2023 Agenda and Program

What do students really think about their learning experiences at the University of Akron? Join this session to find out! Student interns in the Institute for Teaching and Learning have conducted more than 100 impromptu interviews on campus over the past year and created short videos on topics such as student motivation, general education courses, online learning, collaboration, and ChatGPT. These videos are used in an ITL initiative, “Ten Minutes for Teaching,” which promotes regular discussion of teaching within department meetings. In this interactive session, the creative team will share their favorite videos and insights they gained. Participants can expect to listen, learn, and brainstorm ideas to address teaching and learning challenges.

In addition to marketing their co-curricular experiential learning opportunities, it’s important for students to know how to market their academic experiences where they apply theory to practice. The ways that students engage within the community are influenced by networking with their resume and researching opportunities online. Students are encouraged to start with learning how to self-author their career pathway and update their digital footprint through professional social media to ensure they are ready for interactions. LinkedIn and Handshake are tools that students can use to search for opportunities to apply theory to practice and market the ways they have engaged in community learning. Attendees will see how classroom and co-curricular learning represent transferable skills and develop career skills to adapt in many different settings. We can help students connect classroom learning with career skills by encouraging and supporting students to continuously reassess and adapt their career objectives. Facilitators will discuss the challenges students experience when highlighting key career skills, learned both inside and outside the classroom. This allows students to be rewarded through the application of career skills throughout their ever-changing careers.

Akron's [Un]class is a transdisciplinary, community-engaged, problem-centered pedagogy that intentionally blurs the boundaries between disciplines, teacher and learner, curricular and co-curricular, and campus and community. Since 2016, more than 50 courses have experimented with this model through The EX[L] Center, engaging almost 600 students and dozens of community partners in innovative ways. This presentation briefly describes elements of an [Un]class before turning to a panel of past instructors as they share insights into the challenges and rewards of adopting open space community-based learning. We will emphasize stories of belonging and resilience, connection and trust, placemaking and purpose. If you have ever considered teaching an [Un]class, or simply want to learn more about this uniquely Akron learning model, join us for a conversation.

This session will explore the innovative use of 360 video and virtual-reality technology to enhance learning experiences in criminal justice and biology courses. Attendees will learn how these immersive technologies can teach students how to collect evidence at crime scenes and observe natural habitats in a way never possible. The session will also cover the potential benefits and challenges of using 360 and VR in online and blended learning environments.

Start with a core belief: students do well when they can. They’ve willingly signed up for this. So why do they drop, fail, or withdraw? And the harder question: what role do we play in their failures? My course design and teaching radically changed when I decided to trust that all students can succeed in the right environment and took (some) responsibility for building it. A student’s internal motivation is precious. It needs nourishment, protection, and community. Our job is to curate learning experiences that help it flourish. But we often dampen students’ internal motivation by relying mostly on student-to-instructor interaction, issuing bad grades, and implementing strict, punitive policies. If students are primarily trying to please us or to avoid punishment, they quickly lose all motivation to do well for themselves. Instead, we preserve what’s innate in students by building a robust peer community. Community requires accountability, which activates students’ internal motivation. With community, students belong, and when they belong, they thrive. In this interactive session, I’ll present three methods for facilitating authentic community in online courses: (1) get out of the students’ way, (2) assign work that’s viewable by all, and (3) deemphasize grades. Instructors should spend most of our time designing the course upfront, and then pass the baton off to students to do the learning work. I’ll share how I’ve successfully accomplished this in my Philosophy courses, and then we’ll engage in activities that encourage you, too, to shift from subject matter expert to curator of learning experiences.

This presentation focuses on implementing high flex courses, which offer both in-person and online options for students to engage in collaborative and interactive learning activities, accommodating different learning styles and circumstances within the same course. High flex courses can help to create more equitable and inclusive classrooms by offering diverse students flexible learning options that accommodate different learning styles and circumstances. Overall, student feedback described the high-flex course format to be a great option for balancing their academic and personal lives. They appreciated the convenience of the high-flex course format, which allowed them to balance personal emergencies and busy schedules. They also liked the option to participate face-to-face or online and the ability to choose how to learn. In this presentation, the presenters will share methods for sorting materials into static and dynamic categories, creating weekly paths for in-person, asynchronous, and synchronous completion, and building infrastructure. We will also share methods for creating belongingness within the classroom community regardless of path, as well as strategies to engage students during the term regardless of modality. This presentation will also be interactive and participatory with audience discussion. Facilitators will present topics such as modality misalignment and achieving experiential equity in each mode. For example, in some weeks, the in-class experience can be relatively similar to the asynchronous experience, but in other cases the paths might diverge, especially in terms of performance expectations.

Young adults, ages 18 to 25, have been described in the research literature as emerging adults – characterized by identity exploration, instability, self-focus, feelings of being in-between, and a sense of possibility. In addition, increases in depression, stress, anxiety, and other mental health diagnosis among this age group have been widely reported. One way to address the diverse academic and well-being needs of college students is to intentionally integrate social-emotional learning strategies into higher education pedagogy. Although social-emotional-learning has been a major focus in K-12 education, it is now receiving increased attention in higher education to meet the diverse needs of college students. This panel discussion will engage participants in an active discussion about building an inclusive classroom that recognizes the diverse social-emotional needs of college students. Examples of instructional teaching practices and social teaching practices that support student well-being will be provided along with suggestions of ways these strategies can be intentionally integrated into the college classroom.

The Office of Assessment and ITL sponsored an Interdisciplinary Learning Community bringing together faculty from across college disciplines to identify, explore, and develop solutions to a problem related to issues and/or barriers impacting interdisciplinary program planning and development. A total of 12 faculty participated in the learning community where interdisciplinary teaching teams engaged in collaborative brainstorming to address the following: Challenges of connecting across boundaries; Changes that are needed to address challenges; Chances/opportunities at UA for interdisciplinary programming and how students benefit. This panel presentation is comprised of members of the interdisciplinary learning community sharing lessons learned and insights gained as a result of their participation in the teaching learning community and offering practical advice and encouragement to other faculty who are working diligently to develop, implement, and sustain interdisciplinary programs in their respective colleges.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has increasingly become a most discussed topic in education in the past few months, especially with the introduction of ChatGPT in popular media. While most educators are concerned about students using ChatGPT or other AI tools to complete assignments, the technology, when used correctly, can provide multiple benefits to educators and learners alike. It has the potential to transform the way teachers teach and students learn in the classroom. In marketing, AI has been used to improve the customer experience, gain consumer insights, and increase return on investment (ROI) of marketing campaigns (Hall, 2019). Currently, there are limited teaching guidelines and resources for educators to integrate AI content into the marketing curriculum. As a result, teaching AI in a marketing class is often limited to conceptual discussions. Learning about AI technology and its applications in marketing will also prepare students for their future careers (Thontirawong & Chinchanachokchai, 2021). To teach students about AI in marketing, we have incorporated various free AI tools, such as Tone Analyzer and ChatGPT, in assignments in Digital Marketing classes and workshops. In this presentation, we will discuss how various AI tools are used in assignments to help students understand marketing concepts and benefits of the tools in their future careers. The students’ feedback on the assignments was vastly positive and students reported that they will use these tools in their future careers.

"Group work," it's a term feared by students and faculty alike How do you determine if a student hasn't been contributing and how do you assess participation and engagement? More importantly, how do you help students learn and grow from the experience? In this session, you'll learn how several faculty at UA leveled-up their group projects by piloting a tool from FeedbackFruits. You'll hear from faculty across disciplines and learn how the Group Member Evaluation tool impacted their students' experience.

Engaging students in abstract and complex subjects, such as philosophy, can be challenging, as they often struggle to find relevance, interest, and applicability to their academic pursuits. To address this issue, an alternative assignment was introduced in my Introduction to Philosophy course, allowing students to recreate philosophical thought experiments on video. Through narration and explanation, the students illustrated the relevant philosophical concepts inherent in the thought experiments. During the presentation, key aspects will be discussed: the challenges involved in designing and assessing this unique assignment, the benefits and potential drawbacks associated with video-based assignments, and examples of thought-provoking student submissions. Additionally, insights gained from this endeavor will be shared, along with future plans for refining and expanding this approach. By embracing this unconventional evaluation method, instructors can adapt quickly to meet the evolving pedagogical needs of students in the age of ChatGPT and similar advancements. While written assignments may lack transparency in evaluating comprehension, the video-participation-assignment model empowers students to creatively engage with the material and explicitly demonstrate their understanding and proficiency to instructors. This case study exemplifies an inclusive teaching approach that facilitates meaningful connections between students, course content, and the wider world. By embracing experiential learning and leveraging technology, instructors can foster an engaging and accessible learning environment where students can actively participate and explore abstract subjects with enthusiasm.

It is a crucial skill for students to be able to apply what they are learning in the classroom to real world settings and foster connections within their field of study. Building partnerships with local organizations and industry experts can be an important tool for this development in all fields of study. This presentation will discuss how bringing in professionals working within relevant organizations can assist students in making connections, finding internship opportunities, careers, and mentors. Projects can be developed with organizations for students to utilize real world industry data, receive feedback, and return these products to the agencies. This process allows students to take the step of applying the skills and concepts they are learning in the classroom to help solve real world problems. Additionally, students can develop a portfolio of relevant work they can showcase as they enter the competitive job market.

Scientific knowledge is vital to create informed citizens. At its core, science helps create citizens that question the why and how of everything surrounding them, while also increasing knowledge of the world. Humans by nature are curious and thrive in courses where they are engaged in content that applies learning in real-world situations relevant to their lives. Unfortunately, many scientific courses are instead based on memorization and regurgitation of knowledge taught in a lecture format. Active-learning, on the other hand, in co-taught non-majors’ biology classes has been found to be an effective methodology allowing students to more easily understand presented concepts. As a result, an active-learning, co-taught inter-disciplinary non-majors’ biology course was created titled “The Visual Art of Biology.” This course was a collaboration between the Biology and the Art departments at The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (UMHB). The class was structured so students would learn biological concepts and incorporate those ideas into artistic creations. Art and science have coexisted throughout history, and although scientists and artists are both driven to observe and create, they often work in different cultural and academic spheres. During the class, students learned about the impact of global warming, species invasions, habitat destruction, and biodiversity. In addition, they investigated different materials and ecological systems while considering their own actions when making art. Students had the opportunity to explore a biological topic in depth, create both artistic and scientific representations of that topic, and then share with their classmates.

Interprofessional teamwork and collaborative practice are key elements of efficient and productive work for promoting health and providing quality patient care (Institute on Health; Board of Global Medicine, 2015). Interprofessional education (IPE) is widely recognized as a valuable means for preparing students for teamwork and collaborative practice in the healthcare setting (Guraya & Barr, 2018; Xavier & Brown, 2022). According to the World Health Organization (2010), interprofessional education is “when students from two or more professions learn about, from and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes.” As such, and consistent with the theme of this conference, IPE ultimately strives to promote connections and communication across healthcare disciplines and academic programs. Assessing how IPE experiences influence students’ attitudes about inter-professionalism and their understanding of interprofessional competencies can provide valuable information to academic programs. This information can be used to guide future development of IPE events and curriculum development. This session will introduce interprofessional education and related competencies. It will address how IPE is integrated across the College of Health and Human Sciences at the University of Akron, highlighting preliminary results of IPE assessment efforts currently taking place within that college. Finally, we will discuss considerations, challenges, and future directions related to IPE development and assessment for programs sharing the common goal of preparing students for productive interprofessional work in healthcare settings.

COVID-era teaching offered an opportunity to ‘flip’ my ART 101 classroom, a pedagogical strategy I had long wanted to employ in order to shift the classroom environment away from passive listening towards active student learning. One unexpected result of this change was how the flipped model opened opportunities for me to engage directly with my most vulnerable students – those unable to score a 73% or above on weekly open-note chapter quizzes – and help them towards success. This has helped improve retention numbers for the class: the traditional in-person classroom saw an average 25% fail rate whereas for the in-person flipped classroom, that dropped to 8% (only one semester of data here, so this reflects potential rather than proof). This case study will look at four teaching strategies that have assisted me in reaching marginalized students and shifting an ‘F’ to a ‘C ‘or ‘D’: video delivery of lecture content and recordings of classroom activities; guided notetaking exercises; classroom activities that focus upon the multiple paths students can take towards similar ‘right’ answers; and restructured classroom time to create ‘review days’ for those who do not pass open-note chapter quizzes. Uniting these different strategies is the effort to vary and diversify the times and means by which students engage with the course content; to make those activities active rather than passive; and to increase the proportion of low-stakes assessment. These are all integral to the flipped classroom model, and all serve to bring marginalized students closer to success in the college classroom.

What is inclusive teaching, and why should it matter to all faculty? This session will explore some common misconceptions about inclusive teaching and present a framework for building a more inclusive class. Presenters will discuss changes they have made this semester—small and large—to make their teaching more inclusive:

• Janet Bean (Department of English): Building Class Community through Collaborative Projects
• Rich Londraville (Department of Biology): Grading for Growth in an Introductory Biology Course
• Toni Bisconti (Department of Psychology): The Importance of Structured Learning
• Ashley Wain (Department of Biology): Explicitness and Transparency

Our presentation focuses on an initiative to integrate career-ready skills into the Sociology curriculum at the University of Akron. We share preliminary results from an ongoing evaluation of this endeavor. While earning a college degree still holds lifetime benefits, in the form of higher lifetime earnings, having a degree is not adequate to be successful in the workforce. Students must be able to use and promote crucial skills such as leadership, teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving to gain and sustain successful careers. “Creating a learning environment with emphasis on a full collegiate experience for each student, leading to opportunities for cognitive, social, and personal development” and preparing “career-oriented people for professional leadership roles in regional, national, and international organizations and institutions” are also crucial elements of UA’s mission statement. In the Sociology department, we are working to realize these goals and to build the eight career-ready skills as defined by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) across our curriculum. An analysis of our first wave of data collected through an online survey of students examines the relationships between the format of the class, the presence of experiential learning assignments, and student perceptions of their own development. Results indicate that students find their skills improved when classes have a substantial graded component that is considered a form of experiential learning. This is true for both in-person and online courses, whereas face to face learning environments show a more significant perceived impact on students.

During this past academic year, the three presenters worked as a team to study interdisciplinarity and how we might integrate the Public Humanities Certificate into the MA English and MA Arts Administration degrees to create pathways for students who might be interested in applying their subject knowledge within a public humanities framework—and to consider how we might assess these interdisciplinary, integrated programs. In Fall’23, the Institute for Human Science & Culture welcomes its 9th cohort of undergraduate students invested in earning the hands-on, interdisciplinary Museums & Archives Studies Certificate where students work closely with practitioners during two core courses to develop skills relevant to museums and archives professions. To date, 67.5% of certificate holders work or have worked in museums and archives, and 60% have gone on to graduate school programs in related fields. Modeling this useful, successful design, faculty from several departments (History, English, Arts Administration) helped develop a graduate version of this hands-on, interdisciplinary curriculum-- a graduate certificate in Public Humanities, which officially launches with a full class in Fall’23. The newest group of MA History students have committed to integrating the Public Humanities Certificate into their MA studies. Every student will earn both the Master’s degree and the Certificate, which celebrates practical work in cultural institutions. These students will design capstone experiences embedded in the community to work on projects that flex their acquired knowledge and skills. This presentation recaps our work on designing pathways toward hands-on work for grad students that can bridge the gap between classroom and community, curriculum and career, with focus on what we learned about interdisciplinary collaborations, departmental hurdles, and program assessment.

The Co-op and Placement Program at the College of Engineering and Polymer Science started the Co-op Certificate in the fall 2022 semester. With a 110-year legacy in engineering cooperation education at The University of Akron (UA), surveys have been used to gather important information on the students’ co-op experiences. To ensure success in the management and program assessment of the new certificate program, Brightspace becomes the sole tool used for qualitative and quantitative data collection. which makes the overall management and data collection easier and more accurate. In addition, what is distinctive about our work is analyzing data more critically and guiding our branding messages. To get students ready for their employers and represent UA well, Cultural Awareness and Professional Behavior Training through Brightspace is also required for the Co-op Certificate. We will begin our presentation with an overview of the learning outcomes and college expectations driving our program management. We will then share sample reports to show how they help us identify strengths and weaknesses in placement, strategize student recruitment activities, and support our college's decision-making.

In the modern era of education, the traditional approach to accreditation often involves time-consuming and resource-intensive artifact collection, which can be burdensome for institutions and detract from the core focus on student learning outcomes. To overcome this challenge, this proposal advocates for leveraging the power of Big Data and the Learning Outcomes Assessment (LOA) to connect and enhance learning experiences across courses. LOA refers to the systematic process of evaluating student learning outcomes to assess the effectiveness of educational programs, courses, or instructional strategies (D2L, 2019). Specifically, the proposal outlines a centralized approach that employs Big Data analytics to collect and analyze large-scale data on student learning outcomes, engagement patterns, and performance metrics, which can be utilized across different courses and/or programs within the same academic unit. Such an approach can provide valuable insights into students' learning trajectories, and, therefore, inform data-driven decision-making and continuous course/program improvement. The benefits of the proposed approach include reducing the administrative burden associated with artifact collection, informing course instruction, promoting interdisciplinary collaborations, and enhancing students’ learning experiences. The proposal recommends a strategic roadmap for implementation, including the development of data-driven analytics tools, faculty training programs, and interdepartmental collaboration initiatives. In conclusion, leveraging Big Data for LOA proposes a transformative approach to evaluating student learning outcomes. This approach not only presents a cost-effective solution that helps institutions and/or academic units to move beyond traditional LOA but also promotes a culture of data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement.

Teaching first-year and first-generation college students is both exciting and can present challenges. This interactive session will provide educators with a space to discuss, share, and learn about strategies that are useful for teaching our first-year and first-generation students. This discussion will be based upon the text 33 Simple Strategies for Faculty: A Week-By-Week Resource for Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students written by Lisa M. Nunn.

Designing a successful online class, let alone submitting it for a Quality Matters review, is a daunting endeavor for both beginner and experienced educators alike. The presentation expounds on the experience of turning an inherited in-person class into an intentionally designed and recently QM-certified course. The presentation focuses on issues of alignment, student engagement, and connection building while detailing the challenges and the solutions chosen. Along the way, metrics, both qualitative and quantitative (i.e., student surveys, exam scores, and student evaluations), signpost the process of improvement, and underwrite the significant gains in student learning, engagement, and satisfaction.

In every class, a few students face difficulties meeting deadlines due to issues such as illness, relationship problems, or financial setbacks. However, most classes have one high-stake activity (such as a final exam or project) that counts for a significant portion of the grade increasing the chances of failing the class due to the issues mentioned above. Moreover, instructors often do not have a formal policy or design for their classes that would allow students to make up for a missed deadline and instead rely on an informal and unpredictable process of seeking extensions or exceptions that disproportionately excludes first-generation college students and those from cultural backgrounds that discourage asking for special treatment or being a burden. In this presentation, I propose a "second chance" policy that I have implemented in my classes that formalizes the process of allowing students to catch up on missed deadlines and avoid failing if they miss a graded assignment (without requiring them to ace every other item). I also explain how I combine this formal flexibility with strict enforcement to ensure that students do not misinterpret it as a lack of structure or seriousness. Finally, I provide some qualitative evidence from anonymous course evaluations to show that students appreciate this second chance policy.

Using time in nature with experiential, hands-on activities to teach environmental science concepts is an innovative, physically active, and engaging way to practice environmental education. Engaging and teaching special needs students in Physical Education is no different. Children with special needs also benefit from spending time in nature. It has been proven to reduce the effects of stress, anxiety, attention deficit disorder behaviors and more. Engaging with nature provides sensory motor skill development and emotional/social benefits. The University of Akron’s Department of Biology’s Field Station (UAFS) and the School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences collaborated to create a community outreach with the students from the Adapted Physical Education (Adapted PE) classes at Akron Public Schools (APS). The APS students took part in a unique experience hosted at the UAFS for various activities that helped to formulate a positive understanding for nature, art, and physical activity. The purpose of this collaboration was to introduce the APS Adapted PE students to environmental education using physical activities and art. Students learned about nature and science concepts using nature hikes, unique physical activities, interactive story book trails, socializing and art projects. Many of the experiences were physical in nature but also included the senses, creativity, and critical thinking skills. Students often were able to visit the UAFS on more than one occasion. Throughout the school year the activities and themes changed with the seasons. This assisted in benefiting the APS Adapted PE students physically, socially, and emotionally.

Four years ago, as part of a grant-funded initiative to increase equitable outcomes for first-year students, we were tasked with putting together a professional development workshop for the Math and English departments. One of the first choices we made was to limit the use of the term “equity,” as not everyone on campus was using it the same way. Instead, we chose to focus on how building connections can increase student success. While there were plenty of options to discuss regarding connections across campus, and while these areas defy neat boundaries, we settled on the following connections to focus our materials: faculty-to-student, student-to-student, student-to-course content, student-to-self, and faculty-to-faculty. We titled our training “Building Connections: The key to aligning our intentions with our actions.” When Covid hit in the middle of our process, we learned just how relevant and necessary these discussions were. While disconnection was already a problem pre-Covid, the pandemic and its aftermath have shown that intentional connections are even more vital than ever. Just as all coursework shifted online, our training was also forced to move online, making our work infinitely harder, but also providing us the opportunity to reflect on just how necessary connection is. Our training went live (albeit, online) in April 2021, and since then we have received feedback and are working to adapt it to a hybrid professional development offered college-wide through our Teaching and Learning Council. This session will share our many ups and downs and what we’ve learned along the way.

Technology in education has long made an impact on how educators approach delivering the best learning experiences to their students. The proliferation of accessible tools rooted in artificial intelligence (AI) have added additional optionality in how to approach course content. This session explores how instructors may go about utilizing advanced technologies in their classrooms to augment the learning experience. The discussion goes beyond text-generation tools and leverages other concepts from different foundation models.

The challenge of helping students identify and avoid misinformation is one with wide-reaching implications and relevance to every field of study. Whose job is it to teach students how to become media literate? While faculty from all disciplines have a role to play, librarians can help increase student media literacy when they are given the opportunity to collaborate with their faculty colleagues. This session will explore how librarians, in partnership with faculty, can improve students’ media literacy skills, particularly when it comes to avoiding misinformation. Two specific approaches to this challenge will be described – one that uses a misinformation game to help students see how others use persuasion to increase the spread of misinformation, and another that teaches students source evaluation techniques beyond the typical checklist approaches, like the CRAP test.