2015-16 Teaching Circles
10 circles were funded this academic year.
AAC&U LEAP Project: Dissemination of Transparency Methods in HIPs at UHD
Circle Contact: Connie Kang (Assistant Professor, Natural Sciences)
Circle Contact Info:
kangy@uhd.edu, 713-222-5378
Additional Members: John Kelly, Creshema Murray, Rachna Sadana, Adriana Visbal
Circle Description:
The members of this teaching circle have participated in the AAC&U national project
on transparency and problem solving. After the team attended the summer institute
on general education in June 2015, the team came up with a disseminate plan of action
to promote the practices of transparency teaching at UHD. This effort by the team
has led to faculty training workshops and campus wide efforts to increase transparency
in several initiatives. Highlights include (1) design and implementation of training
workshops in collaboration with CTLE on transparency teaching and signature assignment
design; (2) recruitment of upper administrators and staff to attend the AAC&U project
meeting, whose involvement has promoted and solidified UHD participation in the new
phase of the AAC&U project; (3) publication of the UHD experience in AAC&U's peer
review journal. To learn more about transparency in teaching and other initiatives,
please visit
http://library.uhd.edu/ctle/transparency for our collection of artifacts.
Circle Artifact(s): http://www.tinyurl.com/15-16tckang
Bringing Quality Matters to UHD Non-Majors Online Biology Courses
Circle Contact: Mary Jo Parker (Lecturer, Natural Sciences)
Circle Contact Info: parkerm@uhd.edu, 713-221-8471
Additional Members: Rachel Hudspeth, Sanghamitra Saha
Circle Description:
By using QM standards to refine and bring quality to the UHD Online Human Biology
1310 course, the numbers of D, F, and W grades were targeted to decrease, thus providing
a high quality non-majors learning experience for both UHD undergraduates and external
candidates from other universities. The Teaching Circle team was to bring lessons
learned from the Biology 1310 QM review experience to align the sister course known
as Environmental and Population Biology 1312 online. These courses are offered as
service learning courses to all UHD majors as part of the core learning experience.
Circle Artifact(s): http://www.tinyurl.com/15-16tcparker
Democratic & Deliberative Dialogue as Pedagogy
Circle Contact: Windy Lawrence (Associate Professor, Arts & Humanities)
Circle Contact Info:
lawrencew@uhd.edu, 713-221-8472
Additional Members: Ashley Archiopoli, Raquel Chiquillo, Jonathan Chism, Beth Secor, Jerome Socolof
Circle Description:
Faculty in this Teaching Circle project designed curriculums in their courses to allow
students opportunities for "democratic learning." The Democracy Imperative defines
"democratic learning/education" to "describe experiences that teach the knowledge,
principles, and practices valuable to a democracy as both a form of government and
a culture." They differentiate "civic learning" from "democratic learning" by noting
that civic learning, "while extremely valuable, are often apolitical or separate from
learning for and about democratic governance and culture (e.g., volunteerism, service
learning)." After participating in these initiatives, faculty report that students
were able to refine their communication skills, practice collaborative decision making
and public reasoning skills, enhanced their ability to engage in critical analysis,
and exposed students to the need for personal integrity and a sense of public purpose.
Circle Artifact(s): http://www.tinyurl.com/15-16tclawrence
Fostering Engagement in the Adjunct Classroom
Circle Contact: Stacie DeFreitas (Associate Professor, Social Sciences)
Circle Contact Info:
defreitass@uhd.edu, 713-221-8921
Additional Members: Stephanie Babb, Andrew Pavelich
Circle Description:
The goal of our Teaching Circle was to support the many adjunct faculty in the Department
of Social Sciences. We have done that in a variety of ways. First, we restructured
the new hire letter and developed a commitment letter for adjuncts to sign that clearly
articulates the expectations of the department. Second, we facilitated Teaching Circles
so that adjunct professors had their classes observed and received feedback, in addition
to observing the courses of others. We also created a Survey for the adjuncts to assess
their job satisfaction with the hope of making changes to improve job satisfaction.
Finally, we developed a collection of six video presentations on topics that adjuncts
wanted more information about. These videos are a valuable resource to adjuncts and
other faculty. With all of these efforts, we have made strides to improve the teaching
of all of the adjuncts. Without the funding from the CTLE, many of the adjunct faculty
may not have participated in our endeavors.
Circle Artifact(s): http://www.tinyurl.com/15-16tcdefreitas
Fostering Engagement in the Organic Chemistry Classroom
Circle Contact: Tyra Hessel (Associate Professor, Natural Sciences)
Circle Contact Info:montgomeryt@uhd.edu, 713-221-8485
Additional Members: Robin Jose, Hamida Qavi
Circle Description:
The organic chemistry teaching circle was formed with the purpose of increasing student
success in the organic chemistry classes by fostering engagement. To this end, team-based
learning was utilized in the lecture classes where groups of students worked on problem
sets while in the classroom. Samples of problem sets are provided as an attachment.
Faculty members for both lecture and lab developed videos that the students watched
prior to attending class. The purpose of the videos in lecture was to free up time
during lecture so that the students could work on problems together. (The link to
the videos that were used in the lectures is as follows:
https://www.educreations.com/sr/MXBZWEL Course code: MXBZWEL.) For the laboratories, the purpose of the videos was to increase
the time that students had to complete the laboratory experiments. A survey for the
lecture class was conducted at the end of the fall 2015 semester, and 64% of the students
surveyed indicated that the video-taped lectures helped with their learning, while
88% indicated that working in groups, the team-based learning, helped with their learning.
With respect to the laboratories, a survey indicated that 84% of the students believed
that the pre-lab videos were helpful. In addition to the surveys that were conducted
for the lab classes, pass rates were also calculated. The results indicated that from
fall 2014 to fall 2015, before and after implementation of the pre-lab videos, the
pass rate for organic I lab went from 61% to 95%. Likewise, from spring 2014 to spring
2016, again, before and after the implementation of the pre-lab videos, the pass rate
for organic I lab went from 59% to 70%. These results show that the use of the pre-lab
videos increases student success. The videos for both lecture and lab will be refined,
and the lecture professors will continue to conduct research on this type of teaching
model.
Circle Artifact(s): http://www.tinyurl.com/15-16tchessel
Fostering Student Engagement with Computer Tablets
Circle Contact: Gabriela Bowden (Assistant Professor, Natural Sciences)
Circle Contact Info:
bowdenm@uhd.edu, 713-222-5313
Additional Members: Meghan Minard, Sanghamitra Saha
Circle Description:
Circle Artifact(s): http://www.tinyurl.com/15-16tcbowden
Fostering Teamwork in Online Communication Courses
Circle Contact: Elizabeth Hatfield (Associate Professor, Arts & Humanities)
Circle Contact Info: hatfielde@uhd.edu, 713-221-5515
Additional Members: Ashley Archiopoli, Lucas Logan, Creshema Murray
Circle Description:
The proposed teaching circle included faculty representing the four main areas within
the communication studies program at UHD: corporate communication, health, interpersonal,
and public communication. This group's goal was to create online group projects that
support the university's recent core assessment goals. For communication studies,
our core assessment area is teamwork, developing students' abilities to work productively
with others toward a common goal. This teaching circle focused on developing and implementing
successful group projects that satisfy the teamwork requirement in the online environment.
Each instructor developed or updated a group activity for one of their online courses
each semester. Working together, the group discussed best practices throughout the
year at regular meetings and adapted their projects to improve outcomes. The deliverables
for this teaching circle include four improved group projects prepared for the online
environment that can be used by other members of the Department of Arts and Humanities.
Circle Artifact(s): http://www.tinyurl.com/15-16tchatfield
Motivation & Learning Strategies Interventions in Freshman Barrier Courses
Circle Contact: Adriana Visbal (Lecturer, Natural Sciences)
Circle Contact Info:
visbala@uhd.edu, 713-221-8284
Additional Members: Lea Campbell, Eszter Trufan, Elizabeth Villegas
Circle Description:
The main goal of the project was to utilize the College Student Inventory (CSI) questionnaire
to identify at risk groups in 4 freshman barrier courses and employ intervention strategies
based on individual student's profiles with the goal of improving pass and retention
rates. A portrait of students' affective skills including motivation, study habits,
coping mechanisms and receptiveness to support services was obtained and compared
to student's performance in the first semester of the project. The high dropout proneness
(HDP group) from the CSI questionnaire proved to be the best identifier of students
at-risk of failing these barrier courses. This group was targeted in the second semester
of the project and seemed to respond best to one-on-one interactions with instructor.
Utilization of the Mid-year Assessment (MYSA) allowed for a direct comparison pre-and
post-interventions and demonstrated an increase in students' confidence in math and
science, increased confidence in study habits and improved attitude towards educators.
The project allowed instructors to test specific interventions and determine which
ones work best for which groups of students. The project also generated CPHS approval
of a study that is open for data collection for the next 9 years. We believe further
data collection may confirm results of HDP group and may serve as a useful tool of
targeting at risk students with the newly created mentoring program.
Circle Artifact(s): http://www.tinyurl.com/15-16tcvisbal
Online Research Methods is Psychology Re-Envisioning
Circle Contact: Susan Henney (Associate Professor, Social Sciences)
Circle Contact Info:
henneys@uhd.edu, 713-221-8163
Additional Members: Kristen Capuozzo, Melissa Raymundo, Laura Spiller, Erlanger Turner
Circle Description:
The focus of this Teaching Circle was on developing resources that could be used by
any faculty or adjunct teaching Research Methods, but within a "template" Blackboard
course that is focused primarily on online learning. The "template course" model is
one that is highly scalable and sustainable over time. Once the template course is
built, faculty will be responsible for maintaining and updating the course. One of
the benefits of the template course, particularly when a standard textbook is adopted,
is that there is a "built-in" revision motivation for the course whenever the textbook
is updated. Another benefit of the efforts of this Teaching Circle has been the development
of a variety of technology-rich lectures; these will be engaging and useful to students
and represent exactly what the UHD psychology faculty want their students to know
about research methods.
Circle Artifact(s): http://www.tinyurl.com/15-16tchenney
Writing in the Disciplines
Circle Contact: Katharine Jager (Assistant Professor, English)
Circle Contact Info:
jagerk@uhd.edu, 713-222-5347
Additional Members: Heather Golz, Susan Henney, Claude Rubinson, Dagmar Scharold, Eszter Trufan
Circle Description:
Our teaching circle was multidisciplinary, bringing together faculty from English,
composition and rhetoric, sociology, chemistry, and social work. We met multiple times
over the course of the semester, reading and discussing selected chapters of Bean's
Engaging Ideas. Most productively, five of the six participants submitted drafts of
their most "frustrating" assignments and our circle worked to troubleshoot aspects
of these assignments so as to produce more effective student writing and to reduce
faculty grading time. We include drafts of our assignments and then the revised versions
produced after extensive discussion with the WID Teaching Circle. We workshopped Drs.
Scharold, Golz, Jager, Rubinson and Trufan (the artifacts reflect this order).
Circle Artifact(s): http://www.tinyurl.com/15-16tcjager