The objectives of this presentation are to summarize student selected learning objectives and how they can be used to enhance student learning and to guide faculty understanding and teaching practices. Additionally, we will provide key features for optimizing the process.

The target audience is medical professionals; however, the principles would apply to instructors training students over any period of time.

On the first day of the 2-week clinical rotation, the students identify up to 5 learning objectives and score their level of confidence with each learning objective at the beginning and again at the end of the rotation. This encourages students to think about what they want to learn, communicate with the faculty instructors, and estimate their current level of understanding. On the first day of the rotation, faculty encourage the students to identify activities on clinics and use self-directed learning to improve their confidence with their self-identified learning objectives. In this presentation, we will review benefits to the students and faculty as well as areas for development and for future study. This presentation connects to teaching and learning change and best practices by allowing students to reflect on and select their own learning objectives, in addition to the ones provided by faculty in the course description, and to work towards improvement over the course of the rotation as an active participant in the learning process.

Online source evaluation is essential for students not only for their coursework, but also as they develop skills for their future careers. Our presentation has one primary objective: propose how a source evaluation rubric developed for preservice teachers can be utilized in other disciplines and online source contexts. Our target audience is all university instructors.

Our presentation connects with the idea of reflection and ways we cultivate strategic users of knowledge in the Teaching and Learning Change conference theme. In Teaching Change, Bowen discusses what counts as knowledge. The evaluation rubric we developed over the course of several semesters focuses on having students think critically about a particular online source, the content of the source, and how it relates to their own learning objectives as a way to begin realizing that what counts as knowledge in their future professional contexts might be different than what counts as knowledge in their daily lives.

There are many evaluation rubrics and checklists that have been developed to help students determine the quality of an online source. However, some of these predeveloped lists lead students to think that by checking a certain number of boxes, a source will be high quality. Rather than a quantitative approach to evaluation, we developed a contextualized approach rooted in student reflection and critical thinking. We propose use of the rubric to support university instructors’ purposeful movement away from textbooks as sole purveyors of course content toward the integration of online sources from their field of expertise.

We highlight a few best practices including iterative design and assessment as well as the development of an evaluation module that is adaptable to other contexts. Although we developed the rubric for preservice teachers, we believe that the overarching categories of the rubric can easily be modified for different disciplinary contexts. These modifications will allow for the integration of knowledge from sources other than the course textbook. A link to a modifiable version of the evaluation rubric will be shared in the presentation.

Education provides a unique path both to discovering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and recommending recovery methods. Various educational methods can be employed, including both lectures from faculty and directed research conducted by students themselves. During 2021, we implemented a variety of educational opportunities, including special topics courses, directed studies courses, campus-wide presentations, and extracurricular activities.

Initially, we offered a Special Topics course, in which our Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) students explored foundational knowledge about the COVID-19 virus and its pandemic potential. These students shared this information with their peers in a creative video presentation at the conclusion of the semester.

Additionally, a collection of faculty formed a publicly shared discussion panel regarding the COVID-19 vaccine and its significant steps towards national recovery. This panel was created to educate the students and public on the COVID-19 vaccines, as well as reinforce participation for the on-site COVID testing and vaccine clinics.

Next, we created a Directed Studies course in which BIMS and Public Health students researched the impact of the pandemic on mental health and proposed recovery methods through exercise. These students then presented their literature review findings and potential recovery methods to their peers in a presentation for the Fall 2021 Welcome Week.

Finally, we implemented the suggested recovery options. A Special Topics course was offered focusing on Exercise Physiology and Genetics to equip students for proper exercise without injury. Additionally, extracurricular activities like yoga and workout classes were offered, along with green exercise like gardening, kayaking, and trail walking.

This five-person roundtable provides research-driven strategies for introducing Open Educational Resources (or OER) into university curricula, thus promoting change in teaching and learning that challenges traditional assumptions about the materials we use and how we use them within the classroom and as preparation for teaching.

Presentation objectives
Audience members will learn techniques in developing and using OER materials, including
Integrating mentorship and teacher training as part of ongoing resiliency strategies
Designing curricula with diversity, inclusion, and accessibility as core principles
Designing curricula based on research-based practices
Creating accessible course materials using universal design principles

Target audience
The target audience for this presentation is instructors and curriculum developers looking to create and integrate open educational resources into their current curriculum.

Connection with the conference theme of Teaching and Learning Change
Our presentation connects with the conference theme by focusing not only on the visible change of incorporating open access materials into classes but also the invisible labor involved in integrating such change in the classroom. As part of fostering resiliency in our students, we develop relationships with them and each other to create spaces for reflection that both respond to change and motivate students to be the change they wish to see in the world.

Best practices/innovative techniques featured
Faculty collaboration in creating and shaping material specifically for TAMU students and courses
Antiracist and culturally-responsive teaching
Cultivation of student resiliency
Universal Design

Presenters and topics (Recording time: 8 minutes/5 people=40 minutes total)
Claire Carly-Miles will examine OER and relationship building through the mentorship of new graduate student instructors, both in helping them to align their teaching with department and university expectations as well as in encouraging exploration of new possibilities for how to use texts in the classroom.

Rich Cooper will discuss changing how we think about U. S. texts written in languages other than English, thus teaching students to form relationships with their heritage, cultivate resiliency in understanding that heritage’s role in the country, and reflect on the circumstances and politics that define these languages as “foreign.”

Matt McKinney will explore OER as a kairotic response to the exigencies of social justice issues in professional discourses and students’ experiential knowledge. Specifically, OER provide a unique opportunity for instructors to develop relationships with and customize course concepts for underrepresented student populations, while also supplementing traditional instructional resources with more critical and inclusive content.

Fran Thielman will reflect on the unique challenges of using an OER in the physical classroom, including how to incorporate long-form primary texts and newer and more diverse content by women and BIPOC. This presentation will focus on pedagogical practices that may be immediately applied to one’s teaching.

Nicole Hagstrom-Schmidt will demonstrate best practices of creating and adapting accessible OER materials using principles of universal design. This workshop is intended both for instructors who want to create or modify their own teaching materials, and for instructors interested in teaching students how to make their formal assignments accessible.

Introductory physics classes are taken by thousands of students every year. These courses are gateway courses for many students and they must do well to proceed into upper level STEM classes. I will address the strategies and methods for improving student learning experience, resilience, and performance, which will help them succeed in the future.

Instructors and teaching assistants teaching large introductory classes can benefit from adopting some of these strategies to improve student outcomes and community in the course.

The methods addressed below focus on creating a culture of teamwork in the classroom, respecting diverse means of learning, serious reflection on performance before and after summative assessments, and building resilience and a growth mindset by reflecting how personal effort determines outcomes in the course.

In Don't Panic! courses, we utilize early intervention to reduce the number of students who are at risk to receive D, F or Q-drop the course. After the first midterm exam, each instructor meets with students who score below a set threshold. During these meetings, we discuss the study habits a student has used, suggest other study methods to improve performance moving forward, remind the students that the final exam can replace their lowest midterm and they still can get a high grade in the class so long as they improve, and encourage them to reach out and use the resources available including their instructor.

We provide a host of supplemental materials to help students succeed in the course. These include videos outlining the material in the textbook chapters, videos focusing on concepts and laws with short examples of use, detailed problem solving videos, and over a decade of previous exams. These materials are created to help and reach students with different types of learning styles and are proved to be popular among students. The supplemental materials can be accessed by students at any time and for free. They allow us to demonstrate the physical laws, concepts, and problem solving skills students must master to succeed in the course.

We stress the importance of creating a culture of teamwork during the first class, setting high expectations for student performance, and demonstrating how student effort leads to success in the class. Further, instructors volunteer to provide regular weekly review sessions outside of classes to summarize the material and demonstrate problem-solving skills that students work on together to continue the teamwork aspect of class. During the semester, low stakes assessments utilized during lectures and recitations give students real-time feedback on their performance and instructs them on their misconceptions. We use active learning methods such as Think-Pair-Share to encourage student interaction and iClicker polls for instant feedback.

Finally, Don't Panic! exams are all free response multi-step questions. The problems require students to explain their approach to a problem. The emphasis is on their logic, rather than the final answer, and the grading rubric reflects that emphasis. Applying this uniform rubric, these exams are returned the following class for immediate feedback while the ideas are fresh in the students' minds.

Overview:
The Leadership Studies minor attracts students from a wide variety of academic programs, range of leadership experiences, and who have diverse career aspirations after graduation. Students come into an academic minor with hopes of applying what they learned to their future career. With students coming from every undergraduate college and having a variety of future career interests, it is important to provide learning and application opportunities that are flexible enough, so they are relevant to each and every student, regardless of academic program, previous leadership experience, or what they want to do as a profession after they graduate. This revised end of academic minor portfolio project allows students to apply the theories, concepts, and lessons learned from the minor coursework into a tangible and applicable project throughout their time in the minor.

Objectives:
The objectives of this presentation are follows:
1. Provide an overview of the Leadership Studies minor revised end of minor portfolio project
2. Present an overview of how using a platform like LinkedIn connects the academic classroom to career preparation

Target Audience:
The target audience for this presentation is faculty members teaching senior seminar courses or capstone courses, career services staff, as well as those who oversee academic minors or other academic programs where an "end of experience" synthesizing portfolio project could be useful.

Alignment to Theme and Topic Areas:
LinkedIn is all about being able to connect professionals around the world. Students will apply the things they have learned to their LinkedIn profile and connect leadership to career. Students will also learn more about how they can market themselves more effectively and make relationships with those in the industries they want to work in. LinkedIn is a snapshot of what a professional has accomplished. Students will have to reflect on their experiences in the academic minor and create videos, "about" summaries, and other narratives that showcase their abilities as leaders who are ready, willing, and able to take on the workforce in a concise manner.


Best Practices/Innovative techniques
Having the end of minor portfolio project using LinkedIn gives students the opportunity to use the materials, assignments, and projects they have completed during the academic minor to create a connection between their classroom and career. This gives students the opportunity to think more actively throughout their time in the minor while learning how to apply the leadership knowledge, skills, and abilities they are developing to their future careers. Working on this portfolio as they progress through the minor provides multiple opportunities for students to apply, reinforce, and fortify what they are learning as they are learning it.

The goal of this innovative course MEID 830 (Service-Learning Internal Medicine and Pharmacy Interdisciplinary Health Research) is to increase awareness of medical and pharmacy teachers and learners regarding the various healthcare barriers faced by a large fraction of the urban Harris County residents. These barriers are a combination of systemic, community, and individual factors that may be mitigated through education and mindful, directed interventions.

The target population that will ultimately benefit from this course are immigrants and low-income, under-resourced citizens who do not have access to adequate healthcare. Failure for healthcare providers to identify, manage and treat chronic diseases early and effectively results in unnecessary suffering and increased long-term cost. To address this challenge, we developed an innovative interprofessional medicine pharmacy research elective for MS3 TAMU medical students (MEID 830). This course exposes learners to telemedicine and virtual phone encounters to determine patient educational needs and medication compliance through comprehensive treatment plans that have been devised in close partnership with pharmacists to reach high-risk patients.

The overarching theme of this course is to motivate and enable our learners to build strong patient-provider relationships in vulnerable communities with the purpose of empowering resilience and helping to mitigate poverty hardships that significantly deteriorate patients’ health and mental wellbeing. A desired consequence of this intervention is potential cost savings for unnecessary treatments and increased utilization of provider-patient time. Interdisciplinary themes will be emphasized in learner objective outcomes with a focus on polypharmacy.

Over the past 2 years, the pandemic has accelerated the use of virtual platforms. In healthcare, telemedicine complements face-to-face interactions by facilitating long-distance patient and clinician relationship building allowing pairs to review pertinent educational and medical interventions. Telemedicine has been extensively used as an alternative approach to improve access for high-risk patients for remote and/or afterhours care.

The pilot phase of this study began through an interprofessional group consisting of clinicians, medical students, scientists, and pharmacists. Patient satisfaction will be assessed through needs assessment surveys at different intervals during the year. Apart from collecting demographic data, future plans will collect data on the social determinants of health. Information regarding patient language barriers, insurance status, housing (zip code), employment status, disability, and access to affordable medication will impart a more nuanced understanding of barriers to care. The team plans to define and address these challenges further by making the next generation of healthcare providers more aware of the difficulties Harris County residents face to optimize the healthcare delivery ecosystem.

Presentation objectives:
The objectives of this proposal are:
1. Present a modified test that quantifies clinical reasoning skills
2. Relate the findings to the Dreyfus novice to expert skill development
3. Propose how this script concordance test (SCT)can be used in preclerckship years at Texas A&M.


Target audience:
This proposal targets both faculty and students and involves the concordance of clinical reasoning between expert clinicians and preclerskship students.

Connection with the theme “Teaching and Learning Change”:
There is a difference between knowledge and practice or explicit vs. implicit knowledge, and the latter is more challenging to teach. We present an assessment method that converts implicit clinical skills or illness scripts into a quantifiable and demonstrable activity. The script concordance test (SCT) examines the knowledge organization by forcing cognitive dissonance or discomfort in the learner when a diagnosis is mismatched with a symptom. In this way, the dissonance establishes a “teaching moment,” resulting in a transformative change in the learner.
Best practices/innovative techniques featured:
We evaluated a modified script concordance test (SCT) to quantify the clinical reasoning skills in pre-clerkship medical students. The SCT converts implicit clinical reasoning skills into a quantifiable, demonstrable activity, thus effectively quantifying the Dreyfus model of skill development from novices to experts.

This SCT presented 4 cases containing ambiguous preliminary information and a respiratory or cardiovascular diagnosis. When presented with additional information, students re-evaluated the diagnosis validity. The SCT modifications were the use of only three Likert choices and a justification of their reasoning. These inverse problems involved regressive reasoning (diagnosis to signs/symptoms) and consisted of 10 questions. Participants included clinicians (n=4), first-year or M1 students (n=5), and M3 (n=5) students. Student Likert answers were compared to experts, with similar or concordant responses = 1.

In this pilot with small sample sizes, clinicians performed significantly higher than M1 and M3 (83.3% ±14.3 vs. 40.0 ±20.2, & 37.8±12.7; p = 0.003 and 0.0015 respectively, unpaired t-test). Indeed, the answer choices were ≥ 60-75% the same/concordant for clinicians, and students in 8 /10, and 5/10 questions, respectively. On average, the SCT took 32±14.6 mins to complete. Concordance was highest with classical disease presentation. The justification section highlighted the differences in thought processes from expert to novice. The clinicians intuitively focused on the key symptoms, and discordance occurred due to mismatches in information. The M3s created a differential diagnosis. The M1s used rules and maxims related to basic science (e.g., smoking = COPD), whereas experts needed more information for diagnosis validation.

This pilot data from this modified SCT quantitatively differentiated clinical reasoning between expert and novice, and the justification feedback provided insight into the illness script development. Using SCT in the pre-clerkship allows for student metacognition, quantification, visualization, and demonstration of implicit clinical reasoning skills. This method could enhance illness script development in the preclinical years and thus also prepare students for their clinicals.

The objectives of this proposal are:
1. Present a prototyping method to increase faculty adoption of novel teaching activities
2. Demonstrate prototyping in designing a cardiovascular workshop
3. Propose on the application of prototyping at Texas A&M.

Most teachers communicate course content to students visually through the use of instructional materials (e.g., PowerPoint presentation, handout). However, they tend to overlook the importance of creating instructional materials that strategically incorporate basic design principles. It is important teachers realize that strategic instructional design can improve student learning but, more importantly, non-strategic instructional design can actually impede student learning. The presentation’s objectives are as follows: 1) Explain the importance of using basic instructional design principles to create course materials; 2) Prompt teachers to reflect on their own creation of instructional design materials; 3) Introduce evidence-based instructional design principles (i.e., multimedia principle, contiguity principle, coherence principle) and describe the effect they have on student learning; 4) Provide examples of course content that adheres to each of the three design principles; 5) Share best practices for redesigning existing course materials to incorporate the three design principles; and 6) List resources teachers can access to learn more about effective instructional design principles and strategies (e.g., Clark & Mayer, 2016). We will record an engaging, 7–8-minute presentation that clearly and concisely delivers key information associated with each of the six objectives. The target audience for the presentation consists of college teachers across all disciplines because the design principles featured are relevant to all types of instructional design materials. The topic described herein connects to the conference theme, Teaching and Learning Change, because it highlights a critical component of effective teaching—designing instructional materials—that is often overlooked and enables teachers to improve this aspect of their teaching through critical self-reflection.

Transformation Teaching Grant Project, 2021-2022

Presentation Objectives: The primary purpose of our presentation is to report the year one results of a transdisciplinary learning collaboration between bilingual education (2-language instruction) and kinesiology (physical education and technology) pre-service teachers. In our study, we posed alternative approaches to the issue of the “silo effect” in pre-service teacher preparation.

Target Audience: Our target audience is the Texas A&M community: administrators, faculty, staff, students, and “drop-ins.”

Alignment with the Conference Theme “Teaching and Learning Change” and Particular Topic Areas. Our philosophy of teaching aligns with transformational teaching and learning change. Thus, in our instruction and interactions with students, we actively support the learner as self-directed, self-aware, self-reflective, and an active co-constructor of knowledge. In addition, we facilitated the development of professional identity, agency, and resilience in our pre-service teacher students via the Presidential Transformational Teaching Grant Project.

Presentation Format Rationale: Narrated PowerPoint. We chose this format because we believe it can effectively capture the process of our collaboration at the instructor and the student level. Additionally, narrated infographics offer flexibility, access to more conference attendees, and fewer time constraints. Flexibility: Attendees can peruse the PowerPoint at their own pace. Access: Presenters and topic can increase visibility to a larger audience. Fewer time constraints: The slides allow a smooth information flow that incorporates the methodology, results, and implications of our research. Additionally, this format supports ease of readability and information dissemination about second language acquisition pedagogy and the importance of cross-disciplinary collaborations.

Best Practices/Innovative Techniques Featured: Our study, transdisciplinary collaboration of pre-service teachers, focused on four components of professional identity construction: professional and pedagogical knowledge as well as skill development, leadership, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving. Best practices included the following: (1) student discussions using a team approach for collaborative assignments; (2) active learning as students defined their STEM-based concept and applied the concept as a narrative delivered in a graphic novelette; (3) leadership development, such as organizing team activities and negotiating concepts for their assignments; (4) critical thinking and creative problem-solving as they designed bilingual (Spanish and English) graphic novelettes about health-related concept/topics (e.g., safety) for the purpose of increasing PreK12 students’ health literacy, reading time, as well as reading interest/enjoyment, and (5) peer feedback on materials development using graduate student in-service bilingual education teacher mentors.

Outcomes: Students used appropriate strategies and tools to represent, analyze, and integrate information and to provide meaningful feedback to peers. During their professional practices, they demonstrated instructional leadership and ethical decision-making skills. In addition, students integrated instructional technologies into their curricular materials—the graphic novelettes and study guides. Students were able to formulate a technology plan of personal goals for continued professional growth.

A significant barrier to Health care for the LGBTQ+ community is the lack of knowledge and understanding about the community, community needs, and the wide range of identities within the community by healthcare professionals, leading to discrimination and poor quality of care. Introducing the topics of Gender Identity and Sexual Orientations in undergraduate Human Sexuality courses for students planning to attend health care professional programs and careers can help alleviate these barriers and create more aware and culturally competent health professionals and individuals in society. One core focus of any undergraduate program is to create well-rounded individuals who can represent the university and the country in positive and inclusive ways. This course is designed for future Health Professionals. The need to meet all human health care needs with dignity and respect starts here. A Pre-test will be given to students in the class to gather their current understanding of Human Sexuality, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation during the beginning of the Spring 2022 semester. After the presentations on Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation, the student will be given a post-test to gather their understanding and comprehension of the topics covered for the Spring 2022 course and will be sent out to students in the Fall 2021 section of the course. End of Semester evaluations will also be reviewed to gather the reactions and reflections of the students from the Fall 2021 semester.

Directed studies and field experiences courses provide a unique opportunity for faculty to engage students in meaningful learning that holds the potential to impact students for a lifetime. Thus, we propose to record a 5-8 minute presentation that will allow viewers the opportunity to identify three effective practices needed to implement a field experience or directed studies course successfully. Aligning the tenets of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) into an acronym to help identify best practices, the presenters will discuss elements related to (S)yllabus construction; designing course (O)bjectives; innovative (T)eaching methods to elicit desired growth or gains; and evaluation of (L)earning through assessment of student artifacts. Our targeted audience includes university-wide faculty interested in leading a directed studies or field experiences course. Directed studies (485) and field experience (484) courses provide students with the opportunity to research problems, dive into specific literature or hands-on learning, and gain supervised experience in settings related to their future profession. Known to support the educational resilience of students, both directed studies and field experience courses allow students to engage in a high-impact practice (Kuh, 2008). These zero to six credit hour courses allow for faculty development of relationships with individual students and afford students the opportunity to reflect on their learning and readiness for professional work. Sample syllabi, contracts, and course documents will be provided for faculty to modify and use for their particular context and requirements.

Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in school- and college-aged students experiencing greater levels of stress, anxiety, and collective trauma. Students are facing food and housing insecurity, economic instability, isolation, uncertainty, and fear of catching and/or transmitting the virus to loved ones. Educators are experiencing similar personal and professional stressors, resulting in poor mental health, compassion fatigue, and academic burnout. Since 2020, research reveals both students and educators report feeling less connected to one another and to educational institutions. These feelings of disconnectedness are even greater for students of color and other marginalized groups. Therefore, building trust and forming relationships between students and educators has never been more challenging or important. Strong academic relationships enhance students’ motivational levels, promote social skills, and advance the learning process. Although many educators understand these benefits, they oftentimes struggle with figuring out how to form connections or forging real relationships without appearing awkward or insincere. During this virtual presentation, the presenters will provide culturally inclusive strategies for building relationships with students in both face-to-face and virtual learning environments. At the end of the presentation, participants will be tasked with brainstorming strategies for applying these tips into their own academic disciplines and educational environments.

Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the virtual presentation, participants will:
-Describe the importance of relationships on the learning process and educational environments
-Brainstorm strategies for building sincere relationships with and among students across academic disciplines and educational environments

In this presentation, we plan to share how we incorporated creativity principles and high impact practices into a virtual study abroad course we designed for Spring 2022. Our virtual study abroad course to Greece directly addresses this year’s theme, “Teaching and Learning Change” as the course was designed for students to engage in building relationships with each other and with citizens of Greece, inhabit resilience in discussing sometimes difficult topics around cross-cultural beliefs and practices, and engage in deep personal reflection of their own identity, culture, and cultural awareness throughout the semester. In our virtual study abroad program, we infused face-to-face, remote, synchronous, and asynchronous elements of teaching into the course. Through these myriad of activity types and modes, we have reconceived the notion of a study abroad to remove the travel aspects, while still deeply immersing students in an array of cultural activities and discussions. As Kegan (2009) asserts, only when the form itself is at the risk of change then true transformational learning can occur.

We will present how we used technology in innovative ways to create an engaging virtual study abroad experience. Specific to course design, we will share how we collaborated with a tour company in Greece to align our course objectives into four cohesive modules: Language and Communication; Sights and Structures; People and Practices; and Culture and the Arts. We will share how we utilized a variety of delivery methods meant to enhance engagement and encourage collaboration and communication, including videos, live streaming, and live face-to-face events. Students were expected to learn about Greek culture by engaging in a flipped instruction model. First, students watched curated videos specifically made for this course as part of their homework. Then, class time was spent reflecting and communicating with Greek citizens about course topics through live streaming. Students also participated in live events such as a Greek cooking lesson, an Olympic games workout, and a mythology storytelling tour. Attendees of this session will also see example assessments created as part of this experience, including exemplars of assignments, rubrics, and projects designed to elicit critical thinking and increase students’ connection with the material. Attendees will also learn how to engage in inclusionary practices and recruitment efforts that helped expand this global learning opportunity to new audiences and underserved populations. Finally, a practical and resourceful guide as to how to develop one’s own virtual study abroad experience will be outlined.

Target Audience and Presentation Format
We propose to present a narrative infographic to share our design principles of the course, as well as preliminary analyses from artifacts and other data collected from the course. We plan for the video recording to last no more than eight minutes. Our target audience would include anyone interested in developing an online study abroad program, or those interested in supplementing their existing courses with online travel opportunities, especially courses that involve multicultural and international education.

Creating assignments that develop student relationships

Presentation Objectives – The objective of this presentation is to share examples of assignments that engage student participation while building relationships. The assignments range from whole class, small group, to individual. Relationships and connectedness can be strengthened through the choice of assignments.

Target Audience – Current and future collegiate educators.

Conference Theme Connection – Brown and Starrett (2017) expressed the importance of connectedness in relation to student success. Further, they suggest that student success increases when they have a positive relationship with the instructor. Instructors seeking to engage students must develop a relationship quickly as they may only get one semester with students. Creating assignments that focus on learning while simultaneously encouraging relationship building is one way to speed up that process. Large classroom sizes can complicate relationship building; however, creative assignments can assist with overcoming barriers. Such assignments can be built to increase student reflection and lead to enhanced interest in the curriculum.

Best Practices Featured – Using assignments to create connectivity is an effective way to display instructor enthusiasm. And, if used properly enthusiasm helps keep the class engaged and build relationships. Discussions based on those assignments can lead to an inclusive atmosphere where instructors are showing interest in students’ careers and lives. These types of results, as discussed by Brown and Starrett (2017), can lead to increased student motivation, retention of the material, and provides safe environments to learn.

This presentation will share my experience teaching a two-semester capstone project course in three years. This course modifies the project-based-learning method that TTLC introduced in 2018 with some lean project management tools and frameworks that have been successfully implemented in many industries for more than two decades. The contents of this course come from two classical academic subjects: Operations Management and Management Sciences (OM/MS). A living industrial case, the traffic congestion problem in the Port of Houston, is used as a live project in this two-semester PBL course. I sed in this presentation to explain four factors that are critical to the successful transformation of two classical OM courses into an innovative teaching approach. These four factors are the context-content dyad, problem-solving-oriented teaching approach, student participation/engagement, and learning outcome/impact. The first two factors are teaching-related, and the latter two are learning-related.

Presentation objectives

• Why the industry-specific contextual factors affect the delivery of contents in the PBL method
• How lean-management tools and frameworks are embedded in the delivery of the transformational learning method
• How to decompose a PBL experience in terms of stages and gates
• How our modified PBL courses enhance the powerful experience, critical reflection, developmental and spiritual achievements

Target audience

• Instructors who are planning to adapt the PBL method
• Instructors who are planning to redesign a PBL course with real-world cases
• Instructors who have experience of teaching capstone project courses and are considering redesigning the courses with practical tools and frameworks

Connection with the conference theme of Teaching and Learning Change

• Introduce a novice approach to modify classical academic courses that are not organized in the process of problem-solving
• Emphasize the criticalities of industry-specific issues in project-based learning
• Transform students’ learning from passive to active
• Prepare students for the future and make them Job-market ready

Best practices/innovative techniques featured.

• Team-building and development along with a seven-stage problem-solving project framework
• Map the value streams of business processes (vessel movements) to see the wastes
• Convey the problem ownership to students by letting them define the problem from the view of customers and explore the causes of a symptom (traffic congestion in Houston Ship Channel)
• Apply a bottom-up approach for strategic planning and scheduling
• Blend both qualitative and quantitative OM/MS contents in the way of “art-and-science.”
• Templates to help students make the “kill-or-go” decisions when evaluating alternatives of suggestions and the success of project stages
• Peer-evaluations on project presentations
• Timely reflections and feedback from both peers and the instructor
• Reiteration of a four-step problem-solving model at each project stage and reinforcement before/after project milestones.

Given important recent conversations about systemic racism in medical training, this project seeks to provide a potential opportunity to transform the way we evaluate learners in order to combat future inherent biases in clinical practice. Throughout medical training, students will encounter numerous examinations with questions that typically present clinical vignettes describing a patient presentation. These vignettes represent one of the first patient populations that a student will meet. Currently, the practice of mentioning a patient's race or ethnicity at the beginning of a clinical vignette is a common yet inconsistently applied practice across and within medical schools. Questions that include race or ethnicity in the vignette often do so when it represents a clinically relevant piece of information given the incidence or prevalence of a disease in that population. These data are not consistently included in vignettes when it is not believed to contribute to clinical reasoning. This selective inclusion of race or ethnicity data may inculcate an unintended bias into students. Similarly, in our current system, medical students are taught to only think about race or ethnicity in a question when it is mentioned but exclusion of this data may lead to subconscious assumption of this information using their implicit biases; thus, potentially leading to under-representation of patients of certain races or ethnicities in common diseases (e.g. myocardial infarctions, infectious disease, etc.).
The concept of including race or ethnicity in every question to add to the representativeness of a patient population is understudied. Medical assessment questions should strive to reflect the diversity of the population. In our presentation, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the routine use of race or ethnicity in every clinical vignette. We present a technology that enables the inclusion of race or ethnicity routinely into question stems, with accurate representation of the local patient population. Our goal is to improve representation of diverse populations within medical examinations which should be of interest to our target audience of educators in the medical fields.

Given the advent of the pandemic, many instructors have been forced to adopt asynchronous modes of online instruction that can limit interactions with students. In this presentation the authors will discuss how they use live synchronous Zoom sessions with online graduate students to supplement their asynchronous online courses. They will discuss how to plan for such sessions, the kind of content it is most helpful to review in these sessions, the pros and cons of recording these sessions and student feedback on how these recordings are used.

Often students and faculty experience anxiety with the uncertainty of a new course and new group of students. Each come with their own set of expectations, challenges, and perspectives.

Pre-course surveys are powerful tools for identifying student backgrounds and course readiness, helping faculty address concerns, customize course content, and even form teams for later use in the course.

In this presentation, we will share observations from administering these surveys in several different engineering courses, from first-year engineering to upper level courses to even capstone courses.

Before the first day of class, both students and faculty experience uncertainty and anxiety about the journey that lays ahead. Faculty have certain expectations about what students know coming into the course, the students’ academic and life experiences, and even the students’ study habits. Students likewise have expectations about what support the faculty will provide, concerns about the challenges in the course based on their own previous experiences or intel from other students, and the students’ ability to manage their course/life load.

A well-designed pre-course survey is a powerful tool to expose student backgrounds, training, and concerns to the faculty. Faculty in turn can swiftly and accordingly tailor the beginning weeks of the course and supplementary material, identify social and emotional states, reduce student anxiety, and begin to develop a rapport with their students as they support an inclusive classroom community.

In this presentation we will share best practices for facilitating pre-course surveys which can be applied to any discipline and at all academic levels. We discuss specific ways to leverage the information gathered in these surveys for course launch, providing one-on-one care even in large classes, and fostering community.

Impact demonstration will be in the form of specific applications where the authors used survey results to best design teams, build connections within and across the student community, and to determine the level of scaffolding needed to address survey-identified student knowledge and skill set challenges.

The challenges of the "early in the semester trauma" brought on by the many unknowns (from both perspectives) are a theme in the "Teaching Change" TTLC book studies and we have found the pre-course survey to be a tool to impactfully address these concerns before day one of a course.

Quality and inclusive education are the hallmarks of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (United Nations, 2018). COVID-19 is globally, the largest digital intervention in the history of higher education systems (Pokhrel & Chhetri, 2021). The pandemic is still producing conflicts with student learning, and digital instructional technologies are in higher demand. Some contemporary examples of immersive curricular digital instructional technologies are virtual reality technologies. Virtual instructional technologies can improve student learning and engagement when used correctly (Bumguardner et al., 2014). Virtual reality, with the proper access, can connect users from all backgrounds to an immersive experience at their will (Ahir et al., 2020).

Supporting student engagement in transformational learning is a component of the TAMU Strategic Plan 2020–2025 (TAMU, 2020). Virtual reality technologies can be multidisciplinary applied as a means for learning in business, agriculture, public health, climate change, human conflicts, engineering, medicine, supply chains, water, education, nursing, geopolitics, military-based training exercises, and sports among others. The purpose of our presentation is to describe two examples of virtual reality tools faculty can use in their curricula to engage and immerse students in the content. This presentation’s objectives are a) describe the advantages of virtual reality instructional techniques for supplemental use in post-secondary courses and b) provide foundational pedagogical approaches with virtual reality technologies. The presentation will not include robust technical vernacular but entry-level strategies for transformational learning enhancement. The recorded presentation will be no longer than eight minutes.

Virtual reality technologies are being included into courses to develop students in safe and organized scenarios for post-graduate success in complex circumstances (Strong et al., 2022). Virtual reality instruction can assist instructors in developing student’s critical thinking, empirical, teamwork, personal responsibility, and social responsibility skills (Kavanagh et al., 2017). Virtual reality technologies can help students describe, explain, and predict phenomena’s that may occur in the natural world. Additionally, the technologies can increase student compression of interactions between natural phenomena’s impact on society and our physical world. Virtual reality technologies can aid instructors in improving student course evaluations in TAMU AEFIS respective to assessment items; level of engagement and participation in the course, I engaged in critical thinking and/or problem solving, the instructor encouraged students to take responsibility for their own learning, and I learned to critically evaluate diverse ideas and perspectives.

The pandemic has reduced opportunities for education abroad and field research. Faculty should discern the extent virtual reality instructional technologies may be applicable for digital delivery to meet their learning outcomes. Virtual reality is not the end all be all for digital education but the sudden shift to pervasive virtual learning due to the pandemic necessitates the assessment of student learning from quickly adopted digital technologies. The innovativeness of virtual reality technologies in pedagogical contexts demonstrate learning is more conducive to student schedules given the medium’s strength of not being place-bound, juxtaposed to traditional classroom pedagogy and opportunities to stimulate students transformational learning. This presentation will describe student-centered strategies instructors can utilize in creating active learning and critical thinking contexts.

It is common to reinforce students’ learning through activities and projects where they can deeply explore the implementation of applications; however, there is a need to reinforce deeper conceptual understanding. With increasing class sizes, it has become more difficult to monitor the understanding of individual students over the group. To address this issue, we have implemented short mini-individualized activities that focus on the conceptual understanding of a key concept in the course/lab where we as instructors give students the tools to critically think independently; a skill they will carry with them. The activity also serves to increase students’ retention of information as they reflect on the topics emphasized in subsequent experiments. This type of activity aims to establish a personal relationship between the students and the concepts which in turn helps the student to reflect on the process of learning.

Our target audience for the presentation are instructors that feel the need for individualized learning within a large class size. The length is expected to be between 6-7 minutes. Our initiative focuses on the relationship between the instructor, content, and student to bring back the importance of individualized learning to understand core concepts. Through these activities, we give students tools to critically think and later implement and reflect through laboratory experimentation on what they learned. A primary goal is for students to develop strategies for themselves to reflect on what they have learned in class, as opposed to relying on the instructors; something they can carry with them through their academic career and beyond.

The innovative approach involves an activity presented in an exciting way to connect various ideas introduced in the classroom to core concepts and overarching ideas in several fields. In other words, if students can understand the core concept, they will have the resilience to branch out in different directions while retaining their understanding. This approach contrasts the typical model in which students focus on the result of that idea. For example, to better understand a material’s behavior during loading and its failure behavior we introduced an activity where we show how a material can behave differently because of temperature. Our activity serves as a tool for students to critically think about how to connect loading, material behavior, and failure behavior instead of assuming that the failure behavior is always correlated with material type. It is a simple idea but a profound one. It requires a short visual and interactive activity for the concept to be fully appreciated and reinforced. Once the concept is grasped then it can be easily applied to the rest of the failure behavior in the course. These short demos could be used in any lab or even as a quick way to grasp concepts during lectures. By focusing on conceptual understanding and reinforcing it with an interactive demo we can ensure students are better prepared. Additionally, we emphasize critical and analytical thinking in the activity, so students have the tools they need as future graduates.

Quick-fire rotations can support student discussion and perspective taking in all classes, including STEM classes. Discussions and perspective taking supports student learning but can be challenging to implement, especially as the class size grows. Student-to-student interaction, an important element in a learning environment, support engaging discussions and perspective taking at scale. These in turn help instructors to “Teach and Learn Change” and create more flexible and resilient students. This presentation shares the quick-fire rotation process, how to deploy in different classrooms, and observations from different courses that have tried it. It is for instructors in all disciplines, especially those that have not leveraged discussions deeply in their courses or are looking for ways to increase student-to-student interaction.

Quick-fire rotations facilitate greater student-to-student interaction and learning, regardless of class size. By rapidly changing partners, all students are actively involved, whether it be a discussion over course content or feedback on student work in progress, instead of a select few. Students prepare before a quick-fire rotation session, either individually or in teams. The session is divided into multiple short rounds, usually 2-5 minutes in length each. For each round, half of the students remain stationary and half the students rotate to a new student or small group. During the round, the students engage in discussion or provide feedback on student work. Typically 3 to 4 rounds gives students multiple perspectives without overwhelming them. After the speed-dating session, it is helpful to debrief, either individually, in teams, or with the entire class. Students can reflect on what they discovered and how it impacts their original perspective or approach.

We deployed quick-fire rotations in several engineering courses including a junior-level required project-based course, a senior-level technical elective, and capstone design course. We used quick-fire rotations as a tool for students to gain multiple perspectives and expose their implicit assumptions during problem exploration and design ideation, to deepen their discussions on particular course topics with diverse points of view, to identify input bias in their proposed solutions, methodologies, or testing sets, and to conduct quick user studies on design prototypes.

We observed several positive outcomes. During problem exploration, students broadened their understanding of the nature of the problem and realized their implicit assumptions when they explained and answered questions of others. Quick-fire user studies on lo-fidelity prototypes allowed students to make more informed decisions about their proposed solution before fully designing and implementing them. In quick-fire discussions, students expressed enjoyment in meeting other students and discussing, thus building a more inclusive classroom community. Students also saw how their preparation increased in subsequent rounds because of discussions they had in prior rounds.

The motivation of our students to learn has the potential to directly impact how they acquire relevant knowledge and skills. Research has shown that motivation impacts how we initiate and sustain activities, including learning. Our presentation will provide a summary of data collected in 2021 to understand student perceptions related to motivation. We collected responses from 965 students across the United States, with 47 states represented. Of these students, a large majority provided written comments sharing what they wished instructors knew about motivation and how it affects them. Our target audience includes all instructors who desire an understanding of what motivates students, from a student perspective. Bowen (2021) in his book “Teaching Change” shares that we need to be cultivating lifelong learners. To do that, we must understand what motivates students and seek to put in place strategies that address those needs. Our presentation will provide a look into the minds of students by sharing their thoughts on group work, class participation, feedback, stress, assignment difficulty, individual challenges, and learning modes. Institutional Review Board approval was received for this study. This work was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch project 1024488.

The Gendered Lens Curricula in Development (GLCD) was funded by the Presidential Transformational Teaching Grant Program and the Higher Education Challenge (HEC) Grants Program, grant no. 2020-70003-32313 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. This presentation will provide an update on the availability of modules that are ready for use and provide guidance for how to access them. The target audience for the presentation are instructors across the university who are interested in incorporating gender lensed lessons into their courses. Our presentation connects with the conference theme of “Teaching and Learning Change” because the modules are designed to facilitate transformational change. The use of evidence-based high-impact practices have been interwoven into the modules. Our presentation will identify and highlight these practices allowing others to learn from what has been created or use what has been created.

Teamwork skills are essential for success in professional settings. Keeping this in mind, engineering courses offer projects that require students to participate in teams. Although a handful of students have prior experience in teamwork, most do not receive sufficient formal guidance on effective team building. Over the last few years of our teaching careers, we observed that some student teams become dysfunctional due to inconsistent team expectations, ineffective communication, and an inability to resolve conflicts. Recent student surveys also pointed out the need for teamwork training in the curriculum. There is a clear need to empower our students with these teamwork skills. This requires a change in how we train students to attain these skills. We believe that students need to understand that this is a process where they learn by doing. The proposed approach gives students a chance to build their interpretation of how and what teamwork is. It provides them with the needed resilience in their approach to working with others and provides them with room to reflect on their unique role as part of the team. To achieve this, we developed learning modules to cover three essential aspects of teamwork: team formation, effective team communication, and conflict resolution. We will teach these modules in sophomore, junior, and senior year courses, which require team projects. One lecture day will be devoted to the module before the students start their team project. With each year focusing on a different aspect of teaming, students can continue developing and improving their skills throughout their undergraduate coursework. During their sophomore year, students will learn about team formation, stages of team dynamics, characteristics of successful teams, and the development of team charters. The following year, they will learn about how teams are composed of individuals with different experiences, perspectives, and working styles. Students will learn about communication and building collaboration to work effectively as a team. During the final year, they will learn about the nature of conflicts and their resolution methods. The modules will be conducted in a workshop format with roleplay activities, in-class topic discussions, and relevant assignments for each module. Students will then apply their knowledge to build and run effective teams and reinforce good practices during their course projects. We administered mid- and post-project surveys to collect ‘baseline’ data from our target courses before implementing the modules. After teaching the modules, we will then administer mid- and post-project surveys to capture outcomes and student feedback. Comparing the survey data with the baseline will provide insight into students’ improved teamwork abilities. Developing this critical professional skillset will help prepare students for leadership positions and successful careers after graduation.

Presentation Objectives – The presenters will provide examples of ways to build relationships with students in their classes. These examples will focus on techniques appropriate for different course modalities and sizes to increase application. Some examples include; learning students’ names, sharing your stories, the FORD approach, having a sense of humor, and providing applicable resources.
Conference Theme Connection – Tyler Tarver emphasizes, “Once you know your curriculum and you’ve got a firm grasp on what you are teaching, your homework is no longer understanding how to explain your topics. Your homework becomes learning about your students.” Research indicates that building relationships with students increases their success in class as well as knowledge retention. When students feel connected to their professor and class, they report: 1. Increased motivation and investment as many students indicated they work harder and enjoy the academic process more when they feel connected to a class. 2. Increased retention as students reported that connectedness helped them internalize and understand the course material better. 3. A sense of security and comfort as students indicate that the more connected they feel, the more comfortable they are in class, which in turn leads to increased class participation.
Best Practices Featured – This presentation illustrates effective ways to build relationships with students in face-to-face, online, and hybrid classes. As stated by Maya Angelou, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Instructors have a responsibility to get to know their students to make them feel seen, known, and apply course content in a manner students will understand.

Presentation Objectives – The presenters will provide the framework for adopting an instructional approach that creates a consistent structure within and across class sessions. This approach follows a class design format where students arrive to class having already viewed or read instructional materials. The format continues with content delivery and discussion, and concludes with application-based actionable items for students to complete either in addition to or conjunction with an assessment. As the framework is introduced, presenters will provide the purpose for each stage as well as examples. Purposes include:
Engagement - activate background knowledge, something short, timely, and relevant that may also create interest (e.g., video, book, meme, social media post, visual, review, etc.)
Content Delivery - the research/content-heavy aspects that would be related to readings and course outcomes (e.g., direct teaching)
Discussion - this stage is essential for building academic language capacity and synthesis (e.g., use different structures to get students using the domain language and concepts as well as synthesizing across concepts)
Application - either together as a whole group or small groups/pairs/individual students either complete an assignment or task or move on to the next reading/session
Assessment - evaluate the learning and what questions remain/showing what was learned (e.g., formative or summative)
Conference Theme Connection – Research shows that students are more successful when class sessions follow a consistent pattern or rhythm. This rhythm helps students know what to expect and better prepare to engage in learning. Implementing an intentional approach to instruction can create such a rhythm. By changing how we design lessons, instructors can impact student learning and simplify lesson planning for increased engagement. Evidence shows students appreciate the consistent framework, and instructors appreciate how the approach holds students accountable for their learning.
Best Practices Featured – An instructional approach provides clearly-articulated outcomes and expectations for students and instructions. This approach also provides consistent teaching/learning/application cycle through a method of view/read, teach, discuss, do, assess.