We found 7 results that contain "interdisciplinarity"

In mid-November, CIRCLE hosted a workshop on interdisciplinary course design and teaching. It was a generative conversation that gave MSU educators interested in interdisciplinary teaching the chance to connect and share resources and tactics. We showcased 2 panelists with experience designing and teaching interdisciplinary courses: Erin Dreelin (Fisheries & Wildlife and Center for Water Studies) and Garth Sabo (Director of the Center for IAH). The panel discussed effective interdisciplinary course design, strategies to address potential challenges, and the potential benefits of interdisciplinary courses for instructors and students.This workshop's goal was for both new and seasoned interdisciplinary educators to move their own practices forward, from classroom strategies to evaluation of interdisciplinary teaching effectiveness. Participants had the opportunity to reflect on their own interdisciplinary teaching philosophies and work on individualized plans for interdisciplinary teaching.You can watch Garth Sabo's panel contribution video below, in which he describes some of his experiences plannign and teaching interdisciplinary courses. You can also access CIRCLE's interdisciplinary teaching resources at this link. Our resources include:



Harden's Ladder of Integration framework for interdisciplinary course design
a handout including the benefits, challenges, and institutional resources to support interdisciplinary teaching
a personalizable planning worksheet that you can print and complete



If you have any questions about interdisciplinary course design, you can contact Ellie Louson, CIRCLE's associate director of interdisciplinary teaching & learning (lousonel@msu.edu), or our panelists Erin Dreelin (dreelin@msu.edu) and Garth Sabo (sabogart@msu.edu). Save the date for our second interdisciplinary teaching & learning workshop, which will focus on co-teaching and collaboration on interdisciplinary teaching teams. It will be held February 14th 10AM-1PM (registration link TBA).If you are interested in further programming from CIRCLE, please apply to become one of our affiliates here: https://research.msu.edu/circle/affiliate-faculty-program  (we accept applications on a rolling basis).

Title: Educator Developer - Academic Specialist Department: Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation (CTLI)
Bio: Dr. Ellie Louson (she/her) is a Learning Designer and Academic Specialist at MSU’s Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation. She leads the Spartan Studios project where she works with faculty members to design interdisciplinary, experiential courses with community partnerships. She is also the co-Faculty Mentor for the CTLI grad fellowship, and is an experienced facilitator for MSU educators and academic units.
Ellie earned her bachelor’s degrees from Bishop’s University, her master’s degree in the History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Toronto, and her Ph.D. in Science & Technology Studies at York University. She is part of the teaching faculty at Lyman Briggs College, MSU, where she teaches courses in the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science. Her research interests include wildlife films’ representation of animal behavior and interdisciplinary, experiential teaching and learning. Her teaching, research, and learning design backgrounds have taught her the value of interdisciplinarity, storytelling, and engagement for higher education.
Ellie is originally from the Montreal area and plays in a rock band.
Schedule a Consultation

Classroom Response Systems & Pedagogies
Experiential Learning (Spartan Studios)
Facilitating Class Discussions
Syllabus Best Practices
Self-Assessment, Reflection, and Inner Feedback 
Teaching Center Fellows

Topic Area: DEI
Presented by: Sharon Combs, James Brinkmann, Erika Knapp, Liza Calisesi-Maidens, Lin Li, Hima Rawal, McKayla Sluga, Jonny Thurston-Torres, Joanna Bosse
Abstract:
With a focus on the scholarship of teaching and learning in the arts and humanities, the panelists (the 2020-21 RCAH Fellows) will explore the cultivation of community in the classroom. They will present the results from their ongoing original research projects on trauma-informed pedagogy, creating safe classroom spaces and cultures of care in the classroom, and generating students’ sense of belonging in both in-person and virtual learning environments. Furthermore, panelists will address the challenges of conducting research on teaching and learning in a pandemic, the value of interdisciplinarity in such research, and considerations for bringing the research back into the classroom to enhance student learning.
Session Resources:
Cultivating Community and Belonging (PDF)

We'd like to introduce you to one of this month's featured educators, Dr. Kevin Elliott. Kevin received his PhD in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Notre Dame. He is currently an Associate Professor in MSU’s Lyman Briggs College, with joint appointments in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and the Department of Philosophy. His research lies at the intersection of the philosophy of science and practical ethics. According to the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr. Elliott's scholarship is related to social issues raised by environmental pollution. Additionally, he is the author of the book Is a Little Pollution Good for You? Incorporating Societal Values in Environmental Research (Oxford University Press, 2011) and is currently leading an NSF grant to study how diversity within environmental science teams affects their ethical standards and practices. His courses relate to the philosophy of science, science policy, and conservation ethics.
 
According to a fellow spartan... "Kevin is an exceptional educator and mentor at MSU, and his interdisciplinarity is perhaps the greatest testament to his skill and talents in educating students and producing quality scholarship. Kevin is also a very kind, respectful, thoughtful, and empathetic educator, inspiring these same qualities in each of his students and mentees. He is also sufficiently attentive to students' questions and comments, especially in interactive or discussion-based classroom settings. Kevin is also the kind of educator who actively seeks out new opportunities for scholarship or service with students, and I sincerely appreciate his capacity for selfless giving and interdisciplinary collaboration. Kevin is a well-respected educator and philosopher, and he deserves great recognition for his unique personality, behavioral, and scholarly qualities, which collectively makes being educated by him both thoroughly enjoyable and meaningful."
 

Co-TeachingThis is the second article in our iTeach.MSU playlist for the Spartan Studios Playkit.
Studios courses are interdisciplinary. Students and faculty benefit from interacting and collaborating with other disciplines. Working across disciplines is an opportunity for both discourse around your discipline’s approaches and methods as well as tensions between areas of expertise. It is helpful for students to be exposed to those conversations: it helps them not be siloed within their major and it reflects how they might serve on diverse teams in their career.
Interdisciplinary teaching comes with bureaucratic and logistical challenges for instructors. It’s important to engage your department leadership (chair, dean, ADTL) around the creation of a new course. Financial support and released time for new courses by units under resource constraints can be a challenge.
🔧Studies by the Spartan Studios project and other universities offering similar courses describe beneficial outcomes for students and faculty that might help motivate administrators. (see our Playkit Appendix, section 9). 

Early Spartan Studios prototypes were taught as overload and supported by a stipend.
For sustainable courses, investigate whether a special topics course can be allocated as a co-taught experiential course with faculty and students from other majors.
Another option is the “bring your own students” model where each instructor teaches a course from their own teaching appointment (with its own course code) and brings students from that discipline into the collaborative course (see “Attracting Students to the Course” in our Planning article).

▶️Select your instructor team. Think about the faculty members or other disciplines that would be a good fit for the course you have in mind. Courses with 2-4 faculty work best. What skills or learning goals could other disciplines bring to the table? Think broadly: real-life challenges and wicked problems are multifaceted and can benefit from solutions incorporating communication, marketing, packaging, the natural, social, or applied sciences, humanities, etc.
▶️Set, share, and examine expectations. As you plan your course, discuss your expectations around workflow and shared responsibilities both around and within your teaching time. Be explicit and transparent with each other about your estimated availability for the course, as well as your expectations for classroom management, responsibilities for particular topics, and managing external partnerships. This can be codified in a co-teaching agreement or remain informal; either way, be sure to avoid making assumptions about teammates’ expectations that can lead to misunderstandings later in the course.
▶️Meet regularly with your teaching partners both before and during the course. It’s especially important to touch base throughout the course’s run to make adjustments based on how things are going. We call this meeting a scrum (originating in rugby, and also by teams in fields like software development). You can discuss upcoming needs, reflect on the past week’s events, and assign tasks. A short regular meeting helps you surface issues and make concrete plans better than emails back and forth.
▶️Consider the identities of your co-instructors and students. Think about the different axes of diversity in the classroom: diversity across student backgrounds and cultural experiences and diversity across disciplines  
🔧Hub scrum template with prompt questions for weekly reflection and planning.
🔧MSU’s Center for Interdisciplinarity (C4I) is a resource for interdisciplinary research and teaching.Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

AppendixThis is the ninth and final article in our iTeach.MSU playlist for the Spartan Studios Playkit.This appendix includes categories related to different elements of interdisciplinary, experiential teaching and course design, and includes what we hope are useful annotations.
Research from the Spartan Studios project

Heinrich, W. F., Louson, E., Blommel, C., & Green, A. R. (2021). Who Coaches the Coaches? The Development of a Coaching Model for Experiential Learning. Innov High Educ 46, 357–375. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-020-09537-3 

This paper is an overview of the Spartan Studios project and our results for students and faculty who ran prototype courses. It outlines the GORP model as well as the benefits and challenges of this approach to teaching and course planning.

Heinrich, W. F., Lauren, B., & Logan, S. (2020). Interdisciplinary teaching, learning and power in an experiential classroom. Submitted to Experiential Learning & Teaching in Higher Education.

This paper [under review] describes the first iteration of what became the Studios pattern at MSU and introduces the GORP framework.

Research from the James Madison University X-Labs, our colleagues in Virginia working in a similar course model

McCarthy, S., Barnes, A., Briggs, F., Giovanetti, K., Ludwig, P., Robinson, K., & Swayne, N. (Fall 2016). Undergraduate Social Entrepreneurship Education and Communication Design. SIGDOC 2015 Conference Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1145/2987592.2987625 

This report describes some communication strategies within the X-Labs’ drones course, how students documented and presented their works and how faculty plan to iterate the course.

Ludwig, P. M., Lewis, E. J., Nagel, J. K. (2017). Student learning outcomes from a pilot medical innovations course with nursing, engineering and biology undergraduate students. International Journal of STEM Education, 4(33) https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-017-0095-y 

Describes an X-Labs multidisciplinary course on medical innovations and its assessment using qualitative content analysis about students’ attitudes and perceptions of different occupations.

McCarthy, S., Barnes, A., Holland, S. K., Lewis, E., Ludwig, P., & Swayne, N. (2018). Making It: Institutionalizing Collaborative Innovation in Public Higher Education. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd’18) 1,549–1,557. http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/HEAD18.2018.8560  

A descriptive case study of the academic maker space in the JMU X-Labs, both describing specific courses and how X-Labs is administered. Offers this model as applicable elsewhere in higher ed.

Kishbaugh, A. (2018). An Exploratory Case Study of Cross-Disciplinary Project-Based (i.e. Maker) Curricula as a Catalyst for Entrepreneurship. International Symposium on Academic Makerspaces. https://jmuxlabs.org/app/uploads/2018/10/ISAM_2018_akish_v6.pdf 

Describes cross-disciplinary courses as promoting entrepreneurship and innovation, by looking at startups coming from these courses. Offers a framework based on multidisciplinary problem-solving, Design Thinking approaches, and a lean startup methodology.

Selznick, B. S., Mayhew, M. J., & Swayne, N. (2018, November 20). Stop Blaming Innovation. (Correspondence from Chronicle readers). The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/letters/stop-blaming-innovation/ 

A rebuttal to an argument that higher ed’s emphasis on innovation is misguided. Argues that innovation has positive student outcomes, is different from entrepreneurship, and that their interventions are effective.

Swayne, N., McCarthy, S., Selznick, B. S., & Fisher, K. A. (2019). Breaking up I/E: Consciously Uncoupling Innovation and Entrepreneurship to Improve Undergraduate Learning. Innovation and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. https://doi.org/10.24251/HICSS.2019.651  

Describes the X-Labs as evidence for uncoupling entrepreneurship and innovation, and argues that conceptually they are separate; teaching innovation needs to precede teaching entrepreneurship

Lewis, E. J., Ludwig, P. M., Nagel, J., & Ames, A. (2019). Student ethical reasoning confidence pre/post an innovative makerspace course: A survey of ethical reasoning. Nurse Education Today, 75, 75-79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2019.01.011 

Describes gains to ethical reasoning after the Medical Innovations X-Labs course.

El-Tawab, S., Sprague, N. & Stewart, M. (2020). Teaching Innovation in Higher Education: A Multidisciplinary Class. In D. Schmidt-Crawford (Ed.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 8-13). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/215725/. 

Describes a case of the X-Labs autonomous vehicles course, its support of students’ technical and soft skills, and its reproducibility.

McMurtrie, B. (2019) No Textbooks, No Lectures, and No Right Answers. Is This What Higher Education Needs? Chronicle of Higher Education 10 Feb.  https://www.chronicle.com/article/no-textbooks-no-lectures-and-no-right-answers-is-this-what-higher-education-needs/  

Chronicle of Higher Education story about the JMU X-Labs course model.
Interdisciplinarity

Harden, R. M. (2000) The integration ladder: A tool for curriculum planning and evaluation. Medical Education, 34(7), 551–557. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2923.2000.00697.x 

Offers a framework for thinking about different disciplinary connections, from disciplines being isolated/siloed from each other through transdisciplinarity.

Carmicheal, T. & LaPierre, Y. (2014). Interdisciplinary Learning Works: The Results of a Comprehensive Assessment of Students and Student Learning Outcomes in an Integrative Learning Community. Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies, 32(3), 53–78. http://hdl.handle.net/10323/6647 

Evidence-based assessment of student learning outcomes and academic growth metrics as a result of participation in a first-year integrative learning community. The author outlines the interdisciplinary learning goals and processes of the program, and shows that students that participated in the program consistently outperformed students outside of the program in both short term and long term learning and academic growth benchmarks. 

Ivanitskaya, L., Clark, D., Montgomery, G., & Primeau, R. (2002). Interdisciplinary Learning: Process and Outcomes. Innovative Higher Education, 27, 95–111. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021105309984 

A review of expected benefits, learning outcomes, and processes (and potential roadblocks) of interdisciplinary education. Review applied to an interdisciplinary discussion based course. The authors claim that interdisciplinary learning can significantly contribute to intellectual maturity and cognitive development of students, and provide a framework of milestones that students may hit in the process of cognitive development through interdisciplinary ed. 

Kezar, A. & Elrod, S. (2012). Facilitating Interdisciplinary Learning: Lessons from Project Kaleidoscope. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 44(1), 16–25, https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2012.635999 

This magazine article argues for the benefits of interdisciplinary education for both students and institutions, and provides ways to encourage interdisciplinary education on a systemic level. The authors give key strategies and tips for facilitating interdisciplinary learning and creating student experiences. The barriers to interdisciplinary learning/education are recognized (specifically institutional) and potential solutions are given as well. 

Stentoft D. (2017) From saying to doing interdisciplinary learning: Is problem-based learning the answer? Active Learning in Higher Education, 18(1). 51–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787417693510

Author argues that PBL is an effective strategy to facilitate interdisciplinary learning and vice versa. The author also acknowledges three barriers to effective interdisciplinary education: curriculum organization, student competencies to navigate interdisciplinary problems, and instructor competency - and proposes how to address these barriers.  

Imafuku, R., Kataoka, R., Mayahara, M., Suzuki, H., & Saiki, T. (2014). Students’ Experiences in Interdisciplinary Problem-based Learning: A Discourse Analysis of Group Interaction. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1388 
Kruck, S. E. and Teer, Faye P. (2009). Interdisciplinary Student Teams Projects: A Case Study. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20(3), 325–330. https://aisel.aisnet.org/jise/vol20/iss3/7  


Problem-Based Learning/Project-Based Learning 

Ertmer, P. A., & Simons, K. D. (2006). Jumping the PBL Implementation Hurdle: Supporting the Efforts of K–12 Teachers. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1005

While focused on problem based learning at the K-12 level, this paper covers topics relevant to higher education instruction, including implementation challenges, creating collaborative classroom culture, teachers adjusting to changing roles, scaffolding student learning, initiating student inquiry, maintaining student engagement, aiding conceptual integration, and promoting reflective thinking

Fukuzawa, S., Boyd, C., & Cahn, J. (2017). Student motivation in response to problem-based learning. Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching, 10, 175-188. https://doi.org/10.22329/celt.v10i0.4748

Study of student perceptions of problem-based learning in an anthropology course found that students with more subject matter experience didn’t necessarily have greater intrinsic motivation about the course. Also includes strategies for transitioning students to PBL when they are used to traditional lectures.

Guo, P., Saab, N., Post, L. S., & Admiraal, W. (2020). A review of project-based learning in higher education: Student outcomes and measures. International Journal of Educational Research, 102, 101586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2020.101586

A review of literature around project based learning that includes 76 papers. Topics covered in the review include cognitive outcomes of PjBL including knowledge and cognitive strategies, affective outcomes including perceptions of the benefits of PjBL and perceptions of the experience of PBL, and behavior outcomes including skills and engagement

Lee, J. S., Blackwell, S., Drake, J., & Moran, K. A. (2014). Taking a leap of faith: redefining teaching and learning in higher education through project-based learning. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1426

Study of instructors who implemented PjBL that focused around their challenges and successes with community partnerships, student engagement, and assessment

Moro, C., & McLean, M. (2017). Supporting students’ transition to university and problem-based learning. Medical Science Educator, 27(2), 353-361. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-017-0384-6   

15 strategies for scaffolding learning and supporting students in PBL programs includes using a phased approach to PBL, getting student feedback in the first few weeks of the program, and develop learner’s reflective skills before self-assessment

Pepper C. (2010). ‘There’s a lot of learning going on but NOT much teaching!’: Student perceptions of problem‐based learning in science. Higher Education Research & Development, 29(6), 693-707. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2010.501073 

Overview of student responses to problem based learning at an Australian university. Developed a continuum of how students react to problem based learning that includes missing the point, working in groups, splitting the workload, completing the task, assessing the task, learning new information, sharing ideas, and being self directed learners

Perrault, E. K., & Albert, C. A. (2018). Utilizing project-based learning to increase sustainability attitudes among students. Applied Environmental Education & Communication, 17(2), 96-105. https://doi.org/10.1080/1533015X.2017.1366882 

While PjBL is often concerned with knowledge gain, this study suggests that PBL can also shift student attitudes around the topic. For this study, students designed a communications campaign for an office of sustainability. The students themselves were found to have more favorable views around sustainability by the end of the course

Boston University Center for Teaching & Learning. (n.d.). Project-based learning: teaching guide. http://www.bu.edu/ctl/guides/project-based-learning/

Brief overview of what project based learning is and four key steps to implementing it (defining the problem, generating ideas, prototyping solutions, and testing)

Strobel, J., & van Barneveld, A. (2009). When is PBL more effective? A meta-synthesis of meta-analyses comparing PBL to conventional classrooms. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1046  

Combines the results of many meta-analyses around PBL over the last few decades to compare PBL to traditional classroom learning. The study finds that PBL results in more satisfaction among students and faculty, leads to better long term retention of knowledge (traditional was better for short-term), and better skill development

Vogler, J. S., Thompson, P., Davis, D. W., Mayfield, B. E., Finley, P. M., & Yasseri, D. (2018). The hard work of soft skills: augmenting the project-based learning experience with interdisciplinary teamwork. Instructional Science, 46(3), 457-488. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-017-9438-9 

Two-year study of an interdisciplinary problem based learning task and student outcomes. Study used student feedback during each year to understand how students were feeling about the course. The instructors learned that students felt the instructors had inconsistent and unclear expectations and hence, experienced anxiety about grades. The instructors took this to mean that they needed to do a better job of articulating the learning outcomes and end of course goal. The instructors also learned that students often do not know how to collaborate interdisciplinary and decided to add scaffolding to the course

Learning Objectives and Bloom’s Taxonomy 

Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom’s taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/

Overview of the original 6 levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy and the 6 levels of the Revised Taxonomy: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create. Includes the four types of knowledge: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive.

Carnegie Mellon University Eberly Center. (n.d.). Design & Teach a Course. https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/learningobjectives.html

Strategies and tips for articulating and writing learning objectives including that learning objectives should be student-centered, break down the task and focus on specific cognitive processes, use action verbs, and be measurable.

Ferguson, C. (2002). Using the revised taxonomy to plan and deliver team-taught, integrated, thematic units. Theory Into Practice, 41(4), 238-243. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4104_6 

Example of an interdisciplinary high school course (English & social studies) where the two instructors used a taxonomy table to map their learning objectives onto the 6 levels of the Revised Taxonomy and 4 types of knowledge. Such a table may be useful for thinking about the learning objectives in your course

Kidwell, L. A., Fisher, D. G., Braun, R. L., & Swanson, D. L. (2013). Developing learning objectives for accounting ethics using Bloom's taxonomy. Accounting Education, 22(1), 44-65. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2012.698478 

An example of using Bloom’s Taxonomy in accounting ethics to create learning objectives. For each larger course theme, the authors list examples how learning objectives could be created from each level of the Taxonomy.

Mayer, R. E. (2002). Rote versus meaningful learning. Theory Into Practice, 41(4), 226-232. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4104_4 

Includes 19 processes/action verbs, how they map to the 6 levels of the Revised Taxonomy, and simple examples of what a task for students to do might look like. Examples of included verbs are “compare,” “implement,” “organize,” “critique,” and “generate”

Tyran, C. K. (2010). Designing the spreadsheet-based decision support systems course: an application of Bloom's taxonomy. Journal of Business Research, 63(2), 207-216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2009.03.009 

An example of using Bloom’s taxonomy to map course activities to ensure students have the prerequisite knowledge to complete the assignments 

Reflection; Reflection as Assessment

Ash, S. L., & Clayton, P. H. (2009). Learning through critical reflection: A tutorial for service-learning students. Ash, Clayton & Moses.

Introduces characteristics of critical reflection and the DEAL model.

Eyler, J., Eyler, J., Giles, D. E., & Schmeide, A. (1996). A practitioner's guide to reflection in service-learning: Student voices & reflections. Vanderbilt University.

Argues that successful reflection is continuous, challenging, connected, and contextualized.

Earl, L. M. (2012). Assessment as learning: Using classroom assessment to maximize student learning (2nd edition). Corwin Press.

Especially chapter 10, Using Assessment for Reflection and Self-Regulation

Ash, S. L., Clayton, P. H., & Atkinson, M. P. (2005). Integrating reflection and assessment to capture and improve student learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 11(2), 49-60. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.3239521.0011.204 

Sees coupled reflection and assessment as mutually informing and reinforcing for students in service learning. Describes tools to guide reflective writing processes. Focus on both individual student learning and reflection as part of program-wide approaches to reflection.

Assessment of Experiential Education & Interdisciplinary Learning 

Conrad, D., & Hedin, D. (1981). National assessment of experiential education: Summary and implications. Journal of Experiential Education, 4(2), 6–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/105382598100400202  

A summary of the research of the Evaluation of Experiential Learning project which sought to (1) assess the impact of experiential learning on secondary school students and (2) use that data to identify the elements of the EE programs that contributed the most to such student development.

Field, M., Lee, R., & Field, M. L. (1994). Assessing interdisciplinary learning. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 1994(58), 69–84. https://doi.org/10.1002/tl.37219945806 

In-depth discussion of assessment techniques for interdisciplinary study in higher education

Heinrich, W. F., Habron, G. B., Johnson, H. L., & Goralnik, L. (2015). Critical thinking assessment across four sustainability-related experiential learning settings. Journal of Experiential Education, 38(4), 373–393. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053825915592890  

Implications of critical thinking coupled with engaged citizenry within experiential education courses.

Mansilla, V. B., & Duraising, E. D. (2007). Target assessment of students’ interdisciplinary work: An empirically grounded framework proposed. The Journal of Higher Education, 78(2), 215-237. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2007.11780874  

Introduction of a framework for targeted assessment of interdisciplinary student work. Also a good review of relevant literature of assessment and interdisciplinary learning in higher education.

Yates, T., Wilson, J., & Purton, K. (2015). Surveying assessment in experiential learning: A single campus study. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 6(3). https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2015.3.4  

Exploration of experiential assessment within a Canadian University. Exploration intended for the use in identifying common methods and facilitating development of best assessment practices for higher education, specifically experiential higher education.

You, H. S., Marshall, J. A., & Delgado, C. (2019). Toward interdisciplinary learning: Development and validation of an assessment for interdisciplinary understanding of global carbon cycling. Research in Science Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-019-9836-x  

Development and validation of an assessment which measured the understanding of the carbon cycle for high school and undergraduate students.
Building and Managing Student Teams & Team Dynamics 

Burke, A. (2011) Group Work:  How to Use Groups Effectively. Journal of Effective Teaching, 11(2), 87-95. https://uncw.edu/jet/articles/vol11_2/burke.pdf 
Cano, J. L., Lidon, I., Rebollar, R., Roman, P., & Saenz, M. J. (2006). Student groups solving real-life projects. A case study of experiential learning. International Journal of Engineering Education, 22(6), 1252-1260. https://www.ijee.ie/articles/Vol22-6/16_IJEE1811.pdf 
Fearon, C., McLaughlin, H., & Yoke Eng, T. (2012). Using student group work in higher education to emulate professional communities of practice. Education + Training, 54(2/3), 114–125. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400911211210233  
Fellenz, M. R. (2006). Toward fairness in assessing student groupwork: A protocol for peer evaluation of individual contributions. Journal of Management Education, 30(4), 570–591. https://doi.org/10.1177/1052562906286713   
Furman, R., Bender, K., & Rowan, D. (2014). An experiential approach to group work. Oxford University Press.
Smith, G. G., Sorensen, C., Gump, A., Heindel, A. J., Caris, M., & Martinez, C. D. (2011). Overcoming student resistance to group work: Online versus face-to-face. The Internet and Higher Education, 14(2), 121–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2010.09.005  
Hassanien, A. (2006). Student Experience of Group Work and Group Assessment in Higher Education. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 6(1), 17–39. https://doi.org/10.1300/j172v06n01_02  
Kayes, A. B., Kayes, D. C., & Kolb, D. A. (2005). Experiential learning in teams. Simulation & Gaming, 36(3), 330–354. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878105279012  
Napier, N. P. & Johnson, R. D. (2007). Technical Projects: Understanding Teamwork Satisfaction In an Introductory IS Course. Journal of Information Systems Education. 18(1), 39-48. http://www.jise.org/volume18/n1/JISEv18n1p39.html 
Winsett, C., Foster, C., Dearing, J., & Burch, G. (2016). The impact of group experiential learning on student engagement. Academy of Business Research Journal. 3, 7-17. 


Online Experiential Education and Innovative Online Teaching & Course Structures

Bolan, C. M. (2003). Incorporating the experiential learning theory into the instructional design of online courses. Nurse Educator, 28(1), 10–14. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006223-200301000-00006  

Provides insights on how to implement an experiential learning framework into an already developed online course.

Christian, D. D., McCarty, D. L., & Brown, C. L. (2020). Experiential education during the COVID-19 pandemic: A reflective process. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2020.1813666  

Provides insight on how experiential learning can occur in an online format which acknowledges the new normal due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes case studies.  

Sharoff, L. (2019). Creative and innovative online teaching strategies: Facilitation for active participation. The Journal of Educators Online, 16. https://doi.org/10.9743/jeo.2019.16.2.9  

Piece on how to keep students thoughtfully engaged with online courses.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Bricklemyer, J. (2019, April 29). DEI online course supplemental checklist. https://codl.ku.edu/sites/codl.ku.edu/files/docs/DEI%20Online%20Course%20Supplemental%20Checklist%2029Apr19.pdf

A set of five principles around designing a course for inclusion geared specifically toward online courses. Also includes links to other resources for more in-depth resources 

Canning, E. A., Muenks, K., Green, D. J., & Murphy, M. C. (2019). STEM faculty who believe ability is fixed have larger racial achievement gaps and inspire less student motivation in their classes. Science Advances, 5(2). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau4734  

Students in classes where the instructor believed that student potential was fixed earned lower grades than in courses where the instructor believed student potential changed over time. In addition, the difference in grades between students from underrepresented racial groups and white/Asian students was larger in the classes with instructors who thought mindset was fixed. 

CAST (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. http://udlguidelines.cast.org

A set of broad guidelines for ensuring that all learners can engage in learning, regardless of culture, language, or disability status. Each guideline includes practical examples of how it could be implemented in a course and the research supporting the guideline. 

Dewsbury, B., & Brame, C. J. (2019). Inclusive teaching. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 18(2). https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.19-01-0021  

Guide that covers why instructors need to develop self-awareness and empathy for students and consider classroom climate before pedagogical choices for inclusivity. Also includes an interactive webpage about inclusive teaching with literature citations and a checklist for instructors. 

MyPronouns.org Resources on Personal Pronouns. (n.d.). https://www.mypronouns.org/ 

A guide about personal pronouns and best practices for using them: include your pronouns when introducing yourself, avoid using “preferred” in front of pronouns, and using “go by” instead of “uses” when introducing pronouns. E.g. My name is Sparty and I go by him/his pronouns. 

University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. Inclusive Strategies Reflection. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UK3HFQv-3qMDNjvt0fFPbts38ApOL7ghpPE0iSYJ1Z8/edit?usp=sharing

A self-reflection tool for instructors about their teaching practices measured along five dimensions: critical engagement of difference, academic belonging, transparency, structured interactions, and flexibility. Each dimension includes ideas for instructors to add to their own courses 

Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning.(n.d.) Inclusive Teaching Strategies. https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/InclusiveTeachingStrategies 

Includes 9 recommendations instructors can take to create a more inclusive classroom including incorporating diversity into the curriculum, examining implicit biases, adding a diversity statement to the syllabus, and soliciting student feedback 

Guide for Inclusive Teaching at Columbia https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/resources/inclusive-teaching-guide/

Photo from LubosHouska from Pixabay

This week, we are featuring Dr. Eleanor (Ellie) Louson, one of the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation's educational developers! Ellie earned her bachelor’s degrees from Bishop’s University, her master’s degree in the History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Toronto, and her Ph.D. in Science & Technology Studies at York University. She has a joint-appointment as an educator in Lyman Briggs College, MSU, where she teaches courses in the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science. Her research interests include wildlife films’ representation of animal behavior and interdisciplinary, experiential teaching and learning. Her teaching, research, and learning design backgrounds have taught her the value of interdisciplinarity, storytelling, and engagement for higher education. Ellie is originally from the Montreal area and plays in a rock band. Ellie has also been a recipient of the #iteachmsu Educator Award!
Read more about Dr. Louson’s perspectives below. #iteachmsu's questions are bolded below, followed by her responses! 


In one word, what does being an educator mean to you?  
My one word is “care” but it’s more care-as-doing than the emotional dimension of caring. As a teacher, I want to support my students being able to thrive in our class and in their broader lives. I do many things before and during class to support them, including a pre-course survey to learn about their tech and accessibility needs, as well as anything relevant to their situation during the pandemic. I design my classes with lots of flexibility and many assignments are open format. I use an Annotated Syllabus activity so that students can ask questions and make suggestions before I finalize it.
What does this word/quality looks like in your practice? Have your ideas on this changed over time? If so how?
I check in with students in lots of ways. At certain points in the semester, I check in to make sure they understand their progress towards the learning goals and flag any missing assignments. I also start each class with a check-in to give them a mindful moment to reflect on how they’re doing in 3 words, and I turn those check-ins into a word cloud to visualize patterns and to help me be responsive to the class’ energy levels. [Here’s an example word cloud. I use www.wordclouds.com to generate them]
 

I don’t have late penalties, but weekly assignments are spread throughout the syllabus as a marker of the expected pace of work. Students have full lives beyond the course and sometimes it’s reasonable for them to focus on other things. But I also care about their learning. I build in tutorials and extra office hours leading up to major assignments to make sure they can get the help they need. Those assignments also have a draft stage where I give feedback on their in-progress work. And they can revise assignments to improve their grades. I hope this contributes to a climate where it’s ok to try things and fail.
Tell us more about your educational “setting.” This can include, but not limited to departmental affiliations, community connections, co-instructors, and students. (AKA, where do you work?)
I work as an educational developer in the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, MSU’s new teaching center, which launched this fall. My colleagues and I work to support and connect MSU’s educators. Before that, I was part of the Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology. I’m also one of the teaching faculty in Lyman Briggs College, where I teach courses in the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science to mainly STEM undergrads. I’m also fortunate to be a director of the CTLI Grad Fellowship, alongside my colleague Makena Neal.
What is a challenge you experience in your educator role? Any particular “solutions” or “best practices” you’ve found that help you support student success at the university despite/in the face of this? 
One challenge for me is that I’m too eager to say “yes” to opportunities that improve academic communities. I like to help, and I know the value of academic service work, so I’m glad to be able to contribute my design or communications skills to a project. But if I take on too many commitments, I am less able to be useful to those efforts. Another downside is that I get overwhelmed! By having stronger boundaries around my downtime and waiting 24 hours before taking on any new commitments, I can better protect my time and energy and make more of a positive difference for the things I deliberately take on..
What are practices you utilize that help you feel successful as an educator?
I learned a lot during the pivot to online teaching about building effective and engaging online courses, and many of those things translate to hybrid and in-person courses as well. I try to give students clarity about expectations, assignments, and the cadence of the class. I think I feel most successful when I share practices that work for me and then fellow educators tell me that they tried them in their own courses and that it helped. I write (and co-author) pedagogy articles for my HPS disciplinary newsletter that I hope help people in my discipline improve their teaching or meet the challenge of online learning. My favorite so far is called “You Can Teach Online! Designing effective and engaging online courses.”
What topics or ideas about teaching and learning would you like to see discussed on the iteach.msu.edu platform? Why do you think this conversation is needed at MSU?
I love iteach.msu as a space for educators to connect and share our ideas and teaching practices. I like learning about new tools and teaching tips on the platform. And I’ve had great experiences sharing resources on iteach.msu. I’ve had MSU educators connect with me after they discovered our playlist for the Spartan Studios Playkit, which is a set of resources for interdisciplinary, experiential teaching based on a pilot project of courses. It’s also really useful that #iteachmsu articles can have audiences beyond MSU. For example, when I present the Spartan Studios project at external conferences, I can share links with the audience and the content is accessible.
I’m interested in learning more about ungrading, both because I think ungrading practices give students more ownership into their own learning and metacognitive reflection, and (probably more selfishly) because I want less grading to do.
What are you looking forward to (or excited to be a part of) this semester?
I’m teaching a Science and the Environment course for Lyman Briggs, and one of the major assignments has students researching conservation initiatives. They also vote (as well as decide on a voting process) to make a real donation to one of the initiatives. It can be a conservation charity, awareness campaign, research institute; any organization that is focused on conservation research or practice. In the past this activity really engaged the students because they end up advocating for the groups, they think are the most impactful or need our donation the most. Since it’s “real” in a way that many academic assignments aren’t, they seem to care about how we make the decision. They also learn about the economics of conservation, and last year a few students got really interested in ranked-choice voting processes. I’m looking forward to improving the assignment based on feedback from last year and learning more about how to teach students to build effective presentations, because communicating in a variety of formats is a key learning objective for the course.
 
Don't forget to celebrate individuals you see making a difference in teaching, learning, or student success at MSU with #iteachmsu's Thank an Educator initiative. Submitted educators recieve a message of gratitude from #iteachmsu and are recognized annually with the Provost's #iteachmsu Educator Award. Submissions are also used to select educators to appear in our Educator Stories features!