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Description

Since the outbreak of the COVID, there has been a great need to advance learning experiences and opportunities for students when the courses are taught remotely. To address the need, the author incorporated the teaching strategies learned from the Culturally Relevant & Responsive Teaching (CRRT) fellows program supported by the NSF TRANSCEnD project. In Fall 2021, the author implemented multiple new teaching techniques and strategies in the CEM453-653 course, delivered entirely online. The specific teaching practices and technologies are: 1) Delivering lectures both live (synchronous) and recordings (asynchronous); 2) Using adaptive technology (Mentimeter & WebEx Poll) with real-time feedback; 3) Using real-world examples and problems; 4) Using an advanced teaching gadget (graphics drawing table) for interactive teaching; and 5) Diversifying Instructional Techniques (in-class exercises, homework assignments, poll questions). The author assessed the effectiveness of the implanted teaching practices and technologies by three different methods: 1) midterm exam score improvement; 2) mid-semester survey; and 3) course evaluation improvement. The results show that 1) the students’ average midterm score has increased 3.6 percent compared to last year’s counterpart, 2) the survey showed overall very positive results, 3) this year’s CEM453-653 teaching evaluation score (4.70 out of 5) outperformed past five years’ average CEM453-653 score (4.26). Other instructors will find their values and consider adopting these technologies and practices. Even though the new teaching gadget and strategies were implemented to the course that is delivered only remotely, these gadgets and strategies can be adapted to both in-person and online courses.

Publisher Location

Las Vegas (Nev.)

Publication Date

1-2022

Publisher

UNLV Office of Faculty Affairs

Language

English

Keywords

Adaptive Technology; Real-world Problems; Real-time Feedback; Interactive Teaching; Advanced Teaching Gadget; Diversifying Instructional Techniques; Evidence-based

Disciplines

Civil and Environmental Engineering | Civil Engineering | Construction Engineering and Management | Education | Engineering | Higher Education | Online and Distance Education | Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

File Format

pdf

File Size

670 KB

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Improving Active Learning through Advanced Teaching Practices on an Online Course


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