Many graduate students don’t realize that they can take advantage of ASSETT’s suite of services, but they can! Take for example Tyler Denton, a PhD candidate in classics. In fall 2018, Tyler took advantage of two of ASSETT’s services: the Technology Integration Program and the Visualizing Instructional Practices (VIP) Service.

The Technology Integration Program seeks to partner with instructional faculty (anyone teaching at CU, graduate students included) to incorporate new technologies into their classes by pairing them with tech-savvy undergraduates, called Student Technology Consultants (STCs). The STCs meet with faculty to discuss their needs and to suggest possible technologies. They often provide an in-class demonstration and offer out-of-class support to students. In recent semesters, STCs have supported technologies like WordPress for blogging, Audacity for podcasting, and Adobe Premiere for video editing.

Tyler was interested in using a classroom response system in his Latin class in order to give his students the chance to participate in various ways. It was also important that the technology minimized downtime during class and didn’t require any extra costs. He worked with Senior STC Austin Chau, who after learning about Tyler’s goals, showed him several apps, including Plickers and Kahoot!, which Tyler ultimately decided to adopt in his class.

The Visualizing Instructional Practices Service, on the other hand, provides course instructors with data about what’s happening during their classes. STCs observe three different class sessions and use iPads to collect information in two-minute intervals. There are several different protocols available, but Tyler requested COPUS (Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM), which tracks what students and the instructor are doing, and BERI (Behavioral Engagement Related to Instruction), which tracks student engagement.

The VIP Service requires very little extra time or work from faculty, who only need to request the observation and then teach as usual. ASSETT offers an optional post-consultation to go over the report and visuals from the observations. Tyler describes the VIP process as “entirely painless,” pointing to the minimal paperwork required as one of the service’s biggest selling points. He opted for a consultation and was pleased by the data because it was “digestible, useful and simple.” He found the VIP Service so valuable that he’s helping ASSETT pilot two new protocols this semester.

Tyler’s experience was positive and he encourages other graduate students to “take advantage of these services early in their academic career.” For more information, or email ASSETT@colorado.edu.

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During the spring 2019 semester, the Visualizing Instructional Practices service will pilot the , which places greater emphasis on instructional technology and pedagogical strategies.

Housed at the , TDOP can be used to "produce robust and nuanced depictions of the dynamics that unfold among teachers, students, and technologies in the classroom."  It has been extensively field-tested and informed by scholarly research, and it is currently used by over 300 researchers, program evaluators, and professional developers to create detailed descriptions of what happens inside classrooms. TDOP captures real-time variations in classroom dynamics, addresses multiple dimensions of teaching, and documents more finely grained descriptors of teaching activities as compared to other observational protocols. The data collected can be used to document teaching practices, provide formative feedback for peer mentoring or self-evaluation, and evaluate the effects of instructional interventions, among other applications.

For more information, contact Shane Schwikert, ASSETT’s Educational Technology Researcher, or submit the  to schedule an observation.

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