Results for "team-based"

Hope this is the right place to share this:

10 Individual Reflections @ two points each (essentially “Gimmes”).
Starting in Week Two, students are asked to develop (guided) reflections on their independent and (starting in Week Three) collaborative coursework for a given week. Not only do they articulate their new learning, they connect that to prior knowledge as well as examine their work habits and related choices. Students have the following options for these reflections:
• Tradit...

Hope this is the right place to share this:

10 Individual Reflections @ two points each (essentially “Gimmes”).
Starting in Week Two, students are asked to develop (guided) reflections on their independent and (starting in Week Three) collaborative coursework for a given week. Not only do they articulate their new learning, they connect that to prior knowledge as well as examine their work habits and related choices. Students have the following options for these reflections:
• Traditional 2-3 page essay
• 5-6 minute Voice Recording or Video
• Sketchnotes (a hybrid of note-taking and creative doodles that presents students’ grasp of new information, gleaned from scholarly reading, and connection of those ideas to specific novels, plays, or films in the course)

Collaborative Project #1 @ 20 possible points (Due at the end of Week Five)
Student learning teams review and evaluate two recent journal articles (less than ten years old) on material presented during the first third of the course. The project also includes a works cited or bibliography page and collaboratively written (guided) reflection on team work habits and related choices. Teams can choose between:
• TV Newscast (WeVideo)
• TV Talkshow (WeVideo)
• Podcast -- starting in Fall 2022 – (anchor.fm)

Collaborative Project #2 @ 20 Possible Points (Due at the end of Week 10)
Student learning teams review and evaluate two books, two journal articles, and two digital sources to have to do in some way with intersections between course material on one hand, and systems of power, oppression, equity, and justice on the other AND create a readers’ guide based on that work. The project also includes a works cited or bibliography page and collaboratively written (guided) reflection on team work habits and related choices. Teams can choose between:
• Readers’ Guide Flipbook (Flipsnack)
• Reader’s Guide Infographic (Canva)

Collaborative Project #3 @ 20 possible points (Due at the end of Week 14)
Student learning teams 1) revisit five to six novels, plays, or films presented in the course, 2) examine them in terms of power, oppressions, equity, and justice, AND 3) brainstorm practical solutions to how we might better address similar longstanding ills in 21st century society. The project also includes a works cited or bibliography page and collaboratively written (guided) reflection on team work habits and related choices. Teams can choose between:
• Interactive Academic Poster (Power Point or Prezi)
• Interactive Digital Scrapbook (Canva)

Capstone Project – Individual Semester Reflection @ 20 Possible Points (Due at the end of Week 15)
Students develop a guided reflection in which they revisit and evaluate their learning for the course. Students have the following options:
• Traditional Five to Six-page Self-Assessment Essay
• Five to Six-minute Self-Assessment Video


Questions for “Guided” Individual or Team Reflection
• For you introduction, describe your work and related activities for the week/semester in general.
• Briefly describe the projects, processes, and skills you will discuss.
• Discuss three points/projects you found most enjoyable and explain why.
• Explain three processes for the projects described above. Describe how the processes were challenging and rewarding.
• Explain three skills you gained or improved upon during the week/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.
• How might you improve your independent and/or collaborative work habits and related choices in the course?
• Describe your biggest “A-ha Moment” this week/semester.
• How does that same “A-ha Moment” connect to something you have learned in other courses?
• 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 team members, assignments, the course, instructor, or previous grades.

My background in Scandinavian languages and literature keeps rearing its head in various ways after many years. Specifically,when it comes to folklore, magical tales, and perilous journeys toward maturation. In a way, I have become a pedagogical Ashland, of sorts, since coming to MSU in 2015. My journey, an ongoing quest if you will, has been in trying to find that one magical key, which will unlock the enchanted door to greater student interest and involvement in their general education c...

My background in Scandinavian languages and literature keeps rearing its head in various ways after many years. Specifically,when it comes to folklore, magical tales, and perilous journeys toward maturation. In a way, I have become a pedagogical Ashland, of sorts, since coming to MSU in 2015. My journey, an ongoing quest if you will, has been in trying to find that one magical key, which will unlock the enchanted door to greater student interest and involvement in their general education course requirements.

Those of us who teach these courses know that, too often, many students view gen. ed. requirements as hoops to jump through. Something they must satisfy to graduate. Subjects that, they feel, have little to do with the real world, their intended majors, or envisioned careers. Scheduling and convenience more than genuine interest seem to be the determining factor for many students when they choose to enroll in such courses. Put the head down, muddle through, and get it done with as little effort as possible.

But there might be another way.

In my own ongoing quest to motivate and engage the students in my various IAH courses more effectively, I have come back to Bloom's Taxonomy again and again since first learning about it in the 2016-2017 Walter and Pauline Adams Academy cohort. More specifically, it is Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, revised by various scholars for use with 21st century students who exist in an increasingly digital world, that has been especially useful when it comes to designing assessments for my students.

For those who are interested, there are all kinds of sources online -- journal article pdfs, infographics, Youtube explainer videos, etc. -- that will be informative and helpful for anyone who might be interested in learning more. Just search for 'Bloom's Digital Taxonomy' on Google. It's that easy.

For my specific IAH courses, I organize my students into permanent student learning teams early each semester and ask them to create three collaborative projects (including a team reflection). These are due at the end of Week Five, Week 10, and Week 14. Right now, the projects include:

1) A TV Newscast/Talkshow Article Review Video in which teams are ask to locate, report on, review, and evaluate two recent journal articles pertinent to material read or viewed during the first few weeks of the course.

2) A Readers' Guide Digital Flipbook (using Flipsnack) that reviews and evaluates the usefulness of two books, two more recent journal articles, and two blogs or websites on gender and sexuality OR race and ethnicity within the context of specific course materials read or viewed during roughly the middle third of the course.

3) An Academic Poster (due at the end of Week 14) in which student teams revisit course materials and themes related to gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, and identity. In addition, students are asked to examine issues of power, marginalization, disparity, equity, etc. in those same sources and look at how these same issues affect our own societies/cultures of origin in the real world. Finally, student teams (in course as diverse as Film Noir of the 1940s and 50s, Horror Cinema, and the upcoming Contemporary Scandinavian and Nordic Authors) are asked to propose realistic, concrete solutions to the social problems facing us.


Anecdotally, student feedback has been largely very favorable so far. Based on remarks in their team reflections this semester (Fall 2021), students report that they enjoy these collaborative, creative projects and feel like they have considerable leeway to shape what their teams develop. Moreover, they also feel that they are learning quite a bit about the material presented as well as valuable 21st century employability skills in the process. Where their all important assignment grades are concerned, student learning teams in my courses are meeting or exceeding expectations with the work they have produced for the first two of three team projects this semester according to the grading rubrics currently in use.

Beginning in Spring 2022, I plan to give my student teams even more agency in choosing how they are assessed and will provide two possible options for each of the three collaborative projects. Right not, these will probably include:

Project #1 (Recent Journal Article Review and Evaluation)-- Powtoon Animated TV Newscast OR Infographic

Project #2 -- (Review and Evaluation of Digital Sources on Gender and Sexuality OR Race and Ethnicty in our specific course materials) a Digital Flipbook OR Podcast

Project #3 -- (Power, Marginality, Disparity, Equity in Course Materials and Real World of 21st Century Problem-Solving) an Interactive E-Poster OR Digital Scrapbook.

Through collaborative projects like these, I am attempting to motivate and engage the students in my IAH courses more effectively, help them to think more actively and critically about the material presented as well as the various social issues that continue to plague our world, and provide them with ample opportunity to cultivate essential skills that will enable their full participation in the globalized world and economy of the 21st century. Bloom's (Revised) Digital Taxonomy, among other resources, continues to facilitate my evolving thought about how best to reach late Gen Y and Gen Z students within a general education context.

If anyone would like to talk more about all of this, offer constructive feedback, or anything else, just drop me a line. I am always looking for those magic beans that will increase student motivation and engagement, and eager to learn more along the way. Bloom's Digital Taxonomy has certainly been one of my three magical helpers in the quest to to do that.

Takk skal dere ha!

My background in Scandinavian languages and literature keeps rearing its head in various ways after many years. Specifically,when it comes to folklore, magical tales, and perilous journeys toward maturation. In a way, I have become a pedagogical Ashland, of sorts, since coming to MSU in 2015. My journey, an ongoing quest if you will, has been in trying to find that one magical key, which will unlock the enchanted door to greater student interest and involvement in their general education c...

My background in Scandinavian languages and literature keeps rearing its head in various ways after many years. Specifically,when it comes to folklore, magical tales, and perilous journeys toward maturation. In a way, I have become a pedagogical Ashland, of sorts, since coming to MSU in 2015. My journey, an ongoing quest if you will, has been in trying to find that one magical key, which will unlock the enchanted door to greater student interest and involvement in their general education course requirements.

Those of us who teach these courses know that, too often, many students view gen. ed. requirements as hoops to jump through. Something they must satisfy to graduate. Subjects that, they feel, have little to do with the real world, their intended majors, or envisioned careers. Scheduling and convenience more than genuine interest seem to be the determining factor for many students when they choose to enroll in such courses. Put the head down, muddle through, and get it done with as little effort as possible.

But there might be another way.

In my own ongoing quest to motivate and engage the students in my various IAH courses more effectively, I have come back to Bloom's Taxonomy again and again since first learning about it in the 2016-2017 Walter and Pauline Adams Academy cohort. More specifically, it is Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, revised by various scholars for use with 21st century students who exist in an increasingly digital world, that has been especially useful when it comes to designing assessments for my students.

For those who are interested, there are all kinds of sources online -- journal article pdfs, infographics, Youtube explainer videos, etc. -- that will be informative and helpful for anyone who might be interested in learning more. Just search for 'Bloom's Digital Taxonomy' on Google. It's that easy.

For my specific IAH courses, I organize my students into permanent student learning teams early each semester and ask them to create three collaborative projects (including a team reflection). These are due at the end of Week Five, Week 10, and Week 14. Right now, the projects include:

1) A TV Newscast/Talkshow Article Review Video in which teams are ask to locate, report on, review, and evaluate two recent journal articles pertinent to material read or viewed during the first few weeks of the course.

2) A Readers' Guide Digital Flipbook (using Flipsnack) that reviews and evaluates the usefulness of two books, two more recent journal articles, and two blogs or websites on gender and sexuality OR race and ethnicity within the context of specific course materials read or viewed during roughly the middle third of the course.

3) An Academic Poster (due at the end of Week 14) in which student teams revisit course materials and themes related to gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, and identity. In addition, students are asked to examine issues of power, marginalization, disparity, equity, etc. in those same sources and look at how these same issues affect our own societies/cultures of origin in the real world. Finally, student teams (in course as diverse as Film Noir of the 1940s and 50s, Horror Cinema, and the upcoming Contemporary Scandinavian and Nordic Authors) are asked to propose realistic, concrete solutions to the social problems facing us.


Anecdotally, student feedback has been largely very favorable so far. Based on remarks in their team reflections this semester (Fall 2021), students report that they enjoy these collaborative, creative projects and feel like they have considerable leeway to shape what their teams develop. Moreover, they also feel that they are learning quite a bit about the material presented as well as valuable 21st century employability skills in the process. Where their all important assignment grades are concerned, student learning teams in my courses are meeting or exceeding expectations with the work they have produced for the first two of three team projects this semester according to the grading rubrics currently in use.

Beginning in Spring 2022, I plan to give my student teams even more agency in choosing how they are assessed and will provide two possible options for each of the three collaborative projects. Right not, these will probably include:

Project #1 (Recent Journal Article Review and Evaluation)-- Powtoon Animated TV Newscast OR Infographic

Project #2 -- (Review and Evaluation of Digital Sources on Gender and Sexuality OR Race and Ethnicty in our specific course materials) Flipbook OR Podcast

Project #3 -- (Power, Marginality, Disparity, Equity in Course Materials and Real World of 21st Century Problem-Solving) Electronic Poster OR Digital Scrapbook.

Through collaborative projects like these, I am attempting to motivate and engage the students in my IAH courses more effectively, help them to think more actively and critically about the material presented as well as the various social issues that continue to plague our world, and provide them with ample opportunity to cultivate essential skills that will enable their full participation in the globalized world and economy of the 21st century. Bloom's (Revised) Digital Taxonomy, among other resources, continues to facilitate my evolving thought about how best to reach late Gen Y and Gen Z students within a general education context.

If anyone would like to talk more about all of this, offer constructive feedback, or anything else, just drop me a line. I am always looking for those magic beans that will increase student motivation and engagement, and eager to learn more along the way. Bloom's Digital Taxonomy has certainly been one of my three magical helpers in the quest to to do that.

Hello again everyone! Our reading group on Student Engagement and Success is slated to meat for 90 minutes this Friday morning (October 22nd) at 10am. Hope to see you then. For your convenience, here are the questions we'll discuss (or use as jumping off points) related to Chapter One in our book Student Engagement in Higher Education, Third Edition:

Questions on Pendakur, Quaye, and Harper (Ch. 1)

1) What is your view of Pendakur, Quaye, and Harper’s assertion that U.S. higher educa...

Hello again everyone! Our reading group on Student Engagement and Success is slated to meat for 90 minutes this Friday morning (October 22nd) at 10am. Hope to see you then. For your convenience, here are the questions we'll discuss (or use as jumping off points) related to Chapter One in our book Student Engagement in Higher Education, Third Edition:

Questions on Pendakur, Quaye, and Harper (Ch. 1)

1) What is your view of Pendakur, Quaye, and Harper’s assertion that U.S. higher education, in general, is obligated to do more to foster student engagement within and beyond the classroom? What might be some practical challenges to do that?

2) In the Preface, Pendakur, Quaye, and Harper suggest that there is something temporally specific about the crisis of engagement they and their contributors describe. How would you describe engagement as a timely matter? In other words - what shape(s) does the issue of engagement take in 2021?

3) At the micro level (within our own teaching, advising, or other close work with students), how might we address the issue? What are some concrete steps we might take?

4) Describe your reaction(s) to the approach advocated at the bottom of p. 6, “Faculty and student affairs educators must foster the conditions to enable diverse populations of students to be engaged, persist, and thrive.” Where do you see difficulties with that aim? How might you nevertheless integrate that goal into your own practices? What might you change or adapt?

5) What makes PQH’s intersectional and anti-deficit lens appealing for this type of research? In particular, how do you respond to the book’s organizational reliance upon identity-based systems of oppression (which, we should note, we’ve proposed to use as an organizing principle for our discussions as well)?

6) What are some concrete ways we might be more intentional in our teaching/advising practices or other close work with students when it comes to cultivating their engagement. How do we help them to help themselves?

7) Pendakur, Quaye, and Harper discuss Tinto’s assertion that academic (and social) communities are key to student engagement, performance, and retention (4-5). What is your own view? How might the use of academic communities (student learning teams) nevertheless present challenges of one kind or another? What might be some concrete steps we could take to ease or avoid potential issues?

8) Near the end of Chapter One, Pendakur, Quaye, and Harper acknowledge that “Linking theory and practice is not simple” (12). Realistically, how might we achieve at least some of what they call for? How could we maximize results -- “the amount of time and effort students put into their [Gen. Ed. or Prereq.] studies” -- without completely redesigning our courses and component classes/modules?

9) In the “Distinguishing Educationally Purposeful Engagement” section, PQH mention the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), which has collected data on ten engagement indicators for approx. 4,000,000 college students since 2000. What, if any, familiarity do you have with the NSSE, and how do you respond to their engagement indicators (subcategorized under Academic Challenge, Learning with Peers, Experiences with Faculty, Campus Environment) and High-Impact Practices (service learning, study abroad, research with faculty, internships)?

10) PQH deride the so-called “magical thinking” philosophy that undergirds much traditional scholarship of engagement and insist, instead, that “educators must facilitate structured opportunities for these dialogues to transpire” (8). What experience have you had with this type of facilitation? How did it seem to benefit the students involved?

11) For your own courses, what would you prioritize when it comes to fostering greater student engagement? How might you create or improve conditions that could facilitate that?

Last week, I developed another short explainer animation to help students/student learning teams get the ball rolling with their upcoming second collaborative project, due in a little over two weeks. The animation is based on, or informed by Harold Bloom's revised taxonomy. Here is the link for those of you who might like to take a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI_W9qj38Bk

Last week, I developed another short explainer animation to help students/student learning teams get the ball rolling with their upcoming second collaborative project, due in a little over two weeks. The animation is based on, or informed by Harold Bloom's revised taxonomy. Here is the link for those of you who might like to take a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI_W9qj38Bk

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 Effecti...

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