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The following is a list of the educators receiving the #iteachmsu Educator Award from the College of Natural Science. For more information on these awards, check out the article entitled "#iteachmsu Educator Awards".

Gabe Ording: Gabe has been an amazing leader, both before and now during the pandemic. He has worked for a decade to build community in the unit, is always willing to talk and seek creative solutions for problems, and was forward thinking when the pandemic forced us to go remote last spring. In fact, he had prepared CISGS for the possibility of remote teaching by hosting THREE learning sessions before MSU officially went online. This meant that many colleagues were prepared for the transition and that we had already begun critical conversations needed for effective movement to online work. He is similarly bringing people together to discuss challenges and successes in the online classroom this Fall, has worked to ensure any face-to-face instruction is safe for everyone, and is generally an inspiration. Prior to this, his work was instrumental in ensuring that all of the integrative studies centers were working together to collect assessment data to evidence efficacy. Gabe's students also value him as much as his colleagues!

Rachel Morris: Dr. Rachel Morris has worked to expand her knowledge and experience in online pedagogy and has been a great resource and mentor during the pandemic. During FS2020, MSU added access to Labster. Dr. Morris kept BLD up to date on the availability of Labster and offered her assistance to faculty. Dr. Morris carries a significant teaching load, has committee responsibilities at MSU and in our professional society, is an Academic Advisor, and serves as our Graduate Program Director. She is readily available to colleagues for questions and mentoring.

Rupali Das: Dr. Das always goes above and beyond for her students. Her focus is not only limited to her student's understanding the material she is teaching and extends to concern for their overall well being. Her passion for science in infectious and it is amply evident that her regard for her student's interests is paramount! She deserves every recognition for all the hard-work she puts into her science and into her students' growth as competent professionals and robust scientists!

Casey Henley: I appreciate your dedication to your students, colleagues, and the institution. You are a great advocate for continued improvement in teaching and learning and is illustrated with your leadership. 

Stephen Thomas: Stephen Thomas is one of the best educators I know of. Not only is he smart, skilled and knowledgeable, but he is a genuinely caring person who does everything in his power to help students and colleagues be their very best. He works daily to be remarkable in his work as an educator and then he goes the extra mile to help other educators become great in their own right also. In every interaction and collaboration I am lucky enough to have with Stephen, I always come away more inspired, empowered, readied and prepared to face the next big design challenge in education. Thank you, Stephen Thomas, for all you do as a leader-educator at Michigan State University. 

Saul Beceiro Novo: I met Saul through the 2019-20 Adams Academy facilitated by the Academic Advancement Network. From the moment I heard Saul reflect on his experiences making his disciplinary content more accessible and enjoyable to individuals new to the field - I knew I wanted to pay attention to his educator practices. In my experience, he shows great care for learners and colleagues alike, is dedicated to crafting positive and high impact learning experiences, and achieving learning outcomes in innovative and creative ways! Keep an eye on Saul. He's a great educator, doing cool things!

Ashley Dunn: In a very challenging semester, Ashley committed to helping me with ANS 300E, animal welfare judging. She served as both a ULA, an assistant coach for the judging team, and in both roles was a huge help to me. She came to each class prepared, thoughtful and ready to support the students and instructor. In her role as a ULA, Ashley created a mock welfare scenario for the students and monitored their fact sheet submissions providing valuable practice and important feedback to the students. With such a trying semester for me, the quality of this course would have suffered had it not been for Ashley. A million times over, thank you. 

Julia Hinds: Julia is just the best. This has been a very hard semester in many ways and she has been a support all along. She always goes above and beyond every step of the way and makes everyone else’s life easier. I learn from her every time we meet :)

Nick Rekuski: Nick is passionate about teaching and he is not afraid to take on new challenges. He has taught an extraordinarily wide variety of courses, ranging from MTH 101 (Quantitative Literacy I) to MTH 309 (Linear Algebra). Nick has excelled in his work with students at all levels of undergraduate mathematics – both students who have intense math anxiety and students who love mathematics and intend to major in it. Nick approaches each student as an individual, gets to know them from the first day of class, and creates a community where each feels welcome and is comfortable to contribute to the class discussions.

Cole McCutcheon: Cole is an outstanding person. He exemplifies what it means to be a graduate student: incredibly hard working, determined, stubborn, unwilling to give up, and absolutely tenacious in tackling tough problems. Cole is also an excellent teacher and mentor; he approaches teaching situations with grace and care, ensuring that his students understand and synthesize the concepts at hand. I'm so glad that I get to work and laugh and teach with Cole.

Teresa Panurach

I appreciate Teresa and her plethora of positive practices, as well as her commitment to excellence in mentoring others. She is an inspiration to us all and deserves a raise.


Thank you, Teresa, for improving the lives of MSU students. Teresa runs a program mentoring Drew scholars who are also astrophysics majors, regularly checking in on them, running workshops, and facilitating research experiences. For many students, she has been a splash of support and joy during a lonely and sad pandemic. Thank you for your generosity and energy!


Camilla Monsalve: Life has been difficult for EVERYONE!  Cami makes it a point to come to my zoom office hours every week to see how I am doing.  While I make sure all 190+ Physics and Astronomy graduates are okay mentally, she makes sure I am okay too!  Warms my heart in so many ways.

Meiqi Liu: Meiqi, a first year Ph.D. student, who has not yet even been able to come to the US and is working with us remotely, has done an outstanding job as a TA, particularly grading for STT 441 and STT 861. The students in those courses are fortunate that she is such a strong TA and so diligent in her work. And we as instructors are extremely grateful. In addition, for myself as a scholar, I am very grateful for Ms. LIU Meiqi's work in helping mentor the work of my team of undergraduate researchers, including helping them with their project, which she has been doing since the very start of her time as a Ph.D. student in STT last Fall. This is far above and beyond the call of duty.

Sarah Manski: Sarah has helped us tremendously to successfully navigate the introductory classes in our department. She's extremely knowledgeable, passionate, and very encouraging. Her ability to work with students is amazing. During these unprecedented times, Sarah has been understanding, calm, and very helpful. She has provided valuable insight throughout the course, helped the ULAs, and supported me in successfully negotiating any challenges we faced during this phase. Apart from her role as a TA, she is involved in her own research, and actively works towards the betterment of our department. She is a role model for new graduate students and especially for the new TAs. Thank You, Sarah!!! 
Anyone can recognize a fellow Spartan for their contributions to MSU's teaching and learning mission or for how they made a lasting impression on your experience. All you have to do is click "Thank an Educator" in the left panel of iteach.msu.edu. From there you'll see a short form where you can enter the name, netID, and a short story of the educator you'd like to recognize.

This week, we wanted to highlight Stokes Schwartz and Garth Sabo, both educators with the MSU Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities. Stokes and Garth are also the co-facilitators of the “Reading Group for Student Engagement and Success” Learning Community this academic year! According to the Office for Faculty and Academic Staff Development (formerly AAN), this Learning Community is: A Zoom based reading group that pairs theory and praxis of student engagement techniques to drive greater student success in general education and prerequisite courses at the university. Bimonthly meetings (twice a month) consist of reading and discussing 2-3 recent articles and sharing best practices for applying methods in courses across the university. These two also use a group on the #iteachmsu Commons to share information about upcoming meetings, attach reading files, and continue to engage in asynchronous dialogue outside their meeting times!
Read more about these Learning Community co-facilitators’ perspectives below. #iteachmsu's questions are bolded below, followed by their responses! 
Q & A with Garth Sabo & Stokes Schwartz

You are facilitators of a Learning Community (LC) and decided to have a group on iteach.msu.edu for that LC. What about the #iteachmsu Commons appealed to you for this group?
Sabo: A major component of the LC structure at MSU focuses on providing some element of public dissemination of the work we do together, and Stokes and I both appreciated that #iteachmsu would allow us to make our group activities visible to the wider MSU community. We both felt a strong need for some type of digital meeting space/repository for things like meeting notes, agendas, etc., and we found that iteach.msu.edu offered a suite of those tools that were fairly easy to wrap our heads around and adopt as practice. 
Schwartz: Having a central place for learning community members (and interested parties) to check-in, share our thoughts, relevant documents, and planned talking points for meetings/discussions as well as any follow-up observations in the days following a meeting.  Personally, I have found iteach.msu.edu relatively easy to use.  
Sabo: Our LC meets digitally, and we also thought that it would be nice to structure things in a way that leaned into benefits of that structure rather than simply trying to imagine ourselves as an in-person community that only meets via Zoom, so we’ve also tried to use iteach.msu.edu as a platform for ongoing and supplemental conversations to the discussions that come up during our scheduled meetings.
Tell me more about your LC and what activity in your #iteachmsu Group looks like? (This can include, but not limited to goals, topics, general overview of membership, the kinds of things being shared in your group.)
Sabo: Our learning community is titled “Reading Group for Student Engagement and Success,” and the only thing I don’t like about it is the name. Stokes and I are both faculty in the Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities, and part of the impetus for the group was a desire to dig deeper into pedagogy research that might help us crack the egg of engaging students in a required course. We wanted to find a format that allowed us to have pedagogy conversations that were data-driven and practical in focus, so that our community members could feel like our conversations were driving towards concrete actions.
Our Zoom meetings focus on talking through a few pre-designated texts that the entire group reads. We’ve been fortunate that our current roster has also agreed to take turns as interlocutors, with one person briefly presenting on some additional text(s) that add additional context to the material we all consumed
Schwartz: Typically, Garth and I plan 8-10 multipart discussion questions for our meetings on fostering student engagement and success, which we share via iteach.msu.edu a few days ahead of time. Team community members have also shared information and related ideas via our iTeach group.  We are also in the process of compiling a playlist.  
Sabo: Our iteach activity tends to be kind of evenly split between looking back at what we’ve already done with logistical stuff (like meeting agendas, Zoom links, etc.) and what we might do (like additional discussions or resources that members post or comment on in the Feed). Our current membership is a great mix of folks across the College of Arts and Letters in a range of roles, which has enriched our conversation in ways that I couldn’t have anticipated. We’re certainly open in having more folks join us if interested!
Schwartz: We have had four meetings so far and have our fifth coming up on December 3, 2021 from 10-11:30 EST and all are welcome! Please note, if you're interested in joining the 12/3/21 meeting, please reach out to either co-facilitator via email or on iteach.msu.edu, as the readings we'll be discussing are from a hardcopy book we've procured!
What has been a highlight of this semester for your LC and what are you looking forward to next semester?
Sabo: I love talking about teaching with people who love teaching, and I really feel like that has been the tone of our conversations all semester. I’ve been very appreciative of the fact that our group has been able to talk about the challenges of teaching while still being productive and hopeful about what good teaching can do for our students and the world. One thing that has certainly helped that has been the spirit of collaboration that’s breathed through this group since its beginning. Stokes and I have had a good rapport even since the planning stages of this community, and that has continued as we’ve gone from the process of proposing the group to actually planning its meetings. As you might be able to tell from how long my answers to these questions are, I tend to be wordy and big-picture in my focus, and Stokes does a great job of bringing things back around to ask, “Okay, but what would that actually look like?” in a way that has helped our conversations find a great balance between macro and micro issues of engagement and student success. Our members have been great about thinking and sharing proactively as well.
Schwartz: The highlight?  Two actually.  First, working with my co-facilitator Garth.  We seem to have established an effective working relationship and bat our ideas-plans back and forth until they take solid shape.  It has been fun sharing our ideas, developing our respective parts, coming back to the figurative table for another round of mashup, and then seeing what the final results are before the day of an actual meeting.  Second, the knowledge and personalities of our learning community members, all of whom bring interesting experience and perspectives to our meetings.  Thus far, I have really enjoyed the experience.  It has been like grad school in the best way possible (without the egos and constant stress). 
Sabo: Just to peek behind the curtain a little bit,  next semester we’re pivoting slightly to frame our conversations with the goal of producing tangible results of our collaboration, whether that be conference presentations, publications, or something else entirely. I’d love to see a step on that road being a bigger focus on producing material that we might share to the wider iteach community via the Articles feature.
Schwartz: Looking ahead, I am excited to continue working with our community in the new year and possibly develop a panel or presentation on concrete things we might do to engage our students in the general education or lower division prerequisite "classroom" (F2F or online) more effectively. Beyond that, I am already mulling over ideas for proposing another similar learning community for the 2022-2023 AY.  The cross-pollination possibilities offered/brought about by learning communities like these is fantastic and a good way to break out of our various silos here at MSU.
If you are interested in learning more about this year’s Learning Communities at MSU you can see the full list here. If reading this story peaked your interest in #iteachmsu Groups, you can view all the current groups here. Looking for a group on a particular topic or practice, but don’t see one - start it! Any MSU user can create a group, just login to iteach.msu.edu with your MSU netID to get started. Easy to follow instructions for starting a group are here. 

MSU's Enhanced Digital Learning Initiative (EDLI) has received a National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education grant to support research aiming to improve student learning outcomes and equity in blended online and in-person courses. As part of the study, we are seeking instructors interested in or already implementing blended undergraduate courses to participate for one or more semesters between Spring 2024 - Fall 2025.
What counts as “blended”?
Courses where the contact hours incorporate a mix of in-person and online (synchronous or asynchronous) instruction will likely qualify, including those where the course is offered fully in person but students are able to attend via Zoom. Fully online courses or in–person courses with online assignments (that are not part of the credit contact hours) will not qualify. 
We ask that instructors:

Participate in professional development with other blended course instructors, including:

Kick-off meeting/workshop with one-on-one consultations
Online learning community throughout the semester

Facilitate data collection, including: 

A course observation
A one-hour instructor interview 
Dissemination of two student surveys and consent/recruitment materials 
Tracking student attendance and the modality of student attendance


Instructors will receive:

Technical and pedagogical assistance through the professional development and learning community
$1000 overload stipend per semester (up to 4 semesters from Spring 2024 - Fall 2025)
Potential funding for undergraduate learning assistants

Priority given to STEM courses that feature in-person class sessions with synchronous Zoom sessions for online students


To learn more or participate:
Email Dr. Caitlin Kirby, kirbycai@msu.edu; or follow this link to our recruitment survey.

If you’re wondering, “do I have to wait until end of semester evaluations to see if my changes improved student’s learning experience,” the answer is no! There are simple ways that you can check in with students in your course throughout the semester. Dr. Ashley Moore is an Assistant Professor in MSU’s Department of Teacher Education. Dr. Moore shared some of her approaches for “checking in” in this current remote learning environment. 
Every two to three weeks, Ashley distributes a Google Form to her class. She discloses at the start of the semester here commitment to this practice and includes questions related to her instructional approaches, materials, and uses of technology. The survey is anonymous, so learners can share feedback without fear of retaliation (just like with the mid-semester feedback survey). As a part of this practice, Ashley compiles the results into key ideas and themes to share out with her students the next week. Her reasons for this are two fold: 1) it helps students feel heard, and 2) it reifies that students are often not alone in their feelings/feedback. Transparency in regards to decision making is key in Dr. Moore’s courses, and the data from these brief check-ins help her provide evidence for why decisions are being made and calling out changes in real time. Two samples from Dr. Moore’s TE 101 check-in surveys are included below:

In real time, Dr. Moore uses a few approaches to check in with her students. Ashley utilizes...
Zoom polling: (learn more about utilizing this Zoom feature here: Polling for meetings – Zoom Help Center)

to check in on how people are feeling after a reading or activity

Knowing where where students are emotionally influences how they engage and how as an instructor, Ashley considers structuring the remaining dialogue

Basics on course prep

Knowing whether or not students have purchased the course readings and whether or not they have arrived is good for level setting expectations. 


“Exit ticket” in Zoom chat: 

Directive: Drop one word or phrase about how you’re feelings as we wrap up class

Ashley used the chat from synchronous class to send synthesis email to students containing: overview of the meeting, highlights from the discussions, and reminders of expectations and upcoming deadlines


Class (verbal) dialogue:

Ashley uses Polleverywhere  to allow students to send in questions and comments to the call anonymously and in real time. She then uses these comments/questions to continue driving and prompting class conversation. 

If there is anything harmful, Ashley can identify it in the background and reframe before introducing to the class

Intro check in - 

Ashley logs on 15 min early to her synchronous course meetings. She plays music and usually displays a meme or prompt - asking for responses as learners log in. 

Example: What's one thing you're proud of yourself for doing in the past week?

She starts class officially with an overview of the day then addresses the comments from the intro check-ins generally.


Using tactics like these described by Dr. Moore can help you determine if the changes you’ve enacted based on mid-semester feedback are meeting the needs or if further adaptation is necessary; rather than waiting until end of year evaluations!
 
To read more about Ashley’s background and hear about her graduate experiences check out: https://grad.msu.edu/spotlights/ashley-moore 

Building an online community is just like building any other community: building relationships, trust, credibility, and open communication. It is important as an educator to set the norms for working together and clearly identify the roles and responsibilities for everyone in the community. It's also important to build in opportunities for interaction. When thinking about interaction, refer to Moore's Interaction Framework to consider the different sort of interactions a student might experience. Build opportunities for students to interact with yourself as the instructor, interact with the content, and interact with other students. 
 
Student to Instructor Interaction
Students can interact with the instructor via email, asynchronously, or live zoom sessions, synchronously. You can also consider the feedback you provide to students as a form of interaction, and this is likely an asynchronous interaction. Posting on the class discussion forum is another way to interact with students asynchronously, while a live chat session in Microsoft Teams is a similar form of interaction in a synchronous format. You can also record lecture videos to post in the course as another means of interacting asynchronously with students. What are some other ways students might interact with you in your course?
 
Student to Student Interaction
Students can interact synchronously with their peers on live zoom sessions, especially in a breakout room where they have the opportunity to discuss. They can interact asynchronously with peers via email or the course discussion board. To build in more student to student interaction, consider building small group activities into the course. Students can be organized into small groups within D2L, and interact to complete tasks and activities. You can direct them to use collaboration tools to complete their tasks. Some tools to consider are shared documents like Microsoft Word in Office365 or a Google Doc, or a peer review tool like Eli Review. What are some other collaborative tasks students can complete together?
 
Student to Content Interaction
Students will primarily interact with the content asynchronously, but it is still important to provide a variety of interaction opportunities. Traditional means of interacting with content might include reading assignments in the textbook, articles, or case studies. Consider including a few other opportunities for interacting with content such as videos or podcasts online. Also think about ways for students to actively engage with the content, such as project-based learning where students explore and learn by working through a project, or by completing an assignment requiring them to respond to the content like a written assignment or their own video recording. What are some other ways students might interact with the content?
 

Job Title: Assessment Services ConsultantTeam: Assessment ServicesBio: Amy Allingham holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising. She began her career at Michigan State University in 2009, as an IT Professional with the College of Veterinary Medicine. She was instrumental in the implementation and support of several initiatives focused on educational technologies, including Desire2Learn (D2L), computer-based assessments (ExamSoft), and web-conferencing (Zoom) to name a few. In 2017, Amy was hired within MSU IT Educational Technology – Scoring and Assessment Services Office as an Assessment Consultant. Her primary responsibilities now include working with a team of experts in the production of accurate statistical analysis for assessments, surveys and raw data captured by highly sophisticated optical scanners and the DigitalDesk software.

As a member of the SEISMIC Collaboration, MSU employees have the opportunity join the conversation surrounding DEI in STEM. These conversations are open to all. Upcoming events include:
 
Using Religious Cultural Competence in Evolution Education (ReCCEE) to Create a More Inclusive and Effective Scientific Community
Wednesday, October 14, at 12 p.m.
Speaker: Elizabeth Barnes, Middle Tennessee State University
 
While the majority of people in the world are religious, the majority of scientists are not, and this difference can cause culturally based barriers to effective science education. For instance, despite decades of evolution education research in the United States, almost one-third of introductory college biology students still do not think life shares a common ancestor and this is often due to a perceived conflict with their religious beliefs. In my studies, I find that college science instructors report not knowing how to address religious beliefs when teaching evolution and religious students report that science instructors have negative attitudes towards religion which is a barrier for their learning of evolution. I will describe how we as science educators can use Religious Cultural Competence in Evolution Education (ReCCEE) to reduce students’ perceived conflict between religion and evolution and create more inclusive evolution education for religious students. Further, I will discuss how such efforts may disproportionately benefit students of color and women, who affiliate with religion at higher rates than white men.
Zoom Link: https://umich.zoom.us/j/93300696091
 
But is it really ‘just’ science? Engaging critical race theory to unpack racial oppression with implications for Black student science engagement
Wednesday, October 21, at 12 p.m.
Speakers: Terrell Morton, University of Missouri
 
Disseminated through the culture of science (i.e., norms, values, beliefs, and practices), is the underlying message that there is but one “universal truth” regarding what is or what counts as scientific knowledge, research, and general practice. This culture and subsequent message have implications for who is recognized as being a scientist, or a validated member of the scientific community, and the process by which one gains such recognition. In noting the distinct, racialized experiences of Black students in science, this seminar introduces Critical Race Theory as a framework for attending to the prevalence, permeance, and impact of structural racism embedded within and manifesting through the culture of science, while also detailing the implications of structural racism in and through science on Black student science engagement. 
Zoom Link: http://asu.zoom.us/j/92158713296
 
Are you interested in giving at talk related to DEI in STEM? If so, please reach out to Ryan Sweeder (sweeder@msu.edu) to be added to the potential speaker list.
 

The Community of Inquiry framework proposed by Garrison, Anderson, and Archern (2000) identifies three dimensions to support a social constructivist model of learning. Research suggests that building these three dimensions into your course will help to support the learning experience for your students. 
 
Cognitive Presence
Cognitive presence refers to the way your students might construct meaning in your course. This happens when they have the chance to be curious, explore, and have an "ah-ha" moment. You'll see this when they're able to connect and apply new ideas from the course. The important steps you'll need to take to support cognitive presence are to carefully select content for your course and support discourse. You can help to build this into your course by providing multiple opportunities for students to explore and engage with material that will help them to understand the big ideas. You can accomplish this in your course by providing different options for engaging with the content, such as reading texts, watching videos, and completing learning activities and various assessments. 
 
Social Presence
Social presence refers to the way your students might present themselves to the class. This happens when students have opportunities to openly communicate in class, and are free to express emotions in a risk-free environment. To encourage this, you should support the discourse and set the climate for discussion. You can support this by providing opportunities for interaction and collaboration amongst students and by modeling the kinds of behaviors they should follow. You can accomplish this by asking students to introduce themselves, either in a live zoom meeting or on the course discussion board. Set parameters for students to engage in discussion in both the asynchronous and synchronous environments. For example, in a synchronous zoom meeting you might direct students to post in the chat to answer a question and set breakout rooms for students to engage with their peers. Or, you might direct students to complete an assignment in a small group, and direct them to use an asynchronous discussion board to chat and plan their assignment. 
 
Teaching Presence 
Teaching presence refers to your structure and process, including how you will provide direct instruction to your students and build understanding. This means selecting the content, identifying the topics for discussion, and keeping the discussion focused on those topics. It will also help if you set the social climate and provide clear instructions for how students should engage with and respond to these discussions. You can easily accomplish this with discussion forums related to course topics, with targeted discussion questions in your online course. What are some other ways you might accomplish this?
 
 


Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T, & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2, 87–105

 

"Community of Inquiry Model" by jrhode is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0