Equitable Design and Assessment

English academic discourse in U.S. institutions rests on Eurocentric rhetoric where hidden assumptions and expectations may place transnational students at a disadvantage in instruction, assessment, and entrance into communities of practice. The author's empirical research draws on transnational students, faculty, and staff perceptions into linguistically sustaining pedagogy to bring awareness to transnational lived experience and to make recommendations for equitable instruction and assessment. Bakhtin's dialogism and negotiation and the Academic Literacies model provide theoretical frameworks to provide practical recommendations while also examining the negative discourse and deficit-based practices surrounding English learners in American higher education. A discussion of a course redesign highlights possibilities for valuing the transnational student and offering equitable pedagogy while also increasing student investment in language learning.

A Course Redesign Project

In the summer of 2019, a cooperative team of Biology faculty and a principal investigator worked to develop a solid set of aligned student learning outcomes across the sections of first semester (BIOL 1305) and second semester (BIOL 1306) of introductory Biology. Additionally, the group worked on course objectives alignment within the scope and sequence of the courses, as well as aligned syllabi. A full course redesign was initiated over the summer, where the goal was to align student learning outcomes (SLOs), assessments, and develop a shared set of syllabi for six sections across two courses of introductory biology. At UTEP, the overall goal was to integrate adaptive courseware technology tools, open education resources (OER) and active learning strategies within a course redesign in our Learning Management System (LMS), Blackboard, for a number of sections in Biology 1305 and Biology 1306 beginning in the spring of 2020. This is challenging, as much of adaptive courseware technology is not as strong in content as the Biology faculty would like for these classes, although it can help to substantially reduce the costs for students. The information that follows defines the case study for integrating adaptive courseware within the course redesign process for a series of high enrollment introductory Biology courses

Course Redesign: Implementing Project-Based Learning to Improve Students’ Self-Efficacy

This research examined the effects of a first-year elective course redesign on promoting students’ self-efficacy. By implementing a project-based approach in the course curriculum, the study investigated if, and to what extent, did such redesign improve student belief in their ability to master course-related outcomes. Two­-tailed independent samples t-test at an alpha level of .01 were conducted to answer the research question and compare self-efficacy of students who completed the course under the traditional curriculum (n = 821) and students who completed the course under the new curriculum (n = 881). The results revealed statistically significant differences in students’ responses for all learning outcomes before and after the curriculum redesign.

PIVOT FOR THE PANDEMIC: COMPARISON OF TOY AND SCIENCE DEMO DESIGN PROJECTS IN A FIRST YEAR MECHANICAL ENGINEERING COURSE

The first year course, “ME 100: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering Practice, 1”, was redesignedfor the Fall 2017-2019 offerings. The goals of the redesign were to include: a major design project, opportunities for individual communication assessments, and opportunities for development of professional skills. A toy design project was piloted in Fall 2017 as a unifying course theme. In thisproject, industrial partners come to discuss the engineering and design that happens in the toy industry. They also help critique student work as they design a toy of their choosing. With the impacts of COVID 19 the decision was made to pivot to a challenge to design new classroomphysics demonstrations. The course redesign has generally been successful. Both projects have been well received by students, faculty, and industry partners, with students reporting on an end-of-term survey that it was engaging and doable, and that it helped develop their confidence andunderstanding of design, and mechanical engineering. The demo project was generally slightly better received, with 2-8% more students agreeing to statements about the usefulness and appeal of the project. Both projects, the toy project especially, serve as a vehicle to discuss differentaspects of design and professionalism. Challenges exist with giving students guidance at the start and throughout the project to ensure that all student teams have suitably scoped projects. There is also the challenge of helping students develop a design mindset, as several groups struggle with performing the justified decision making necessary to actual design a toy.

Reimagining GIS Instruction through Concept-Based Learning

Research in geographic information science has not yet found clear answers to the questions of what geographic information is about or what a geographic information system (GIS) contains. This lack of consensus makes it especially challenging to teach and learn GIS. Existing pedagogical approaches either focus on the representational level of data (e.g., “raster and vector”) or are too generic (e.g., “geo-referenced information”). This characterization of GIS and its content is difficult for learners to transfer and apply broadly. As instructors, we approach the challenge of teaching GIS from a conceptual basis. We describe our process to develop a set of core concepts of spatial information, which we use to redesign an undergraduate-level introductory GIS course. Our intervention focuses instruction on the kinds of questions that geographic information enables before training students to produce workflows and answers through system commands. The course redesign complements and informs ongoing research on core concepts of spatial information. Our results demonstrate that GIS courses can deliver more than software training, indicating both theoretical gains and didactic challenges.