Student Voices in SoTL: Examples & Questions

1. Student Voices in SoTL: Examples & Questions Jeffrey Coker, Sirena Hargrove-Leak, Stephen Schulman, Peter Felten, Collin Bright ANAC Summer Institute June 14, 2007

2. Agenda • Context and questions • Examples • Underwater Robots • Students as Partners in Course Re-design • Reinventing Life • Discussion and questions

3. SoTL at Elon • 1999 – 2005: Project Interweave • Student partners involvedin design, implementation, assessment, and dissemination of SoTL projects • 38 faculty; 65 students; 18 disciplines • 2006+ : CATL Scholars • 2-year projects, 4 per year, more $ • 2006 – 2009: CASTL Institutional Leadership Program

4. Questions for you • What do you do now to understand what your students are learning? • How do you involve students in the design and development of your courses?

5. Continuum of student voices Faculty informed by students Faculty alone Student – faculty partnership

6. Examples • Why involve students? • How do you involve students? • What are the opportunities and problems resulting from student involvement?

7. Underwater Robots Sirena Hargrove-Leak 2007-2009 CATL Scholar Dual Degree Engineering Program Department of Physics

8. Course overview • Student teams design and build ROVs • organized instruction on core components • mission tasks based on professional applications • basic materials supplied • small budget for additional materials • Culminating presentation and piloting experiences

9. Student voices address • Is the course providing a transformational experience in science? • Does the course meet the educational goals? • Does the course connect with students at the appropriate level?

10. Student voices heard in • Entrance/Exit survey • Mini lecture and lab challenge surveys • Design journal • ROV performance interview • Traditional quizzes and final design presentation

11. Opportunities and challenges • Design a better course • Students more engaged • Feedback an additional burden • Documentation medium • Useful feedback • Limited enrollment

12. References • Beer, R.D., Chiel, H.J., Drushel, R.F. Using Autonomous Robotics to Teach Science and Engineering. Communications of the ACM, Vol. 42, No.6, June 1999, pp. 85-92. • Ettouney, O.M. A New Model for Integrating Engineering Into the Liberal Education of Non-Engineering Undergraduate Students. Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 83, No. 4, October 1994, pp. 349-355. • Nourbakhsh, I.R., Crowley, K., Bhave, A., Hamner, E., Hsiu, T., Perez-Bergquist, A., Richards, S., Wilkinson, K. The Robotic Autonomy Mobile Robotics Course: Robot Design, Curriculum Design and Educational Assessment. Autonomous Robots, Vol. 18, No. 1, January 2005, pp. 103-127. • Turbak, F., Berg, R. Robotic Design Studio: Exploring the Big Ideas of Engineering in a Liberal Arts Environment. Journal of Science Education and Technology, Vol. 11, No. 3, September 2002, pp. 237-253. • Weinberg, J.B., White, W.W., Karacal, C., Engel, G., Hu, A.-P. Multidisciplinary Teamwork in a Robotics Course. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 37, No. 1, February 2005, pp. 446-450.

13. www.marinetech.org/

14. Students as Partners in Course Re-design: Learning Together about Student Learning • Stephen Schulman and Collin Bright

15. Reinventing Life:Introductory Biology for a Rapidly Evolving World Jeffrey S. CokerCATL Scholars 2006-08 (picture omitted from web version of this presentation)

16. Reinventing Life • A new curriculum for teaching biology to non-science majors that focuses on modern biological change. Cutting-edge Science Inquiry-based pedagogy Civic Engagement Modernization of Intro Biology for the 21st Century

18. 1. Student-turned-Scholar (Anna) • Assessment and improvement of a class activity that the student had participated in as a student. • Results: • Improved class activity. • Publication: Coker, J.S., and Johnson, A. 2007. Using presidential elections to engage students in science issues. American Biology Teacher. In press.

19. 2. Teacher-Scholar Apprentice(Sarah and Jenni) • Involvement in labs AND their assessment • Replaces the “TA” • Example – Video exit interviews • University evaluations? No • Customized post-survey? No • Oral question written by professor? No • Question adaptation by student? Yes • Result: Priceless information to improve the new curriculum.

20. 3. Independent Evaluator (Katie) • Assessment of a course component by a student who is (relatively) unbiased. • Results: • Improved course readings. • Katie is entering grad school at Ohio State.

21. 4. Pre-Teacher in Training(Danielle and Laura) • Development and assessment of class activities that could be used in both college classes and in high school classes. • Results: Both activities were implemented in high school classes by the students, but were not used at Elon.

22. 5. Interdisciplinary Intern(Lauren) • Applying special skills and interests of a student toward a course in a different discipline. • i.e. Applying corporate advertising to science education. • Results: • The birth of “Biommercials”!!! • Publication: Coker, J.S. and Scott, L.D. 2005. Rev. of Successful Scientific Writing, by J.R. Matthews, J.M. Bowen, and R.W. Matthews (Cambridge University Press, 2000). American Biology Teacher 67: 571-572.

23. 6. Voluntary Professional(Kat and many others) • Allowing current students to voluntarily choose professional projects • Graphic design • Brochures • Children’s Books • K-12 Lesson Plans • Biommercials • i.e. Global Warming Biommercial

24. 7. Teacher-Scholar(Beth) • Development and assessment of a teaching lab, as well as a disciplinary research project Student DNA Genetic Test Analysis of Class Data • Results: A very successful lab and probably a publication. Beth is entering grad school at George Washington. (picture omitted from web version of this presentation)

25. Conclusions • Successful SoTL projects involving students in the Reinventing Life curriculum tend to be… • Innovative • Individualized • Interdisciplinary • Why do it? • Better-prepared students and better SoTL products.

26. Reinventing Life:Introductory Biology for a Rapidly Evolving World Jeffrey S. CokerCATL Scholars 2006-08 (picture omitted from web version of this presentation)

27. Discussion and questions