Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference

Second Time's the Charm: Why Giving Second Chances to Students Improves Online Engagement

Lamia Scherzinger, MS., Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis

Meeting Room A – Zoom ID# 837 5286 9398

Students these days are more disconnected, burnt out, and frustrated with classes than ever before. Online classes can be an even more difficult environment to ensure they are staying on track, engaged, and motivated. While there are many ways to help with this, it’s often the simplest approaches that can lead to the biggest differences.

In this session, we will discuss how implementing a “second chance” to students, both in-person and online, allows for less stress, greater coursework completion, and more engaged students! Session participants will discuss ways they could implement second chances into their course to best fit their type of classroom atmosphere and teaching style.

Engaging Adults with Developmental Disabilities Online

Meika Billings Dopwell, Indiana University Bloomington
C'rai Weeden Shannon, M.A., Towson University

Meeting Room B – Zoom ID# 831 7704 2589

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the delivery of instruction for many learners. It was challenging for students across educational settings to adapt to the new way of learning. One group of learners who likely struggled more than others were adults with developmental disabilities (DD) who participate in day habilitation programs. They required increased support to engage in virtual activities.

Thus, several interactive instructional methods were incorporated to help those adults acquire knowledge that is transferable to real-world situations and functional life skills. According to Machemer and Crawford (2007, as cited in Vanhorn et al., 2019), active learning is a system that allows learners to think, assess, analyze, integrate, and discuss their newly acquired language. Adults with DD benefit from active learning methods such as role-playing, watching tutorials, or simulations, and cooperative group learning activities.

This presentation will highlight ways to motivate and engage adults with DD in online learning environments. By utilizing engaging videoconferencing tools (e.g. breakout rooms and reactions), game-based quizzes, and collaborative games such as professional and job charades, adults with DD learn skills to be successful in the community and at work. Learning through fun, interactive ways may help decrease the anxiety and frustration that some adults with DD experience when learning new information. The interactive tasks will support skill carryover. The presentation will provide a guide for educators and speech-language pathologists to use when implementing instruction for all individuals with developmental disabilities.

Figures, and Charts, and Tables, Oh My! - A Workshop on Data Visualization Literacy

Stephanie Medley-Rath, Ph.D., Indiana University Kokomo
Michael Gillespie, Ph.D., Eastern Illinois University

Meeting Room C – ID# 873 4082 1751

Data visualization (DV) literacy is becoming a more important skill for the public. Many disciplines are poised to help improve DV literacy among students. In this workshop, we begin by considering how sociology can meet DV literacy needs. We invite participants to reflect on how their discipline can support DV literacy and consider how DV literacy matters for workforce development and democratic participation for their students.

We will present the results of our study of 463 data visualizations from 27 textbooks for Introduction to Sociology, Social Problems, and intermediate elective courses. Our study illuminates how textbooks can be used to promote DV literacy and identify their limitations (e.g., reliant on a narrow range of data visualizations).

Textbooks offer an opportunity to promote DV literacy in the sociology curriculum. However, we will also demonstrate how other resources (e.g., “What’s Going on in This Graph?”) can be used to support DV literacy within sociology, but also across disciplines. Our workshop will include breakout groups and hands-on activities so that participants can gain experience using online tools to support DV literacy.

Creating Classrooms of Radical Hope

DeDe Wohlfarth, Psy.D., Spalding University
Savannah Walker, M.A., Spalding University
Olivia Campbell, M.A., Spalding University

Meeting Room A – ID# 837 5286 9398

Radical Hope (Gannon, 2020) is a pedagogical philosophy based on Paulo Freire’s work. Freire called for a radical transformation of society by raising students’ critical consciousness to challenge existing power differentials, including in our classrooms. Radical Hope has roots in Inclusive Excellence (Williams, Berger & McClendon, 2005), Learner Centered Teaching (Weimer, 2002), Culturally Responsive Teaching (Gay, 2010), and Cultural Humility (Hook, Davis, Owen, & DeBlare, 2013).

Our presentation begins with a quick overview of these models. We will then share what we affectionately call “the fun stuff,” including practical strategies to create classrooms that promote radical hope. Our aim is to help attendees create classrooms that are culturally inclusive, life affirming, imposter syndrome crushing, power differential challenging, critical consciousness raising, transformative, compassionate, brave, and support relevant and deep student learning. Yes, even if they teach geology or chemistry.

Finally, the presentation will feature two graduate students answering these questions, based on the literature as well as their own classroom experiences:

• What specific professor behaviors best build student motivation, trust and learning?
• What specific professors most destroy student motivation, trust and learning?

(Re)Examining and (Re)Constructing a Philosophy of Education

Román Graff, M.Ed., Ivy Tech Community College

Meeting Room B – ID# 831 7704 2589

Teaching is a craft, one that requires mindful reflection of the what, why, and how in learning spaces. The answers form the foundation for one's philosophy of education and inform most every aspect of an instructor’s designs and decisions. This is equally applicable for tenured or full-time faculty whose philosophy statement is required as part of their application materials, to part-time faculty who come to the learning space with an abundance of industry and professional expertise, but limited background in teaching experiences.

This presentation will share the experience of facilitating a workshop in a community college setting for full- and part-time faculty across disciplines. The focus of the workshop is to fundamentally integrate inclusivity in one’s education philosophy, acknowledging the nexus between student experiences and outcomes and faculty self-awareness.

For some participants, it’s a conscientious review of paradigms that underpin the designs and decisions of their learning environments. For others, it’s a new and explicit articulation of latent beliefs and their manifestation in the classroom. Attendees of this presentation will have the opportunity to critically examine and discuss elements of the educational philosophy, ways in which they manifest in participants’ own philosophies, and consider impact on student outcomes.

So, You Enrolled in my Hybrid Course? Let’s Scrimmage!

Kathryn Ernstberger, Ph.D., Indiana University Southeast

Meeting Room C – ID# 873 4082 1751

In my experience teaching quantitative courses, students often do not know how to practice or learn outside of class at the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy. It is often uncomfortable or challenging, so students avoid it and focus on lower levels of the learning taxonomy as they study on their own. When I have students in the room with me, I can coax, nudge, and/or push them to do it. Since this is no longer the norm, it is time to up my game.

In a recent hybrid course, around mid-term, students started asking for a tutor and I happily volunteered for the job! Because I was meeting with multiple students at a time, I invited the whole class to these weekly sessions and participation was terrific. While I was happy to answer questions, students knew that I was not planning to re-teach material and that they would be put to work during the sessions that I started referring to as "scrimmage games." Students were grateful and attributed these sessions to an improvement in their learning as well as their grades. I plan to formalize this approach in the fall semester and invite like-minded faculty to share their success stories, offer some coaching advice, and help develop the scrimmage game rules and expectations.

"Failure" and a Growth Mindset

Karen McCoy, M.S., Indiana University Southeast
Lydia Lum, M.A., Indiana University Southeast

Meeting Room A – ID# 837 5286 9398

Trying new teaching techniques can be intimidating however developing a growth mindset requires both student and instructor growth. This spring I tried a gamification approach in one of my courses and it was not a big success. In my class evaluation a student mentioned their disappointment in the gamified unit. I felt bad and quite frustrated that it did not work as I had envisioned.

Growth mindset includes fostering self-regulated learning which is based on 4 phases:

1. Planning and goal setting
2. Implementing strategies and monitoring progress towards the goal
3. Reflection on the outcome
4. Revise

Effective instructional practices include these phases as well. We plan a lesson around a specific goal. We implement the lesson. We reflect on the outcome of the lesson; did it effectively meet our goal? Did engagement increase? Finally, we revise the lesson to more closely match our goal. Notice throwing out the lesson is not a step in the process

I invite you to analyze the gamified unit with us and provide suggestions for improvement, share some of your disappointments as a springboard to the larger discussion of positive ways of handling failure with a growth mindset and self-regulated learning.

Turning Theory into Practice: "Bellarmine Pathways: Knights Lighting the Path for College Success"

Liz Todd Byron, Ph.D., Bellarmine University

Meeting Room B – ID# 831 7704 2589

In 2020, I completed an instrumental, multi-site case study examining the non-cognitive skills needed to persist in and graduate from college, using Lin’s (1999) social capital theory as a guiding framework. The bounds of the case study included one public school district and one public state university in a large, metropolitan area of the southeastern United States.

The guiding research question was as follows: What non-cognitive skills do secondary teachers and post-secondary student success practitioners believe low-income, underrepresented minority students need for success in college? Based on the findings of the study, I created a program in the Center for Community Engagement at Bellarmine University which connects current Bellarmine students with middle and high school students in the local community to help share their lived experiences of navigating student success skills in college. The topics that guide these dialogues include health and

wellness, financial literacy, identity, student involvement, communications, study skills, time management, and major/career exploration. This academic year alone, the Pathways program reached 150 Kentuckiana students. This presentation will begin with the theory and data and then shift to demonstrate how it can be intentionally applied with a focus on access and authenticity.

Using Content Release Strategies to Enhance Student Engagement in Asynchronous Online Courses

Sarah Johnson, M.S.Ed., Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis

Meeting Room C – ID# 873 4082 1751

Student motivation and self-regulation can be a challenge in asynchronous online courses. One strategy to improve student engagement and self-regulation is the use of conditional content release tools in learning management systems. This session will explore the evidence around conditional release, including a randomized controlled trial conducted by the presenter, and will provide opportunities for participants to brainstorm and discuss actionable ways they might implement conditional release in their own courses to improve student engagement.