motivation, Collaboration, & Engagement

Presenter: Stacey Kramer - Computer Technology Teacher; Kirksville Public Schools

Track(s): K-12 Education

Time, Date, and Location: 2:20 - 3:20 p.m., Thursday, March 14, BCH 124

Ever wonder how to increase your students' engagement and motivation, along with increasing classroom collaboration? This presentation will show you how to integrate free Web 2.0 tools into your classroom. These tools will not only increase motivation and engagement, but increase reading comprehension skills, deductive reasoning skills, math skills, and more. Research shows that using web applications such as social networking tools, organizational tools, and games build self-confidence, increase student collaboration, increase their desire to learn, and increase the amount of knowledge retained. Ms. Kramer will also show how to use gaming in today's classrooms to improve students' attention to detail along with their focus. During a 20-week research project, she increased her 7th graders' non-fiction reading scores by over 30% using games and Web 2.0 tools. You can too. There are no secrets, no money to pay, just free Web 2.0 resources that are available to anyone willing to try.

10 ~ Technology Tools to Enhance the Synergy between Active Learning and Assessment: Examples from Geological Science and Engineering Courses

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Presenters:
Dr. John Hogan - Associate Professor of Geological Science & Engineering; Missouri S&T
Dr. Dan Cernusca - Instructional Designer; Missouri S&T

Track(s): Best Practices in Teaching Strategies; Teaching with Technology

Time, Date, and Location: 2:20 - 3:20 p.m., Thursday, March 14, BCH 125

Active learning strategies designed to stimulate student learning also provide valuable formative assessment to instructors enabling them to increase their teaching effectiveness prior to rather than after summative assessment. Dr. Hogan and Dr. Cernusca will discuss two active learning strategies that utilize technology to enhance student learning and provide both formative and summative assessment in courses with small (~20) and large enrollments (~200). “Gallery Walks” work well in small enrollment courses and create an active learning environment in the classroom by exposing students--or small groups of students--to a variety of problems or materials posted on the walls which they try to solve for a short time period (e.g., 10 min) before moving to the next problem. The instructor moves around observing the students engaged in problem solving and taking note of impediments to learning (e.g., common misconceptions) that can be corrected in real-time or in the near future. The inherent “transient” nature of the Gallery Walk experience has been mitigated by assigning each group of students one of the Gallery Walk problems to summarize as a more formal Wiki contribution. The Gallery Walk Wiki extends this classroom-based active engagement to cyberspace thus providing ample time for reflection and review of each of the problems by all participants. Each wiki-contribution is evaluated with a rubric to provide summative assessment of course goals. For large enrollment courses personal response devices--a.k.a “clickers”--are an effective technology for creating a more active learning environment. Dr. Hogan and Dr. Cernusca will introduce various clicker questions that are designed to cover a continuous range of course goals from “instantaneous” formative assessment to stimulating active classroom engagement through discussion. These clicker question designs have been integrated into the summative student assessments to evaluate the impact of various types of clicker questions on students’ performance on selected course goals. The findings from this study will be presented. 

11 ~ S&T 'Appy Hour with EdTech

Presenters:
Julie Phelps - Instructional Designer; Missouri S&T
Craig Richardson - EdTech Student Assistant; Missouri S&T

Track(s): Hands-on Activity

Time, Date, and Location: 3:40 - 4:4 p.m., Thursday, March 14, BCH 115

Did you miss out on the Lightning Round? Did you see an exciting app in the Lightning Round and want to find out more? Then come to the “S&T ’Appy Hour with EdTech”, where we will help you download and install the apps presented. We encourage you to experiment with the apps to find out the full range of capability. This is also an opportunity for you to share the apps that you have found to help you in your teaching! ’Appy Hour is an informal round-table discussion of apps for both iOS and Android.

12 ~ Assessing Learning Activities in Virtual Worlds

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Presenter: Dr. David Antonacci - Director of Teaching and Learning Technologies; University of Kansas Medical Center

Track(s): Teaching with Technology

Time, Date, and Location: 3:40 - 4:40 p.m., Thursday, March 14, BCH 120

User-created virtual worlds, such as Second Life, offer many new and exciting educational possibilities. In this presentation, we describe and demonstrate several in-world learning activities at KUMC, which could be adapted to your teaching and research. Then, we explain and discuss our assessment methods and outcomes for these activities, including both real-world and in-world data collection techniques (e.g, avatar detection and activity tracking, prim-based quizzes and surveys).

13 ~ Defining Success: Strategies for Evaluating Collaborative Student Projects

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Presenters:
Dr. Peggy Cohen - Associate Provost, Academic Director of Center for Teaching and Learning, & Associate Professor of Education; University of Missouri-St. Louis
Keeta Holmes - Instructional Designer and Assistant Program Director; Center for Teaching and Learning; University of Missouri-St. Louis

Track(s): Best Practices in Teaching Strategies

Time, Date, and Location: 3:40 - 4:40 p.m., Thursday, March 14, BCH 121

Assessment plays a central role in enriching the success of group collaborations, yet determining assessment methods and their criteria may be the most challenging aspect of planning a group project. Getting the assessment right is critical, but what are the options? Join this discussion of practical strategies for assessing group work. Dr. Peggy Cohen and Keeta Holmes suggest options for evaluating the project and how individuals and the group contributed to its outcome.

14 ~ Screencasting as a Teaching Resource

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Presenter: Katy White - 8th Grade Math Teacher and 5th-8th Grade Curriculum Specialist; Rolla Public Schools

Track(s): K-12 Education; Blended Learning

Time, Date, and Location: 3:40 - 4:40 p.m., Thursday, March 14, BCH 124

Learn to use free online software to produce screencasts of lessons that can be used within your classroom or shared with your students online as a resource or to “flip” your classes. Our students are learning in ways that we have not experienced. The power of video presentation is a valuable resource that engages our students and allows the teacher to be in two places at once in the classroom. It takes very little time to create on any computer that has SMART Notebook or PowerPoint with a cost of less than $35 for equipment. Screencasting provides consistent information for each class throughout the day, encourages students to focus, is available to students for review of content and concepts for remediation, can be shared with students who are not able to attend the class, and allows the teacher to observe students during the screencast lesson.

15 ~ The Many Shades of Assessment: Why, What, and How?

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Presenter: Dr. Irina Ivliyeva - Associate Professor of Arts, Language (Russian), & Philosophy; Missouri S&T

Track(s): Blended Learning; Best Practices in Teaching Strategies

Time, Date, and Location: 3:40 - 4:40 p.m., Thursday, March 14, BCH 125

Factors both from within (intelligence and personality traits) and without (the environmental setting) the student influence the quantity and quality of the student learning. The assessment is a vital part of instruction for it provides feedback information for the learner and the instructor during three learning stages: acquisition, retention, and recall.

This presentation examines the impact of explicit and implicit feedback strategies in a blended Russian classroom. The role of surveys, peer-grading, and self-assessment in evaluating learning outcomes, measuring student engagement, and assessing the quality of instruction will be examined.

Special attention will be given to various applications of surveys, which are often used to assess the quality of instruction and provide statistical feedback. Real classroom examples and practical, user-friendly evaluation tools and strategies will be shared. Dr. Ivliyeva argues assessment should be carried out before the course, during the course of instruction and as well as at the end of the instruction.

Pedagogical recommendations for enhancing the interactive collaborative learning environment will be discussed in addition to the role of communication technologies in foreign language learning. Participants will leave with engaging ideas, sample student surveys, and useful tips on assessment techniques which provide solutions to the educational wastages.

16 ~ Digital Storytelling with Photo Story 3

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Presenters:
Lindsay Miller - Lecturer; Missouri S&T
Jean Craft - Lecturer; Missouri S&T

Track(s): Hands-on Activity

Time, Date, and Location: 9:00 - 10:00 a.m., Friday, March 15, BCH 115

Interactive workshop: create your own photo story; acquire resources! Microsoft Photo Story 3 acts as an electronic vector to stimulate interest in writing/journaling illustrated with photos. Of interest to educators whose focus is writing and language acquisition in levels K-12 and higher education.

17 ~ Cognitive Load Theory and the Design of Online Courses

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Presenter: Dr. Mary Abkemeier - Professor of Mathematics & Computer Science; Fontbonne University

Track(s): Best Practices in Teaching Strategies; Teaching with Technology

Time, Date, and Location: 9:00 - 10:00 a.m., Friday, March 15, BCH 120

Cognitive load theory is an instructional theory that provides guidelines to assist in the presentation of information in a manner that encourages learner activities that optimizes intellectual performance. This theory differentiates between three types of cognitive load: intrinsic cognitive load, germane cognitive load, and cognitive load. The presentation will focus on germane cognitive load and how instructional designers should take its concepts into consideration in preparing content for online courses.

18.1 ~ Development of Free Database for Modern Physics Homework Problems

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Presenter: Dr. Greg Story - Associate Professor of Physics; Missouri S&T

Track(s): Educational Research Symposium

Time, Date, and Location: 9:00 - 10:00 a.m., Friday, March 15, BCH 121

18.2 ~ Student Usage and Perceptions of Virtual Office Hours that Extends beyond the Traditional Face-to-Face Setting

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Presenter: Dr. Nishant Kumar - Assistant Teaching Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering; Missouri S&T

Track(s): Educational Research Symposium

Time, Date, and Location: 9:00 - 10:00 a.m., Friday, March 15, BCH 121

For an undergraduate student, office hours are the primary form of communication with their professors outside of the classroom setting. Office hours are traditionally faculty-student face-to-face interaction during a specified time, at a specific location during which the instructor helps a student by answering their questions. These time and location restrictions may conflict with student’s commute times, work schedules, or student organization activities. Hence, students are less likely to come to professor’s office hours. Through this research, the potential of using Blackboard Collaborate as a tool to hold "virtual office hours" (VOHs) is explored. Dr. Kumar will present to the university community the results of a survey conducted with the help of EdTech to gauge perceptions and acceptance of virtual office hours among students.

18.3 ~ Evaluation of Electronic Flashcards as a Tool to Improve Exam Readiness

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Presenter: Dr. Susan Murray - Professor of Engineering Management & Systems Engineering; Missouri S&T

Track(s): Educational Research Symposium

Time, Date, and Location: 9:00 - 10:00 a.m., Friday, March 15, BCH 121

This presentation will cover how to develop electronic flashcards that students can use on a computer or smart phone to study for exams. Results of a survey about how the students used the electronic flashcards and lessons learned from the instructor will also be presented. 

19.1 ~ Design and Implementation of a Study to Determine if a Cell Model Project Attains Desired Learning Outcomes

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Presenter: Dr. Katie Shannon - Associate Teaching Professor of Biological Science; Missouri S&T

Track(s): Educational Research Symposium

Time, Date, and Location: 9:00 - 10:00 a.m., Friday, March 15, BCH 124

19.2 ~ Developing Self-Assessment Tools to Improve Technical Presentation Skills of Engineering Students

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Presenters:
Dr. Mary Reidmeyer - Associate Teaching Professor of Materials Science & Engineering; Missouri S&T
Dr. Richard Brow - Curators Professor of Materials Science & Engineering; Missouri S&T

Track(s): Educational Research Symposium

Time, Date, and Location: 9:00 - 10:00 a.m., Friday, March 15, BCH 124

20 ~ Optimizing Formative Assessment in the K-12 Classroom and in Higher Education: Web 2.0 and Other Technologies

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Presenters:
Jeremy Van Hof - Educational Technologist; University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Dr. Jill Van Hof - Professor of Elementary Education; Nebraska Wesleyan University

Track(s): K-12 Education; Teaching with Technology; Best Practices in Teaching
   Strategies

Time, Date, and Location: 9:00 - 10:00 a.m., Friday, March 15, BCH 125

Formative assessments, when used effectively, benefit both teacher and student by allowing both parties an opportunity to modify their role in the learning process. Integrating technology into the formative assessment process streamlines the communication between student and teacher, allows for multiple modes of feedback, and can facilitate dynamic and meaningful modifications to the learning process. In the K-12 environment, school-friendly tools abound and can be used both in the classroom and at home. In higher education classes, a greater reliance on social networking and mobile devices can create a dynamic learning environment.

Learn from a pair of teachers—one with secondary experience, and one with experience in both primary and higher education—what Web 2.0 tools can best be employed to foster student feedback, see how technology can help teachers make real-time measurements of student understanding, and experience first hand the student perspective of using technology-enhanced formative assessment techniques.

21 ~ iPad Pilot Project - Apps, Management, and More

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Presenter: Brenda Spurgeon - Instructional Technology Facilitator; Rolla Public Schools

Track(s): K-12 Education; Hands-on Activity

Time, Date, and Location: 10:15 - 11:15 a.m., Friday, March 15, BCH 115

During the current school year, Rolla Public Schools formed a Mobile Device Pilot Project. Learn the challenges and rewards of implementing iPads (and netBooks) in a variety of classrooms. A list of favorite apps for all grade levels will be shared as well as tips and tricks for managing iPads. (Bring your iPad!)

22 ~ Teaching Nanotechnology with Technology

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Presenter: Dr. Alexey Yamilov - Associate Professor of Physics; Missouri S&T

Track(s): Teaching with Technology

Time, Date, and Location: 10:15 - 11:15 a.m., Friday, March 15, BCH 120

With a support from National Science Foundation, an upper-­level undergraduate online course "Nanostructures: An Introduction" was developed and taught as a component of Missouri Physics Collaboration and Missouri Alliance for Collaborative Education (MACE) initiatives. Students from six different university campuses throughout the state of Missouri have participated. The presentation will describe the choice of delivery technology as well as adapting the course content and assessment strategy for the online format.

23.1 ~  Integrating Effective Learning Techniques to Accommodate the Needs of the Solitary Learner

Presenter: Dr. Cynthia Bolon - Lecturer of Chemistry; Missouri S&T

Track(s): Educational Research Symposium

Time, Date, and Location: 10:15 - 11:15 a.m., Friday, March 15, BCH 121

23.2 ~ Improving Success in General Chemistry by Enhancing Learning Enhancement & Reviving the Fallen

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Presenter: Emmalou Satterfield - Assistant Teaching Professor of Chemistry; Missouri S&T

Track(s): Educational Research Symposium

Time, Date, and Location: 10:15 - 11:15 a.m., Friday, March 15, BCH 121

General chemistry is typically populated with incoming freshmen who expect college to be the same as high school, believing they can be successful by continuing to study very little or not at all. The first semester is often a wake-up-call for these students. In an effort to improve student success, the traditional LEAD (Learning Enhancement Across Disciplines) centers were modified to Enhance Learning Enhancement and a support group was created for struggling students to assist in Reviving the Fallen.

24.1 ~ Using Course Collaboration and Inductive Learning to Enhance Student Team Effectiveness

[ PowerPoint ]	[ PDF ]	[ Video ]

Presenters:
Dr. Bonnie Bachman - Professor of Economics; Missouri S&T
Dr. Ying Chou Lin - Assistant Professor of Business & Information Technology; Missouri S&T

Track(s): Educational Research Symposium

Time, Date, and Location: 10:15 - 11:15 a.m., Friday, March 15, BCH 124

This project seeks to better understand team effectiveness by using inductive teaching methods within a collaborative framework.  Implementation occurs across two core MBA courses: one focuses on teambuilding and skills through active learning and self-inventories, while the other provides team-based learning and team effectiveness assessments.   It is hypothesized that if barriers, which prevent effective team performance are removed, then improvement occurs.  Enhancing student engagement and professional development are two of the key expectations.

24.2 ~ Implementing Real-World Design Examples Into the Main Framework of Design Courses

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Presenter: Dr. Chien-Chung Chen - Assistant Teaching Professor of Civil, Architectural, & Environmental Engineering; Missouri S&T

Track(s): Educational Research Symposium

Time, Date, and Location: 10:15 - 11:15 a.m., Friday, March 15, BCH 124

In Fall 2012, Dr. Chen implemented examples taken from real life structures into his lectures in a Steel Design course. In the class, students worked together to solve real-world design problems. In this practice, students learned how to work on a design project as a team. Every person was assigned to specific tasks and had to contribute to the design. Each person worked individually on their own tasks and then shared the information with each other in real time by using Google Documents. Google Document was used actively throughout the semester to facilitate information sharing between students and the instructor.

25 ~ Swimming in Data: Radically Restructuring Classes Around Assessment

Presenter: Dr. Jeff Thomas - Assistant Teaching Professor of Civil, Architectural, & Environmental Engineering; Missouri S&T

Track(s): Best Practices in Teaching Strategies

Time, Date, and Location: 10:15 - 11:15 a.m., Friday, March 15, Civil 125

Dr. Jeff Thomas has spent the last six years reengineering his classes to maximize data acquisition and analysis. He uses software to generate unique exams and individualized feedback for each student. Over one hundred thousand exam questions have been used to quantify understanding of course topics and objectives. Dr. Thomas also uses Google Analytics to record approximately 63 hours of mental activity per student per semester. This presentation will cover the latest findings in this long-range effort to improve STEM education.