A Worthwhile Experience - #TLTSYM18

The TLT symposium at Penn State University was a completely new environment for a person like me, who just started gaining basic insights on effective teaching and learning from AEE 530 course. I had mixed feelings about the symposium when I reached there. My colleagues and I were already late for the symposium and the only thing I was worried about was missing the keynote speaker’s session. Even though we missed the breakfast (with bacon), we made it to the keynote session by Mr. Stephen J. Dubner. 

Mr. Dubner, a well-known journalist, writer, and radio host, has co-authored a bestseller “Freakonomics”. I was already excited when he began talking. He showed how a general topic can be explained and discussed from a different angle. The awkward and funny stories about the meat economy, hand sanitation, and monkey economy, were all different worldviews for me. I was surprised to see how audience were appreciating his uncommon examples. The main take away for me as a future educator from his talk was the way how we can present and deliver our thoughts to the students. 

Like my two colleagues, Michael and Argha, I also attended the simulation-based teaching session. The session was about using simulation technique in the classroom to enhance the teaching and learning activities. The interesting talk from Jana Hitchcock and co-authors showed an example of a budget preparation task given to her students as if they were acting as the head of the department. The process has series of scenarios from which the participants (or students) can choose one that they feel important and proceed further. The instructor and students can keep track of their progress throughout the session. In my view, this new technology has potential to redefine the way of learning in future. A student with no prior experience in school’s administration can now prepare a budget for the school. How cool is that!!!

The next session that I attended was about using data science to support students learning. The session was quite different than the previous one. Five faculties from different departments of Penn State presented their innovative ideas and works related to artificial intelligence in class, one by one. The one that I liked most was the use of Faulkerbot, a chat box in the class by Dr. Aaron Mauro of Penn State English department. Students can use this chat box to share ideas and learn from the instructor. Later, I found out that he was also competing for the “open innovation challenge” for the same concept of the chat box. Besides that, I was also fascinated by the concept presented by Dr. Drew Wham, a data scientist for Penn State’s Education Technology Services.  Dr. Wham showed a computational method for modeling and predicting college students’ end-of-semester GPAs, as well as the students’ probability of withdrawal, before beginning of the semester. Most of the times, students struggle with the course they have selected because of numerous reasons. Dr. Wham’s method can predict this situation early and help advisors (or instructors) identify the students and their problems. By this way, instructors can provide proper guidance to students about course selection. What an innovative idea!  

 

Although not clear, his sophisticated students' GPA data is shown in the figure above.

Attending the #tltsym18 was a worthwhile experience for me. I learned a lot from the sessions and realized the importance of technology in the classroom. The future of teaching and learning looks bright because of these advancements in teaching methods. 

If time permits, I will definitely attend TLT symposium of 2019.

Anil Koirala is a PhD student in Biorenewable Systems at Penn State

#TLTSYM18 - Pumped for the Future! - How Technology will drive Teaching and Teachers (Arghajeet Saha)

Recently, I attended the Teaching and Learning Symposium'18 at the Penn Stater and it proved to an absolutely gratifying experience which will stay with me for a fairly long time.  To be honest, I was in a two-state of mind of how it might pan out, however at the end of it all, I was extremely happy and satisfied.  One of the brightest spots of the day for me was the opening keynote by Dr. Stephen Dubner. I actually couldn't believe when I saw his name on the booklet which detailed the schedule for the day, as Dr. Dubner's 'Freakonomics' is an absolute favorite of mine. It was almost a dream come true to see him in front of my very own eyes and what transpired to be a wonderful address. Dr. Dubner made humorous annotations about how economics often drives the way our society interacts with its various components and how economics will also determine the future of agriculture. His humorous analogies with Dr. Keith Chan's (a Yale economist) work to teach Capuchin monkeys how to use the money, why the average US buyer was drawn towards Turkey meat, how their reproductive cycles have changed as a consequence of hybrid breeding to mitigate consumer demand and how food waste can empower us to self-reflect for those who don't have a regular guarantee of morsel. His talk was laced with anecdotes, satire and made the deep, delving concepts of economics very easy for all of the audience to comprehend like he did with 'Freakonomics'. If the word 'sublime' could be attested to something, it has to be his keynote address. 

After the keynote, I attend two sessions. The first was, 'Active Learning with Simulations', which I found to be innovative - a new way of accessibility or get students interested in classroom teaching.  The concept dealt with using simulations/sites replicating teaching to enable the students to have more understanding of the topic with an example of the Department of Higher Education at Penn State World Campus being one of the first sectors to have started using it.  It also had a very intuitive interface, with respect to providing decision-making tools to the students and following it up with a continuation or end of a decision query. Some interesting modifications included a pathway in which the student/teacher involved can keep a tab on the progress.  

My final session was, 'Using Data Science in Support of Learning'. I was fascinated by this topic and found it deeply relatable. Firstly, because for a fairly long time, I have been hooked on the uses of deep learning, algorithmic structures, and AI in daily life. Also, as someone whose work involved large-scale computation, I couldn't have been more pleased to see this as a subject that people involved in teaching were considering seriously. The panel involved people from Penn State Behrend and University Park campuses and explained how AI has made great strides in areas of semantics, detection of grammatical error and sentence structures. How it is valid to even try and make question papers through deep learning (or AI) and how it reduces the aspect of human error or how it can be used to allow courses based on a student preference. However, they were not hesitant to state that all of these innovations were still in beta-testing stage and more strides were required.  It was an extremely vital session considering how technology would enable teaching, however, I would want to believe that human interaction will still play an important role, irrespective and everything would not be automated. 

The symposium on its totality was joyous, it made me have a glimpse at what the future holds and how the present can learn from the past in retrospect. It made me have a lowdown on how teaching will proceed/has the capacity to engage in the future with the involvement of technology and how we, as teachers can make it more progressive, humane and wondrous. 

Incentives, Infographics and Moral Moments – takeaways from TLT symposium 2018

As it seems to be the case for many of us, I also went to the TLT symposium with not really knowing what to expect. Maybe it was a good thing not expecting much but keeping an open mind as I was positively surprised and got some great new tools for my teaching toolbox and ton of inspiring thoughts and ideas and wise advise for me not only as a potential future educator but as a human being as well.

Firstly (after a pleasant breakfast!), I had the pleasure to listen to the keynote speech by Stephen Dubner. One of my first thoughts was: it is an amazing gift to be able to talk about seemingly uninteresting and unrelated things in a way that catches the listener’s curiosity and leaves them with a sense that one has heard something they haven’t heard before and realized something new about this world. It is wonderful to get to sit back and let someone tell you stories about human behavior and how it affects the changes we are trying to implement into this world. That really speaks to our role as educators as well: it is important to realize that the change we are trying to make (get our students to learn) is very much affected by the fact that we’re all human beings and change is difficult for us. Hence, we should try to find ways to go around that reluctance for change, be creative, and constantly challenge ourselves as teachers to change as well. In the same lines he also talked about how it is important to understand the incentives and how they work in order to encourage people to change their behavior. (And this relates nicely to our discussions in class about motivation as well, doesn’t it!?)

The first session I attended was titled ‘Infographics to Keep and Sustain Engagement’. Hearing educators from different disciplines talk about their experiences on how to improve teaching with technology and new approaches to learning was inspiring and informative. First presenter, Amy Kuntz, told how to use infographics in creating syllabus and lesson plans. With infographics it is easy to build the syllabus in a way that actually encourages the students to read and use it. She also mentioned how in today’s society our attention span is getting shorter and shorter and technology is making us more visually inclined. This is where infographics come in handy and takes advantage of visuality and need for concise information in modern-day students.

The next two speakers, Gina Gray and Beth Michalec, shared their experiences in using infographics as a course assignment. Instead of having students do a “traditional” PowerPoint presentation, they create a one-page infographic that can be presented as a “gallery-walk” type of presentation or a more traditional in front of class presentation. Gina Gray mentioned how this assignment could be something students can use beyond the specific class, for example as a part of a resume. Creating an infographic will allow the students to use and improve several different competences: factual knowledge on the topic they are working on but also visual and technology-based skills. Infographics is definitely something I will add to my teaching toolbox! Here’s a link to resources provided by the presenters.

The second session I went to was my favorite of the day and left the most effective impression with me. I chose the session based on the title ‘“But what if I cry?” The Moral Moments Project: Using technology, community, and contemplation as gateways to empathy and compassion’, which I found very intriguing. The session was held by the core team of the project: Susan Russel, Crystal Ramsay, Zach Lonsinger and Dan Getz. I find it difficult to put this session in concise writing (I wish I had time to create an infographic about it), so I decided to share my notes from the session with you:

•       Identify words individually
•        Transcend the categories à what’s in-between à think and define, definition – personal
•        Find level ground with people from different backgrounds
•        How to be a better human, connect, broad perspective
•        REACTION, REFLECTION, RESPONSE
•        Writing by hand is important allows to move from reaction to reflection!! (I loved this because writing by hand is one of my favorite things, and what I think has made humans humans, we shouldn’t forget this skill!)
•        Personal space for reacting and reflecting.
•        Engagement, encounters, investigation
•        So be it until you change it
•        Picking apart words à gives space to think, create rules
•        People tell us all the time what they believe in, we just have to listen more closely
•        Reacting is easy! Reflecting is important, lifts above the battle field of reacting. Opens up for conversations to happen.
•        Take time with what you think and listen to yourself and figure out what you believe in.
•        Connect to who you are while listening.
•        Art of a question – questions create connection, conversation, dialogue
•        How to replicate true emotion online?

Maybe these notes don’t make much sense to you, but here are my thoughts: we as educators should not forget to teach compassion, empathy and interaction. This is increasingly important with evolving technology and increasing online components of teaching, and decreasing face to face contact. It is important to connect with people, especially with the ones we think we don’t have any common ground with, whom we disagree with, who we think we don’t understand. We should be able to have the difficult and uncomfortable discussions too. And maybe instead of seeing technology as a threat to compassion and empathy it can be used as a tool – with the help of it we can connect with people all over the world. We can hear stories. We can learn. We can learn more about this world, about human nature, about ourselves. We can widen our perspective, find connection. We can understand that we all have something in common, we all are human. Every person has value. We need to allow ourselves and our students to not just react, but more importantly to reflect and respond. There needs to be space for that; space for conversation, space for thinking and forming your identity. Because when you find yourself, you can turn to other people and listen and reflect and respond. We all have a story to tell. We all have our believes to share. We should listen.

I highly recommend you to visit the project’s webpage.

#TLTSYM18 - More than expected (Professional Development Reflection - Michael Fiorentino)

Attending the 2018 Teaching and Learning Symposium proved to be an exciting and rewarding experience. I was fascinated by the level of technology that is being implemented within classrooms and the great potential for learning it has. My impression leading up to the conference was that there would be discussions surrounding the use of computers and smart-phones in the classroom, and I can honestly say I was blown away by what it turned out to be.

The opening keynote was by Stephen Dubner, who has authored books and led podcasts on economics. Dubner was able to bring a great sense of humor to his presentation with stories of dirty doctors, mischievous monkeys, and his amusement of modern poultry breeding systems. Through those stories, he was able to portray to his audience the complexity of human behavior. As the precedent to a days worth of discussions on innovation and technology, Mr. Dubner invigorated the crowd for what was to come next.

The first session that I attended surrounded a topic that was of a particular interest to me. The topic of the session was Active Learning with Simulations. Teaching with the use of simulations, which mimic real-life experiences, allows students to work their way through complex problems. The example that was shown during the session was from an online course being administered through the Department of Higher Education at Penn State World Campus. The simulation presented a scenario where the student was the dean of a college, responsible for making a decision regarding the budget for the upcoming academic year. The scenario gave the student various options to select regarding the decision they made for the particular situation. Once a selection was made, the student would be presented with either a follow-up question or stopping point. This online tool allowed for the student's progress to be tracked as well as record the amount of time spent on each problem.

The second session that I attended was much different than how I anticipated it to be, but in an enlightening way. The topic of this session was Using Data Science in Support of Learning. The vision I was expecting for this session was how to communicate research findings and statistical evidence amongst an audience. What I was not expecting was a discussion on artificial intelligence and language processing! One of the things that stood out to me was a software program that was able to predict the likelihood of a student choosing a particular course based off of their previous course selections. This program utilized specific algorithms that could be used by college administration to predict course enrollment for upcoming semesters. Since each student is unique, it was not recommended to be used solely for student advisement.

It was a very eye-opening experience to see first-hand the level of technology that is being used within the educational system. The level of mastery it takes to plan and implement these complex instruments is phenomenal, and it is even greater that there are students involved in this process. The level of innovation within our society continues to grow, and it will be amazing to see the learning platforms that will be available for the next generation of students!

Michael Fiorentino is a graduate student in Agricultural and Extension Education at Penn State.

Teaching Tips to Improve Your Game (Professional Development Reflection - Steph Herbstritt)

Unfortunately, I had to miss the Teaching and Learning with Technology Symposium and Stephen Dubner (really looking forward to learning what you all learned last Saturday) but as a result, had the opportunity to attend a Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence seminar on teaching by Deena Levy and Chas Brua and gain ten tips for teaching excellence.

I was pleasantly surprised by the overlap between their material and our current course syllabus from tips on building rapport, establishing strong links between objectives, lesson material, and evaluations, being an active teacher and staying organized.

Here are three big takeaways I plan to use moving forward and I think would benefit all of you.

1. Learning is a process that takes us from unconscious competence (novices) to unconscious competence (supreme experts). Right now, we likely fall in the middle (AKA the sweet spot) in the conscious incompetence (we know what we don't know) or the conscious competence (we remember what it was like to learn the material but we know the material). We are on the brink of becoming experts in our fields and yet just on the other side of remembering how hard it was to get here. As a result, we can guide teaching like supreme experts generally cannot.

2. Building rapport and creating a positive classroom atmosphere can make all the difference in the world to you as a teacher and to your students. This means smiling, learning students' names, allowing for spontaneity, being conversational, breaking up presentations, being positive, using clear communication, and creating a sense that you and the students' are a team. Learning is a never-ending journey and you as the teacher will continue to learn.

3. On that note, acknowledge that it is ok if you don't know something, and you can still teach something you don't actually know. Be honest with yourself in both your teaching and your learning.

I'm looking forward to applying the ten tips Deena and Chas provided and following up on some of the reading material they suggested. First up on my reading list--How Learning Works and How to Teach What You Don't Actually Know. If you're interested in learning more, let's touch base and get a conversation going!

Steph Herbstritt is a graduate student in the Agricultural & Biological Engineering Department at Penn State studying the synergies between water quality, farm profitability, and sustainable energy.

How robots and artificial intelligence are taking over the classroom! (Professional Development Reflection - Isamar)

How robots and artificial intelligence are taking over the classroom

Past Saturday I arrived at the Penn Stater Conference Center expecting to develop my teaching skills through a series of presentations by experts in the field. I had not seen the agenda before arriving. Good thing I didn't have any idea on what to expect because the first talk by the keynote speaker discussed everything from turkeys, chickens and why washing your hands is important! I couldn't stop laughing but at the same time, it made me think about the reason behind every study and how to use data to teach and impact people. Also, it gave me a new podcast to listen to on my morning commute!

Some standard topics I thought would be included in a teaching and learning symposium would be making lesson plans, effective teaching and classroom management. To my surprise, the topics were full of tech-savvy teachers using innovative techniques in their classrooms to enhance the learning experience. Robots and artificial intelligence were a hot topic throughout the day. Two out of the three proposals in the open innovative challenge included these topics.

One particular proposal in the challenge that caught my attention was "Faulknerbot", a chatbot modeled after the writer William Faulkner. In this case Aaron Mauro, an English professor at PSU, developed a chatbot with the purpose of applying conversation based content discovery. Instead of going to the library or searching the web for Faulkner content, you can just chat with an online version of him! Imagine how fun and engaging this could be for students. The chatbot was programmed with not only Faulkner's written works but also many of his interviews. There was a suggestion from the audience to create a "Syllabus chatbot" that could answer questions regarding office hours, assignments and other syllabus topics quickly instead of having to e-mail the professor. 


Another interesting proposal from an Economics Professor, introduced the idea of using robots as learning devices for students. However, this was the second time during the symposium that the robot topic was introduced. One of the talks I attended was from Dr. Ronald Arkin from Georgia Tech. His research focuses on human-robot interacton and how this could help early stage parkinson patients. This technology could also be applied in the classroom for students with disabilities or even as an ethical mediator between graduate students and advisors. 

Needless to say, my day was full of surprises (in a great way!). My mind was exposed to innovative and out-of-the-box ideas on how to engage students in learning. As a Mechanical Engineer, I had never looked at robots or A.I. in the teaching and learning environment. Usually these technologies are introduced in engineering or computer science courses. However, now I can see how they could be applied to everyday teaching on all subjects. Robots or A.I. shouldn't be seen in any way as a replacement of the teacher but as a tool for the teacher. I wouldn't call this is a robot takeover, but a teaching and learning takeover!

Written by Isamar Amador a graduate student in Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Penn State

Focus on Learning!! (Professional Development Reflection- Shelley)

Dr. Saundra McGuire, photo credit:
https://sites01.lsu.edu/faculty/smcgui1/

Being in a class as a current student, learning how to teach other students, is an interesting dichotomy.  Most of the time when I’m learning about teaching styles/techniques, I’m quietly assessing if I would appreciate it as a current student.  This was the case when I attended a recent workshop sponsored by the Schreyer Institute here at Penn State entitled “Get Students to Focus on Learning Instead of Grades: Metacognition is Key!” by Dr. Saundra McGuire, Retired Assistant Vice Chancellor & Professor of Chemistry at Louisiana State University.

I knew that metacognition loosely meant being aware of your own thought processes, but Dr. McGuire explained we could also understand how to control our mental processing.  Learning how to learn—now that’s a thought. 

She detailed homework and reading strategies that, albeit, I’ve heard of before—and as a student, literally never implemented.  I knew I should be trying to summarize passages of text in my own words just to reinforce the learning, but come on—I had more important things to do.  When I was taking a physics class in college, I’d just get so frustrated with the problem sets that I would look at the answer and try to work backward, never focusing on fixing my mistakes or working through the problem multiple times until I got the correct answer.  Heck, half the time if I was reading a biostatistics book, I skipped half of the examples and just kept going.  All of these are mistakes that students make that impact their learning and subsequent grades in a course.  Dr. McGuire counseled students during her career and encouraged them to implement these strategies into their studying techniques, and the results were nothing short of incredible.  To watch as students’ grades increased from horrible failing grades to As and Bs IN JUST A SEMESTER was inspirational.  While I’m harping on how great their grades improved, the foundation is that these students focused on learning—they actually retained and learned the information at a deeper level that gave them the tools to do well on exams and other assessments. 

As instructors, we can encourage our own students to implement these strategies!  And, we can keep ourselves accountable by ensuring that we are setting our students up for success.  Solidifying that students know what the task is and can understand how information is organized can greatly improve their study habits, helping them to pinpoint what information is important rather than getting lost in slides and slides of lecture notes.  Dr. McGuire asked a group of students if they understood the difference between studying and learning, and they acknowledged that learning is long-term understanding while studying may just require memorizing information for a test.  Studying is tedious; learning is fun.  Our students have already done the hard part—they understand the difference, and we as instructors can continue to encourage focusing on the learning rather than the memorizing.  The learning will certainly help our students in the long run. 

This workshop impacted me on a deeper level, because I can implement these strategies on both sides of the fence—not only for me personally as a student, but also as an instructor.  These strategies are not only advantageous for the college student, they are important for any learner at any age, in any career, at any level.  Focus on the learning.  

Written by Shelley Whitehead, graduate student in Entomology at Penn State