Funded Projects
| Project Title | Overview of the Project |
|---|---|
| Using 3-D printed anatomical models of specimens from the Museum of Zoology Research Collections to transform experiential learning in six vertebrate biodiversity laboratory courses Hernan Lopez-Fernandez LSA - Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Alison Davis Rabosky LSA - Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Benjamin Winger LSA - Ecology and Evolutionary Biology $10000.00 |
A grant from CRLT will enhance lecture materials and laboratory exercises in six vertebrate biodiversity classes through the use of 3-D printed anatomical models made from images generated with X-ray computed tomography (CT). Recent access to CT is made possible through the acquisition and installation of a Nikon X-ray CT scanner in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. The scanner is located at the Research Museums Center in close proximity to > 4 million specimens of fishes, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals including an extraordinary collection of fluid-preserved specimens, all housed in the Museum of Zoology (UMMZ). The ability to generate CT images and produce models of both hard and soft anatomy from valuable fluid preserved research specimens, using noninvasive techniques, will provide opportunities for students to engage with the great diversity of vertebrate form and function. For example, students will be exposed to the differences in internal anatomy such as the windpipes of cranes that are coiled to amplify sound. Printing models at magnification will provide opportunities to compare small anatomical structures such as the pharyngeal jaws or gill arches of fishes or the bones of a snake skull. Students will use models to articulate entire skeletons or assemble and disassemble bones of the skull and other structures. These self-guided activities of discovery and research will provide a better, more intuitive understanding of species diversity and variation with less memorization. |
| Designing and Implementing a Structured Process and Task Trainer for Teaching Digital Vaginal Examination in Labor Ruth Zielinski Nursing Megan Deibel Nursing Lee Roosevelt Nursing James Ashton-Miller Engineering John DeLancey Medical School Helen Morgan Medical School $10000.00 |
In maternity care, it is essential that nurses, midwives and physicians have the skills needed to evaluate progress during labor. Digital vaginal examination (VE) during labor is an essential skill for students to master, but one that is challenging to teach and practice in the simulated clinical setting. Affordable, realistic simulators are not currently available and standardized patients cannot be utilized to simulate labor and birth. Because VE during labor can be uncomfortable and intrusive, it is imperative that students are prepared prior to clinical so they can perform VE in a way that causes the least discomfort while at the same time correctly assessing for labor progress. In a collaborative effort between midwifery faculty, obstetrics/gynecology, and engineering, we propose to: (a) develop and evaluate a structured step-wise process for teaching VE (b) design, build, and evaluate a realistic vaginal examination task trainer that can be utilized for nursing, midwifery and medical education and (c) evaluate the effectiveness of both the educational approach and the task trainer using a three armed, pretest-posttest design with midwifery and medical students as participants. |
| Innovations in Communication with Patients and Families: Communication Coach Curriculum Priyanka Rao Medical School Elizabeth Hill Medical School Melissa Cousino Medical School $9285.00 |
Communication and partnership with families is paramount in providing quality medical care and achieving positive patient outcomes. We propose a unique communication coach model and curriculum which would pair individual pediatric physician trainees with two communication coaches (a faculty member and a parent advisor). Coaches will meet with physician trainees for the duration of their residency training to provide direct, real-time feedback on communication skills with patients and families in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. Coaches will participate in a communication and observation feedback workshop twice per year. In the iterative nature of quality improvement, feedback will be received from both the physician trainee participants as well as communication coaches to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this model. Data will also be collected on the patient experience via the CARE measure and chart review both before and after implementation to assess for measurable outcomes. If successful this program will be continued annually with new classes of pediatric trainees and also be expanded to other residency training programs throughout our institution. |
| Neuroimaging data, concepts, and computer skills Cindy Lustig LSA Taraz Lee LSA Bennet Fauber Administration $6000.00 |
Quantitative and computing skills are becoming increasingly important in the social and neurosciences, especially with public concerns about the “replication crisis” on the one hand, and the increasing availability of large public databases on the other. Teamwork and collaboration skills are also increasingly important both in science and the nonacademic workplace. However, rarely do students in these areas receive formal training in quantitative, computing, or collaboration skills, and current course offerings (e.g., through the computer science and statistics department) often don’t address the needs these students have in their research. This course will address that need by closely integrating conceptual instruction relevant to psychology and neuroscience with hands-on training in computational and data management skills necessary to efficiently take advantage of public databases, prepare their own data for such databases, and produce robust, reproducible analyses. Class projects will take a team-based approach, with specific training in teamwork and collaboration. The first iteration of the course will focus on human neuroimaging as the content area, but the course infrastructure is designed such that it can be extended to other content areas where these skills are important for students’ success. |
| Designing a Curriculum for Discipline-Based Student-Faculty Mentoring Programs in Engineering Joi Mondisa Engineering - Industrial and Operations Engineering $9995.00 |
In this research project, two URM engineering faculty members will: (1) document how they created two engineering student-faculty mentoring programs for URM students at Michigan; (2) document and examine the mentoring practices and approaches they use with students; (3) create an outline of a mentoring curriculum that features insights and tips about what a URM student-faculty mentoring program might consist of in terms of program design and mentoring practices; and (4) develop and instruct a half-day faculty workshop on mentoring in student-faculty partnership programs. The study’s research questions are: (1) what are some best practices in creating a discipline-based student-faculty mentoring program in Engineering? (2) what are the experiences of students and faculty who participate in a discipline-based student-faculty mentoring program in Engineering? and (3) what types of practices and approaches can be used to assist faculty and students in discipline-based student-faculty mentoring programs in Engineering? In this social constructivist inquiry, the Project Director will use an explanatory mixed methods research design using quantitative (e.g., surveys) and qualitative (e.g., interviews, focus groups, notes) methods. From this research, we will produce: (1) evidence about the mentoring experiences and outcomes for approximately 60 URM undergraduates, 12 URM graduate students, and 3 URM faculty at Michigan; (2) a curriculum for informal student-faculty mentoring programs; and (3) a half-day Faculty Mentoring Workshop for Michigan engineering faculty led by the Project Director and co-Project Director. |
| Enhancing student learning of dental anatomy with 3D computer-aided-design software Stephen Sterlitz Dentistry Dennis Fasbinder Dentistry $10000.00 |
The ability to understand the complexity of dental anatomy and the critical role it plays in the oral environment is essential for a dental student to master early in their development as a health care professional. Historically, first-year dental students spend hours in lecture learning the importance of the dynamic relationship between height of contour, cusp/fossa relationships, embrasure spaces, and contacts of teeth. A static, hands-on exercise of sculpting teeth out of wax is designed to reinforce these concepts but is limited by the inefficiency of using analog methods to teach a dynamic concept. Implementing 3-D CAD software in the dental anatomy course has the potential to enhance student learning with a level of detail and feedback not possible with analog methods. Using CAD software, students will be able to quickly and efficiently modify tooth morphology and receive instant feedback on the impact the changes made to adjacent and opposing teeth. The CRLT Faculty Development Fund will enable the CRSE department in the School of Dentistry to train faculty in the application of this software so they can support dental students as they master complex concepts in dental anatomy. This project is designed to leverage technology to enhance the learning of complex dynamic relationships and has the potential to change the future of dental education. |
| Eng401: Engineering Programming for (respectfully) “dummies” Kazuhiro Saitou Engineering $6000.00 |
The goal of the project is to develop teaching modules for an introductory engineering computer programming course, which intends to expose non-computer science undergraduate senior and 1st year graduate students with “joy of engineering programming.” Each self-contained module will consist of a problem in an engineering discipline and a programming exercise to implement computational tools for solving the problem, with an emphasis on engineering problem solving rather than underlying mathematics, and on “from scratch” coding and debugging exercises. With a broad sampling of examples in various engineering disciplines, multiple modules, each focusing on a different topic in engineering programming, can be chosen and configured to form an introductory engineering programming course(s) for CoE and non-CoE Departments, which can be taught in rotation by a team of faculty members. As commercial software packages are increasingly becoming more user-friendly and encouraging the use as “black-boxes,” our engineering students gain very limited experience in coding beyond ENG101, and has become (respectfully) “dummies” in engineering programming – they can use skillfully what’s available commercially but will easily be stuck when there is a need beyond the capability and limitation of commercial software tools. While existing computer programming courses in EECS offers the “from scratch” coding experiences, they focus on fundamentals in computer programming such as data structure and abstract algorithms, with little emphasis on engineering problem solving. The course to be built out of the proposed modules will provide a high degree of “from scratch” programming experiences in the context of solving specific engineering problems. |
| Applications of Immersive Media Technologies in Performing Arts Anil Camci Music, Theatre & Dance $5995.00 |
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) studies have gained significant momentum in recent years with new and accessible consumer-grade devices, such as head-mounted displays and depth cameras. As evidenced in many previous instances of new media being introduced to mass appeal, art is often a platform for exploring the potential of emerging technologies. Similar to music being an initial application of recording technology, and cinema being that of broadcasting, performing arts today is a domain for cutting-edge applications of AR and VR. With this project, we aim to satisfy a growing need in the Performing Arts Technology (PAT) curriculum to address these topics; the project provides a significant step towards this goal by introducing a new course, titled Immersive Media. In this course, the students will explore new and innovative forms of artistic expression that rely on rapidly growing entertainment platforms and emerging media technologies. The practice-based learning approach of the course will allow our students to gain an expert understanding of modern AR and VR tools through collaborative and interdisciplinary projects that adopt new approaches to sound, motion and storytelling in virtual environments. The project will involve the acquisition of state-of-the-art AR and VR systems, which will be introduced into PAT curriculum for the first time. In addition to supporting the development of a brand-new course, the project will also yield an extended evaluation of the novel methods applied to integrate modern AR and VR technologies into teaching practice, and their learning outcomes. |
| Engaged Mathematics Teaching: Building A Video Library for Instructor Training Across Programs Nina White LSA - Mathematics $9984.00 |
Three programs within the Department of Mathematics wish to collaborate to create a library of video clips of classroom teaching for training Department instructors. The Introductory Math Program (Pre-Calculus, Calculus I, and Calculus II), Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) program (https://lsa.umich.edu/math/centers-outreach/ibl-center-for-inquiry-based-learning.html), and Teacher Education program teach courses to different populations and with different goals, but all aim to engage students in collaborative, interactive work during class on novel, deep mathematical problems. Learning to teach effectively in this way requires robust instructor training. One piece of this training that could traverse these diverse classroom settings and benefit instructors from all three programs is a library of curated video clips of classroom teaching. Faculty members Nina White (IBL and teacher education) and Fernando Carreón (Introductory Math Program) propose to (1) film a diverse array of classroom settings within the IBL, teacher education, and intro programs during the Winter 2018 semester, and (2) carefully edit and curate them to be used in instructor training in all three programs. The primary costs of the grant will be hiring student assistants for filming and editing assistance, and paying summer salary to the co-PIs for the time-intensive work of selecting and curating the clips. |
| Development of an Interprofessional Education Curriculum to Prepare Medical Students for Residency Anita Malone Medical School Brittany Allen Medical School $5725.00 |
Interprofessional education (IPE) is an important aspect of medical education, teaching learners how to collaborate in multidisciplinary teams and more effectively provide care in our complex medical environment. In medical school, students are taught the intricacies of pathophysiology, medical decision making, and patient care, but less focus is placed on how to best work in the interdisciplinary team as they advance through clinical education. Students who do not understand the importance of and utilize interprofessional collaboration may struggle when they transition to residency, as this is a time when relying on the entire team of healthcare professionals becomes of utmost importance in order to provide safe, efficient, and effective patient care. This project aims to formally assess the needs for interprofessional education and develop an IPE curriculum for senior medical students as they prepare for the transition from student to resident physician. Innovative curricular changes such as simulated patient care experiences, team-based problem solving, and education on interdisciplinary communication incorporating students and providers from different professions will be implemented, guided by the information gained from a formal needs assessment. This needs assessment will be done by conducting focus groups of healthcare professionals, interviewing recent medical school graduates, and interviewing residency program directors to delineate needs for IPE within specific areas of medicine. Once this assessment is completed, this IPE curriculum will be implemented within the 8-week long senior medical student residency preparatory courses in which all University of Michigan medical students will participate. |
| Teaching Private Piano Lessons Using Video Game Piano Transcriptions Matthew Thompson Music, Theatre & Dance $6000.00 |
This Faculty Development Fund proposal would allow for a pilot year of teaching piano lessons using video game music. It’s the practical application of an ongoing research project I’m involved with studying video game music piano collections. Since the 1980s, there has been a tradition, especially in Japan but also in the United States, of publishing piano arrangements of video game music. Virtually no scholarly or serious study has occurred of these works. Many of these arrangements are based on a long forgotten piano method by Ferdinand Beyer and often contain pedagogic comments, written in Japanese, that I’m in the midst of exploring courtesy of a research grant from SMTD. As I study these scores, I feel the next step for this project is to test their pedagogic value in a lesson setting. This FDF funding would allow me to teach a small cohort of students in weekly one-on-one piano lessons using these game music collections as the vehicle of musical study instead of traditional canonic Western repertoire. The students will receive lessons both Fall 2018 and Winter 2019 and the project will culminate in a studio recital performance. This project aims to understand how using video game music as a vehicle for piano study allows for novel teaching innovations and how this repertoire affects the student experience. The project updates and diversifies the curriculum by exploring primarily Japanese repertoire. Further, it reaches out to non-SMTD students who may be interested in serious music study but not in the canonic repertoire or standard performance traditions. |
| MPH Core Curriculum Design and Evaluation Angela Beck Public Health $10000.00 |
The University of Michigan School of Public Health (SPH) requests a Faculty Development Fund award to help support design and evaluation of a new core curriculum for Master of Public Health (MPH) degree programs, which enroll an annual cohort of approximately 300 students. The timing for curriculum redesign is prompted by changes to accreditation requirements released by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) in 2016, which represent a significant departure from previous mandates. Under the new requirements, all MPH students must complete courses that address and assess a standard set of learning objectives and competencies put forth by CEPH, in addition to requirements for individual degree concentrations, to ensure a strong foundation in public health knowledge and skills. SPH seeks to develop a cohesive set of 8 core courses to launch in the 2018-2019 academic year using innovative teaching methods and curriculum design that result in positive student learning outcomes, program satisfaction, and readiness for the public health workforce. The interdisciplinary core curriculum will engage expertise from SPH’s six academic departments to collectively address the CEPH-defined learning objectives and competencies. Building on SPH’s current partnership with CRLT in this effort, this proposal requests additional services from CRLT, along with assistance from a graduate student, to support curriculum development, learner assessment plans, and program evaluation. A solid instructional design focus during curriculum design will help ensure high-quality graduate education with built-in mechanisms for continuous quality improvement for years to come. |
| Studies in Dalcroze Eurhythmics Christian Mecca Music, Theatre & Dance $6000.00 |
The Faculty Development Fund award will allow me to study Dalcroze Eurhythmics at Carnegie Mellon University’s Marta Sanchez Dalcroze Training Center with a goal to apply for the Dalcroze Certificate and License. I will apply these studies to the course Dance 242 – The Integration of Music and Movement, and a broader range of music and movement courses within UM. Upon certification, the Department of Dance can elect to advertise Dalcroze Eurhythmics as part of its curriculum. This methodology allows dancers to effectively learn and embody the principles of music within the limited time available in the BFA Dance program. The implementation of this curriculum will allow the Dance Department to offer a proven and effective methodology that informs our students’ contemporary practices in dance technique and composition through a syllabus that has its origins in the dance training of the early twentieth-century, and provides a link to historical practices within the concert dance tradition. Also, the integration of vocabulary and movement with meter and syncopation can provide dancers with musical skills that can be applied to virtually any form or genre of western and non-western music. This methodology is a proven and effective curriculum that enables dancers to more thoroughly engage with music and provide them with a comprehensive understanding of rhythm and meter. |
