Teaching and Learning Strategies
2023 TIPS Winners
Dr. Dhiman Chattopadhyay is recognized as a TIPS recipient for his course COM 245: Diversity & the Media. Over the past four years, Dr. Chattopadhyay has taught twelve sections of COM 245: Diversity & the Media, and thereby influenced more than 350 students’ academic success and sense of belonging as part of his course design and teaching style. With each iterative semester, Dr. Chattopadhyay has refined the course to include intentional communications with students prior to the start of the term and student success strategies as part of the teaching and learning practices throughout the semester. Dr. Chattopadhyay’s pedagogical framework has been shaped by his participation in the Quality Matters training and his dedication to student success. He incorporates a variety of assessments, including an assignment titled: Points to Ponder. This assignment is repeated four times during the term and is designed to help students delve deeper and more critically into specific issues such as historical roots of race, gender & other inequalities. Students sense of wellbeing is at the core of his course and is reflected in his lecture and discussion style. For example, Dr. Chattopadhyay acknowledges that learning is co-created when students build a course family through low stress learning experiences, specifically ice breakers that enhance students’ sense of belonging. Plus, Dr. Chattopadhyay has incorporated the use of fidgets as focus tools into his class time. As part of his work with the REP4 initiative (Rapid Educational Prototyping), Dr. Chattopadhyay received a CETL course grant to purchase fidgets for his classroom. During the 2022-23 academic year, he used fidgets and students’ feedback to gain a nuanced understanding of student engagement, specifically as it relates to attention span, anxiety, and belongingness. As a focus tool, students commented that using fidgets “helped them calm down, focus, and realize that teachers care about their wellbeing.” Dr. Chattopadhyay’s is recognized as a TIPS recipient for his commitment to designing a course that incorporates students’ feedback and perceptions that are situated within a sense of belonging and wellness.
Dr. Erica Galioto is recognized as a TIPS recipient for her course ENG-243: The Art of the Film. Dr. Galioto accepted the challenge of teaching a long-standing general education course: ENG-243: The Art of the Film. As she planned and implemented learning outcomes during the fall 22 and spring 23 terms, she approached this course with a pedagogical philosophy connected to student success strategies, most specifically integrating experiences and assignments to build students’ agency and ownership throughout the learning process. As part of her framework, she structured a highly detailed syllabus, including comments and recommendations from previous students to ensure that current students understand why she has selected specific films and how her assignments build upon students’ knowledge and skills. For instance, Dr. Galioto requires Movie Notes to be completed while viewing featured films. These structured notes help students apply the principles they were examining during course lectures and discussions into an authentic and critical analysis of those features. Then, the students uploaded those notes D2L for credit. When studying film concepts of montage, expressionism, editing, and color, students’ Movie Notes include an analysis of each time the color red was used in the film. This guided approach to focusing students’ attention, not only allows for directed inquiry, but also structures students’ learning outcomes in a way that demonstrates content mastery. Plus, with the requirement to upload Movie Notes throughout the term, Dr. Galioto’s uses extrinsic motivation to incentivize attendance and participation. Like many of her colleagues, Dr. Galioto recognizes that students who attend regularly, participate in class through required notetaking, and compose thoughtful written responses to quiz questions develop transferable skills they can apply in other courses. It’s Dr. Galioto’s investment in building students guided notetaking practices and using notetaking as a transferable strategy for teaching and learning that acknowledges her as a TIPS recipient.
Dr. David Wildermuth is recognized as a TIPS recipient for his course GER 309: German Phonetics. Dr. Wildermuth’s course addresses Shippensburg’s Strategic Goal to cultivate student, faculty, and staff engagement in dynamic educational experiences. The course design includes assessment measures that allow students to document their learning in a variety of ways, like quizzes, in class presentations, and weekly homework assignments. In fact, Dr. Wildermuth denotes in his syllabus a weekly and hourly expectation for outside of class time spent to master concepts. He outlines for students the purpose for this expectation and how this enhances their resilient dedication to learning. A core assignment in his course requires students to build their language confidence and display their skills. Using a theatrical play, Bartolt Brecht’s A Respectable Wedding, students practice and hone their phonetic German language skills, not only to articulate correctly phonemes, but also to acknowledge the nuances of regional dialects and pragmatic speech patterns. This play is a comedy and requires students to annunciate the German language fluently with tone and timing. It is his direct and explicit expectations of students’ commitment to learning that contributes to their success performing the play, a Respectable Wedding during that Minds@Work conference. Ultimately, through Dr. Wildermuth’s incorporation of a growth mindset as part of his core pedagogical practices, his students not only learn German phonetic principles, but they take the risk to demonstrate with confidence their interpretation of a German comedy; it spotlights their commitment to learning. Dr. Wildermuth is recognized as a TIPS recipient for his willingness to build students’ self-confidence as part of their learning outcomes.
Dr. June Pham is recognized as a TIPS recipient for his course, FIN 435: Investment Management Program. This is a highly selective, pro-active class for senior finance majors to simulate the role of a portfolio manager for a real dollar endowment fund (Wisman fund) with a final assignment that requires students to present their portfolio management and annual report to the Finance Advisory Council, at Shippensburg annual Minds@Work conference, and during the Investment Management Program dinner with most of the guests identified as fund donors. In addition, students traveled to New York to showcase their work in a global student-managed portfolio competition. The competition includes more than 1,300 students from around 120 domestic and international colleges. Dr. Pham believes that constructive, lively debate is the most important part of making wise investment decisions, so he requires his students to ask questions, provide constructive comments, and challenge other students’ views. Dr. Pham has structured his course to model business practices, specifically appointing a class secretary to take minutes, using agendas to structure class time, and incorporating communication practices that allow all students to stay up to date on expectations, changes, and outcomes. Throughout the semester, each student is asked to present his/her assigned industry sector outlook, as well as to make two stock/bond purchase/sale recommendations. Students are not simply completing an assignment; they are embodying the role of a broker/investor within a corporate system model. Plus, Dr. Pham provides students with study guides and reference materials that incorporate industry practices, including the use of the Bloomberg terminal in the Finance lab, Morningstar Direct software, and other internet resources to assist them in their annual report and stock/bond purchase/sale preparations. Plus, Dr. Pham provides students with campus and SU Foundation representatives who can assist students while they learn to practice industry knowledge, skills, and most importantly decision-making practices that highlight a collaborative mindset and reflect industry standards. Dr. Pham is recognized as a TIPS recipient for designing and structuring a course to reflect professional practices while building students’ identities as investment managers and industry leaders.
Dr. Carlos Rojas-Gaona is recognized as a TIPS recipient for his course AJJ: 505 Qualitative Analysis. This course is part of a two-year graduate program offered to non-traditional students employed within the juvenile justice system, namely juvenile probation officers. To serve this workforce need for educational and professional training and credentialing, this course is offered in a hybrid format blending asynchronous online learning, synchronous weekly meetings, and three face-to-face weekend sessions each semester. To design a comprehensive course that incorporates highly effective teaching practices, Dr. Rojas-Gaona completed Quality Matters certification and incorporates a variety of communication and student success practices within the course structure. For example, he uses weekly synchronous zoom sessions to assess students’ needs and incorporates face-to-face weekend sessions that allows for more intensive teaching and learning practices. To support students as they complete assessments asynchronously, he developed a 47-page Q&A guide with detailed responses and examples to answer questions by topic related to theory and procedures in quantitative analyses and to address the natural anxiety that students experience while learning to analyze and interpret statistical results. Namely, Dr. Rojas-Gaona has created a resource library of tutorials and videos that are archived and updated as part of his YouTube Channel specifically designed for this course. Using direct instruction within a video format and offered in an asynchronous format, students are able to view repeatedly the course content to improve their understanding and strengthen their skills, specially using SPSS; a statistical software program. Also, since students are typically new to the quantitative software and statistical analysis, Dr. Rojas-Gaona allows students to learn how to conduct evidence-based research and evaluate the effectiveness of juvenile justice programs while also providing them with learning tools that scaffold their pace of learning. In addition, Dr. Rojas- Gaona incorporates two Knowledge Checks assignments throughout the semester that consist of close-ended questions to assess students’ understanding and application of relevant concepts in juvenile justice quantitative research. These teaching and learning strategies that intentionally are designed to ease their anxiety and promote their wellness, grit, and motivation. Dr. Rojas-Gaona is recognized as a TIPS recipient for his comprehensive student-centered course design within a hybrid format and as part of developing knowledge and skills within a professional workforce community.
2022 TIPS Winners
Research design and statistical analysis are fundamental skills all psychology majors must demonstrate yet mastering these learning outcomes is challenging for some students. To ensure that students have resources and materials that explicitly demonstrate knowledge and skills, Dr. Tom Hatvany transitioned to using JASP (https://jasp-stats.org), an open source (free), flexible, user-friendly, and robust software program created at the University of Amsterdam. To augment this platform, Dr. Hatvany has created a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/ShipUSTATS) that details all procedures and explanations related to using JASP as part of research design and statistics. The original content demonstrated in his videos aligns with the types of questions and tasks on the exams, so students are provided with explicit and direct practice and study materials tailored to the course learning outcomes. The course includes a variety of exam formats. Specifically, Dr. Hatvany incorporates weekly quizzes to link course lectures and reading material; thereby enhancing students’ time management skills as they progress through the highly complex course material.
In addition to students enrolled in PSY 105 and 205, Dr. Hatvany’s YouTube videos are viewed by students from other SU departments as well as other individuals across 6 continents. These tutorials enhance students’ knowledge and skills.
At present, Dr. Hatvany has uploaded 97 videos with approximately 23K views. This averages out to approximately 250 YouTube views per day. Not only is Dr. Hatvany showcasing the impact of YouTube videos as a high impact pedagogical practice, but he has also encouraged colleagues in other departments who teach methodology courses to examine its utility. Our Strategic Goal number four, enhance engagement to foster belonging and collaboration across university constituencies to elevate Shippensburg University’s reputation and capacity to contribute, is evidenced in Dr. Hatvany’s course design of PSY 105 and 205. In a time when learners migrate to electronic media to help learn a new task, Dr. Hatvany’s series of videos serves as a free, open source. As a result, Dr. Hatvany has gone beyond using an open source resource like JASP to creating an open source tool that transitions across two courses; thereby embedding itself in students’ learning journey.
In our ever-expanding world of social media influencing business and industry, understanding how to optimize social media strategies is incredibly relevant to preparing students to meet workforce needs. In the Spring of 2022 Dr. Mohammad Rahman taught the first sections of MKT 339 (Social Media Marketing) offered in the BSBA in the Digital Marketing and Analytics program. To ensure that students have practical and quantifiable skills, Dr. Rahman has incorporated two innovative projects into the class.
The simulation experience portion of this course provides students with background knowledge and skills prior to undertaking a field/service experience with a local business. Using current industry practices typical for social media marketing managers, Dr. Rahman has incorporated real time simulations, so students learn and practice new skills. Most notably, these simulated skills engage students in hands on skills that develop competencies for their field/service project.
In the field/service experience portion of this course, students are assigned clients as part of the Shippensburg University Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Students develop and present a social media marketing plan for SBDC clients, including digital marketing goals using S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Measurable, Time-based) criteria. Students learn to incorporate qualitative/quantitative data as part of social media listening, an analysis of the voice of the customer, and social-media analytics.
As part of the course design, this collaborative opportunity between Dr. Rahman, the SBDC, their clients, and the students is impactful, innovative, and timely. Student learning outcomes are evident in the recommendations they share with SBDC clients to bring more organic web traffic or in-person visits to the client’s business. As a result, MKT 339: Social Media Marketing, under the direction of Dr. Mohammad Rahman, is not only preparing emerging professionals to optimize business and industry output, but this course also spotlights Shippensburg University strategic goals of cultivating student, faculty and staff engagement in dynamic educational experiences to develop students academically and professionally though internships, leadership development, and experiential learning.
ESC 333: Biomechanics is required of all Exercise Science Majors in two concentrations. The learning objectives include solving linear and angular kinematics and kinetics problems, active learning laboratory experiences, and exploring current research. Through the collaborative use of Google Drive and its included webapps, Dr. Meyer scaffolds students’ learning using Google Slide templates which provide a roadmap for students’ research-based presentations. On lab days, students enter data directly into a Google Sheet and as a class use that same spreadsheet to analyze data. Dr. Meyer has linked the data sheets and presentation templates together, ensuring that the data are presented accurately and removing the duplication of work. As such, the quality of analyses in written and oral presentations has increased greatly. In addition, students use various biometric instruments, specifically, Tendo Weightlifting Analyzer to measure peak velocity and mechanical power during vertical jumps, the Biodex Isokinetic Dynamometer to examine peak torque across angular velocities, AMTI Force Plate to assess peak jump height, ground reaction force, and landing force, TekScan Gait Mat to analyze walking speed, ground contact time, and pressure over each footstep, and the Biodex Balance System to assess fall risk and complete balance training activities. Data from these instruments provide students with multifaceted factors quantifying biomechanics output as essential data used for course projects. With the support of a Educational Equipment/Technology Fee Grant, Dr. Meyer worked with other department faculty to slowly build up this impressive collection of new and cutting-edge equipment for students to use. The practical value this equipment cannot be overstated. Alumni report that they use the same (or similar) equipment in graduate school, and the applications of this technology are widely used with high-performance athletes or older adults in rehabilitation settings. As a result, the Exercise Science students enrolled in ESC 333: Biomechanics are guided by Dr. Meyers through engaging and enriching academic and collaborative experiences. They learn to value data as evidence of their ongoing learning journey into understanding measurable factors that influence and even predict growth and success as part of the course and into their professional experiences.
Want more information regarding the application process for TIPS 2023 annual award? See below!
The TIPS recognition is a yearly award given to a tenure track or tenured faculty member in each college and one faculty member not in a college who demonstrates outstanding evidence of one of the following criteria in an undergraduate or graduate course: communicating course expectations, focusing on students’ sense of belonging, and/or incorporating innovative learning strategies.
Why TIPS:
- To showcase innovating pedagogical practices within course design that enhance course level communication, belongingness, and students’ learning outcomes.
- To recognize faculty-led teaching and learning experiences in SU classrooms that impact students’ success.
- To share ideas across campus that incorporate purposeful and pragmatic pedagogy practices.
- To award each TIPS recipient a $500.00 travel or course grant for professional
To Apply: Submit a nomination letter (no more than 500 words) for a colleague or as a self-nomination to describe the professor as an innovative faculty member in teaching a specific course. Please note- self-nominations are accepted.
At the top of the letter, provide:
- Name of nominator
- Name of nominated faculty member
- Department and College (or Division)
- Course Number and Title
Within the letter, write a summary outlining one or more of the following categories on which the
application should be evaluated for innovative contributions to student success. Consider how the questions within each category provide evidence and examples of course level student support. The questions are designed to help the nominator describe the professor’s innovations within a course as they relate to the TIPS criteria.
1) Communicating Course Expectations- How does the professor use weekly checklists, group me messages, video reminders, or other strategies to communicate with students throughout the semester? How does the professor use student-to-student communication to enhance learning outcomes? How does the professor use students’ perspectives/voices/feedback to adjust course expectations or the pace of instruction?
2) Focusing on Student’s Sense of Belonging- How does the professor use ice breakers throughout the semester to help students build a community of learners? How does the professor use fidget/focus tools to address anxiety or attention? How does the professor use wellness strategies to build students’ grit and motivation?
3) Incorporating Innovative Learning Strategies- How does the professor use notetaking and/or study strategies to improve students’ mastery of knowledge and skills? How does the professor use assessment instruments to provide students with options for showcasing their knowledge and skills? How does the professor use class time to enhance students’ engagement? How does the professor use materials or resources to evaluate students’ learning outcomes?
Provide a copy of the syllabus from the most recent semester. OPTIONAL: Attach no more than 5 pages of supplemental documentation, such as course communication, course materials, and/or course resources. Self- nominated faculty may include a letter of support from a colleague.
Application Deadline:
April 21, 2023
Send applications to: CETL@ship.edu
The CETL Fellows will evaluate and select the recipients from each college and faculty not in a college based on the attached rubric.