We found 183 results that contain "experiential learning"

In my ongoing quest to find how we might better motivate and engage our students, particularly within a general education context, I've come across a couple of interesting sources online.

Universal Design for Learning at a Glance -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1B6yQXsr0c
Provides an engaging, concise explanation of what UDL is and how it works in the (college) 'classroom.'

The Nora Project -- https://thenoraproject.ngo/mission
A fairly comprehensive website that addresses the intersection of disability and inclusivity. Geared more specifically toward teaching children, there are nevertheless various resources and approaches that might be tweaked a bit to fit the college 'classroom' in whatever form that takes right now.

Both are providing me with all sorts of ways that I can tailor (and expand the range of) student assessments moving toward and planning for AY2022-2023.

AI Visual Art Workshop

Sunday, March 19
1:00 – 3:00 PM
Digital Scholarship Lab classroom, MSU Library 2nd floor

Was your social media full of Lensa AI portraits a few months ago? Artificial intelligence initially arose to automate mundane tasks and computations, but lately it’s been making waves in creative spheres. This brings up questions about intellectual property, ethical use of technology, bias in algorithms, and the nature of creativity itself. The MSU Museum CoLab Studio invites you to join us as we explore text-to-image generative AI, learning how to use the algorithms and grappling with the future implications of this technology. This hands-on workshop will be led by Mark Sullivan, a practicing photographer, composer, and the creative director of the MSU Museum CoLab Studio.

Registration Required
REGISTER HERE

If you are interested in civic, social studies, gamified learning, or coding - you may be interested in this opportunity!

CTLI received a note that the Library of Congress is sponsoring a challenge to help improve public knowledge of civics – that is, the rights and responsibilities of citizens - by asking video game developers to create fun, lightweight video games related to civics that incorporate Library of Congress resources. The Library will award cash prizes to the winners and the games will be hosted on the Library's site for use by the public. The deadline for entries is 11/27/23.

You can find details on the rules and information on how to enter here: https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2023/06/help-the-library-of-congress-create-video-games-that-improve-public-knowledge-of-civics/

An interesting piece this morning on Faculty Focus about using short (instructor) videos in our courses to both connect with students and reinforce learning goals each week. A direct link is below for anyone who is interested. While I have developed an extensive network of two-minute whiteboard animations since last summer as part of my online course modules, I must admit that the itch to develop short videos (that are more interesting than my old Prezi videos in use during the 2020-2021 AY) is once again present.

https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/online-course-delivery-and-instruction/video-killed-the-radio-star-text-based-instructional-methods/?st=FFdaily%3Bsc%3DFF211201%3Butm_term%3DFF211201&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Video+Killed+the+R%CC%B7a%CC%B7d%CC%B7i%CC%B7o%CC%B7+S%CC%B7t%CC%B7a%CC%B7r%CC%B7+Text-based+Instructional+Methods&utm_campaign=FF211201

Hi folks!

You should see an email going out about this workshop shortly, but I wanted to post some details here as well. On Friday, October 14, from 10-11:30 am, Piril Atabay and I will be facilitating a workshop focusing on the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework and the role it plays in IAH general education classes. We'll be running this event with attendance options for in-person (Linton Hall Room 120) and Zoom (details below), and the meeting will be recorded and posted to this iteach page for folks to refer to later.

I've attached the flyer for this event below, as well as an RSVP link and the Zoom credentials for anyone who will be logging in from home. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Piril (atabaypi@msu.edu) or myself (sabogart@msu.edu); otherwise, we hope to see you on the 14th!

- GJS

RSVP: https://forms.gle/jCtGZyQiTtJFCC6p9
Zoom link: https://msu.zoom.us/j/94995585197?pwd=dkFWRWtrYVR4N096QWxFbDJxd1V1Zz09

Meeting ID: 949 9558 5197
Passcode: IAH!

20+ years ago when I began teaching as a graduate assistant, I was was spoiled when it came to student motivation and engagement.

At UW-Madison, I taught several freshman writing and discussion sections that were part of two huge undergraduate Scandinavian literature courses (several hundred students each) with a newly instituted writing component. Many, though not all, of the students were what we call, in second language pedagogy, heritage learners from primarily Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish backgrounds along with a few whose ancestors came from Iceland or Finland, which meant that their motivation and performance was reasonably good to high. In short, most were interested, engaged, and did the work to a reasonable standard.

The same was true a few years later at The University of Minnesota. where I was responsible for planning, developing, and teaching numerous sections of Beginning Norwegian 1001 and 1002 five days a week. Again, mostly heritage learners, so my job was easier than it might otherwise have been.

Here at MSU, I teach numerous IAH courses, once F2F, now asynchronous online. A few seem excited and engage well, but many, or even most, do not. It is a hoop they need to jump through, and many choose a particular course based not on their interest but on how well it fits their schedule.

Given that particular mindset, student motivation and engagement can be thin on the ground sometimes! So, these are two related points, along with how they relate to student success, that I come back to again and again in my reading and related thought behind what I do and how I do it.

Today, I came across a concise webpage on 'The Role of Motivation in Learning' from The Education Hub in New Zealand. Here is the link for people who might like to take a look:
https://theeducationhub.org.nz/motivation/

In a conscious attempt during the last two or three years to include high impact teaching practices as part of the courses I teach here at MSU, I have my students write reflections on their individual assignments each week, team reflections for their three collaborative projects, and an individual semester reflection during Week 15. Here are the guidelines I provide each week to help individual students (or student learning teams) craft their reflections:

Guidelines for Writing an Effective Reflection and Self-Critique
For your team-based project reflection that is part of this assignment – or individually written semester reflection -- develop and refine two FULL pages in which you discuss the following:
• For you introduction, describe the project in general and your respective activities associated with it.
• Briefly describe the projects, process and skills you will talk about.
• Explain three aspects of the project that your team members found most enjoyable and why.
• Explain three processes used for the project described above. Describe how the processes were challenging and rewarding for your team members.
• What are one or possibly two things you might change about your contribution to the project in question. Why?
• Explain three skills your various team members gained or improved upon during the semester. These do not have to relate to what you have discussed already, but they can.
• Describe why you find these new or improved skills interesting, useful, enjoyable, and/or challenging.
• If there was a problem of some kind, how might you handle it more proactively next time around?
• In your conclusion, do not simply summarize what you have already said. Answer the implied “So, what?” question.
• Leave yourself (and your reader) with something to think about.
• Remember, this is not a forum to complain about other members of your team, assignments, the course, the instructor, or previous grades. Your team should reflect on its work habits, processes, and related choices made.


In addition to the guidelines above, I have also embedded a brief video from Essay Pro into each weekly course module, which includes additional explanation and examples of what reflective essays are and how to write them. Here is the link for those who might be interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH5W0iaayRo

This article was shared in an academic group I'm a part of on a social networking site... it's framing is within the Canadian Higher Education setting, but the message about student mental health is relevant for all.

Here are a couple of thoughts from the article worth sharing if you can't take the time to read the entire piece:
"To fully understand the present crisis, one has to appreciate a fundamental and often overlooked fact: higher education is not what it used to be. Not only do we have a more diverse student body with equally diverse psychiatric needs, we also have an academic culture that has changed profoundly in the past six decades, making the university experience more stressful than it once was. The classic liberal conception of postsecondary institutions as places where young people take a kind of sabbatical from life—read the great books, engage in endless debates, and learn to see themselves as citizens—has given way to a new model, more narrowly vocational in focus."

"By prioritizing high achievers, Henderson argues, universities are selecting not only for diligent candidates but also for those who view scholastic success as central to their identities. For such students, a bad grade can be destabilizing. When that grade appears on an exam worth 80 percent of a final course mark, or when it comes from a harried teaching assistant who doesn’t offer in-depth feedback, students can feel like they are losing a game whose rules were never explained. Imagine being told all your life that you are ahead of the pack and that you must stay there, both to secure a stable future and to get a return on the investments that family members or granting agencies have made on your behalf. Then, imagine falling behind, for reasons you don’t understand, at the precise moment when staying on top feels more critical than ever before. Furthermore, imagine that you are contending with profound loneliness, past trauma, and financial insecurity, all while working a part-time job with the usual mix of erratic hours."

"Such stressors can lead to sleep disruption, irregular eating, and substance abuse—all of which correlate with mental illness—or they can trigger preexisting psychiatric conditions. They can deplete reserves of neurochemicals, like dopamine and serotonin, needed to sustain a sense of well-being, or they can flood the brain and body with cortisol, the stress hormone, which, in excess, can push people into near-constant states of anxiety, making it difficult to conceptualize daily challenges in a proportionate or healthy way. They can also lead to identity confusion and an acute sense of shame."

Inside the Mental Health Crisis Facing College and University Students by Simon Lewsen : https://thewalrus.ca/inside-the-mental-health-crisis-facing-college-and-university-students/?fbclid=IwAR12PokSFpCrBo1NmtpNYoGEohKf3csYHQc9X8LwFAdNPTtBF_zIRbEqwhs