Contemplative Teaching: Connecting Meaning, Purpose, and Values

As instructors, we want our students to do more than just remember. We want them to learn in ways that are deeply transformative. We want this not just for their sakes, not just for ours, but because we believe all of society benefits from an educated, compassionate citizenry.

The theme of contemplative teaching is rooted in the same soil as the contemplative practices which grow from other physical, creative, and even spiritual endeavors—practices made more challenging in an age of distracting devices, tweets, and incivility. For the purposes of this symposium, contemplative teaching can be defined as teaching to encourage new forms of inquiry, reflective thinking, and experiential learning. It also helps students to connect learning to their lives, values, and identities (ACMHE, 2015).

Contemplative Literacies with Adobe Creative Cloud across the Curriculum

Todd Taylor, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

This session explores ideas for promoting critical digital literacies across the curriculum, in any course, at any level, in any discipline, for any student. We will dive deep into examples of student work, including a documentary film in the health sciences, a magazine in the sciences, a micro-website in the social sciences, and a professional portfolio of six modalities in the humanities. The goal is to transform teaching and learning and to promote student success, especially for students on the academic margins.

Contemplating Careers: Connecting Lifestyle and Career Goals to a Meaningful Future

Julie Navickas, School of Communication
Kate Boutilier, School of Communication
Elizabeth Chupp, School of Communication

Contemplating Careers will provide an overview of an assignment used in an introductory Communication course that helps students identify their lifestyle and career goals and subsequently explore possible career paths that align. Students who participate research and reflect on specific academic and involvement opportunities that will prepare them for the competitive job market. Upon completion, students identify possible career paths that align with their lifestyle and workplace preferences and understand how to make the most out of their time at Illinois State University to best prepare them for the job market. The assignment is broken down into six tiers that address the following areas of reflection:

• Lifestyle goals
• Career goals & work environment
• Career opportunities
• Matching career opportunities to lifestyle goals
• Obtaining skills and experience
• Synthesis reflection

This presentation will discuss the historical evolution of this assignment, what students are currently required to do, and will provide testimonials from students in past semesters who have benefited from the outcome of the assignment.

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Exploring Sensitive Topics Using the Game of Life^®

Alicia Wodika, Department of Health Sciences

In various disciplines, students discuss challenging topics. In a public health course, deep learning takes place when sensitive questions such as, ‘What is the difference between health equity and health equality?’ and ‘How does poverty, unequal access to health care, lack of education, stigma, and racism impact health inequities?’ can be unpacked and discussed in a way that takes students out of traditional lecture and into small group discussion. Using the game of Life^® as a platform, social determinants of health were interwoven into the game allowing students to see the bigger picture of health outcomes while engaging with their peers to discuss the topic. Although the activity was designed for an introductory public health course, faculty from other disciplines may also find the activity appealing to challenge students to deeply discuss how economics, education, policy, can influence the many issues in their own disciplines. This Idea Café discussion will focus on how to incorporate the game into your own course.

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Would You Go to a Lecture on Saturday Night?

Janice Neuleib, Department of English

My first “job” at ISU as a grad student (MA) required that I be the graduate assistant for a large interdisciplinary class. The class included an Art professor, an English professor, a History professor, and a Music professor. Each would lecture, often combining the various venues with the lectures. My job was to keep the records of class work and read all the lengthy student papers. I loved it because the lectures delighted me, and I love to respond to student papers (don’t stop reading; I’ll explain). The students just got so bored sitting for so long through so many lectures and never being able to engage the work. I tried my best to meet with them and talk about the class presentations and their papers, but they were for the most part bored. I swore, like Scarlet O’Hara in Gone With the Wind that I would never do that to a student. This presentation will demonstrate class interactions that engage students so that they too will never be bored.

Preparing Students to Serve Others: Integrating Self-Care into the Curriculum

Kyle Miller, School of Teaching and Learning
Karen Flint Stipp, School of Social Work

Additional Materials

Preparing Students to Serve Others: Integrating Self-Care into the Curriculum

There is powerful evidence that student and client trauma can lead to secondary trauma for helping and teaching professionals, and self-care is essential for coping with secondary trauma. Trauma-informed literature suggests higher education bears responsibility to prepare undergraduates for success in environments where client/patient/student trauma affects daily work. This session will provide an interactive overview of a self-care module created for TCH and Social Work students who will serve individuals impacted by trauma. The cross-disciplinary module was designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of undergraduates who will likely experience secondary trauma. However, the session can equally benefit any instructor interested in supporting the self-care of students or their own personal self-care practices.

During the session, we will present each piece of the self-care module, which asks attendees to reflect upon current efforts to practice self-care in the domains of physical, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being. Attendees will also engage in a variety of techniques to support one’s well-being in each domain area. Finally, we will discuss the impact of the module on student learning in TCH and SW courses.

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Reading Responsibly? Teaching Reading as Encounter in an Age of Assessment

Erin Ponnou-Delaffon, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures

What might it mean to recast and teach reading as ethical encounter? This presentation draws on philosopher Emmanuel Levinas’s work to approach teaching reading as an active, open-ended dialogue--with a text, oneself, and a community of readers. After briefly situating this hermeneutic, or way of interpreting texts, I consider the challenges of teaching this kind of reading in today’s American university--from the current educational doxa teleologically organizing learning toward pre-established outcomes and assessments, to the ways we encourage students to “grasp,” “seize,” or “master” knowledge and texts. Since students’ thinking and writing about their reading are inextricably bound up, I conclude by advancing that this approach invites reconsideration of how we teach writing. Reading conceived ethically fosters active reflection, tolerance for openness and ambiguity, and challenges to dogmatism--perhaps the most necessary learning in our conflict-ridden world.

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Toes in the Water: Novice Learners Try Their Craft

Jim Broadbear, Department of Health Sciences
Barb Broadbear, Exercise Science & Sport

What are the mindsets of students as they perform essential functions of an applied discipline for the first time? How do their initial attempts shape their attitudes about future performance and professional identity? This study used a mixed-methods approach to explore mindsets among novice health and wellness coaches. Data from a health coaching self-efficacy survey were collected before and after a coaching project in a sections of a health behavior course then analyzed descriptively and with the Wilcoxon test. Qualitative data were gathered through self-assessments and instructor observations. Significant self-efficacy differences were found in 13 of 20 items including ability to build rapport, express empathy, goal setting, and supporting motivation. Qualitative data indicated that modeling by the instructor and practice with classmates were perceived in various ways while coaching with a practice client produced various important effects. Data revealed remarkably high self-efficacy ratings which may reflect skewed perceptions about the ease with which complex skills are acquired. A few distinct categories of mindsets were observed as well. Implications of the findings for the design of experiential learning with novices in applied disciplines are considered.

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Using Devices to Engage Students in the Classroom

Julie Campbell, Department of Psychology

It is a constant struggle to pull student attention away from their devices and get them to be engaged learners in the classroom. How can instructors compete with the fascinating world of social media? Teacher and student values about device usage may differ. Students put a high value on their devices, but some instructors may enforce a strict “no device” policy in the classroom. Previous research has shown that students report using their devices even if the use of devices has been forbidden (Morphitou, 2015). In recent reports, students feel constrained by traditional lecture methods (Atas & Delialioglu, 2017). An alternative is to require students to use their device to participate in class, thus decreasing the probability of using the device for other purposes. This session will offer ideas about how to use device apps that will deter students from using their devices for social media, and transform your teaching strategies as well. Learn how to make new connections with students by relating to them through their primary mode of communication: devices. Please download the app Nearpod to participate in this session.

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What are Personal Values, and How Do We Explore Them in the Classroom?

Daniel Lannin, Department of Psychology

Additional Materials

What are Personal Values...

Personal values are a person’s preferences for principles that guide their beliefs and behaviors; they can refer to enduring beliefs about preferred personal conduct (e.g., ambitious, forgiving) or states of existence (e.g., inner harmony, security, pleasure) that express psychological needs and guide attitudes and behavior (Rokeach, 1973; Maio, 2017; Schwartz, 2012). Underneath the surface of many disagreements lie “tectonic” differences in how people prioritize values. Therefore, as teachers it is important for us to know the values that we find most important, but it is also important for us to understand our students’ most important values-especially when facilitating discussions. This session will start by providing a brief overview of what values are, and why they matter. Next, the session will involve a demonstration and facilitation of different classroom-activities that can help students explore, articulate, and reflect on their personal values.

Flipped Learning: Reach Every Student Every Day

Patricia Pence, Mennonite College of Nursing

Flipped Learning research in higher education has shown that both teachers and students benefit by building meaningful relationships within a classroom community that employs evidenced-based practices. In Flipped Learning, the traditional passive lecture is moved to outside of class time as preparation for learning lower level course concepts. Class time is used to apply learning under the guidance of the teacher. By freeing up class time for active learning, the teacher has opportunities to build meaningful relationships with students and gain an understanding of each students’ learning needs. Group learning activities in class allows students time to develop relationships with each other and reflect on their own learning. Students develop a deeper understanding of the more difficult concepts in a course when the teacher is needed most. Flipped Learning’s goal is to reach every student in every class every day.

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Fix It Friday: The Rewards of Civic Engagement + Out of Class Learning... One Stitch at a Time!

Elisabeth Reed, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

Fix It Friday is a program at ISU in which students majoring in the Fashion Design and Merchandising (FDM) program set up sewing machines in various locations on campus and in our community to offer free basic sewing, mending, and clothing repair services to anyone in need. The fashion students lend their time, talent, and skills on a completely volunteer basis.

While this program was started primarily to fix clothing, the unintended stories from each event were often the conversations and interactions with the customers, rather than the details of items fixed. Students who were nervous to practice their sewing skills on other people’s clothing items stated the experience helped them gain confidence in their sewing abilities, and fine tune their techniques. Encouraging testimonials from student volunteers materialized after each event including commentaries on personal growth, gaining a new perspective, and overall student learning.

The findings from a SoTL URG which took place over the 2017-2018 academic year will be presented during this session in hopes to provide a foundation for others to implement a similar project and share the rewards of experiential learning.

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The Uncharted Neurology of Writing: A Personal Journey

Ryan Edel, Department of English

In neurology, imaging studies have shown specific locations in the brain associated with creativity, word recall, and the physical act of placing symbols upon the page. With these insights, we could theoretically come up with ways to better “coach” the brain to maximize student writing abilities. Neurologically speaking, variations in access to the digital world “wire” our students in different ways, and these differences may both enhance and limit their abilities to convey thinking through writing. But if we draw too heavily from neurology, there is an inherent ethical risk of imposing unfounded biological assumptions about the “normal” brain upon the unique skills and personalities of individual students.

In this presentation, I will discuss recovering from a wrist injury in Afghanistan, and how the physical limitations of that injury affected not only my ability to place words on the page, but the capacity to express thoughts. From there, I’ll look at the ways in which emotional investments have further affected my capacities to process and compose ideas. I will contemplate how my experiences may apply to our students, particularly in light of contemporary concerns surrounding “digital natives,” trigger warnings, and disability studies.

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They Said It Would Be “Easy!”: Teaching as a Woman in Higher Education

Shelly Clevenger, Department of Criminal Justice Sciences

Additional Materials

They Said It Would Be “Easy!” Challenges Faced By Females In Academia

Women face challenges teaching in higher education that men do not. There are issues with establishing authority and expertise in the classroom and with colleagues, stereotypes, and achieving a rewarding personal and professional balance in their lives. Women also face additional challenges as mothers and caregivers. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the issues that women face, as well as provide some insight into how to address them.

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Use of Texting in the Classroom to Engage Students in a Traditional Lecture

Drew Lugar, Department of Agriculture

A study was conducted to investigate the use of polling software that utilized text-in responses from students to evaluate its use to engage students during class time. This study was conducted in an agricultural course on the anatomy and physiology of animals during the fall semester of 2018. The course was structured in a traditional lecture fashion where half of the lectures utilized the software PollEverywhere to ask students questions during class and the other half were strictly lecture. The students used their cell phones to respond to the questions via text messaging. The questions were sporadic throughout these lectures and were aimed to test the retention of material recently covered in that class period. Prior to the first lecture, students were asked to fill out a survey designed to gauge their use of cell phones in the classroom as well as their opinions on clickers in the classroom. Students filled this survey out again at the end of the semester. Additionally, at the end of the semester students were asked to complete a survey on the perception of learning and their preference for the lectures utilizing polling compared to traditional lectures.

Assessing Student Learning Outcomes of Participation in Study Abroad Programs at ISU

Kathryn Jasper, Department of History
Lea Cline, School of Art
Erin Mikulec, School of Teaching and Learning

Additional Materials

Assessing Student Learning Outcomes of Participating in Study Abroad Programs at ISU

Universities aim to prepare global citizens and create an inclusive learning culture and therefore, have developed initiatives to increase the number of students who participate in education abroad programs. These programs provide students with global experiences outside the classroom that facilitate both personal and professional development. The presenters lead two short-terms study abroad programs at ISU. While several faculty have engaged in research with their own programs, there has been no study that examines these outcomes campus-wide. This session presents the findings of a research project on the learning outcomes of undergraduates participating in study abroad programs at ISU. The guiding question for this study was: What do students identify as the results of participating in a study abroad experience? There are two learning goals for this session. First, it seeks to share the process by which the study was designed and implemented in a way to capture a diverse range of students and experiences. Second, it will compare the findings from this group of participants from ISU to existing research, as well as themes that emerged that were unique to this population.

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Building Community Partnerships

Harriett Steinbach, Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning
Chris Wellin, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Jackie Lanier, Department of Health Sciences
Jim Walters, Habitat for Humanity
Julie McCoy, District 87

Incorporating community engagement into the classroom experience requires intentional development of partnership with community organizations. This can feel overwhelming when you don’t know where to start or what exactly to do. Guided by Dr. Barbara Jacoby’s 4 C’s of Campus-Community Partnership, this session will discuss the process for developing a community partnership for a course. These partnerships may start off small, but, in time, can evolve to be transformational for community, students, and faculty. A panel of faculty and their community partners will share their experiences participating in a campus-community partnership including how it began, how the experience contributes to course learning goals, and challenges encountered. Findings from the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning’s survey of local community organizations experiences with ISU will also be shared.

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Exciting Ways to Use Nearpod in the Classroom Across Disciplines

Julie Campbell, Department of Psychology
Lisa Tranel, Department of Geography/Geology
Jodi Hallsten Lyczak, School of Communication
Katelynn Baer, Department of Agriculture

Additional Materials

Practicing Observations, Interpretations, and Applications with Nearpod

Instructors from different departments will come together in this session to discuss how they use the app, Nearpod to actively engage with students in their classroom. Students put a high value on their devices, and are easily pulled into the world of social media. This puts pressure on instructors to come up with inventive ways to hold students’ attention during class. Simply enacting a “no device” policy in class does not prevent students from using devices during class. Previous research has shown that students report using their devices even if the use of devices has been forbidden (Morphitou, 2015). In recent reports, students feel constrained by traditional lecture methods (Atas & Delialioglu, 2017). An alternative is to require students to use their device to participate in class, thus decreasing the probability of using the device for other purposes. This session will offer ideas about how to use Nearpod, which has the potential to deter students from using their devices for social media, and transform your teaching strategies as well. Learn how to make new connections with students by relating to them through their primary mode of communication: devices. Please download the app Nearpod to participate in this session.

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Taking Your Teaching to the Next Level: The Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW)

Rosie Hauck, Department of Accounting
Chris Grieshaber, Department of Health Sciences
Richard Hughes, Department of History
Allison Alcorn, School of Music
Stef Gardiner-Walsh, Department of Special Education
Joe Matson, School of Music

As instructors, we are always looking for ways to hone our craft and take our teaching to the next level. In the summer of 2016, a group of ISU faculty was given the mission to explore the Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW), an instructor development initiative developed in British Columbia, to see if this program would be the right choice for ISU. The ISW is an intense, three-day workshop that utilizes self-reflection, facilitated peer feedback (both written and verbal), video feedback of teaching, and participatory learning to enhance the teaching effectiveness of both new and seasoned instructors. In summer 2018, ISU hosted the first two ISW workshops led by ISU faculty. This panel will bring together your ISU ISW facilitators as well as workshop attendees to share their thoughts and experience going through the summer ISW workshops. CTLT are committed to offering future ISW workshops for instructors (both internal and external to ISU), so whether you are new to teaching, experienced, or a supervisor wanting to hear more, attend this panel discussion to learn more about this innovative, small group approach to instructor development.

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Using Media to Address Difficult Topics in the Classroom

Shelly Clevenger, Department of Criminal Justice Sciences
Leandra Parris, Department of Psychology
Eric Wesselmann, Department of Psychology
Scott Jordan, Department of Psychology

Additional Materials

Using Media to Address Difficult Topics in the Classroom

One of the great challenges of teaching is introducing and covering emotionally difficult or controversial topics in the classroom. One way to do this in an non-threatening and safe way is through using media. This can allow the students to understand and discuss subjects that they may feel uncomfortable with. This presentation will inform participants how to utilize different forms media within their courses to address difficult topics. Presenters will provide examples from their own courses and ideas for attendees.

Being and Belonging: Renewing Our Commitment to Contemplative Pedagogy

Michelle Chatman, University of the District of Columbia

With music and memory, we will recapture our personal contemplative journeys to explore their healing and restorative value. We will consider how these journeys have unfolded within higher education to advance compassion, connection, and authentic belonging.

Anatomy of an Accessible Document

Jen Bethmann, Administrative Technologies: Web and Interactive Communications
Sarah Metivier, Student Access and Accommodation Services
Nathan Lawson, Student

This session will provide participants with important and usable knowledge to help support students with disabilities in higher education. The presenters will walk step-by- step through various ways to improve the creation of digital documents and other accessible content. Participants will leave with tips and tricks for creating emails, documents, and media that are universally designed for all students at Illinois State University.

After this session you will:

• understand best practices of web and media accessibility (color contrast, formatting, captioning videos)
• learn resources and answers for questions and concerns regarding accessibility.

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Bringing the Dimensions of Honors Learning to Life

Christie Martin, Honors Program
Amy Secretan, Honors Program
Rocio Rivadeneyra, Honors Program

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Bringing the Dimensions of Honors Learning to Life

Have you ever been asked to do an Honors Contract? Are you working with an Honors student doing research or another scholarly project? Maybe you are excited to be teaching an Honors Section or Seminar on a topic you are passionate about? If you are looking for the best ways to engage and support our Honors students, you are in luck. Join Honors Program staff as we discuss the Honors Learning Framework and the Dimensions of Honors Learning. These dimensions are the skills and values that form the foundation of the learning experiences for our students: Interdisciplinary Learning, Creative Productivity, Intercultural Competence, Critical Thinking, Leadership Development, and Information Fluency. Learn how faculty can connect the Dimensions of Honors Learning to course content, how to create engaging learning experiences, and how to encourage Honors students to incorporate the Dimensions into their learning.

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Bystander Training to Address Racial Microaggressions On Campus

David Adams, Student Counseling Services
Cedric Williams, Student Counseling Services
Alexis Pandelios, Student Counseling Services

Additional Materials

Dealing with Racial Microaggressions On-Campus

The existence and communication of microaggressions continues to promote oppression and marginalization of persons of color and others marginalized based on perceptions of race. Acts designed to combat racial microaggressions such as the bystander intervention campaign promote inclusion and respect for diversity, and have the potential to enhance the dignity of every person on campus.

Sadly, data show that racial microaggressions continue to be a common occurrence on ISU campus: In a 2016 study, 24% of faculty/staff and 35% of students at ISU reported experiences of racial and/or ethnic harassment or discrimination. Regardless whether the microaggressions are purposeful or unintentional, their negative impact on those targeted remains. There’s a growing body of research demonstrating that racial microaggressions have considerable impacts on the physical and mental health of those targeted.

Through this workshop, participants will learn to recognize several types of racial microaggressions. Participants will also learn tips and approaches for responding to microaggressions, and will have the opportunity to practice interventions with others. Participants will be encouraged to develop an intervention style that fits for them. Their participation will empower them to combat oppression on campus and promote a safe and inclusive environment for all.

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Continuing the Conversation

Michelle Chatman, University of the District of Columbia

Dive deeper into the topics presented over lunch by this year’s keynote speaker. This session will allow you to ask questions and further explore ideas in a smaller, quieter setting.

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What Happens in Teaching When Two Cultures Meet? Stories from Fulbrighters on “Teaching” at ISU

Do-Yong Park, School of Teaching and Learning
Astri Napitupulu, School of Teaching and Learning
Robby Anggriawan, School of Teaching and Learning
Syed Anwer Shah, School of Teaching and Learning
Md Zahidur Rahman, Department of Economics

Currently, over 500 international students and scholars are part of Illinois State University (ISU). The American classroom where “teaching” occurs every day seems foreign to international scholars at least for a while. Specifically, Fulbright students (N=4) chose ISU as the home of their studies either for a short-term (5-9 months) or a long-term period (2 years). How do they perceive the “teaching” experience at ISU? How does it compare to their own countries’ teaching? What results when the two teaching cultures mix? Teaching is inevitably involved in curriculum and instruction, students and teachers, all of which are influenced by culture. Teaching is a complex task that pertains to multiple-way interactions among teachers and students, content and methodology, transformation and transmission of knowledge, planting the seeds of students’ dreams, and producing human workforce. With this in mind, four Fulbrighters will share their stories centered around the following topics: (1) teacher’s image, (2) classroom environment, (3) instructional methodology, (4) students’ learning and (5) their attitudes about teachers that they experienced at ISU and their own countries. Discussion will follow on how teaching becomes refined and shaped when two cultures meet in the American college classroom.

Active Engaging in Online Courses

Tonya Pierce, School of Information Technology

In this workshop, we will explore best practices for online course delivery by exploring ways to help engage students and build a community within your online course, using three basic principles of personal presence, instructional presence, and intellectual presence. We will practice building this community and applying these three principles. After a brief explanation of the three principles, we will break into small groups and practice using these principles in a simulated online course experience.

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Co-creation in Knowledge Sharing: Bridging the Gap between University and Workplace

Arash Zadeh, Department of Marketing

The debate on the topics of theory versus practice and university versus industry has been continuing for decades. On the one hand, students complain about the topics, theories, and concepts that may not have a real-world reflection. On the other hand, as instructors, we try to reduce the gap between the concepts/theories and the real-world phenomena. Providing real-world examples, news, and cases in different formatting (videos, articles, pictures, and so forth) has been a suitable way of explaining the concepts and bridging the gap between the materials taught in the class and their reflections on the contemporary phenomena in the real world. Gathering and updating state-of-the-art examples, cases, and so forth on a regular basis is a tedious job for each of us. However, we can co-create (a) platform(s) through which, we have access to the most recent teaching materials. The contribution of each of us in storing the materials on the platform(s) will be minimal but together we will have access to vast teaching resources. No need for searching on Google, Yahoo, and Slideshare to find a suitable case or examples for your concept in hand. Just check the platform(s) and you will have access to a variety of most recent real-world materials that are relevant to your topic. We have established such a platform and found it beneficial in our department. We will be happy to help all departments to co-create their own platform.

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Food for Thought

Jeanna Campbell, School of Social Work
Trevor Rickerd, Department of Biological Sciences

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Food for Thought

Food insecurity is a substantial problem facing students in higher education. While more students are able to attend college, the costs are rising and the opportunity to live affordably is diminishing (Bruening, 2017). Nationally over 40% of students are facing food insecurity at higher institutions (Bruening, 2017). Students who are most at risk for food insecurity are students who live alone, are single parents, and who are African American or multiracial (Maroto, Snelling, & Linck, 2014). One in five students at ISU are from a traditionally underrepresented background (ISU Planning, Research, Policy, and Analysis, 2017). Meaning a substantial number of students are at risk before even entering the classroom. With diminishing resources, such as access to a healthy diet due to cost of education and lack of affordable housing, comes diminishing health. Students facing food insecurity are more likely to suffer from poor nutritional health, poor mental health, hypertension, poor sleep outcomes, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia (Gunderson, 2015). Students facing food insecurity perform poorer academically than their food-secure peers (Freudenberg, N., Manzo, L., & Jones, H., 2011; Bruening, 2016). The food environment and one's aptitude for food planning, management, preparation, selection, and eating impacts one's overall well-being (Massey, Prelip, & Calimlim, Quiter, & Glik, 2012). Research is growing regarding the prevalence and impact of food insecurity on campuses; the most effective paradigm for addressing the problem has yet to be discovered. Holistic intervention includes more than just education and awareness, but a myriad of institutional and organizational resource, motivation, and will-power. Inter-organizational cooperation at the local level could be the most viable opportunity for student growth and prosperity (FSD Staff, 2015).

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The Teaching Press: Win-Win Thinking for Any Classroom

Steve Halle, Department of English
Holms Troelstrup, Department of English

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The Teaching Press

Any course across the disciplines can be transformed into a teaching press that fuses the editorial, design, production, and marketing skills taught in publishing studies with an area of core content. Students experience the exciting benefits and raised stakes of working on authentic, collaborative projects, as they simultaneously learn not only core content but also the valuable technical skills involved in shaping an author’s raw idea into a professional publication. This session will explore the win-win thinking inherent in the creation of PRESS 254, a handmade chapbook and publishing workshop in which students enrolled in English 254: Introduction to Professional Publishing become editorial and production assistants for the press. We will contemplate startup considerations and expectations for teaching press ideas, transferring the technical skills of editing and publishing into teaching skills, strategies for mapping publishing production schedules onto a semester schedule, ideas for keeping a teaching press sustainable, and learning goals and outcomes for classroom publishing.

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Use of Accreditation and Evaluation for Meaningful Programmatic Improvement

Jennifer Peterson, Department of Health Sciences

Many educational programs are required to participate in a variety of evaluation and assessment activities. Programs may be accredited by professional bodies and required to undergo ongoing program assessments or evaluation planning. Many programs will also engage in other required or voluntary evaluation and assessment activities. Many times data is gathered for these activities, an analysis is completed, a report is written and submitted to the oversight body, and then the report is carefully filed away somewhere in the program files. Programs carrying out evaluation and assessment activities in this manner are missing out on valuable data that can be used for programmatic improvement and improvement in student learning outcomes. This session provides an overview of the purpose of program evaluation and assessment that points to the value of the findings from such activities. The session will also offer some suggestions for the use of program evaluation and assessment findings. Many educational programs are gathering valuable information through their evaluation and assessment activities. This session encourages participants to use that data to make programmatic improvements to insure the best student outcomes possible.

Expectations and Engagement: Our Role in Retaining First-year Students

Ryan Smith, University Assessment Services
Derek Meyers, University Assessment Services

To whom do most new students plan to go first for academic and learning help? (Hint: It’s not faculty or academic support staff). Do first-generation students have different expectations for college than non first-generation students? How do you see role in retaining first-year students? Session participants will have the opportunity to examine these questions and more in a discussion of the results of the 2018 Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE). The survey asked about 3,000 incoming first-year ISU students about their academic preparation in high school and expectations for college. After a brief overview of the results, participants will be asked to share or develop one strategy they use for engaging students. Participants will also be asked to share strategies that engage first-generation and underrepresented populations.

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Grassroots Efforts for Diversity and Inclusion

Mayuko Nakamura, Center for Teaching Learning and Technology

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Grassroots Effort for Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion is everyone’s job at Illinois State University! As Diversity and inclusion is a core value in ISU’s strategic plan, Educate • Connect • Elevate, it is important for all faculty and staff to have basic understanding of topics in diversity and inclusion. CTLT’s Foundations for Diversity and Inclusion series is designed to help faculty and staff tackle tough questions involving culture, identity, and responsive teaching in a friendly, non-threatening environment. Those who complete the series will receive a displayable certificate. In this session, I will give an overview of the sessions, how the topics were selected and how people who completed the program take what they’ve learned into their classrooms and at workplaces. The series is a grass-root effort that aspires to grow so that more ISU faculty and staff are equipped with foundational knowledge to work with people from diverse backgrounds.

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More Substance than Surface: Using Adobe Creative Cloud to Promote Research across the Disciplines

Todd Taylor, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

This session explores ways to use media production software (such as desktop publishing and video editing) to not only share research but as an invitation to innovation in the first place--as not just a container for new knowledge but also as possible research methodologies. We will emphasize how digital publication channels are potentially ideal for undergraduate students and next generation graduate students (and thus future faculty).

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Restructuring Introductory Biology to Foster Transformative Experiences in Science

Rachel Sparks, School of Biological Sciences

Evolution is the lens through which scientists understand the living world, making a comprehensive understanding of evolution necessary to learn, practice, and apply biology. Improving the collective understanding of biology is essential in light of the present social, political, and environmental climate in the United States. Unfortunately, review of literature on evolutionary teaching and learning indicates that there are gaps in students’ understanding of evolution. To address this gap, an introductory biology course taught through an evolutionary perspective was developed. This course utilizes the Teaching for Transformative Experiences in Science model to make evolutionary ideas relevant to students’ everyday lives to encourage conceptual change. Data from a pilot version of this course demonstrated that students in a TTES-instructed section developed an appreciation for evolution through transformative experiences cultivated in the course. Transformative experiences occur when students actively use knowledge of evolutionary concepts to greater understand an aspect of the world and appreciate the knowledge gained for allowing them to expand their perceptions. After the pilot, instructional methods were updated to foster improved understanding of evolutionary theory and transformative experiences. This talk will present evidence of student outcomes regarding evolutionary understanding and provide suggestions to engage students in transformative experiences.

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Turning Student Workers into Interns: A Success Story

Charles Edamala, Administrative Technologies
Bart Lytel, Administrative Technologies

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Turning Student Workers into Interns: A Success Story

How does a criminal justice major incorporate IT Security into their ISU education? Or where can an engineering tech major meet an IT major and go on to start a promising start up? It turns out when they work in the University’s IT organization.

Administrative Technologies runs the university’s enterprise systems as well as the networking infrastructure. We have created a unique opportunity for student workers that turns them into long-term interns, working on production equipment and applications. They learn basic workplace skills and gain complex technical skills. While full time professionals mentor them, our process reduces the overhead needed to supervise them.

Students incorporate coursework into their employment and turn their jobs into credit-bearing project and internships. A significant number are not enrolled in IT majors but still gain complex technical and even supervisory skills.

When they graduate, many of the students bypass entry-level positions because of the multi-year experience they have had and because they are ready to hit the ground running. They have joined firms such as Disney and Discovery, and we have hired a number ourselves.

We believe this model can be extended across the University, even in non-technology positions, and will share our success factors.

Art, Friendship, and Civic Engagement

Daniella Barroqueiro, School of Art
Samantha Miller, Department of Special Education

Best Buddies enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing opportunities for one-to-one friendships between college students and their peers with disabilities in the community. Sharing their own experiences with volunteering and those of other educators and students, the presenters will discuss how collaborative art projects can be a powerful tool for building friendships, self-esteem and a sense of belonging. As a professor of Art Education, and a freshman in Special Education at Illinois State University, this mother-daughter team is beginning to explore the possibilities of collaborative creative projects that celebrate friendship and acceptance and reveal the intrinsic value of civic-engagement to college students. They are finding that through meaningful service-learning experiences, students gain an awareness and understanding of civic engagement not only as a lifelong responsibility, but as a lifelong joy.

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Assessing Dietetics Students’ Self-Efficacy of Feeding Tube Insertion Using Patient Simulation

Julie Schumacher, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences
Amy Bardwell, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences
Jamey Baietto, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

Simulations provide students more varied practice experiences and help with career preparation (Turner et. al, 2000) while also allowing them to practice techniques without risk to real patients (Song, et al., 2015). In 2017, the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND), released new standards requiring documentation of educational approaches such as simulation. Due to limited research on simulations in dietetics, the purpose of this study was to assess the change in self-efficacy of students’ ability and knowledge to place bedside small bowel feeding tubes in simulation patients. Additionally, this research helps determine if the learning opportunity outweighs the cost of the simulation. Dietetic students were recruited from the Master’s program at Illinois State University. These participants completed a pre-simulation self-efficacy test (n=13) on placing small bowel feeding tubes, followed by simulation training at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, IL. Upon returning to campus, the participants received a post-simulation self-efficacy test (n=8). A paired-samples t-test was conducted. The results indicated student’s self-efficacy of knowledge and confidence had a statistically significant increase across all pre- and post-test items. The results demonstrate simulation training is a positive, risk-free method to learn and practice small bowel feeding tube placement.

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Disciplinary Practices Among Pre-service Teachers

Kara Baldwin, School of Biological Sciences

Both the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) highlight the importance of disciplinary practices of science and mathematics. The disciplinary practices outlined in the standards provide a framework that focuses on engaging students in behaviors typical of mathematicians and scientists in order to develop conceptual understanding. In the wake of these reform documents, developing an understanding of the scientific and mathematics practices is essential for teachers to be effective. Because disciplinary practices are interwoven into the framework of the standards, it is reasonable to consider teacher understanding within the disciplinary practices. With limited research studies on disciplinary practices, this study uses interview data to consider pre-service teacher understanding of disciplinary practices prior to the bulk of their teacher education coursework.

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Harnessing the Power of MAXQDA for Social Science Research

Michael Gizzi, Department of Criminal Justice Sciences

This proposed poster illustrates four stages of qualitative research, drawing on the research software MAXQDA, and provides a pedagogical guide for conceptualizing the learning process, for anyone seeking to conduct a qualitative research project. It draws on a theoretical model I have been developing on how to best conduct qualitative legal research, focusing on building a conceptual framework for a research project, creating a workspace to conduct analysis, thematic analysis of qualitative materials, and writing/revising/assessing outcomes. MAXQDA is a professional software designed for the qualitative researcher. It can be used in a variety of academic disciplines, and can be successfully used by the undergraduate, graduate student, and faculty member. This poster presents some of the core components of learning modules I have developed, with assistance of a CTLT Teaching Innovation grant, and provides hands-on examples from projects involving the judicial impact of legal precedents of the US Supreme Court.

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Learning Research Methods through Doing: Involving Undergraduates in Every Step of the Research Process

Brandon McDaniel, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences
Julie Schumacher, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences
Taneshia West-Albert, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences
Keri Edwards, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

Do your students always seem bored when you bring up research? Do they have trouble grasping what is good or poor quality research? Do they think that all research consists of is reading dense scientific articles and summarizing them? Perhaps we create this problem ourselves if we only teach them “about” research instead of teaching them to “do” research? Thus, we significantly revised our department’s Research Methods course and led students through a research project. In this project, groups of students performed every part of the research process-such as coming up with an idea, reviewing previous research on the topic, designing measures, collecting data, analyzing data, interpreting and discussing results, and writing about their methods and findings. The project culminated in a conference-style research symposium where all student groups presented research posters of their research study. This session will offer some lessons learned about guiding students through this process and examine student perspectives on which skills and how much skill and confidence they gained from the experience.

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Learning to Interview: Intergenerational Family Storytelling Project in Family Communication

Aimee Miller-Ott, School of Communication
Lisa DeWeert, School of Communication

Supported through a CTLT Teaching Innovations Grant, I designed a project for my COM 390 (Topics in Contemporary Communication: Family Communication) course titled “Intergenerational Family Storytelling.” In this assignment, I required students to select at least 3 members of the same family, representing at least 2 generations, to interview. They developed an interview protocol reflecting various family relational dynamics (e.g., family patterns, stories, conflict) and interviewed family members using the same questions. In final papers, they summarized findings, compared/contrasted responses from different family members, and connected findings to course content. Objectives of the assignment included learning the steps of conducting qualitative research, gaining skills to interpret qualitative data, understanding the importance of obtaining viewpoints from multiple family members, gaining insight into their own family dynamics, and understanding the value of qualitative research. In this presentation, I will discuss the project, including student objectives/outcomes and challenges that I experienced. My co-presenter is a former ISU undergraduate student and a current student in our graduate student. She completed the project and will share her experiences with the assignment.

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Poverty Simulation Participation: Transformative Learning Outcomes among FCS Students

Sally Arnett-Hartwick, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

Family and consumer sciences (FCS) students in the human development and teacher education areas will work with clients and students who live in poverty; however, these students are mostly from middle and upper class and have limited experience with poverty. To develop this professional competency, FCS students engaged in an innovation project by participating in a modified poverty simulation. The purpose of this project was to determine if participating in a simulation transformed thinking for personal and professional growth. This project was awarded a Teaching Innovation Grant sponsored by CTLT.

Using a kit developed by the Missouri Association for Community Action, students were assigned to a family and role-play the lives of a low-income family for four 18-minute ‘weeks’ (one month) over four 75-minute class periods. “Families” were given a profile and utilized decision-making skills to maintain their home and family life.

A mixed method approach was used to assess the innovation - pre- and post questionnaire along with open-ended questions. After analysis, results yielded positively that transformation learning did occur among the students thus indicating evidence of the developmental impact for students’ participating in a poverty simulation.

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Primary Care Registered Nurse Education Program

Susan Watkins, Mennonite College of Nursing
Yvette Pigman, Mennonite College of Nursing

Background: Healthcare is transitioning from a treatment-based acute care setting model to a primary care setting focusing on prevention and chronic disease management requiring registered nurses (RN) to practice at the full extent of their license. Mennonite College of Nursing received a Health Resources Service Administration grant to hire and train four RNs to work in three ambulatory clinics, provide 72 MCN students with 150 clinical hours in the primary care settings, and to provide interprofessional training and collaboration with Psychology, Social Work, Exercise Physiology and Nutrition colleagues.

Methods: The Primary Care RN education program will integrate web-based learning modules completed prior to attending interactive classroom and simulation-based learning activities designed to maximize learning through application-based instruction. Data will be collected throughout the Primary Care RN education program using focus groups and a self-reported survey tool.

Results: The evaluation of the Primary Care RN education program will employ a descriptive self-report Qualtrics survey intended to explore how a HRSA grant funded Primary Care RN Education Program influenced learning outcomes, scope of practice, and impacted job satisfaction in the primary care setting.

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Statistical Methods Used in Textiles and Apparel over Three Decades

Yoon Jin Ma, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences
Myoung Jin Kim, Mennonite College of Nursing

Knowledge of statistical techniques is important for students and practitioners in textiles and apparel, yet understanding statistics can be a daunting task for many students. This study aims to examine the use of statistical techniques in one of the top tier textile and apparel journals, Clothing and Textiles Research Journal (CTRJ). This cross-sectional study obtained all articles published in CTRJ since its first publication in 1982. All data from 591 articles were analyzed in IBM SPSS 24.0. Descriptive statistics of frequencies and corresponding percentages were computed to quantify the use of statistical techniques and software. Results indicated that most articles reviewed reported descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean, range. One-way ANOVA was the most commonly used inferential statistics, followed by exploratory factor analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient, multiple linear regression, independent samples t-test, and Chi-square tests. The most commonly used statistical software to analyze the data was SPSS, followed by SAS, LISREL and AMOS. To adequately prepare graduate students and professionals to access scientific publications, it is important to teach statistical methods that are frequently used in the academic journals. The results should be useful for making data-informed decisions about statistics education and curriculum content in textiles and apparel programs.

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Structuring Group Projects For A More Positive Student Learning Experience

Maria Boerngen, Department of Agriculture
Justin Rickard, Department of Agriculture

This study identifies elements of group work that help or hinder students’ learning experiences, and measures how the structure of a project affects students’ perceptions of the endeavor. Students in a senior-level agribusiness management course complete a semester-long group project scaffolded into seven assignments of increasing difficulty that are combined to comprise a business plan for a new agri-food firm. Questionnaires were administered over two semesters before, halfway through, and upon completion of the project addressing students’ prior group project experiences, their group’s progress, and their perception of the process upon completion. Responses indicated 91.4% (n=53) strongly agreed that scaffolding helped their group succeed, 87.9% (n=51) agreed that establishing ground rules helped their group work better together, and 96.6% (n=56) agreed that they clearly understood professor expectations. Compared to their previous group project experiences, 89.7% (n=52) found this project to be more structured, and 72.4% (n=42) reported that this project’s group worked better together. As a result of this experience, 59.6% (n=34) felt more confident in their ability to complete a group project. A paired-samples t-test comparing the mean opinion about group projects prior to and upon completing this experience found a significantly positive increase in opinion (p<0.001).

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The Big Five Personality Traits and Learning Styles of American and Chinese Agriculture Students

Kong Li, Department of Agriculture
Iuliia Tetteh, Department of Agriculture
Aslihan Spaulding, Department of Agriculture

The generational differences in young people’s motivation, learning styles, and career expectations have been noticed and discussed by employers and educators. Millennials are raised in a “just-in-time” service-oriented culture, live in a file-sharing, cut-and-paste world, have a very low tolerance for delay, expect immediate feedback and recognition, crave structure, and do not like. The concern is that these changes in millennials’ preferences, attitudes, and work habits can potentially make traditional student engagement strategies employed by college professors ineffective.

Our goals for the study include:

• Identify the personality traits and learning styles of agriculture students in the US and China.
• Identify if students share similar personality traits and learning styles.
• Determine if a selected set of demographic variables influence personality traits and learning styles.
• Explore interactions between learning styles and personality traits and their impact on students’ academic success.

We collected data from agriculture students at Illinois State University and Purdue University. We are collecting data from agriculture students at South West University in China. The study will help uncover factors that can enhance engagement of students in the classroom and help better understand the personality traits and learning style of students from two countries as a distinctive group of learners.

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The Impact of Global Service-learning on Preservice Teachers

Miranda Lin, School of Teaching and Learning

This project seeks to examine the impact of integrative liberal learning on preparing preservice teachers with skills and competencies to examine and analyze the sociopolitical issues at school. Merryfield’s (1995) work on internationalization on teacher education was used to guide this project. Participants (n=27*) were recruited from pre-service teachers who were enrolled in a multicultural education course. All but one was female. Among the pre-service teachers, one Asian (American), two Latinas, and the rest were White. Two Vietnamese schools that served students with disabilities agreed to be the global service-learning sites. This global service-learning project has helped participants meet Merryfield’s (1995) goals in various degrees. They 1) learned knowledge and skills in the basics of instructional planning, 2) used a variety of instructional methods that encourage active learning, meet the different learning styles of students, and are congruent with content and educational goals, 3) gained the awareness and support of their students as individuals and as learners, 4) developed questioning techniques that build higher-level thinking skills, and 5) made progress in critically reflecting on and improving their own teaching and learning as a professional educator as a result of this project.

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Using Eye Tracking to Identify Instructive Features of Diagrams

Raymond Zich, Department of Physics

Visual representations play an essential role in the learning of physics. Grounded cognition theory suggests that visual perception activates perceptual symbols that lead to construction of knowledge by the brain. Under this theory effective diagrams activate perceptual symbols that facilitate the construction of the correct physics concepts. Eye tracking was used to investigate student gaze patterns in a number of standard physics diagrams and compare them to modified diagrams that were perceptually enhanced with variations in color and size. Students viewed diagrams representing fluid flow in pipes, motion maps, and equipotential lines, and they answered questions about displayed variables. Eye tracking data indicated that students focused more on pressure gauges and fluid speed indicators with multiple arrows than on single arrow speed indicators or pipe size. In determining electrical potential differences, students primarily concentrated on the area between the two points of interest and not on the charges.

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Using Mindfulness to Manage Stress in the Classroom and Beyond

Ann Beck, Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders
Heidi Verticchio, Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders

Additional Materials

Using Mindfulness to Manage Stress in the Classroom and Beyond

Every program has areas that increase stress for students. Excessive, unmanaged stress can not only result in debilitating physical conditions, it can also negatively interfere with learning and overall attitude. One particularly stressful activity for CSD seniors is the graduate school application process. Mindfulness has been shown to help individuals manage stress. To help our students create the best application with the least amount of stress possible, we created an Independent Study (IS) designed to teach students about both the application process and mindfulness. Thirty-three students signed up for the IS and we met as a class for 50 minutes each week. As our “textbook” we purchased “The Mindful Twenty-Something” by Holly B. Rogers and distributed it to each student in the IS. The first class period was an introductory class in which we described the course, collected informed consent, and took pre-measures. The second class period was devoted to discussing and practicing mindfulness. Every fourth class period was entirely devoted to mindfulness; every other class began with 5 minutes of breath work and 2 min of journaling before discussing the stressful topic of graduate admissions. This poster will describe the process we used, our results, and student reactions.