Faculty Spotlight

ASSETT recognizes Sangbok Kim as the 2024 Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award Winner

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 20:15:10 +0000

ASSETT recognizes Sangbok Kim as the 2024 Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award Winner Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 07/23/2024 - 14:15

Each year, ASSETT, the Arts & Sciences Support of Education Through Technology, awards a faculty member with the Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award. After reviewing recommendations from peers and students, ASSETT recognized Dr. Sangbok Kim as the 2024 recipient of the Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award for his development and implementation of a language learning program in his Korean classes and for his exceptional use of other technologies in his courses.

Sangbok is a senior instructor and a Korean Language Coordinator at the University of Colorado at �鶹ӰԺ. Dr. Kim teaches beginner to advanced levels in the Korean language and has experience teaching at several universities. He also conducts research in linguistics, Korean and English language acquisition, and education. Dr. Kim has published several papers throughout his career.

As an instructor dedicated to enhancing language learning experiences, Dr. Kim's impact extends far beyond traditional classroom walls. His innovative spirit is evident in the creation of PIP Lang, or Pronunciation - Interpretation - Performance Language. PIP Lang streamlines language acquisition by offering students a unique opportunity to practice their Korean oral skills from the comfort of their homes. PIP Lang transcends typical language barriers and fosters a deeper connection to the language. Dr. Kim's dedication to harnessing technology for educational advancement shines brightly, illuminating the path forward for educators interested in incorporating technology into the classroom.

PIP Lang is a web platform that works in conjunction with Kim’s Anytime Korean textbook series. These textbooks have about 4-5 semester's worth of content. This connection between the software and textbooks creates an immediate application in the classroom. Dr. Kim explains that “it allows [students] to practice one-on-one conversations with virtual Korean speakers… [and] it is equipped with AI that automatically grades learners’ pronunciation during these virtual interactions.” Active oral production is crucial when building language skills. Using AI speech recognition, PIP Lang provides real-time feedback to students. Through Dr. Kim’s research on the benefits and effectiveness of using PIP Lang, students reported conversing with confidence, gaining insights into Korean expressions, and improving their pronunciation, oral production and interactions.

Dr. Kim developed PIP Lang to expand his capacity as the only native speaker in the classroom. “This limitation also hinders [students’] ability to receive immediate pronunciation feedback. Furthermore, students engage in conversation with peers throughout the entire class, and since these peers are also learning Korean, there’s a risk of reinforcing incorrect pronunciations and developing a skewed perception of the target language due to shared non-native accents and errors.” Dr. Kim describes PIP Lang as a virtual TA, offering real-time feedback, pronunciation corrections, autonomous speaking practice, and a flexible learning environment.

When asked about his use of technology in the classroom, Dr. Kim said, “I have always placed a strong emphasis on technology in my language classroom. In addition to PIP Lang, Dr. Kim actively uses many other technologies in his courses such as iSpring, Quizlet, and Gemini for their effectiveness in language learning. He also emphasizes the importance of platforms like YouTube for cultural exploration, and he integrates organizational systems in Canvas and OneDrive to share materials and host discussions.

Instructional technology is particularly beneficial for language learning because it caters to learners' perspectives and offers diverse teaching methods.” This is undoubtedly evident in his students’ reflections on their classes with Dr. Kim, noting how his use of technology has helped in their individual learning as well as their collaboration with classmates. One student writes, “Personally, this has helped me a lot with my learning, and I believe that his methods will also continue to improve over time and help many more students in the future.”

Dr. Kim recommends three steps for technology-curious instructors: “(1) Focus on maximizing in-person interaction, (2) use technology to enhance, not replace, instructions, and (3) explore and experiment to find the right fit,” he explains. “By strategically utilizing these tools outside of class time, you can free up valuable classroom minutes for interactive and engaging activities… Don't be afraid to experiment and see what works best for you and your students.”

Congratulations again to Dr. Sangbok Kim! Thank you for continuously working to improve your students’ learning experiences through innovative technology use.

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Meet Bethany Wilcox: 2023 Teaching with Technology Award Winner

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 22:05:26 +0000

Meet Bethany Wilcox: 2023 Teaching with Technology Award Winner Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/22/2024 - 16:05

Each year, ASSETT awards the Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award to a faculty member who was nominated by their peers and students for their commitment to teaching with technology. In 2023, Bethany Wilcox was recognized for her use of technology to help students engage with course materials in meaningful ways that further their abilities to visualize the complexities of physics while simultaneously building their confidence as learners and leaders in the classroom.

Bethany is an assistant professor in the Physics department and a member of the Physics Education Research Group. Her responsibilities include researching, serving on university committees, and, most notably, teaching CU's aspiring scientists in Physics, Astronomy, and Engineering. Along with her teaching, she also conducts research mainly focused on studying Physics Education Research, which delves into understanding students' abilities to problem solve in advanced Physics courses, measuring students' learning to ensure that curriculum and course development decisions are determined and grounded in data.

In Bethany’s nomination letter, her nominee mentioned that she is a pioneer at CU for integrating technology in the classroom through her use of a Microsoft tablet that allows her to seamlessly transition between slides, i-clicker software, and other simulations that display complex concepts within Physics. While tablets are common within higher education, Bethany optimizes her use of this device by writing on and annotating slides in real-time during lectures. Through meticulous planning (and hours of pre-lecture prep), she drafts the details of every slide. She uses different colored pens over a black background to explain concepts. And, because she’s sketched out every slide, Bethany can strategically place images on her screen that support her content without interfering with her text. This teaching method enables her to integrate technologies into her lectures that engage students' connections with the course on a much deeper level. Bethany also uses this technique to teach some of the most complex topics in Physics so students not only perform well in her course, but also internalize these concepts - like Quantum Mechanics:

“Quantum Mechanics can be very abstract because it is about the very small world. You cannot see electrons and quantities like spin, which are difficult to visualize because they don't have any classical analogs.”

Quantum Mechanics is a difficult concept. For some students, this hampers their ability to connect with the course material and instills anxiety. Bethany recognizes this sentiment and incorporates simulations, or sims, in her lectures to help students engage with these abstract concepts. During class, students experiment with these sims to understand these difficult and abstract concepts. Bethany often assigns a homework assignment where she has them use these sims to complete question sets. Bethany believes that her use of technology in and out of the classroom helps ground Physics so that students can truly grasp broader terms that are often hard or even impossible to visualize. By creating these exploratory processes, students engage with difficult concepts, further enhance their ability to understand the course material, and discover new aspects of Physics and themselves as learners.

One of the most vital parts of Bethany's research and her integration of technology in the classroom is its ability to instill confidence in students. Bethany creates courses emphasizing "exploration and learning" through tutorials that help create building blocks for students' foundational understanding of Physics. These tutorials are inclusively designed to support and engage the learner with material that enhances and harnesses their understanding of core concepts. Bethany believes this pedagogical approach greatly assists in her students’ ability to engage with and learn more advanced concepts in the future.

Bethany clearly emphasizes that her teaching techniques and use of technology disregard normative teaching structures focused on correctness and speed. Instead her teaching approach encourages students to explore the Physics world, allowing students to build their confidence. All of Bethany’s course lectures and content are available for students to review what they’ve learned from previous class sessions. Bethany believes that providing previous class content aids in her students' abilities to "come to class feeling engaged and relaxed," without worrying about the previous week's concepts.

When asked about what advice she had for others, Bethany pragmatically responded, "Practice and have a plan. Don't try to wing it with technology because Murphy's law applies. Have a plan for what you will do if the technology fails so that you can smoothly transition when things inevitably go wrong. And, above all, check in with the students to ensure everything is going well, and be prepared to change your approach if they have concerns or suggestions."

Bethany shows us that Physics is not only about speed and correctness but also how we can use education and technology to explore, build confidence, and learn what makes us passionate. She is an exemplary educator whose work further enlightens us about how, as learners, we constantly find new ways to shape how we learn and engage with the world around us. We can not be more excited to congratulate Behtnay Wilcox on all of her achievements, and we look forward to continuing to watch her help shape the future of education.

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Fall Celebration of Excellence in Teaching with Technology

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 19:01:38 +0000

Fall Celebration of Excellence in Teaching with Technology Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/31/2023 - 13:01

Date: Monday, Sep 25, 2023
Time: 4:00-6:30 p.m.
Location: CTL CASE E390

Join us for an evening of excellence in teaching with technology on September 25 from 4-6:30 pm in the Center for Teaching & Learning (CASE E390). Learn about different ways your peers use technology in their teaching. The keynote address will be presented by Bethany Wilcox (PHYS), the recipient of both the Best Should Teach and ASSETT’s Excellence in Teaching with Technology Awards! And, in the spirit of celebrating, nominees for the Excellence in Teaching with Technology award will share how they engage their students through technology. Light refreshments and appetizers will be served.

The Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award is presented to an Arts & Sciences faculty member nominated by their peers and/or students. Nominees have a record of excellence in teaching with technology and demonstrate commitment and leadership in furthering ASSETT's mission of advancing teaching and learning within CU's College of Arts & Sciences.

Schedule

4:00 – 4:12 – Welcome and housekeeping
4:12 – 4:15 – Introduce Bethany
4:15 – 5:00 – Keynote Presentation/Q&A
5:00 – 5:10 - Break
5:10 – 5:30 - Quick teaching tip presentation #1 presented by June Gruber
5:35 – 5:55 - Quick teaching tip presentation #2 presented by Michaele Ferguson
6:00 – 6:20 - Quick teaching tip presentation #3 presented by Jen Walentas Lewon
6:20 – 6:30 - Closing and thanks

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STEM Active Learning Academy

Anonymous — Sun, 30 Jul 2023 23:03:02 +0000

STEM Active Learning Academy Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 07/30/2023 - 17:03

Leilani Arthurs , Department of Geological Sciences

Apply for the Active Learning Academy

We are happy to announce the Active Learning Academy will continue for another year! This program is NSF-funded, faculty-driven, and supported by ASSETT and the CTL. The Active Learning Academy offers STEM faculty professional development (PD) opportunities to learn and apply research-based instructional strategies and course design principles to an undergraduate STEM course of their choosing. These strategies and principles are straightforward to implement and known to enhance student learning. They are also aligned with CU �鶹ӰԺ's current efforts to have a “common student-centered approach to learning [PDF]” and to be a “T1 at the R1” [PDF].

The academy offers a series of three semester-long PD programs that build from one to the next: Learning by Design, Follow-up Mentoring, and Course Re/Design. Participants who successfully complete the first program are eligible but not required to participate in the second program. Those who successfully complete the first and second program are eligible but not required to complete the third program. Faculty who complete any of these programs can claim them in their annual performance. They will also receive additional recognition in the form of a faculty development award, a certificate, and a letter for their reappointment, promotion, and tenure file.

The programs offered through the Active Learning Academy are currently scheduled as follows:

Learning by Design: Fall 2024
Eight meetings per semester, once every other week
Award: $1500

Follow-up Peer Mentoring: Spring 2025
Two meetings per academic year (kick-off and wrap-up) and five meetings with a peer mentor
Award: $500

Course Re/Design: Summer/Fall 2025
One symposium presentation and numerous meetings to (re)design a course
Award: $1500 (two awards per cycle)

Tenure-stream and teaching professor ranks are eligible to participate. We are currently accepting applications for the fall 2023 Learning by Design cohort. The first program meeting will be held during the third week of instruction. Lunch will be provided at all meetings.

Space is limited! Cohort size is limited to 8. Preference will be given to pairs of faculty members from the same department who partner to complete Learning by Design together.

Submit your application by May 28, 2024. Send questions to Amanda.McAndrew@colorado.edu, Karen.Crouch@colorado.edu, Kalpana.Gupta@colorado.edu, or Leilani.Arthurs@colorado.edu

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Dr. Nicole Jobin Receives ASSETT Teaching with Technology Award

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 19:13:45 +0000

Dr. Nicole Jobin Receives ASSETT Teaching with Technology Award Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/14/2022 - 13:13

Alexis Block

Each year, ASSETT awards the Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award to a faculty member who has been nominated by their peers and students for their commitment to teaching with technology. This year, Dr. Nicole Jobin is recognized for her use of technology as not only a tool, but also as a great equalizer in her classroom, placing students as co-creators, rather than passive learners, of their knowledge.

Dr. Jobin is a Teaching Associate Professor in the Stories and Societies Residential Academic Program here at CU �鶹ӰԺ and primarily teaches first year students. Dr. Jobin is an early adopter of technology as a learning tool, being one of the first faculty to implement Canvas and other online pedagogical tools, while also pioneering remote teaching techniques during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nominators note that Dr. Jobin was “invaluable to the RAPs when the pandemic necessitated a sudden pivot to remote teaching”, quickly preparing resources on Zoom and Canvas for other faculty members, and that she continues to provide tech support for RAP faculty that request help for technology related issues.

Within the classroom, Dr. Jobin “sees technology as a means of empowering students to be creators, and not just consumers, of information.” After forefronting base knowledge and curriculum at the beginning of the semester, Dr. Jobin then allows students to take the reins and use that basis in ways that are meaningful to them. In her “Europe to 1600” class, this means students choose a focus and write blog posts or create timelines, some of which have been included in an Open Educational Resource that has formed the class textbook. In her “War and Society” and “History of Christianity” classes, this practice manifests in digital atlas pages, using ArcGIS Story Maps and/or a Wordpress site that students built together as a class. In addition, throughout these courses students started the “Compendium of the Crusades” project, which houses short form writings about individuals, locations, battles and other events of the Crusades. In either experience, Dr. Jobin says, “Students have a certain amount of agency… I can give a framework and say, this is the type of stuff we're going to look at for this project. But I want you to choose the specifics, the angle or subject that's most interesting to you. And what you create is not something that's just going to cross my eyeballs and never be seen again if you don't want it to”. Students have the option to share their work with the whole class, future classes, and even the greater CU community and beyond.

This approach ultimately ties into Dr. Jobin’s focus on non-disposable assignments, the counterpoint to disposable assignments — those that are completed by individual students, only seen and graded by their professor, and, once returned to the student, are then thrown away. Instead, non-disposable assignments are those that may be shared with the greater community to contribute to a larger pool of knowledge. Students, then, become co-creators of knowledge in the classroom, especially when aided with the sharing features now available to us through technology. In essence, nominators write, “Nikki [brings] these students into the endeavor of writing, and not just consuming, history.”

This teaching practice certainly hasn’t always been easy, Dr. Jobin notes. After experimenting on her own and running into issues with students working from home or running into technological issues that sometimes only OIT can solve, Dr. Jobin has curated a list of best practices for other educators looking to incorporate technology into their own classrooms. To begin she suggests to “try and start small”. Though she acknowledges that sometimes she’s guilty of not doing this, she has found that sometimes smaller is better. She tells us, “Let's do just one little thing and see if it works well and then we can expand to a bigger project”. To help build even more scaffolding, she also suggests creating an example assignment before work starts so that students can have a constant reference point during their own work. Dr. Jobin also urges educators to “make sure [they’re] not latching onto a piece of technology or a way of using technology just because it's shiny and beautiful and new. In other words, before adopting new technology into your teaching — make sure it serves a clear pedagogical purpose. And, be sure to communicate that purpose to your students as well to create understanding of and buy-in for use of a new technology.

In closure, Dr. Jobin leaves fellow educators with this: “I think sometimes people think everything has to be polished and finished… [But] sometimes the process is almost as important as the product”. While Dr. Jobin speaks of some of her successes and some of the snags she’s encountered in using technology, she maintains that the process itself is still worth doing. Almost always, students will still learn something — even if the technological execution is not exactly perfect.

We are so excited to congratulate Dr. Jobin on all her accomplishments, and look forward to following her journey in creating, and helping students create, open educational resources in the future!

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Congratulations to the Fall 2021 Learning by Design cohort!

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 18:52:11 +0000

Congratulations to the Fall 2021 Learning by Design cohort! Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 10/12/2021 - 12:52

Amanda McAndrew

Image Caption: Pictured left to right - Jennifer Scheib (CivilEng), Colleen Scanlan-Lyons (ENVS), Katherine Lininger, (GEOG), Jay Arehart (CivilEng), Andrew Tan (IPHY), Diana Oliveras (Creative Minds RAP), Donna Louie (Creative Minds RAP) and Bradley Markle (GEOG).

Over the last eighteen months, we’ve all experienced unprecedented shifts in our daily lives, including how, when, and where teaching and learning happens. One bright side is that these shifts have given us the opportunity to examine precisely those aspects of teaching and learning. To that end, CU �鶹ӰԺ has incredibly dedicated faculty who are engaging in professional development to become even better at their teaching craft.

A few of those dedicated faculty were recently accepted into the Fall 2021 Learning by Design cohort and will be spending this semester examining the design of their courses and ways to infuse active learning strategies into their teaching. Please join ASSETT in congratulating these eight faculty who were selected from a very competitive group of applicants:

Jay Arehart, Instructor, Civil Engineering
Katherine Lininger, Assistant Professor, Geography
Donna Louie, Instructor, Creative Minds RAP
Bradly Markle, Assistant Professor, Geology and INSTAAR
Diana Oliveras, Instructor, Environmental and Natural Sciences RAP
Colleen Scanlan-Lyons, Associate Research Professor, Environmental Studies
Jennifer Scheib, Instructor, Civil Engineering
Andrew Tan, Assistant Professor, Integrative Physiology

This offering is available thanks to the efforts of Leilani Arthurs, Associate Professor of Geological Sciences. She and her team were awarded a $2.3 million grant by the National Science Foundation to implement the Active Learning Academy (ALA), a series of three professional development programs. This series of programs is aimed at building capacity at CU �鶹ӰԺ for student-centered teaching in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses. Arthurs is the lead facilitator of the ALA, with Amanda McAndrew (ASSETT) and Alisha Clark (Assistant Professor of Geology and an ALA alum) in supporting roles.

The first in the ALA series is the Learning by Design program. It is an eight-session program with primary goals to (a) introduce participants to research-based instructional strategies and course design principles that facilitate active learning in an undergraduate STEM course they teach or will teach and (b) cultivate a faculty learning community that together explores ways to apply active learning to their chosen courses. After the end of the fall semester, participants will have completed and submitted a teaching portfolio for their chosen course, which can be later used for reference in annual reviews, promotion, and tenure. Additionally, they will be awarded a $1000 stipend for their efforts. The Learning by Design program is in its third year and will be offered again in fall 2022.

Participants who complete the Learning by Design program will have the opportunity to continue their pursuit of teaching excellence in the other two ALA programs. The second in the ALA series is the Follow-Up Mentoring program, which will be offered each spring semester for four years. The third in the ALA series is the Course Re/Design Award program, which will be offered during the summer/fall period for three years.

For additional information about the Active Learning Academy and its programmatic offerings, please contact Leilani.Arthurs@colorado.edu, Alisha.Clark@colorado.edu or Amanda.McAndrew@colorado.edu.

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David Paradis Winner of the 2021 ASSETT Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 21:23:08 +0000

David Paradis Winner of the 2021 ASSETT Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/14/2021 - 15:23

Amanda McAndrew

Congratulations to David Paradis, winner of this year’s ASSETT Excellence in Teaching with Technology award! Since ASSETT’s early days, David has taken advantage of almost all of ASSETT’s professional development offerings, including participating in the 2017-18 Faculty Fellows cohort and the current Innovation Incubator Student Success Team. Through these experiences, he has been introduced to different tools that aid his vision for higher education teaching. David shared with ASSETT his perspective that “students arrive in our classrooms with many different journeys behind them. Their knowledge of prerequisite materials related to basic skills such as research, problem solving, interpretation of evidence, and writing varies dramatically. As instructors, we cannot possibly account for every different journey these students have had, but we can significantly enhance students' chances for success by recognizing the diverse forms that intelligence takes. By providing ways for students to recover from failure, by scaffolding assignments, and by creating a collaborative rather than an adversarial relationship with our students, we can increase the likelihood that we can accomodate the various journeys and forms of intelligence that a diverse student body brings to the classroom.”

By nominating David for this award, his colleagues and students recognize his commitment to lifelong learning, his passion for teaching, and his desire to constantly improve his use of technology in the classroom. David expressed that “ASSETT has allowed me to understand how certain technologies can help us address the various learning modalities that a diverse student body brings to the classroom.”

David’s journey using academic technologies in the classroom began in 2013 when, in an emergency situation, he was asked to see a remote, asynchronous class to completion. He was then introduced to backwards design by the Learning Design Group and soon thereafter attended a hybrid and flipped classroom course for faculty offered by ASSETT. David shared that in following these experiences, “I began to utilize my classroom time differently with more time for discussions, problem solving, and building relationships with students and with less for content delivery and testing. I started to enjoy the classes more, and the students picked up on my enthusiasm. I gradually found other technologies such as PlayPosit and Perusall which facilitated the in-class component of the course by preparing students for in-class interactions.” These technologies help to establish basic background knowledge for students before they enter the classroom. Then, instead of make-it or break-it summative assessments, such as midterms and finals, David uses clickers and other technologies so that students can demonstrate their learning in a series of micro-assignments or formative assessments. Technology has enabled David to give students tools to address assignments more creatively. He reflects that “when students gain a sense of agency by exercising their creativity, I think we all benefit.”

To augment his insightful approach to teaching, David continually seeks out opportunities to strengthen his teaching practice and philosophy. In 2017, David was selected from a competitive pool of applicants at the College of Arts & Sciences to participate in the inaugural cohort of the ASSETT Faculty Fellows. The program brings together a community of A&S faculty of all ranks who are committed to the continuous improvement of teaching and learning with technology. Fellows collaborate with colleagues from across the college and ASSETT to provide leadership on issues at the intersection of teaching, learning, and technology. For his culminating project, David advanced an initiative coordinating student learning outcomes in the Department of History to ensure that both majors and minors graduate with a clearly defined set of skills. He served as a member of a seven-person working group charged with identifying the academic and transferable skills that CU history majors can expect to develop.

Since then, David has participated in our book clubs and several one-on-one consultations with our instructional designers to address specific elements of his teaching. Through these interactions, he has consistently demonstrated a commitment to proactively meeting students' needs. David is receptive to feedback and suggestions, and is always eager to try new tools and approaches. With the help of the Student Technology Consultants (STCs) David has incorporated screencasting into his assignments. He has learned how to better implement the principles of Universal Design for Learning to ensure that his teaching materials are accessible and that all students have an equal opportunity for success in his courses. Furthemore, David has partnered with ASSETT’s Visualizing Instructional Practices service to conduct a total of 31 classroom observations from September 2017 to February 2020, the most observations of any instructor at CU �鶹ӰԺ! He has worked tirelessly to incorporate the data collected from these observations into his teaching, experimenting with both traditional lecture formats and flipped classrooms.

In the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters, David implemented the use of the Reacting to the Past pedagogy through The Copenhagen Summit and The Trial of Galileo games, respectively. Through these games, his students honed and developed skills such as critical thinking, negotiating, and debate. They also learned soft skills that often aren’t emphasized in the classroom like community-building, friendship, and empathy. And, notably, David conducted these activities completely online via Zoom and Slack. David’s conviction about the Reacting to the Past pedagogy led him and his colleagues to propose a system-wide book discussion on Minds on Fire through the President’s Fund for the Humanities. Their proposal was funded and they will start this book discussion to explore the value of the Humanities in fall 2021!

When asked what advice he could share with colleagues, David said, “take a class, participate in the Faculty Fellows program, join a book group/seminar, such as the one that the student success incubator is hosting this Fall on Reacting to the Past. If you want to avoid burnout that comes from your classes becoming stale and repetitive, ASSETT can spice up your teaching life. I don't think any of us are advocating for the use of technology simply to broaden student exposure to technologies, although that is a benefit. The first step is to find a learning objective that you would like to advance. Then, you can find the right tools to shape your assignments to meet that objective. ASSETT can help you with that journey.”

We are thrilled to celebrate David’s accomplishments and growth as a reflective practitioner. He embodies the type of teacher many of us hope to be and would be lucky to have as learners! We look forward to continuing to work with David as both a member of the ASSETT Innovation Incubator Student Success team and as an avid participant in all of ASSETT’s offerings!

Note: If you are interested in exploring any of the teaching strategies and technologies mentioned in this article, please reach out to us at ASSETT@colorado.edu for a consultation.

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Faculty Fellows Project Enhances Online Arabic Courses

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 19:08:42 +0000

Faculty Fellows Project Enhances Online Arabic Courses Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/16/2020 - 12:08

Sara Myers

Mona Attwa's Qahwa Arabi platform makes learning accessible and appealing for remote students

Mona Attwa, an Arabic instructor in the Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, for realizing a long-time goal with the production of the online platform Qahwa Arabi. The platform went live on August 23. Mona sought ASSETT’s support for the project as a member of the 2019-2020 Faculty Fellows cohort.

The platform is intended to mimic the casual atmosphere of a coffee shop, but in a digital environment. (Qahwa Arabi means “coffee shop” in Arabic.) Attwa describes it as “a space for students to feel comfortable with learning and being engaged with the [Arabic] language.” And this platform comes just in time as learning has moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Qahwa Arabi provides a more authentic way for students to engage with the Arabic language when learning remotely. Further, the platform allows for Arabic to become more accessible and appealing to a wider audience. For example, the platform incorporates many interactive features including audio recordings for proper pronunciation, videos demonstrating how to draw the letters, and flashcards that help students study, test their knowledge, and play matching games.

Attwa explains that the platform “provides supplementary materials to guide our teaching of Arabic at CU �鶹ӰԺ.” While it’s a big accomplishment to get this far, she is eager to expand the platform, which currently covers the first five weeks of the beginning Arabic course (ARAB 1010). Her eventual goal is to expand its coverage to the entire ten-week introductory curriculum as well as to other courses in the Arabic program. Attawa is also seeking feedback from her current students on how to make Qahwa Arabi even better.

Attwa was first inspired to create this resource in 2016 after attending a workshop focused on incorporating video into the classroom environment. It was then that she noticed a gap in technological resources. She realized that not all platforms are able to be adapted into the Arabic classroom due the nature of the language and script. It was upon this realization that she came up with the idea to develop her own platform on which Arabic instructors, like herself, can upload materials and enhance their courses to help students learn the language better.

Attwa was able to bring her concept into fruition by collaborating with web developers and graphic designers, thanks to support and funding provided by her partners at ASSETT, ALTEC, TechMark DS (a �鶹ӰԺ-based internet marketing service), and Aman Alchukr, who designed the logo and theme. She expressed her appreciation for her time as a Faculty Fellow, saying that she is grateful for the opportunity to learn from the other members of the program and that ASSETT helped her translate her ambitious ideas into concrete steps so that she could really push forward on this project.

ASSETT is proud to support dedicated faculty who seek to improve learning for our diverse student population. Amanda McAndrew, facilitator of the Faculty Fellows program, readily admits that she was skeptical that this project would come to fruition: “I just thought it would take too much money, but I am so excited to see all that Mona has accomplished. This is one of our top Faculty Fellows projects ever!”

Kudos to Mona Attwa on this accomplishment! We look forward to seeing future iterations of Qahwa Arabi.

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Congratulations to the Learning by Design Fall 2020 Cohort

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 21:38:23 +0000

Congratulations to the Learning by Design Fall 2020 Cohort Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/12/2020 - 15:38

ASSETT would like to recognize eight faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences who have been accepted to the Learning by Design program. During this unprecedented time of shifting classes to remote learning, life is quite hectic. Yet these faculty remain committed to improving their teaching practice and finding time to gather online to learn best practices in student-centered course design and active learning.

Please join us in congratulating these dedicated Learning by Design participants who were selected from a very competitive group of applicants:

Lisa Barlow, Sr Instructor, Baker RAP/Environmental Studies
Donata Giglio, Asst Professor, Atmospheric and Oceanic Studies
Kyle Luh, Asst Professor, Mathematics
Florencia Orosz, Visiting Asst Professor, Mathematics
Dennis Perepelitsa, Asst Professor, Physics
Julian Resasco, Asst Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Harrison Stalvey, Instructor, Mathematics
Colin West, Instructor, Physics

This program is available thanks to the efforts of Leilani Arthurs, Assistant Professor of Geological Sciences. She and her team were awarded a $2.3 million grant by the National Science Foundation to implement the Active Learning Academy (ALA), a series of three professional development programs. This series of programs is aimed at building capacity at CU �鶹ӰԺ for student-centered teaching in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses. Arthurs is the lead facilitator of the ALA, with Amanda McAndrew (ASSETT) and Janet Casagrand (Senior Instructor of Integrated Physiology and an ALA alum) in supporting roles.

The first in the ALA series is the Learning by Design program, which will be offered each fall semester for four years. This is a six-session program that meets every other week (dates to be determined based on applicants’ input). The primary goals of the Learning by Design program are to (a) introduce participants to research-based instructional strategies and course design principles that facilitate active learning in an undergraduate STEM course they teach or will teach and (b) cultivate a faculty learning community that together explores ways to apply active learning to their chosen courses. After the end of the fall semester, participants will have completed and submitted a teaching portfolio for their chosen course, which can be later used for reference in annual reviews, promotion, and tenure. Additionally, they will be awarded a $1000 stipend for their efforts.

Participants who complete the Learning by Design program will have the opportunity to continue their pursuit of teaching excellence in the other two ALA programs. The second in the ALA series is the Follow-Up Mentoring program, which will be offered each spring semester for four years. The third in the ALA series is the Course Re/Design Award program, which will be offered during the summer/fall period for three years.

For additional information about the Active Learning Academy and its programmatic offerings, please contact Amanda McAndrew, Leilani Arthurs, or Janet Casagrand.

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Lecture Capture Offers Far More Benefits than You Might Think

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 23:59:43 +0000

Lecture Capture Offers Far More Benefits than You Might Think Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/21/2020 - 17:59

Doris Cheung , Dave Benson , Nick Steinkamp , Brad Grabham

Students Are More Engaged, Confident

At first, Professor Janet Casagrand, Senior Instructor in the Department of Integrative Physiology, thought her recorded lectures would be helpful for students who needed to miss class. She had been meeting with them after the fact to share what they had missed and had good reason to think Classroom Capture might help improve her efficiency. While a small percentage of students did use the recordings to make up class, Janet was pleased to find many students who had attended class were also leveraging the recordings:

...so many students use it as a review tool, and they find it invaluable, and even if they’re fast forwarding through most of it, they like to be able to go back, check their notes, a particularly difficult concept--to listen to it again...

Fearing that students wouldn’t come to class if lecture recordings were available, Janet ran some statistics and didn’t see any drop in attendance. Wisely, she had incorporated active learning with clickers in her class to deter that possibility. It turns out that it’s not just the few who must miss class or request accommodation that are accessing the recordings. Classroom Capture enables all students to reinforce their learning:

When there were parts I would miss, it would allow me to go back and clarify. It helped me confirm the notes I had taken with what the professor actually said.

It helped me go back and review certain concepts and topics that were challenging the first time around.

There are many distractions in lecture (e.g., students on their phones, laptops, students talking) that can make it difficult to pay attention or hear everything in lecture. Lecture capture has allowed me to go back and review things that were missed, in an environment without distractions.

While Classroom Capture is just one of the technologies that can help students succeed, the Office of Information Technology (OIT) has been working hard and fast to launch two new services in preparation for remote teaching and learning this fall.

Teaching and Learning Effectively Through a Pandemic

During COVID-19, instructors will likely be teaching using a hybrid modality. Each of the following services has functionality to facilitate hybrid teaching and learning:

Classroom Capture Service with Zoom

Instructors should consider using the Classroom Capture Service for asynchronous recording in conjunction with Zoom for synchronous teaching to allow students who are not on campus to participate. (On-campus students can benefit by rewatching lectures if they should need to.) If you’ve already used Classroom Capture, you can reactivate previously-recorded lectures for use at a later date.

Personal Capture Service

Interested in recording lectures outside of the classroom? You can use OIT’s newest service, Personal Capture, which allows you to create high-quality videos, screencasts, and slideshows anytime, anywhere--like in the comfort and safety of your own home.

Like Classroom Capture, Personal Capture offers features like easy sharing and distribution as well as viewing analytics for instructors, dynamic picture-in-picture playback and searchable content for students.

Remote-Capable Classrooms with Zoom

To help accommodate the need for hybrid teaching and learning, up to 350 additional classrooms are being converted to Remote-Capable Classrooms (RCC) this summer, which allow for in-person, real-time remote participation in conjunction with Zoom. The RCC Service provides instructors with a simple technology solution, a Crestron Mercury X system, that enables the simultaneous delivery of lectures to students that are physically in the classroom as well as students learning remotely. Please note, this system must be used with a BYOD ("bring your own device") laptop to facilitate the Zoom (synchronous) session.

A full list of hybrid-capable classrooms can be found on the Hybrid-Capable Classrooms List.

Teaching will certainly have its challenges this fall, but with these OIT services, instructors have access to technologies that can help make their students’ experience the best it can be.

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