Experiential Learning

Introductory Chemistry (CHM130) instructors have been using a pre/post test at the beginning and end of the semester in the hope of using the data to determine how conceptual understanding changes as a result of instruction. The original test was not personalized to the curriculum with several topics not even addressed and as a result it was insufficient for detecting student misconceptions. A new Concept Inventory (EMCCi) was developed, thanks to an EMCC learning grant, that was personalized to the CHM130 curriculum.

College Success Week, held during the fall, is designed to expose students to the many resources available to help them complete their educational goals. EMCC students* indicate they are either unaware or do not take advantage until it’s too late to maximize them as a resource. In an effort to expose students early, one of the activities offered during CSW was the College Success Pyramid Game. The game was designed to increase awareness of resources in a fun, engaging and meaningful way. It was structured similar to the $100,000 Pyramid Game.

A learning objective for Com 230HC is for students “identify, read, synthesize, and discuss information from a current scholarly, peer reviewed journal article.” Three topics being in Communication, and one topic of choice, in their area of interest.

There were some incidents on campus last semester where students were not comfortable taking care of their personal space. We have found that students do not feel empowered to make decisions and share their thoughts. In order to be successful in life, students need the tools to be able to express themselves confidently, even if they are uncomfortable due to pressure and concerns of rejection. At times, social categories impact how much personal power we have and how we use it. This includes, gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, age, religion, etc.

We specifically investigated how we can integrate creativity more effectively in the classroom for the benefit of both students and faculty. Our investigation included: reading Creative Confidence, learning more about Design Thinking challenges, locating and sharing creativity resources, using creativity to personally address one teaching challenge, and implementing at least one actitivty/lesson/strategy that we deveop using creativity to at least one class this semester.

In my Ethics course I assigned students a criminal justice current events assignment. This was a written report in which students were given the choice of choosing an incident of unethical conduct. I found that about half of the students did not have a clear comprehension of what was involved and why it was a problem. Many students were not able to answer basic questions. Three semesters ago I changed the assignment to include an oral presentation in class.

The Communication Abilities Rubric assesses areas of physical and vocal delivery.  Instructors and students have not fully understood the categories in the rubric. As an innovative approach, my Com230H section did a media project breaking down each element of the rubric into video. I allowed for flexibility with strict guidelines to ensure all disciplines and communication research was covered. Next, 18 students assessed themselves 3x for 3 group presentations.

I have used the textbook for reviewing physics content.  In the fall spring of 2015, I allowed students an option of doing small at home labs/demos, video themselves doing the activity and explaining the physics behind it.  I found that the students who did these activities liked them and demonstated a deeper understanding of the material. In the fall of 2016, I decided to expand this idea and make the assignment a larger requirement of the overal grade. I also provided more opportunities to do these type of small projects.

A prior CATS (Accounting Chapter 6 Re-Teach, March of 2016) measured what was learned in inventory valuation from one semester to another, after a teaching intervention (candy example) was included.  Although the grade/scores improved from the formative assessment, the first quiz, the class average for the second quiz was only 11 out of 20 or 55%, which is a failing grade.  Since this second quiz was not for a grade, but rather just a summative evaluation for research purposes, I decided to use the same quiz, but as a graded item for Fall of 2016 and Spring of 2017.

In our Introduction to Education course, one of our major topics is ethical behavior by teachers. Materials covered include some reading materials on ethical behavior, the National Education Association teacher ethics, and a voice-over Ppt covering the topic. The follow up assessment is a series of situations, all of which have occurred in local K-12 education settings, to which the students must describe the correct ethical pathway to take. Scores on this assignment averaged at 77%. This was disappointing, especially considering the serious nature of the topic.

experiencing ATP production

As stated in a previous CATS (Conceputual Understanding in PHY121), the focus of this assessments is on the conceptual understanding of the Learning Community compared with the traditional Phy 121 course.   Current data continue to show that the overall learning of the learning community student is equivalent those of the traditional student.

As I pilot the the Online version of ASB 214, I want to see how much taking this class improves the students' General Education Abilities of Critical Inquiry and Information Literacy, as these are the two skills I have noticed many students are lacking when they first enroll for the face-to-face version of the class. I will assess the students by assigning them a self-evaluation assignment for both of these skills, both at the beginning and the end of the course, to measure how much they feel they have improved.

For the last couple of years I have noticed that students tend to forget what they have learned even after scoring well in the exams.
Once students learn a new module/chapter, most of them seem to completely forget about the previous chapters which is not a very good sign especially for a mathematics student.

For several years now, I have students write lab reports in calculus I, II and differential equations. The set of directions given to students on what to include in the lab report were ones that I created. Every semester, students would ask follow up questions on what to include in their document. Students constantly missed points for missing information/data or not being detailed enough. This past semester, I decided to see if chemistry faculty had a lab report template, and they do! So, Dr.