Art 351.27 Art for Urban Populations: A Course That Explores Implications of Race, Class, and Gender Within the Visual Image

Judith Briggs, School of Art

Additional Materials

Art for Urban Populations: Spring 2009
Suggested Reading

This session will present one instructor’s multi-faceted efforts to encourage ISU students to deconstruct media constructions of race, class, and gender. Pre-service elementary and art educators, along with studio students, engaged in frank, if uncomfortable, reflections on the meaning of whiteness within the United States. By reviewing artists’ work, reading critics’ commentaries, and engaging in best practice, students then translated this discussion into studio art and lesson plans for K-12 classrooms. A community service element of the course that involved teaching art lessons to Boys and Girls Club members allowed ISU students to put theory into practice while enabling these participants to reflect upon their actions and the children’s reactions. A field trip in the Chicago Public Schools, a visit to Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, attendance at the Field Museum’s Aztec Exhibition, and a tour of Chicago’s murals with the Chicago Public Art Group helped students equate art making with history and public activism. ISU visiting artist, Eric Garcia, further equated art making and teaching with social justice activists’ efforts to question popular media images and historical mythologies.

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Assessing Autonomous Learning: Creating the Student Readiness Scale

Cara Rabe-Hemp, Criminal Justice Sciences; Susan Woollen, Criminal Justice Sciences; L Edward Wells, Criminal Justice Sciences

In an effort to bolster student comfort with self-directed learning in distance education classes, a scale was created through the cultivation of the literature on autonomous and online learning and tested with approximately 300 students. This session will explore the potential of this scale to assess students’ abilities to learn autonomously, impact students’ expectations of the online learning environment early in the educational process, and increase the opportunities for students to be self-aware and reflective about their learning processes and expectations. This potential makes the scale an exciting tool for faculty who want to gauge the readiness of a student to learn autonomously in an online learning environment.

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Assessing Learning Preferences with Gregorc Learning Style Delineator

Patrick O’Rourke, Agriculture; Richard W. Steffen, Agriculture; Aslihan D. Spaulding, Agriculture

There are several learning style theories and learning style assessments that provide a basis for examining the efficacy of alternative delivery methods for learning experiences in the classroom. These theories often are based on complex interactions of decision making, cognitive process, and student attempts to make sense of the world. The Gregorc Learning Style Delineator (GSD) self assessment process advocated by Anthony Gregorc utilizes a two-axis model to assess an individual’s learning preferences (Gregorc, 1982). These two axes’ are based on the idea of concreteness versus abstraction and randomization versus sequential learning. The Gregorc GSD gives us a tool to assess learning styles and to determine, for the student, what style of learning is most beneficial when using a Web-based agribusiness management simulation. In this session, the presenter(s) will discuss their use of the GSD in an effort to discover any relationship between learning styles and use of a Web-based agribusiness management simulation in an undergraduate class at ISU.

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Case Studies as a Signature Pedagogy in Educational Leadership

Dianne Gardener, Education Administration and Foundations; Neil Sappington, Education Administration and Foundations; Joe Pacha, Education Administration and Foundations; Mohamed Nur-Awaleh, Education Administration and Foundations

In this session, a panel will use a dialogic format that includes session participants in an exploration of the use of case studies and the notion of a “signature pedagogy” in three core courses in educational leadership preparation for PK-12 and higher education. Two colleagues will present the results of three years of empirical study that examine in detail how master’s candidates in a principalship course used action research case studies to learn about the complexity of the job to which they aspire. Researchers found that the case study enabled students to look at their daily work in fresh ways, making the challenges of school leadership and strategies for addressing them the authentic work of the course. Similarly, two faculty will share how a student cohort approached a “ripped from the headlines” case study and how this contributed to student learning in two blended courses in higher education leadership. The courses use case studies in interactive formats to teach about organizational governance in colleges and universities.

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Does Practice Make Perfect?

Mary Elaine Califf, School of Information Technology

Beginning programming courses are traditionally very difficult with low success rates, even among students willing to work hard. Our project aimed to improve student success in our beginning programming course by taking inspiration from math courses and developing practice problem sets and short quizzes based on the problems from the set. These problems provide students with more and simpler practice opportunities than the labs and programs in the course can, and they are also intended to help students understand the required readings. The course was taught using the problem sets for the first time in Fall, 2008, and students were asked to report on their use of the problem sets throughout the semester. They also filled out a survey regarding problem set use and satisfaction at the end of the semester. In this presentation we will present the findings and discuss the effectiveness of the problem sets. This project was completed with Mary Goodwin, also from the School of Information Technology and was supported by a CTLT Teaching and Learning Development Grant.

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Examining the Relationship between Teacher Immediacy, Classroom Context, and Academic Dishonesty

Jeffrey Walsh, Criminal Justice Sciences; Jessie L. Krienert, Criminal Justice Sciences

There is general consensus across the empirical literature that academic dishonesty is pervasive, problematic, and quite possibly the least openly discussed crisis in higher education. Very little work has been done examining the influence of teacher’s behavior on academic dishonesty, a possibly important consideration given that teachers both create and control the classroom environment where most cheating occurs. This session will present a study funded by a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) grant that explores the nexus between teacher immediacy— favorable verbal and nonverbal cues exhibited by teachers to enhance closeness with students—and academic dishonesty. Aspects of classroom context such as class size and setting are also examined.

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Holistic Classroom Management for Diverse Learners: Exploring the Efficacy of an Instructional DVD Program

Maureen Angell, Special Education; Brent Simonds, School of Communication; Lance Lippert, School of Communication; Steve Hunt, School of Communication

Based on a needs assessment that revealed pre-service teachers’ concerns about classroom management, our team conceptualized a model of holistic classroom management for diverse learners and produced a DVD and instructional training program designed to address those concerns. The team then proceeded to train instructors in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (C&I) in the use of the program and administered a pre-intervention assessment of pre-service teachers in these instructors’ courses. A post-intervention assessment was administered at the end of each semester in which C&I instructors used the program. This session will introduce the Collaborative Classroom Management DVD, provide initial program assessment results, and offer an overview of best practices in classroom management useful to all instructors at ISU. The DVD and accompanying Quick Start Guide are available for use by Illinois State University faculty.

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Preventing Language Disorders for At-Risk Preschool Children: Developing a Language-Based Preschool Program

Jennifer Friberg, Communication Sciences and Disorders; Heidi Harbers, Communication Sciences and Disorders; Heidi Verticchio, Communication Sciences and Disorders; Cara Boester, Communication Sciences and Disorders

In the spring of 2009, a pilot language-based preschool program was established at the Home Sweet Home Mission (HSHM) in Normal to serve preschool children (ages 2-5) determined to be at-risk for developing language disorders. This program was developed by faculty from the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and was implemented by graduate students from the same department as an external clinical placement. This presentation will focus on the process of implementing the preschool language program, student perceptions of their clinical experiences, and outcomes from the project that informed changes in the implementation of this project in the fall semester of 2009.

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Sustainable Teaching in General Education: Critical Inquiry in English 101, Com 110, and Milner Library

John Hooker, School of Communication; Joyce Walker, English; Nancy McKinney, English; Jennifer Sharkey, Milner Library

In this session, representatives from the 3 critical inquiry units on campus will share their efforts to promote sustainability in teaching resources. Milner Library is piloting and implementing numerous initiatives to move from traditional methodologies of teaching and learning to an online environment. The ISU Writing Program is developing resources for sustainable teaching that include a new Center for Writing Pedagogies and Research space, Writing@133, as well as a range of digital, print-based, and multimodal resources for studying writing practices and for composing. The Communication As Critical Inquiry program has created a Blackboard space containing resources for teachers.

Building Social Capital to Foster the Development of New Nursing Professionals

Sheryl Jenkins, Mennonite College of Nursing

Mennonite College of Nursing (MCN) students consistently show less satisfaction with their classmates in relation to camaraderie, civility, and ability to work in groups than with other aspects of the program. Additionally, faculty note a degree of incivility in interactions among students and between students and faculty. These findings have raised concerns about our graduates’ development of collaboration skills. This presentation will describe an innovative project designed to explore the dimensions of student dissatisfaction with classmates and incivility to others and then develop strategies to build social capital. The project involves a group of ten senior MCN student leaders who are serving as researchers/change agents. Potential benefits of the study include fostering open inquiry, building social capital, and improving students’ collaboration skills.

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Career Fairs: Sustaining Students, Graduates, and (Even) Faculty

Michael Sublett, Geography-Geology; Jill Freund Thomas, Geography-Geology; Leah Owens Sweeney, McLean County Information Technologies

Campus career events make sense. Whether they occupy a few hours or an entire week, they bring career specialists together with career novices (and faculty) to share ideas about what awaits students out there in the working world. The Geography Career Fair at Illinois State began in 1990 and just celebrated its 20th anniversary. Since its inception, the Fair has included guest panels in the morning, a departmental luncheon, and guest tables in the afternoon. Today we offer insights from the two faculty members who created and continue to manage the Fair and from a former student who returned later as a Fair guest. We begin with issues of program creation and oversight. Next we discuss the logistics of making such a Fair happen, from graphics to volunteers to meals to giveaways. Finally, our Geography graduate provides student and guest perspectives, as a representative of the thousand plus students and nearly two hundred guests who have taken part in the Fair over the past two decades. We believe that what has worked in our circumstance is transferable to other programs at Illinois State.

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Creating Virtual Learning Environments for Students Learning Anatomy

Jamie Perry, Communication Science and Disorders; Danielle Cunningham, Communication Science and Disorders

A major drawback to learning anatomy and physiology using 3D technology is that students lose a sense of realism and cannot appreciate the textures and layering of the anatomy within the body. These are details that are best observed through cadaver dissection (Perry & Kuehn, 2006). However, it is becoming more difficult to use cadavers in the classroom due to the increased costs of maintaining the lab, a shortage of whole body donations, and large classroom sizes (Perry & Kuehn, 2006). In this session, I will present a project designed to create a virtual laboratory experience for undergraduate students enrolled in Anatomy and Physiology of the Speech and Respiratory Mechanism (CSD 155). The goal of this project was to combine cadaver dissection and 3D anatomy to create a virtual laboratory. Feedback was elicited from 40 students who have completed the anatomy course. Qualitative results will be discussed.

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Heroic Sustainability: Alexander Pope’s 3D Vision for a Pedagogy of Revision

Katherine Ellison, English

The heroic couplets of eighteenth-century poet Alexander Pope reflect his ecocritical aesthetic at the same time that they reveal his ambivalences about living and writing green. Beginning students of poetry and writing, however, have difficulty first appreciating that Pope’s poetry is a struggle with what it means to be ecocritical and, second, recognizing that their own composition practices in writing reflect cultural ecological impatience. Building 3D historical gardens in virtual reality taught students Pope’s aesthetic and fostered understanding of ecocritical living as sustained revision. In my presentation, I will examine the limitations of current approaches to teaching Pope’s ecocritical ambivalence, such as poetic imitation exercises, and argue that a three-dimensional, multimedia assignment in virtual reality allows students to experience more effectively how Pope’s poetry reflects an ecological aesthetic often in conflict with itself. In addition to providing one pedagogical model for teaching the poetics of sustainability using virtual reality, these findings are also useful for thinking about how new technologies like virtual reality platforms can bring sustainability to our teaching – can inspire in us new energy, creativity, and perspectives on topics we have perhaps taught a hundred times or that have, in my case, been taught for hundreds of years.

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Presenting the New Civic Engagement and Responsibility Minor

Lance Lippert, School of Communication; Frank Beck, Stevenson Center; Jennifer Silva McDade, School of Communication; Steve Hunt, School of Communication; Kathren Sammis, Graduate Student, School of Communication

In teaching civic engagement at Illinois State University, we strive to develop civically responsible individuals who embrace their membership in communities and society by owning social issues and working to be a part of the solution. This requires ethical and civic judgments as well as appropriate actions. Illinois State University’s values are at the core of the new Civic Engagement and Responsibility minor. Students will prepare to participate in social change as well as develop an awareness of personal social responsibility. This American Democracy Project initiative is intended to prepare students to engage actively in their citizenship. The interdisciplinary minor is open to all students of any ideological viewpoint and can be positively matched with any major as a way to broaden the student’s learning experience and career perspectives. This panel will describe 1) the curriculum including pedagogical choices and courses, 2) faculty resources including course reinvents, enhancement, and training grants and scholarships, and 3) potential multidisciplinary opportunities and programmatic partnerships. The panelists will provide an introductory overview of the process and content followed by conversation with attendees regarding implementation of the new minor.

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Problem-Based Learning Through the Use of Clickers

George Byrns, Health Sciences

Additional Materials

Problem-Based Learning Through the Use of Clickers

Effective teaching is teaching that engages students to the fullest possible extent. Certain teaching strategies such as the traditional lecture format may be less effective due to poor student attendance, low participation, and lack of immediate feedback. Other approaches such as problem-based learning (PBL) may be more effective because they avoid these shortcomings. PBL is a strategy in which students are arranged in groups, given an important problem and asked to identify a solution. The problems can range from simple, one-paragraph scenarios to detailed, 30-page investigations of complex issues. Like PBL, clickers (student response technology) also offer a means of encouraging student engagement. A series of questions can be displayed on a screen using PowerPoint or another program, and student responses are captured by the classroom receiver. Results can then be immediately displayed for discussion and later entered into a grade book. Student engagement is encouraged because students can earn points for getting the correct answer or for simply participating. This presentation will describe the combined use of these two pedagogical techniques—PBL and clickers—as a means of enhancing student engagement.

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(Re)Defining Genre and Assessment in the Creative Writing Classroom: Encouraging Innovation through Collaboration and Decategorization

Jane Carmen, English; Steve Halle, English; J. Holms Troelstrup; Kathleen Miller, English

For writers, genre is used to distinguish between modes of literature and ways of creating. Genre lines can be so strong that students and instructors often resist crossing those boundaries, an act that stifles creativity. Even when student writers utilize alternate genres, they often experience an uneasiness that can lead to anxiety and a quick return to the familiar, the fear of failure threatening both their writing and their success in the course. Collaborating with students to determine exactly which genres and sub-genres each class member is most comfortable with can help students discover ways of thinking/writing in new/redefined genres. Additionally, instructors and students can work together to explore ways of creating content that blurs genre lines, as well as generating multi-genre texts that construct a space of coexistence where old divisions begin to break down or acquire new meaning. Just as a fear of failure can inhibit creativity, concerns about assessment can inhibit innovation. In a classroom setting, especially, assessment looms over the process of experimentation. However, assessment as a result of collaboration in an open, blurred- or multi-genre classroom allows for the invention of spaces and incentives that encourage rather than discourage higher creativity. In this session, we will explore the ways that breaking down existing categories and modes of assessment through collaboration creates strong communities of learners.

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Student-Centered Learning in Sustainable Label Development Research

Yoon Jin Ma, Family and Consumer Science; Hae Jin Gam, Family and Consumer Science

Additional Materials

Student-Centered Learning

The apparel industry poses many potential problems for the environment, but consumer interest in environmentally friendly products has increased as social and environmental concerns have grown. Green labels for textile and apparel products can facilitate consumer efforts to make environmentally responsible purchasing decisions. In Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 semesters, two faculty members in the Apparel Merchandising and Design sequence (AMD) worked with undergraduate and graduate students in AMD to research and develop a consumer friendly, informative label for textile and apparel products. This project benefits students by making them more knowledgeable and environmentally-conscious consumers and industry professionals. It also provides students with a competitive advantage in the workforce, as many companies work to initiate sustainable practices. In this session, we will present the research process, the results of the focus group discussions, and the label design procedures.

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Transforming a Fashion History Course through Team-Based Learning

Jennifer Banning, Family and Consumer Sciences

Additional Materials

Transforming a Fashion History Course through Team-Based Learning

In this session, the presenter will report on efforts to re-design a traditional lecture-style fashion history course (FCS 361) that relied primarily on unit exams for assessment through the use of a Team-Based Learning (TBL) approach, which incorporates authentic tasks as the primary assessment tools. Students in the traditionally designed course were struggling with objective tests and failing to apply course concepts in a meaningful way; thus, the goal of the re-design was to more deeply engage students in understanding and applying important concepts. TBL was introduced as a way to help students see the real-world applications for the course, while also increasing engagement and encouraging higher performance. Under the TBL model, students complete text readings, study guides, quizzes, two projects, and the final exam on their own. Assignments completed in class as teams include quizzes and projects that apply material that was read prior to class. This presentation will describe how TBL is used, the rewards and challenges of TBL, and student perceptions of TBL. Session participants will learn how to incorporate TBL into their own classes.

A Descriptive, Longitudinal Study of Sociology Majors: The Development of the Sociological Imagination, Identity, Engagement, and Autonomy

Kathleen McKinney, Cross Chair for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Additional Materials

A Descriptive, Longitudinal Study of Sociology Majors: Lessons Learned about Learning, Our Majors, and Doing SoTL Work

In this presentation, we report on a longitudinal, multi-method descriptive study of a subgroup (N = 18) of one cohort of sociology majors at ISU. We followed these students through their careers as majors from the first to the last required major course. The main objective of this study was to describe the students’ development of identity as sociologists, their ability to use their sociological imaginations, their engagement with the discipline of sociology, and their sense of being autonomous learners. Thus, sociological ideas and theory related to socialization and identity formation are relevant to this study. Several interesting findings and issues related to conducting SoTL work of this type will be discussed.

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Budget 101: Making Sense of the University Budget Process

Mardell Wilson, Office of the Provost; Barb Blake, Finance and Planning

The university budget is a complex system. Difficult economic times oftentimes prompts additional concerns and confusion. Developing a basic knowledge regarding the guidelines and principles related to the budget processes can help to better inform the entire campus community. Join us as we outline the budget process at Illinois State University and share aspects important to everyone. We will work to keep it simple, informative, and fun. Yes, budgets can be fun!

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Decreasing the “Campus to Career” Learning Curve

Beverly Barham, Health Sciences

In the field of clinical laboratory science, it is imperative for both professional practice students and new graduates to “hit the floor running” with the skills to multi-task. However, a steep learning curve can exist for students transitioning from a campus environment to a professional one. Students may first experience this curve during the professional practice experience or as new graduates. This presentation will introduce the methods we use to help students develop the skills they need to multi-task efficiently and be better prepared to meet the demands of a fast-paced professional environment as both professional practice students and alumni.

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ISU's Second Life Campus: Explore the Virtual Opportunities!

Mayuko Nakamura, Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology; Bill Shields, Geography & Geology; Brian Beam, University Marketing & Communication

In this session, we will introduce you to the ISU Second Life campus. Second Life is a virtual reality environment where people can interact with others through avatars and create virtual buildings and objects. Many educational institutions such as Harvard University and the University of Texas system have created their campuses on this virtual environment. In Fall 2009, with financial support from the ISU Foundation, we purchased virtual space to build a re-creation of the ISU Quad as well as instructional areas. We also started piloting several instructional projects. In Spring 2010, virtual classrooms, a lecture hall, office spaces, and meeting rooms will be available for all ISU faculty to use for instructional purposes. Additionally, ISU faculty may request assistance in creating simulated environments and projects. Join us for this interactive presentation and tour of ISU Second Life campus! Through a variety of examples and demonstrations of on-going projects, you will learn how you can take advantage of this virtual space, what instructional opportunities this space may provide and what resources and support are available to the instructors.

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Re-Visioning the Research Paper: Theses, Trajectories, Technologies

Amy Magnafichi Lucas, English; Gina Cooke, English; Ryan Clark, English

Scholarly research and “the research paper” have been traditional mainstays of university study. But is the research paper, conceived in its traditional linear, black-and-white, textual mode, the goal of modern-day research for students? Is it the best mode for instructors to gauge and extend student learning? This panel will discuss the possibility of breaking the research paper mode into the realm of the researched project by implementing approaches to theses, trajectories and technologies. How does a wandering thesis reflect the research process, and what are the potential benefits of such an approach? Can student research projects have audience and movement beyond the instructor and beyond the classroom? How can the seemingly endless uses of technology shape and be shaped by the context of the research project? These considerations can help students and faculty alike to re-vision and re-purpose research into sustainable activities for a future within and beyond the university.

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Sustainable Outreach Efforts: How CeMaST Helps Stimulate Projects While Avoiding Faculty/Staff Burnout

Amy Bloom, Geography - Geology

Being the sole champion of an on-going activity or project is physically and emotionally draining. Over the past year, the Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology (CeMaST) has identified several projects that ISU is uniquely able to provide, but each of these rested squarely on the shoulders of individuals who were working alone in an effort to sustain them. Now, with some support from CeMaST, these projects have developed a new life. Bugs for Kids, the American Chemical Society (ACS) High School Chemistry Exam Contest, the Urban STEM-Ed Initiative, the Journal of Physics Teacher Education Online, and the Illinois Journal of Technology Education are examples of projects we have supported and helped to revitalize. In this session we'll tell you about these projects, and perhaps attendees will have others that they would like to identify.

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Sustainable Research and Assessment Using Online Survey Tools

Sarah Walczynski, College of Arts and Sciences; Jonathan Laird, University Assessment

Going paperless in data gathering has been a giant leap forward in not only the logistics of reaching out to people but also in the ability to more easily share information, repurpose data, and repeat studies over time. In this session a specialist from technology training and a specialist from assessment will discuss the ins and outs of using an online survey/questionnaire/form tool. Topics covered will include where to start when developing an online instrument, protocols for security & ethics, recommendations on how to contact participants, security, and tips for usability.

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Virtual Public Relations World: An Introduction to PR Practice

Peter Smudde, School of Communication

Additional Materials

Toward a Virtual Public Relations World: An Introduction to PR Practice - Presentation
Toward a Virtual Public Relations World: An Introduction to PR Practice - Paper

When students want to experience real world public relations, they may not have to wait until they secure an internship. I am working on a project that uses Second Life to create a first-of-its-kind virtual world in which students could explore public relations thinking, decision-making, and consequences in an online, scenario-based, problem-solving learning environment. The ultimate outcome of this project would be a virtual public relations world that allows students to explore the “real world” demands of PR professionals. This project is supported by a CTLT Instructional Virtual Reality Development Initiative Grant.

Education and the Diffusion of Responsibility: Social Justice as Pedagogy

Pamela Twyman Hoff, Education Administration and Foundations; Venus Evans-Winters, Education Administration and Foundations; Mohamed Nur-Awaleh, Education Administration and Foundations; Isaura Pulido, Education Administration and Foundations

In the wake of the Obama presidency the nation has experienced a revitalized interest in social justice issues that are back-dropped against continual perceptions that this country has entered into a “raceless society.” Indicative of this contradiction, issues of normalcy, superiority, and privilege have re-emerged as interlocking concepts. The pervasiveness of these concepts in public discourse is confounded by the historical perceptions of the “other” and, therefore, this necessitates the development and utilization of pedagogical strategies which prepare students to conceptually apprehend the complexities of living in a diverse society (Nagda 2003). Faculty committed to education for social justice are challenged and invigorated to develop innovative pedagogical techniques and strategies that are developmentally appropriate and community-minded (Goodman 2001, Brown 2004, Zeichner 2009). Social justice in education is a dynamic concept that hinges on mutual agreement, respect, recognition, and equity while also negotiating issues of race, class, gender, ability, and sexuality. The fundamental purpose of social justice pedagogy is to illuminate these possible tensions to bringing about a deeper understanding and resolution for individual and societal well-being (Griffiths 200). In this session, panelists from EAF will share pedagogical strategies drawn from critical, developmental, and transformative learning theories in an effort to diffuse responsibility in the pursuit of a just community.

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How We Spent Our Summer Vacation in 2009

Claire Lamonica, Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology; Doug Schwalm, Economics; Marie Nebel-Schwalm, Psychology; Melissa Christofero, Clinical Experiences

How did you spend your summer vacation in 2009? The presenters in this session made the most of their summer “break” by attending the Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology’s “Design Your Course” workshop. Created with early-career faculty in mind, the workshop used a model developed by L. Dee Fink (Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses) to guide a dozen participants through the process of creating new courses from scratch. In this panel presentation, a tenure track faculty member from Economics, a non-tenure track faculty member from Psychology, and a staff member from the College of Education Office of Clinical Experiences will reflect on their participation in the workshop and discuss how it changed—or not—their approaches to teaching and learning.

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Questions, Composing, and Conversation

Janice Neuleib, English

Additional Materials

Active Learning, Engaged Teaching (Word)

Problem: You pose an evocative question and the students sit there and stare, waiting for you to break the silence by answering it yourself. Solution: Begin class with an evocative question, ask students to write for five minutes, then provide a few more minutes for feedback. Together, these activities lock in learning. This session will demonstrate methods of developing class questions and responding to five minute writing sessions. Participants will receive sample questions and materials for developing their own questions. The session itself will be active and participatory.

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Sustaining Learning Through Guided Notes

Jean Sawyer, Communication Sciences and Disorders

Guided notes provide students with cues (for example, blank lines or grids) to record key points of a lecture or class activity. In addition to supporting students in the learning process by giving them a structure for note-taking, guided notes also allow students more time to listen and participate. The presenters in this session will show how they implemented guided note taking in three graduate and undergraduate courses in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Two of these courses had been taught previously in more traditional ways, using PowerPoint notes, and one was a new course. The professors examined the efficacy of guided notes by looking at exam grades from courses taught traditionally and those with guided notes. Additionally, students completed a brief survey related to their overall impression of guided notes as a teaching and learning tool. The presenters will examine the efficacy of this teaching method by sharing student performance data in past and current courses and results of the student surveys.

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The Importance of Motion Pictures as Instructional Resources to Challenge, Engage, AND Sustain Students’ Classroom Engagement

Tim McKenna, School of Communication; Daniel Almanza, School of Communication; Melissa Kampa, School of Communication; Sarah Franzen, School of Communication

This panel will feature a discussion that will allow participants to share their own experiences using motion pictures as instructional resources. The audience will view several video clips, and time will be allotted for a discussion of the importance of using the medium of motion pictures to invite, challenge, and sustain classroom engagement. This panel will not only provide several examples for teachers to employ in their own classrooms, but will also begin a discussion of how to best use these resources to benefit classroom discussion, lecture, and application. It will focus on the integration of motion pictures into discussions about: civic and political engagement, critical thinking, and interpersonal communication and will be applicable to a variety of disciplines.

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The Processes and Products of SoTL Research

Phyllis McCluskey-Titus, Educational Administration and Foundations; Patricia Jarvis, Psychology; Maria Moore, Communication; Kathleen McKinney

Studies of teaching and learning must be made public beyond ISU in order to be considered scholarship and have greater impact. Are you hesitant to do SoTL research because you are unsure of what products might come from it? Do you have a SoTL research idea, but are not sure how to carry out the project? Are you looking for ideas about how and where you could make your SoTL research project public? This panel session will highlight SoTL research and the interesting products of the research conducted by your ISU colleagues. Come hear about developing/submitting a book proposal on SoTL research, developing a sabbatical around a SoTL project, making a video presentation about a SoTL study, and the various peer-reviewed outlets for SoTL research. Information will also be available on IRB issues and tips on publishing SoTL work.

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Urban Teacher Preparation at Illinois State University: Past, Present and Future Directions

Robert Lee, College of Education; Gary Creasey, Psychology; Deborah Curtis, College of Education

Additional Materials

Urban Teacher Preparation at Illinois State University: Past, Current and Future Directions

Although it is evident that underserviced urban schools need more highly qualified teachers, training pre-service teachers to work effectively in such settings presents special challenges. To address this concern, an Urban Teacher Preparation (UTP) Initiative has been developed by a group of faculty at Illinois State University. The initiative provides important course work, clinical experiences and extracurricular opportunities to better prepare students to work in urban high need schools. The purpose of this panel is to provide an overview of this important initiative by presenting the past, current and future direction of the effort. The panel discussion will focus on a brief history of UTP at ISU, mechanisms to recruit pre-college students to join this initiative, and opportunities that provide faculty with the professional development and resources they need to re-design courses and better prepare pre-service teachers for work in an urban context. The panel session will culminate in a discussion of the recently awarded TEACHER + PLUS grant funded by the US Department of Education and how this 5 year project will affect the future of the UTP Initiative and enhance our ability to assess the sustainability of learning as former ISU students begin their teaching careers in urban school settings.

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Transforming Learning: From Classroom to Community

Amy Secretan, Communication; Michael Storr, Communication; Lee Anne Hale, Communication

The transfer of learning from classroom to the real world has always been a goal of conventional education. As scholars concerned with the future success of our students, seeing them develop the ability to take what they have learned in the classroom and then apply that knowledge to the real world is like a dream come true. This presentation will describe one such experience. Students were given the task of creating a training program to teach conflict resolution strategies to middle school aged children. The program was then implemented in the School of Communication. The panelists will discuss the process of developing the training materials, the creation of the program, and the ways in which their classroom experience and training has influenced the formation of a new student group dedicated to teaching conflict resolution in several Bloomington-Normal area schools.

Clickers - Not Just for PowerPoint Anymore

Doug Smith, Classroom Technology Support; Sarah Walczynski, College of Arts and Sciences

Classroom clickers have been successfully used in over 100 courses on campus. One limiting factor has been that the software was tied to the use of PowerPoint. Now Turning Technologies has released TurningPoint Anywhere, which allows faculty to poll students and collect data while using any application or no application at all. Find out more at this hands-on session.

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Creating Relevance in the Millennium Child's Classroom: The Marketplace Competition

Nat Pope, Finance Insurance and Law

A confluence of “nature and nurture” in our current students has created a “perfect storm” for instructors, presenting us with instructional challenges we have never previously faced. However, lamenting the student that once was, or berating the “Millennium Child” for not being more like…us, is a recipe for classroom failure. Rather, understanding their perspective of the world allows us to successfully engage them and better prepare them for the world that awaits them, a world still governed largely by people from our generation. The Marketplace competition, the subject of this presentation, is an example of one such vehicle, an online framework for interaction that stays true to its instructional learning objectives while engaging the “Millennium Child” on his/her own terms. The Marketplace is an eight week long competition among student teams who assume executive managerial roles in insurance companies in the fictitious state of Utopia. They compete for business by applying the otherwise abstract concepts and analyses described in class in a dynamic environment that changes each week based on the changing strategies of other teams. The theory behind the Marketplace goes beyond merely gaming-in-the-classroom theories, as it actively seeks to tap into the unique predispositions of the “Millennium Child.”

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Enabling Critical Thinking Skills that Sustain Learning for a Lifetime

David Marx, Physics

Additional Materials

Enabling Critical Thinking Skills that Sustain Learning for a Lifetime

Students often spend so much of their educational careers in passive classrooms that they do very little thinking on their own and, thus, may not develop their own ability to gather information from primary sources and come to their own conclusions about important issues. In this session, I will explain how homework assignments, group projects, and semester-long projects in my general education science courses enhance these skills. I will provide examples and discuss the results of these projects.

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Imparting Sustainable, Life-long Learning Skills

Douglas Micklich, Management and Quantitative Methods

Additional Materials

Imparting Sustainable, Life-long Learning Skills

Sustainability, or the ability to endure over the long-run, is not a static concept. Because by definition, sustainability requires the ability to resist erosion or diminishment, sustainable goods must interact with their environment testing and reinforcing this capacity. Thus, sustainable entities may overlap, borrow from, and encroach upon one another (Youngblood, 2007). In business courses the skills we impart to our students should be sustainable over time, contributing to life-long learning. Examples of these skills include: being able to develop, support and communicate a convincing argument; understanding relationships among/between elements in an environment; and knowing what it takes to be a team player. Ensuring the sustainability of these skills requires not only exposing students to the skills but also reinforce the skills so that students carry the skills with them throughout their academic careers, and their professional lives. In this session, we will describe how these skills are introduced and reinforced and how students are encouraged to think in an interdisciplinary as well as disciplinary manner.

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Integrating Urban Education into Course Content

Kathy Mountjoy, Marketing; Joseph Zompetti, School of Communication; Carol Benson, University High School; Mark Temple, Health Science; Judith Briggs, School of Art; Lindsay Soliman, School of Communication; Suzanne Broderick, Educational Administration and Foundations; Kim McCord, School of Music

This session will focus on how faculty members from different disciplines integrated urban education into their existing courses. The panelists will briefly discuss the changes they made, the reaction of students to the courses, and their overall experiences. Time will be allotted for questions from the audience.

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Partnering with Professionals: Teaching Tools from the Real World

Thomas Lamonica, School of Communication

Additional Materials

Sustaining the Classroom Partnership

Students are more engaged and learn better when they can go beyond the text, the lecture, and even the guest speakers–especially in a large-lecture setting. Many students especially appreciate efforts to bring the ‘real world’ into the classroom as they work to master basic concepts. By connecting with a young alum working at one of the nation’s leading Public Relations agencies, we were able to procure the agency’s latest client-recruitment brochure, put it in students’ hands (at no cost to them), and use it to introduce them to the behavioral side of public relations in a new way. For the agency, it is Corporate Social Responsibility … for us, it is teaching today’s PR practice through real-world materials. In this session, the instructor will discuss how university, alumni and corporate partnerships can produce sustained benefits for current students and all three partners.

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So Close, Yet So Far Away: Exploring the Relationship between Parental-Student Closeness and the Relational Dialectics of Autonomy-Connectedness

Jenifer Bowman, School of Communication; Tim McKenna, School of Communication; Rachel Marco, School of Communication

Students entering college have always been faced with the task of embracing academic change and acquiring new relationships while still managing important relationships at home. Recent research suggests, however, that parental involvement with millennial students may exceed involvement standards from the past, further complicating the transition. Understanding this complex student-parent relationship is essential for university staff and educators, as insight into these tensions can help us teach students to manage and adapt to stressful situations that may arise during their college years. Proper management of stress allows students to focus on learning, thus further sustaining and engaging students. This session will provide attendees with useful information about ISU student demographics and parental involvement. We will also explore the inherent tensions in this parent-student relationship, particularly the tension or dialectic of autonomy versus connectedness. Finally, we will discuss appropriate ways to address the autonomy-connectedness dialectic within student-parent relationships.

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The Ecology of the Classroom: Sustaining Student Interest Through an Incorporation of the Arts

Carol Lind, English; Kathryn Kerr, English; Ardis Stewart, English

The arts are considered by many to be somewhat tangential to the work of academia and are, therefore, often overlooked as a learning tool in the ecosystem of the classroom. In this session, the panelists will discuss their own incorporation of the arts as a method of sustaining student interest and encouraging understanding of difficult concepts in a variety of classroom situations. As one would expect, the arts will be integrated into the panel’s presentation in order for participants to gain a better understanding of the value of this particular pedagogical tool. It is the intention of the panel that participants will leave the session with a better understanding of where and how to find art to incorporate into their classes, as well as ideas for using the arts to motivate and inspire their own students.

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The Under-representation of Women in Applied Sciences: The Impact of Perceptions and the Availability of Role Models

Lori Woeste, Health Sciences; Cara Rabe-Hemp, Criminal Justice Sciences; Anu Gokhale, Department of Technology (unable to attend)

Additional Materials

The Under-representation of Women in Applied Sciences: The Impact of Perceptions & the Availability of Role Models

Despite the fact that women comprise 46 percent of the nation’s workforce, they are consistently under-represented in many of the applied sciences fields. Current research suggests that the perceptions of students, educators, and other stakeholders play a large role in discouraging women from participating in applied sciences occupations. This session will discuss the preliminary findings and potential implication of a study that explores how the perceptions of majors impact the career choices students make before entering the fields of computer technology, criminal justice, and clinical laboratory sciences. Based on research, it is anticipated that the availability of role models, the strength of the students’ self images, and their perceptions of the discipline are important elements to understanding their career choices.

Development and Implementation of Electronic Portfolios for Students in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders

Jennifer Friberg, Communication Sciences and Disorders; Rita Bailey, Communication Sciences and Disorders; Heidi Verticchio, Communication Sciences and Disorders

The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders has historically utilized a paper-based system of tracking students’ acquisition of knowledge and skills across the undergraduate and graduate curriculum. This system was ineffective and unwieldy; thus, following the completion of a departmental needs assessment indicating support for such action, faculty in the department developed and implemented an online portfolio system to track student data. This poster presentation will highlight the implementation process of this online portfolio system and will present the perceptions of faculty and students as to the success of this new process.

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Does Participating in Soil Judging Enhance Perceptions of Learning?

L. Tyler Harvey, Agriculture; Rob Rhykerd, Agriculture; R.W. Steffen, Agriculture; Rod Custer, Research and Sponsored Programs

Experiential learning activities promote student learning. Participating in soil judging contests is one kind of experiential learning activity. Yet few studies have evaluated the impact of participating in soil judging contests on student learning. For that reason, a survey was developed to evaluate the impact of participating in collegiate soil judging on students’ perceptions of learning. The survey was administered at the American Society of Agronomy national soil judging contest and the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture’s soil judging contest in April 2008. This poster displays the results from this study, which suggest that soil judging contests enhance students’ perception of learning and may improve social competency skills. Based upon these results, it is recommended that more universities encourage students to participate in soil judging contests.

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Evaluation of the Effectiveness of an Enrichment Program for Science Majors from Underrepresented Minorities

Lisa Szczepura, Chemistry; Kristen M. Jeans, Chemistry; William J. F. Hunter, Chemistry

Historically, minorities have been underrepresented in scientific fields, including chemistry. Over the years, programs have been developed to increase the retention of people underrepresented in the sciences, thus facilitating an increase in minority representation in the scientific workforce. We developed a program of this nature and implemented it in our Department in 2003. The program, entitled the Enrichment Workshop Program, runs concurrently with the participants’ enrollment in General Chemistry I and II. The main objectives of the program include:

1. enriching the participant's experience in general chemistry,
2. exposing them to research opportunities on campus, and
3. enabling them to network with other minorities.

We are currently in the process of evaluating the effectiveness of the program by using both quantitative and qualitative tools. This poster will include a more detailed description of the Enrichment Workshop Program as well as the collection and analysis of the data on the workshop participants.

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Gerontological Simulation Laboratory

Mary Dyck, Mennonite College of Nursing; Theresa Schwindenhammer, Mennonite College of Nursing; Jennifer Mool, Mennonite College of Nursing

Simulation experiences are useful for developing critical thinking skills, applying theory to practice, and easing transition to practice (Nehring & Lashley, 2004). For this reason, Nursing faculty are utilizing gerontological simulation experiences in the baccalaureate curriculum to help novice nursing students become novice nurses capable of providing care to elders. Because gerontological nursing content is primarily taught in the first clinical course with clinical experience in nursing homes, students often felt that they were “done” with gerontological nursing after completion. In response to this problem, simulation experiences using increasingly complex case studies and mannequins were developed for each of the four semesters in the curriculum. In these simulation experiences, students apply previously learned knowledge and skills to professional practice situations. Student evaluations are extremely positive. This poster will present both the simulation experiences and the evaluation data.

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Measuring Individual Course Engagement

Steve Taylor, Marketing; Steve Goodwin, Marketing; Horace Melton, Marketing

The weight of the evidence to date suggests that student engagement at the macro level (programmatic) is positively related to “good” academic outcomes across many relevant stakeholder perspectives. However, university instructors often query how they may facilitate student engagement within their own classes (a micro-perspective). Critical to answering this important question is the ability to measure student engagement at the individual class level. An empirical study was conducted that examined the psychometric properties of Handelsman et al.’s (2005) Student Course Engagement Questionnaire which was one of very few scales designed for this purpose. The results, capitalizing on recent advances in structural equation modeling based methods of exploratory factor analysis, suggest caution in the use of the scale and suggest that an important emphasis for future research will be development of reliable and valid scales for this purpose. In addition, contrary to expectations, the results further suggest some differences among engagement patterns based solely on Internet-only video versus face-to-face lecture delivery formats for large section Introduction to Marketing courses.

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Pre-Service Music Educators’ Attitudes about Teaching General Music to Students in Urban Schools

Kimberly McCord, School of Music

This poster provides an overview of a study that explores the attitudes and perceptions of pre-service music educators through a semester-long field experience in urban schools. Students analyze and discuss whiteness and the sense of privilege that comes with it, and connect with the Latino and African-American cultures/communities through world drumming and using Orff and other classroom instruments. They also teach a lesson or unit that demonstrates an understanding of culturally sensitive approaches to teaching, observe minority populations, and examine their own inherent assumptions about students and urban communities. A qualitative design is used to collect data through written reflections and journals, audio and videotaping and lesson plan development and implementation.

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Professional Development and Training: Sustaining Excellence in Academic Advising at Illinois State University

Raz Steward, Psychology; Mark Vegter, English; Jennifer Frobish, Honors,College of Business; Kathy Schmidt

Academic advising is an integral part of teaching and learning at Illinois State University, and professional development and training for academic advisors promotes sustainable teaching and learning. Our poster will describe initiatives and programming developed by the Academic Advisor Advisory Council’s Professional Development and Training committee, which serves as the impetus for the sustainability of excellence in academic advising at Illinois State University. The primary goal of this committee is to engage advisors and constituents in a professional development process which provides forums for professional growth. These forums include constructs such as advising as teaching, utilization of the advising syllabus, career development and advising, and learning outcomes of advising. Opportunities also include training topics such as campus resources and referral information, new technologies for advising and unit updates. Moreover, nationally recognized experts in the field of academic advising are invited to participate in on-campus professional development events. The development of an advising mentorship program, advisor reading groups, continuing education recognition, and development of advising portfolios are among the committee’s future goals.

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Reengineering a Graduate Course Using the Finest Blackboard Attributes

Temba Bassoppo-Moyo, Curriculum and Instruction

Additional Materials

Reengineering a Graduate Online Course Using the Finest Blackboard Attributes

During the past decade, a proliferation of Course Management Systems (CMS) such as Blackboard, WebCT, eCollege, Elluminate, etc. have been offered as instructional tools for supplementing learning. These software solutions have been widely marketed to and adopted by colleges and universities across the country, sometimes without a clear understanding of their individual attributes or delivery capacity. In this presentation we explore the reengineering of a hybrid online graduate-level course in Educational Technology (CI 401: Instructional Media and Technology) as it becomes ‘full-jacket’ online through the Blackboard CMS. This course, which is offered every semester, was completely reengineered in spring 2009 by adopting online course structure and presentation strategies as well as course communication and assessment tools uniquely attributed to the Blackboard CMS. Feedback provided by students from the previous two semesters was compared to feedback provided by students who took the reengineered course in the spring and summer semesters of 2009. This presentation discusses the results and recommendations of the study that was part of a project supported by a CTLT Teaching and Learning Development Grant.

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Using Blackboard in a Web-Enhanced Course

Lydia Kyei-Blankson, EAF

More and more institutions are adopting course management systems such as Blackboard, WebCT, and Moodle to deliver some or all of their course content online. Course management systems include a set of features that instructors can select and use to add materials in the form of audio, video, and text files to enhance student learning. In addition, tools for asynchronous and synchronous communication are integrated to encourage student engagement and interaction with peers as well as the instructor. Allen and Seaman (2008) categorized such courses as either online (80-100% of the materials and interaction are online), hybrid/blended (30-79% of the materials and interaction are online) or web-enhanced (about 29% of the materials and interaction are online). In this study, a mixed method approach was utilized to investigate students’ views and experiences with the use of Blackboard in a web-enhanced graduate level course. The study has implications for improving pedagogical approaches to optimize learning in web-enhanced courses.

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Web-Based Activities for Critical Thinking and Peer-to-Peer Learning

Diane Byers, Biological Sciences; Cynthia Moore, Biological Sciences

Today’s students are comfortable with social interaction and information retrieval using the Internet. Instructors can harness student enthusiasm for electronic interaction by developing activities such as “Webquests,” where students find resources to address inquiry-based research questions by searching the Internet and other electronic sources. Students further engage in peer-to-peer learning and group problem-solving through the use of interactive websites such as wikis. We have used these approaches as part of a botany class (BSC 212, Principles of Botany) to allow students to identify and assess the problems facing native plants given predicted altered environment conditions with climate change. Students worked in small groups, where each student chose a scientific perspective to apply to the group’s assigned topic area. Initially, students used the Internet to gather information about climate change impact. Links to resources, students’ summaries and their comments were all posted on a class wiki site, allowing the continual exchange of information. In constructing the wikis, students addressed open-ended questions about the application of this information for preservation of Weston prairie. We will demonstrate how this multiple-layered approach facilitated not only student understanding of biology content, but also the critical thinking skills necessary to gather reliable information from electronic sources. Elisa Palmer and Mickayla Van Hoveln of Biological Sciences also contributed to this project.