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  Accreditation Woes: Thinking Outside the Box for Program and Course Assessment Design – Competency and Outcome Rubrics in Canvas

  Nicole Espinoza

  Using competency-based rubrics and proper assessment design in course, program, and/or university levels allows for an instructor and administration to see the level of knowledge attainment for student, course, or full program. This poster will showcase how a degree program approached assessments with a new lens - using Canvas rubrics and outcomes. It will showcase the piloted program data for the MHA program. Even though this data is specific to a graduate degree program, this assessment design can be used by all individuals, courses, and programs!

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  Focused and Autonomous Writing Through Objects

  Yvonne Houy

  Objects—carefully curated—help focus discussions and knowledge explorations, and become the basis of student-centered scholarly writing when Object-based learning (OBL) is combined with structured research writing assignments using the Cornell Notes questions in a Google form.

  Educators cannot eliminate distractions but can encourage focus and attention (Lang, Distracted, 2020, 1-24). I propose using curated objects to focus student attention: Such object-based learning (OBL) allows students to engage holistically with otherwise abstract facts, figures and frameworks (Chatterjee and Hannan, 2016). Combining OBL with structured active note taking, such as through the Cornell note taking method, “can lead to efficient study practices, better course outcomes, and improved retention of content beyond a course’s conclusion” (Friedman, Notes on Note-Taking, 2014, 3). The result is a scaffolding structure that helps students read scholarly texts and apply their understanding to a concrete object, in support of key course learning objectives.

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  UNLV Teaching and Technology Model

  Nicole Hudson and Ted Weisman

  The teaching practice is UNLV's Online Teaching and Technology Model which incorporates asynchronous and synchronous learning opportunities.

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  It’s So Complex! Active Learning Strategy for Teaching the Autonomic Nervous System and Referred Pain

  Jessica Immonen

  This poster highlights the use of an active learning tool to draw the course of action potentials in autonomic nerves. The diagrams used offer a simplified and novel breakdown of ANS targets.

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  Evaluating Approaches to Improve written English Language Learners in Civil Engineering

  David James

  Summary of class content and pedagogy, observed results of Common English writing problems observed in UNLV BS Civil Engineering CEE. 498 Senior Design class, and interventions for the next time the class is offered

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  Mural: An Online Space for Co-creating Meaning and Understanding

  Kimberly James

  Building an online community around learning has been challenging throughout the academic and artistic disruptions caused by the COVID 19 pandemic. In order to promote remote interaction and educe student contributions, I utilized MURAL, a virtual, collaborative whiteboard, several times during AY2020-2021 to co-create meaning and understanding of common pedagogic topics that are applied in my studio. This practice allowed all participants to contribute ideas, make revisions, and enjoy new “aha” moments in real-time with far less pressure and concern for feeling “called out” or being “wrong.”

  These activities benefitted the students and the overall wellness of the student participants in several ways. As stated above, a sense of community was built during a period of isolation. Students and their instructors can learn and teach together in real-time over a robust online platform. Introverted students may share thoughts more easily through MURAL participation. Additionally, the students continue to have access to the co-created MURALs and were authorized to download them as PDFs for future reference. This allowed students from the -300 level to -700 level to “get on the same page” regarding pedagogic ideas discussed, and experience teacher to peer, peer to peer, and peer to teacher collaborations on these topics. The students enjoyed the activities once they learned how to utilize and navigate the tool.

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  Online Small Groups and Student-Faculty Connections

  Sheila Janofsky

  When classes moved online to protect community health, many students felt disconnected from their teachers and peers. To address this lost sense of connection, I restructured a live remote class. Rather than teaching this 400-level class live via WebEx with some breakouts for active learning assignments, I pre-recorded the lectures for each week and asked the students to watch these on their own time. I assigned the students to small (5-6 person) discussion groups and broke out our assigned class meeting times into multiple small group meetings. We meet in these small groups every week to discuss questions prepared by the students. This smaller group format facilitates better connections among students and between the students and myself.

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  Automated Grading Tools for Compter Programming

  Ed Jorgensen

  This teaching practice addresses automated grading tools for computer programming assignments. Similar tools are in use at UNLV for other disciplines (e.g., TurnItIn). This is the first use of automation specifically for grading computer programs. This tool was initially applied to first and second programming courses (CS 135, 10 sections and CS 202, 8 sections) in Fall 2021.

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  Guided Research-Informed Notetaking

  Julian Kilker

  Structured note-taking is useful for courses—particularly online courses—that expect students to closely read texts and integrate them into their research. This flexible and reconfigurable practice encourages students to take notes about texts using Google Form prompts. Faculty can efficiently review notes to assess students’ engagement with texts and adjust class meetings and assignments.

  This practice extends Cornell’s Notes system originally created by Walter Pauk. I use Google Forms to create structured prompts, and use Google Sheets to review, organize, and distribute student notes.

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  The Return of Labor-based Grading Contracts

  Erica J. Marti

  Despite best attempts, grading can be very subjective when it comes to determining quality. For certain courses, the process is just as important as the product, but often the grade is based mainly on the quality of the product and doesn’t take the labor or process into account. One alternative to standard grade systems is labor-based grading or contract grading. In this system, students meet certain requirements to earn a certain grade. If students meet the criteria for the assignment, it counts toward the contract. If not, they can revise, reflect and resubmit. With this format, students can focus on the process without constantly thinking about having to get 100% on every task in order to achieve their desired grade. When students miss out on a concept (as embedded criteria for an assignment), there is a pathway for metacognitive learning through reflection.

  Labor-based grading was applied to a lab section of EGG 202, a new course that counts for first-year seminar credits in the College of Engineering. This course is oriented toward projects and skills (i.e., no exams scheduled). Students need time to get used to this new grading format, but they appreciate the flexibility of the grading system (i.e., being able to resubmit if they “miss the mark” on the first try). In addition, this grading system reduces the penalty for students who come in less prepared than their peers. While they are still required to achieve the same criteria for an assignment, they can take advantage of the resubmittal process if they don’t reach the minimum criteria on the first try. Students self-reported that contract grading and rubrics caused them to reflect on assignments before submitting them and to recognize their ability to improve and grow as a learner.

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  An Intensive Course: Benefits for Non-Traditional Students in a Practice-Based Discipline

  Lisa Nicholas, Necole Leland, Jennifer Pfannes, Jovi Dumangan, Hope Hinchman, Gretchen Little, and Angela E. Silvestri-Elmore

  Intensive courses: compressed, condensed, or accelerated courses deliver content within a shortened period of time. An intensive course is not meant to be a copy and paste of a traditional full-semester course.

  Students will:

  • Meet more frequently for a shorter period of time for class activities, discussions, and group work.

  • Have increased number of out-of-class, self-study commitment hours for pre intensive course preparation.

  Intensive courses provide a different modality to the higher educational environment. Non-traditional students, such as second-degree-seeking, desire to return to school while keeping pace with their daily responsibilities and therefore require non-traditional methods of instruction. This type of course delivery allows for easier access and integration into daily life than traditional course delivery.

  Intensive courses:

  • Maximize adult learning opportunities to achieve course outcomes in a condensed time frame

  • Use measurements that assess multiple outcomes and objectives

  Since there is an increase in enrollment of non-traditional students, universities are challenged to consider learning opportunities that meet the needs of non-traditional students.

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  Utilizing Asynchronous Video Discussions

  Amanda Pasinski

  Providing students with a way to communicate face-to-face with each other during online classes can be a struggle. Asynchronous text-based discussion posts and synchronous video discussions have unique limitations. Asynchronous video discussions may integrate the benefits of both, while addressing their limitations. Instructors can utilize the free third-party app FlipGrid to create simple, low-stakes video discussion assignments. Flipgrid integrates with Canvas and works with mobile and desktop devices; students can use the mobile app or their computer’s microphone and camera to create and customize videos.

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  Toward Building Science Literacy

  Kathryn Rafferty

  Reading scientific literature is a critical science competency that proves difficult to “teach.” Students enter our classes with varying science vocabularies, and many suffer imposter syndrome when reading technical reports because they do not yet identify as capable scientists. The “Science Literacy” assignment guides students to develop and expand strategies to read science articles. Over the semester, students read 5 to 6 articles ranging from peer-reviewed manuscripts to popular science magazines to science blogs about sequencing Ozzy Osbourne's DNA. In Canvas Discussion boards, they a guiding set of questions and then respond to their peers. This assignment is a low-stakes pathway for students to build skills to approach and analyze scientific articles thus putting the intimidation behind them. Pre- and post-assignment survey data from Fall 2020 show that this semester-long science literacy assignment increased the number of students with strategies for reading scientific literature. In addition, the percent of students feeling uncomfortable reading scientific articles began at 16% and dropped to 3% by the end of the term. The skills learned in “How to Implement Effective Discussions,“ a 2-week workshop hosted by the UNLV Office of Online Education allowed me to launch this assignment effectively in Canvas Discussions. I also consulted UNLV Librarians to ensure that the assignment aligned to best practices in building science literacy for undergraduate students.

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  Promoting Equity and Engagement with Randomness

  Aaron Saiewitz

  Classroom discussion is a key aspect of learning, but class discussion is often dominated by extroverted students. Further, research shows that students from underrepresented groups are often less likely to participate in classroom discussion. While instructors may attempt to broaden participation by calling on students to participate, instructors are often subject to unconscious biases which cause them to call more often on students with certain characteristics. To address these issues, I recommend a random calling technique using a random number generator to create an advance list of students to call on during class. This random approach addresses the issue of unconscious bias and provides all students with an equal chance to participate, regardless of their background or assertiveness. Additionally, since students do not know in advance if they will be called upon, this practice encourages students to adequately prepare, which increases overall student engagement. I discuss how to implement this strategy, including how to reduce student anxiety regarding the process. Student feedback indicates that while some students are uncomfortable with being called on randomly, they come to understand the process and acknowledge that it helps motivate them to prepare for class and increases student engagement.

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  Online Teaching of Program Planning & Evaluation

  Manoj Sharma

  Program Planning & Evaluation (PBH 440-1001) offered by the School of Public Health at University of Nevada, Las Vegas was taught asynchronously online by Manoj Sharma to undergraduate students (primarily from public health) in Spring 2021 (n=34). This course is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to systematically develop, implement, and evaluate health-related programs, services, and interventions. The specific teaching techniques that were used in teaching this course were organizing the entire course in Canvas and making it available from day 1, recording all lectures beforehand in Panopto, utilizing cases studies in modules, embedding journal articles available under public domain in the modules, having skill-building activities at the end of each module to be completed in the Discussion Forum, providing links to websites in each module, and providing “cookbook” style guidelines for completing the assignments. In this course, the social cognitive theory was utilized from a pedagogical perspective to facilitate learning. In this theory, the expectations of developing program planning skills were built by discussions, self-efficacy was developed through skill-building activities and step-wise practical assignments, goal setting was facilitated through providing timelines and holding students accountable for those. In the end of course evaluation, a majority of the students (84.6%) mentioned that the course was well organized, the same percentage of students (84.6%) mentioned that the course helped them gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter, an overwhelming majority (92.3%) felt there was sufficient opportunity for interaction with other students, and the same percentage of students (92.3%) praised the feedback received.

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  Set the Tone With an Inclusive Syllabus

  Alison Sloat

  Inclusive and equity-minded syllabi help welcome students, set positive and encouraging tones on the first day of class, and improve the chances of success for all.

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  Learning Retention through Glossary Development

  Haroon Stephen

  The teaching practice is to engage students in glossary development. It is adopted to increase student learning retention of civil engineering terms. Learning retention is the process of transferring new information into long-term memory. This teaching practice was implemented in two courses during summer and fall 2021. The benefits of this practice were assessed using a post-semester survey. The survey responses revealed that this teaching practice increased understanding of the technical terms of 87% of the respondents and increased conceptual understanding of 83% of the respondents.

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  An Integrative Approach to Teaching in Precalculus and Calculus Classes

  Aleksei Talonov

  We would like to present practices of using problem-based learning activities in Mathematics classroom. We mostly concentrated our attention on Precalculus and Calculus classes which have had low success rates and retention. During the last couple of years, we developed a set of course specific materials in the form of lecture notes and inclass and out-of-class assignments. Each major assignment is accompanied by clear and coherent guidelines explaining what kind of skills will be attained by practicing this assignment, how it can be done, what amount of time can it reasonably take, when is it due, and where to get help.

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  Remote Learning

  Van Whaley and Dustin Davis

  • One instructor presents live, virtual, synchronous lectures while another instructor builds engagement and support using the live chat feature.

  • An engaging way to highlight concepts and explain key figures, pictures, and drawings using shared screens.

  I share my screen and move through the e-textbook to discuss the most important topics from each week’s chapter. During each discussion, I intersperse my drawings of body structures on Google Jamboard. While I present, Dustin works in the chat to ask recall and application questions, answer students’ questions, and link resources such as educational YouTube videos and practice quizzes. Our DVDs address two key student needs: effective remote learning and filling knowledge gaps in real-time during lectures.

  We host our DVDs by using Google Meet and Google Jamboard. We record every session and have a transcript from the chat. Those recordings and transcripts are uploaded to the Canvas shell for the anatomy and physiology lecture. Uploading the recordings allows students who attended the DVDs to rewatch and students who could not attend to watch for the first time. Our live, dynamic instruction each week thus supports the learning of students in real-time and students with personal and work demands that prevent them from attending on Tuesday afternoons.

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  Build It in the Chat: Using the Chat Function in Online Platforms to Facilitate and Improve Student Writing

  James Altman

  Helping college students “find their voice” as writers is challenging even without the isolation necessitated by the Pandemic. Shyness, lack of comfort with the subject matter, and fear of using the wrong word or phrase, can all keep students from expressing their ideas as fully as they, and we, would like. This can lead to non-completion or plagiarism of assignments If a student is also a non-native English speaker and/or has physical and/or cognitive difficulties, the situation can appear insurmountable. Building student writing thought by thought, line by line, paragraph by paragraph addresses the problem by allowing individuals to express ideas as they emerge while giving and receiving feedback in real time as documents and discussions develop while capturing the results. All lengths/genres of writing in all disciplines can utilize the practice. No additional equipment/expertise is needed beyond what instructors are already using.

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  A Learning-Centered Approach to Remote Learning

  Michelle A. Arroyo

  Although faculty frequently update the content of their courses, they rarely modify their teaching methods. Many faculty continue to teach as they were taught. During remote and online learning, modifying teaching methods is not only a necessity, but critical to student success. Learning-centered teaching focuses on what and how students are learning. Learning-centered instructors create safe, respectful, and inclusive environments that facilitate student learning. Learning-centered teaching is not a single teaching method, but rather emphasizes a variety of techniques and pedagogies than encourage instructors to create an environment that facilitates students learning online and remotely. As a result, students acquired deep and lasting learning that they can use later.

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  Applied Learning During a Pandemic

  Roberta Jo Barnes

  Applied learning is a critical component of the Hospitality College curriculum. This teaching practice examines the development of a course providing a meaningful substitution for internship during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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  Mock Interviews in the Virtual Environment

  Roberta Jo Barnes

  The College of Hospitality is known for its experiential learning activities. In a typical semester, the college hosts a mock interview event for students in HMD 200, Hospitality Milestone course, in which students are interviewed and evaluated by a hospitality industry professional as part of an on-campus event. How can this important skill development occur when Covid-19 prevents the hosting of an on-campus event? This teaching practice provides an alternative for facilitating mock interviews in the virtual environment through collaboration with the Hospitality College’s career center, industry partners and the use of Zoom technology.

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  It's Like a Video Game: How to Use Twine to Create Scenario Based Learning Online

  Amanda Mapel Belarmino

  How can you engage students online by utilizing the online environment? Solution: a choose-your-own adventure style game. As an Assistant Professor of Hospitality Management, I teach a class in Strategic Management where I used a software called Twine to create a choose-your-adventure type scenario where the students make their own decisions for a business scenario and then see the consequences of their decisions.

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  Using Social Justice Issues to Engage Students

  Sandra L. Candel

  The Social Justice Issue is a project-based assignment in which students organize in groups to address a social justice issue of their choice. In addition, students are asked to connect theory and practice (praxis) by looking for resources in their community to offer possible recommendations, solutions and resources.

  Topics researched include: Voting Rights; Sexual Assault At Colleges; The Racialization of Cannabis Use; Mental Healthcare; Legalizing Prostitution; Gender Pay Gap; Black Lives Matter; LGBTQA Rights Stigma Suicide & Homelessness; Japan's Patriarchal Society; RBG - Open Supreme Court Position; ICE Inhumane Treatment of Immigrants; Universal Healthcare; and Mental Health Stigma.

  This teaching practice is used to help students accomplish the course learning outcomes, and to promote engagement, deep learning, metacognition, and group collaboration.

  Students identified the Social Justice Issue Project as the most beneficial assignment they had done in class, stating:

  • “The social justice project really helped with diving deeper into subjects I would've never really looked into.”
  • “I really enjoyed working on the social justice project. It was informative, and I learned so much. I thought I knew about most of the issues, but there's so much left for me to learn and research about.”
  • “I would say our Social Justice Project midterm has been the most beneficial. It got us thinking about real world issues and how those relate to our class. I hadn't realized the variety of topics that would be chosen and how invested my classmates would be in those topics.”