Center for Teaching and Learning Blog

Each workshop consists of two consecutive presentations followed by 10 minutes of discussion.

Spring UPTLC virtual presentation 3, April 13, 2021 at 3:30 PM

Returning Students to the Classroom Post Concussion by Co-Presenters: Joseph D. Susi II, LSSU School of Kinesiology and Erin Young, LSSU Student
Abstract: Concussion incidence varies among sports with the NCAA illustrating football with the highest overall portion of collegiate athletic concussions at 37% (2013-2014 NCAA Sports Medicine Handbook).  However, a 2019 study on the incidence of concussion among US undergraduates depicts that the overall concussion rate of sport related concussion was lower than non-sport-related concussion.  Athletes have Return to Play Guidelines and professionals to assist them along the way.  What provisions are available for students and student-athletes in returning to the classroom or “Return to Learn?”  Our talk is based on a class project from fall 2019 and will  examine concussions, identify a “Return to Learn” Team and present guidelines for a “Return to Learn” protocol for students who have experienced a concussion.   

“This Film Made Me Want to Pull My Hair Out!” The Value of Student Diaries for Course Assessment by H. Russell Searight, School of Behavioral Sciences
Abstract: Describes a faculty-student collaboration that provides meaningful course assessment information highlighting student reflections on course content. The presentation describes how the use of student dairies can provide a deeper understanding of the impact of a course.  

The subjective impact of a college course on students’ knowledge, critical thinking and ethical development is difficult to assess with standardized quantitative ratings or summative end-of-semester written comments. In particular, when teaching a new class with non-traditional pedagogy, such as the Honors Course, “Medical Ethics and Film,” students’ subjective experiences can provide valuable information for the instructor. Film, as an affectively-evocative narrative, may produce strong emotional reactions which can aid or hinder students’ understanding of course content. Students in “Medical Ethics and Film” were asked to keep a diary in which they recorded their reactions and ethical analyses for each week’s movie. The diary method is useful in providing educators with useful insight into how the class actually impacted students’ knowledge, critical thinking, and personal development and can be a form of communication between teachers and learners. To optimize the pedagogical value of personal course diaries, students should be able to write about their experiences in a reflective manner and experience openness and trust in how their writing will be used. Students were informed at the outset of the course that their reflections and observations through their diaries would be used in a qualitative research paper which they would co-author. However, students were assured that their diary entries would be described without identifying information. At the end of the course, an article, co-authored by the students and instructor was submitted and subsequently accepted for publication

To register for other UPTLC presentations, use these links:

Tuesday, February 16 at 3:30 PM 

Tuesday, March 16 at 3:30 PM 

Spring UPTLC virtual presentation 2,

Tuesday March 16, 2021 at 3:30 PM via zoom
Each workshop consists of two consecutive presentations followed by 10 minutes of discussion.

From Classroom to Resume – Skills that Count by Geralyn Narkiewicz, LSSU Career Services
Abstract: It is not unusual to read business reports or survey results that indicate recent college graduates are lacking in key employability skills. What skills are employers looking for? Are students truly lacking these skills or are they just not connecting the dots between their learning and the skills they are developing? In this presentation, we will discuss the 8 career competencies identified by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Participants will share and discuss ideas for increasing student awareness and understanding of the skills they are developing through their college coursework.

WRITE-D: Applying Write-on-Site to Graduate Work in the Disciplines by Co-presenters: Andrew Fiss, MTU Humanities Department; Sarah Isaacson, Will Cantrell, and Pushpalatha Muthy, MTU Graduate School
Abstract: While writing is a necessity in graduate programs throughout the disciplines, many find it difficult to address. At this session, we will introduce “write-in-department” groups: groups that provide a regular space and time for writing together within a department. Acknowledging the uses of such groups in undergraduate instruction, write-on-site groups have been implemented successfully at the graduate level at Michigan Technological University. Session leaders will discuss the application of this model to groups in Physics, Chemistry, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Biological Sciences. Attendees will be asked to participate in a short exercise of writing and reflection as a way of exploring the benefits of this approach. Graduate write-in-department groups provide an opportunity for discipline-specific discussions of writing over the duration of the graduate program. In contrast to the “dissertation boot camp” model, the WRITE-D model engages students with disciplinary writing throughout. As needed, faculty share knowledge about rules, norms, and processes, especially having to do with publications, proposals, and fellowships in the field. More broadly, write-in-department groups provide a social network for working through writing — one located within the department, with involvement of department faculty and facilitated by graduate student peers. Overall, the WRITE-D program uses graduate write-in-department groups as a way to help students generate better writing, more effectively.

To register for other UPTLC presentations, use these links:

Tuesday, February 16 at 3:30 PM 

Tuesday, April 13 at 3:30 PM

CTL Instructional Award: Large classroom teaching to Kette Thomas

Tuesdays, March 30. 2021 at 3:30PM

The 2020-2021 CTL instructional Award for large class teaching will be presented via a zoom session on. Dr Thomas will give a presentation titled Empathic Instruction: The Power and Limits of Making it Personal. To register for this event, please use this link.

Abstract: Professionalism suggests disciplined, objective, and impersonal communication between the vendor and his client. Conventional business practitioners might frame their organizations around bureaucratic ideals, delivering their products and services mechanically and “without prejudice.” This presents the appearance of equitable distribution and management of goods and services. A University setting, however, is more complicated than a conventional business model automatizing its products. University educators require an approach that acknowledges the very personal nature of learning. Indeed, to open yourself up to education is to make yourself vulnerable. This vulnerability is not weakness but, rather, a tool that can guide the learner to new areas of knowledge acquisition. But inappropriately applied, vulnerability in the classroom can also act as an impediment. Educators are, therefore, charged with negotiating the power and limits of intellectual vulnerability. In this lecture, we will look at the uses of empathy during instruction and how they can both accentuate and obstruct the learning process.   

Each workshop consists of two consecutive presentations followed by 10 minutes of discussion.

Spring UPTLC virtual presentation 1, February 16, 2021 at 3:30 PM

Our Evolving Co-Advising Model by Jillena Rose, Bay College
Abstract: This bridge in Viet Nam cleverly demonstrates the obvious: Bridges are held up by more than one support. Students, also, need the support and advice of more than one person. It takes more than one advisor to guide a student through college.
Bay College has recently implemented a Co-Advising Model of support for its students. From the moment they are admitted, students receive a co-advisor in addition to their faculty advisor–a guide to help students acclimate to the world of college and empower them to succeed by pointing them toward the people and services that history teaches us will help them succeed. Individually and as a group we also seek to identify and break down barriers individual students encounter to success which might be as “simple” as speaking to an instructor about missed work, as personal as finding child care, and as practical as making an academic plan for future semesters.
How do Co-Advisors do all of that? How do they work with Academic Advisors? Those are great questions and we’re still figuring them out. Presenters will share what we’re using, including some of the data tools we use in the background to help us make more intentional choices when it comes to communication, planning and outreach.
The goals of this session are to describe the Co-advising model and talk about its’ success at Bay so far. We also look forward to participants sharing successful tips for connecting with and supporting students on their campuses. 

Building a Bridge to Information Literacy with Michigan eLibrary Content by Liz Breed, Michigan eLibrary Coordinator; Library of Michigan | Michigan Department of Education
Abstract: Today’s students struggle with developing sound information literacy skills. Project Information Literacy stats indicate 92% of college students use search engines for course research. Students’ reliance on Google and social media combined with our ever-changing information landscape makes building strong information literacy skills increasingly more challenging. At the post-secondary level, there are several supports available including the Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Framework and the eResources available in the Michigan eLibrary (MeL). Combined, these tools offer educators a way to weave information literacy concepts into assignments to support students as consumers and creators of information and their development of critical thinking and problem solving skills. This session will review the ACRL Information Literacy framework and demonstrate how assignments can be paired with MeL content to support the application of the information literacy frames in instruction.

To register for other upcoming UPTLC presentations, use these links:

Tuesday, March 16 at 3:30 PM 

Tuesday, April 13 at 3:30 PM