Foreword: What Makes a University Course Good?

Rebecca Ropers-Huilman, Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs, and Professor of Higher Education, ropers@umn.edu

The authors in this volume demonstrate a commitment to on-going responsiveness to challenges as well as a desire to incorporate opportunities made available by technological developments. Readers will benefit from both specific ideas about course design and the active reflections of teachers who care deeply about their relationships with students, their disciplines, and the broader world.

I. Expanding Active Learning

Public Lands, Virtual Classroom: Teaching a Digitally Networked Field Course

Mark Pedelty, Communication Studies, pedelty@umn.edu

Environmental Communication was transformed from a classroom-based course into a “digitally networked field course.” Each student now chooses a public land field site to start the semester and develops a site. Specific”interpretive talk”, with these aspects of the course linked together into a virtual classroom using an e-learning platform and students’ smartphones. This chapter provides a realistic description of the rewards and challenges that accompany this relatively new methodology.

Using Game Dynamics to Teach Applied Statistics Lessons Learned

Laure Charleux, Department of Geography, UMD, lcharleu@d.umn.edu

Noting students’ difficulty acquiring a working knowledge of applied statistics for GIS analyses in her traditionally taught course, the author describes and reflects upon what happened when she designed game dynamics to improve student learning.

A Case-Based Course on Developing Interprofessional Health Competencies

Karin Hamilton, Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, khamilton@umn.edu, and Tricia Todd, Health Careers Center; todd0002@umn.edu

This chapter describes the three-year evolution of a case-based pedagogical approach where students compete on interprofessional teams to solve complex health challenges while developing the skills, attitudes, and behaviors to work effectively in future health careers.

Planning, Development, and Implementation Nursing Telehealth Simulation

Mary M. Rowan, rowan005@umn.edu, Mary Steffes, steffes005@umn.edu, Carol Flaten, cflaten@umn.edu, Lori Rhudy, rhudy002@umn.edu, and Nima Salehi, sale0012@umn.edu; all School of Nursing

The authors chronicle the development, implementation, and learning outcomes of a high fidelity telehealth home visit simulation for undergraduate nursing students. Students learned about telehealth regulations and the challenges of communicating information using lay language.

II. Building New Course Structures

Building Understanding and Appreciation: Collaborative Work in General Chemistry

Brian D. Gute, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UMD, bgute2@d.umn.edu

This chapter describes the steps taken to address the instructional challenges in General Chemistry II and to improve the student learning experience through the design and construction of a fully flipped course.

Teaching Undergraduate History: A Problem-Based Approach

Robert K. Poch, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, pochx001@umn.edu, and Eskender Yousuf, McNair Scholar Program, yousu014@umn.edu

The authors describe the conversion of a traditionally taught history survey course into a problem-based course that enables students to experience historical inquiry through well-defined historical thinking skill development and the application of those skills to problems that historians encounter as they interact with primary and secondary sources.

Flipping the Classroom and the Genetic Counseling Clinic: Online Branching Cases

Alex Cummings, East Tennessee Children’s Hospital-Knoxville Genetics Center, cummi427@umn.edu; Andrea Stoddard astodard93@gmail.com, Pat McCarthy Veach veach001@umn.edu, Bonnie LeRoy leroy001@umn.edu, and Heather Zierhut zier0034@umn.edu; all Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, & Development

Simulated genetic counseling sessions are one way to increase access to clinical experiences without increasing the time required for direct supervision. The authors report on developing three hypothetical genetic counseling situations to further learners’ understanding of clinical situations, and summarize student survey data regarding implementation of one module.

Learning Through Generative Exploration

Brad Hokanson, Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel, brad@umn.edu, and Jody Nyboer, School of Design, Syracuse University, jlnyboer@syr.edu

This chapter presents the methods of a course that develops the creativity of learners through generative exploration, a process of learning in which learners solve problems, develop ideas, and stretch limits. Observations of course operation and theory are presented along with student comments.

Translating Knowledge to Engage Global Grand Challenges: A Case Study

Daniel Philippon, English Department, danp@umn.edu, Barrett Colombo, Institute on the Environment, colom008@umn.edu, Fred Rose, Institute on the Environment, rosex122@umn.edu, and Julian Marshall, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, jdmarsh@uw.edu

This article chronicles the pilot efforts of an interdisciplinary team of faculty to develop a co-curriculum for trans-disciplinary skills and foundational competencies that prepare students to effectively engage a broad range of grand challenges, work in small teams to develop viable solutions (e.g., a social venture plan or policy intervention), and propose these solutions to an audience beyond their particular course.

III. Reframing Assessment

Self-Assessment in Language Courses: Does In-Class Support Make a Difference?

Gabriela Sweet, CLA Language Center, sweet003@umn.edu, Sara Mack, Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies, mack@umn.edu, and Anna Olivero-Agney, CLA Language Center, olive152@umn.edu

The authors describe a language learning self-assessment protocol and compare data on the effects of two different implementations of the protocol on students’ analyses of their knowledge and skills.

Developing an Easy-to-Use Learning Analytics Tools to Facilitate Effective Course and Curriculum Design

Xavier Prat-Resina pratr001@r.umn.edu, Molly Dingel dinge016@r.umn.edu, and Robert Dunbar dunb0011@r.umn.edu; all  Center for Learning Innovation, UMR

This chapter reports on the faculty-driven development of an institutionally-supported research tool that allows the exploration of student learning related data, which can facilitate hypothesis generation and evaluation. The chapter summarizes the trajectory of the project from faculty idea to institutionally supported research tool, discusses the many valuable partnerships and collaborations required for success, and links to a beta version of the tool accessible for review.

Improving Performance and Reflective Learning through Video Technologies

Mary M. Rowan, rowan005@umn.edu, Carol Flaten, cflaten@umn.edu, Lori Rhudy, rhudy002@umn.edu, and Nima Salehi, sale0012@umn.edu; all School of Nursing

The authors describe how video recordings of students practicing nursing skills in laboratory courses can build on and enhance skill development through the use of self-reflection activities and peer feedback.

Web Mapping Tools and Pedagogical Material to Support Spatial Thinking

Steven M. Manson manson@umn.edu, Melinda Kernik, kerni016@umn.edu, Dudley Bonsal, bons0015@umn.edu, Laura Matson, matso092@umn.edu, Eric Deluca, delu0027@umn.edu, Ashwini Srinivasamohan, srini134@umn.edu, and Sophia Strosberg, stros023@umn.edu; all Department of Geography

The authors describe how web-mapping tools and pedagogical material they have developed frees spatial thinking instruction from the classroom and encourages students to creatively engage in the spaces around them in new ways.

Student Lecture Viewing: Learning from an Online Health Psychology Minor

Thomas Brothen, broth001@umn.edu, Penny Nichol, nich0185@umn.edu, and Esther Joy Steenlage Maruani, esther@umn.edu; all Department of Psychology

The authors report on their use of lecture-viewing analytics to determine how lectures compared to other course activities in their effect on learning outcomes in an online course.

Under the Watchful Eye of Online Proctoring

Daniel Woldeab, College of Individualized Studies, Metropolitan State University, daniel.woldeab@metrostate.edu, Thomas Lindsay, Liberal Arts Technologies & Innovation Services, lindsayt@umn.edu, and Thomas Brothen, Department of Psychology, broth001@umn.edu

This chapter presents data on how students and instructors perceived online proctoring in three online or hybrid psychology courses. While instructors were generally positive about the proctoring service, students conveyed numerous concerns.