Online

In Spring 2017, I will be implementing an updated orientation process for students to learn the MathAS system (the LMS we use in Math) and get oriented in the course including:  navigating in MathAS, syllabus, netiquette, time management, and learning styles.  This is all done in MathAS rather than Canvas.  I will track the number of students that are withdrawn from the course for not completing the orientation and compare that to previous semesters in other online courses.  I will also track the success of the students in the course (end course grade) compared to comple

For the on-line (SPA 117) course, students are required to submit a video recording of a role-playing situation for each of the course modules.  In the video recording students use the target language in order to complete meaningful tasks they will counter in the real world as health care professionals.  These task based role playing activities will assess verbal and nonverbal communication skills, mostly the students’ grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, and speaking capacities learned in each module.

Quizlet is a free online tool for students, teachers, and learners of all ages that can be used in a classroom or on your own. It helps create virtual flash cards to study vocabulary and phrases of a language of choice. GER101 and 102 incorporated several sets of flash cards through Quizlet to help students learn new vocabulary. Each set offers several different sudy mode types: from spelling, matching, learning and testing to interactive games.

In fall 2017, I piloted the use of single-point rubrics for certain assignements in my online ENH 245 class. Typically, a single-point rubric provides the criteria for proficiency,  and then allows for feedback for how a student exceeded or failed to achieve proficiency in given areas, the goal being that the "undefined advanced column" places no limits on how students might stretch themselves" (Gonzalez, 2014).

As effective teachers, we must recognize that students are gifted with a variety of intelligences.  In fact, Dr. Howard Gardner has identified eight distinct intelligences.  Unfortunately, all too often we structure our formal assessments to allow for students to utilize very few of these intelligences in assessing student learning.  The following experiment will allow for the comparison of multiple forms of intelligence in formative assessment. 

In our Introduction to Education course, one of our major topics is ethical behavior by teachers. Materials covered include some reading materials on ethical behavior, the National Education Association teacher ethics, and a voice-over Ppt covering the topic. The follow up assessment is a series of situations, all of which have occurred in local K-12 education settings, to which the students must describe the correct ethical pathway to take. Scores on this assignment averaged at 77%. This was disappointing, especially considering the serious nature of the topic.

The SLPA program is somewhat unique given we are teaching clinical courses in an online format.  It can be difficult to demonstrate disorders and treatment without hands-on learning opportunities.  In order to address the need for examples of disorders and interventions to students, we have included a variety of videos and recorded lectures.  One of the speech sounds I cover in my SLP 214 course is the /r/.  The /r/ sound is one of the most common speech errors children see speech therapists for.

The problem:  Some students have been misinterpreting my instructions for class assignments with multiple steps.  With two multiple stepped assignments, on average 6 out of 31 students missed a concept. 

The process:  Peer groups consisted of 4 students.  After groups were given instructions for the assignment, peers repeated the instructions to their group. Afterwards, each group (8 tables) had to summarize and rewrite the instructions on a mini white board. 

*Not being one to explicitly tell students to place their electronic devices away, I wanted to see if I could not only do that (that is, have them put them away) but also assess their basal understanding of communication concepts within COM 225, public speaking.  

All too often, online courses require essay after essay and quiz after quiz. This CATS spices up the curriculum by including a variety of innovative, technology-driven assignments that are sure to engage students while also providing solid checks for content mastery. Student created videos, interactive discussions using video media, PowerPoints, Prezys, STAR quality magazine tutorials, visually-appealing brochures, and more are included as alternative assessments that are sure to spice up the class and the content!

While attending the League for Innovation Learning Summit, I was struck by a keynote address by Rachel Fulcher-Dawson of Notre Dame & Corinne Weaver of Catholic Charities in Fort Worth, Texas. They shared the results of a partnership entitled "Stay the Course" in Fort Worth at Tarrant County Community College. The program is a planned intervention for low-income students. In structuring the study four main reasons for student drop-out were:

In EED 280 - Standards, Observation, and Assessment of Typical/Atypical Behaviors of Young Children Birth to Age Eight, in Module 5 of the course, students create and present a 5-8 slide PowerPoint presentation based on their analysis of the Module's readings which include articles and other texts.

Cross cultural psychology (Psy 132), is an introductory course which examines human diversity in behavior and culture using examples from a variety of contexts within western and global societies. This is a popular course among non-psychology majors, based primarily on its “Big 3”General Education designation: Cultural Diversity, Global Awareness, and Social and Behavioral Sciences.

For this CATS I explored how a Kahoot could help students be successful in studying for exams. I gave a traditional review session for Exam 2 (give students terms and tell them to define the terms and give examples for each of the terms in groups), and then for Exam 3 I did a Kahoot review session. Kahoot is an online polling tool where students can compete with one another to answer review questions and get to follow along with their progress as they go through the review session.

For this CATS, I wanted to look at if there is any difference in test scores between students who quickly complete an online study tool prior to the exam and students who take hours or days to complete the same study tool. I gave my introductory Psychology students over a week to complete the online study tool (a Collaborate Learning Unit or “CLU,” name courtesy of Dr. Coleman) for each exam (data from 3 exams included in this analysis) and categorized them based on if they took less than an hour, from an hour to a day or more than one day to complete the study tool.