Funded Projects
| Project Title | Overview of the Project |
|---|---|
| Are we All on the Same Page? Capturing and Visualizing Real-time Multi-source Evaluations using MIRROR in Team-Based Simulations Theodora Danciu Dentistry Vidya Ramaswamy Dentistry Brandon Veremis Dentistry Margarita Katser Dentistry $10000.00 |
To enhance the current high-stakes learning environment, technological advances are needed to provide team- and learner-specific feedback to coach learners in retaining and improving cognitive and behavioral skills required for team-based clinical care (Kozlowski & Chao, 2018; Rosen et al., 2018a,b). This project aims to fill this gap by building upon the previously validated Radar graphical tool to develop and evaluate a novel real-time 3600 assessment and feedback system: MIRROR (MultIsource RadaR Tool On Team Reflexivity). MIRROR maps the four constructs of clinical decision-making (seeking information from the patient, seeking information from the team, evaluating information, and planning and acting on a decision), where output is a visualization of multisource evaluations from the instructor, peer-observers, learner, and team on a given simulated situation. Through this, instructors will be able to provide new insights and personalized feedback during reflection-based debriefing sessions to allow for more meaningful reflection, targeted intervention, and rapid development of these complex skills. |
| Inclusive Simulation for Weight Bias Reduction to Prepare Students for Equity-Driven Nursing Practice Melissa Bathish Nursing Jessica Marsack Nursing Susan Wintermeyer-Pingel Nursing $9963.56 |
The obesity epidemic in the U.S. impacts roughly 42% of individuals (CDC, 2021), and a 66% rise in weight discrimination has occurred over the past decade (Fruh et al., 2016). Obesity impacts not only physical health and wellbeing but influences the quality of care that overweight and obese individuals receive. To address this inequity, this project aims to use inclusive simulation strategies to educate nursing students in the care of overweight/obese patients. Currently, all simulation manikins in the School of Nursing represent a thin body type. This inhibits hands-on content for overweight/obese patients in the curriculum. If selected for funding, we aim to improve our existing practice by disrupting the thin body type norm of training equipment. Money from the Faculty Development Fund would aid in purchasing four bariatric obesity simulation suits (Sim U Suit, 2022) that can be weighted and fit over existing manikins or live persons. These suits will allow for more realistic student experiences to enhance the quality of learning in the care of overweight/obese patients. Simulated student experiences with the suits will be created based on the level of clinical development. Students will be invited to complete a survey prior to and immediately after their training or simulation to measure cultural humility, overweight/obesity bias, and the perceived effectiveness of the simulation. This project has the potential to positively influence the readiness of graduating and registered nurses to engage in inclusive practices and reduce weight biases, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes. |
| Worldbuilding Game Alina Nazmeeva Architecture and Urban Planning $5991.58 |
This proposal seeks funding to create, test and evaluate an advanced prototype of a creative game, titled Worldbuilding Game that facilitates and structures interdisciplinary and collaborative learning in design. The continuous development of the Worldbuilding Game as a method of teaching and learning serves two major goals that improve the existing teaching practices in design disciplines and beyond. First, as an educator in the design field I am particularly interested in implementing gamified learning practices in my classes as a way to introduce inclusive and collaborative learning. Worldbuilding Game is a departure from the existing design studio teaching practice that often excessively focuses on individual work. As a method of inclusive learning, and a part of anti-racist and inclusive pedagogy, Worldbuilding Game has a capacity to incorporate interests, experiences, perspectives, backgrounds, creative proposals, and ideas from all students in a gamified, playful context. Second, gamification methods – using game elements in non-game contexts – are utilized to promote change and challenge both disciplinary epistemic brackets and siloed knowledge. In the design studio classroom context, worldbuilding aids in crafting a rigorous contextual framework that supersedes singular imaginations, contingent on individual experiences, positions and affinities. Going beyond thinking as an urban designer or an architect, during this exercise students engage in role-playing actors, with perspectives, affinities and positions that may differ or oppose their own. |
| Curriculum development for Language, Disability, and Neurodiversity Jonathan Brennan LSA - Linguistics Natasha Abner LSA - Linguistics $6000.00 |
We propose bring scholarship connected to disability justice and neurodiversity into required "core" Linguistics courses at the 300 level. We develop curricular units that move topics of disability and neurodiversity from the periphery to the center of our curriculum. These units will address topics that are already recognized as key materials for these levels (e.g., reasoning about meaning in discourse, the acquisition of grammar, or processing variability in language perception) but which can be made richer when combined with a disability and neurodiversity lens. With such a lens, we move away from a curriculum that contrasts a binary “typical” with “atypical” language towards one that embraces a fuller range of human language experiences. |
| Format, Sources, Framework: A Three-Fold Redesign of a Survey of Early Christianity $6000.00 |
This grant would support the redesign of a historical survey of early Christianity on three fronts. The instructor and two graduate students involved will explore potential changes to the traditional lecture format and select a model to run in Winter 2024; they will generate a broader range of historical sources for students to work with in the course than has been used in the past, part of which will comprise the development of assorted research dossiers to support a mid-term group project; and they will consult with other instructors of the survey on its framework, specifically to break away from the traditional chronological presentation of material. The work will take place over two summers: Summer 2023, when the consultation, planning, and research for the initial iteration of the redesigned course in Winter 2024 will take place, and Summer 2024, when evaluation of the new course and new adjustments will be made. |
| Developing and Evaluating a Large Team-Based Learning Organic Chemistry Course $5598.00 |
In Spring 2022, I experimented with moving Chem 215 (generally a traditional lecture/discussion course) to flipped, team-based design. These changes led to some more equitable outcomes as desired (such as a reduced withdraw rate), but further development and evaluation is required to fully understand the impacts. This proposal seeks funds to research and develop: (1) rethinking the discussion section and how it can best be used, since the "lecture" portion of the course generally functions as the discussion section used to; (2) training a new generation of GSIs/UIAs to facilitate group work during, which is training they generally have not previously received; and (3) evaluate the changes to the course on students and instructors. The impacts of this work are potentially quite significant; about 140 students take Chem 215 in Spring semester, but the course serves ~1500 students annually. The Chemistry building is undergoing planning for a renovation, and so the moment is now to consider future team-based classroom needs. Evaluation of the course changes will focus on both undergraduate students, with a particular focus on the development of confidence around learning chemistry and a growth mindset, and the undergraduate and graduate instructors in the course, looking at their sense of a growth mindset, confidence with organic chemistry, persistence, and sense of themselves as a teaching professional. |
| Supported Study Groups in Key Second Year STEM Courses Nina White LSA - Mathematics Greg Bodwin Engineering - Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Kolby Gadd Education $10000.00 |
Inspired by programs such as Treisman’s Emerging Scholars Program, this project will create, support, and refine models for out-of-class study groups in the specific context of key second-year courses for Math, Computer Science, and Statistics majors at our institution. The goals of these groups include building students’ content knowledge, self-sufficient collaborative learning skills, and sense of belonging in the discipline. This proposal aims, specifically, to evaluate and compare distinct models for out-of-class study groups. The models range from intensive support (with graduate student “guides”, extra faculty office hours, and more) to less supported (reflection assignments). There are two primary undergraduate populations these groups are serving: first is MaCSS scholars---a recently funded scholarship program for low-income math, stats, and computer science majors; second is students, more generally, in Math 214, Math 215, and EECS 203. Best practices for supporting these study groups that learn from this implementation and evaluation will be shared broadly with instructors and coordinators of mathematics, statistics, and computer science courses at the University. |
| Evaluating and Refining the Health Equity via Anti-Racist Teaching (HEART) training Paul Fleming Public Health Melissa Creary Public Health $10000.00 |
The “Health Equity via Anti-Racist Teaching”, or HEART project is aiming to transform the way that Public Health and allied health sciences is taught so that future health professionals will learn in an anti-racist environment and have an anti-racist toolkit to address inequities. The HEART project is an online course to train health instructors (including graduate student instructors) on how to implement anti-racist teaching principles and reduce barriers to anti-racist teaching methods. The curriculum is already created and includes six different modules with readings and about 10 hours of new recorded video content (e.g. a combination of video lectures and montages of anti-racist teaching experts). The initial build of this training program has been funded by Poverty Solutions and the School of Public Health. To further the powerful potential impact of this project, the creators would like to use $10,000 for mixed-methods evaluation to refine the effectiveness of this training and create an implementation guide for health training programs to utilize this training content for a group of instructors (i.e. GSI training or faculty professional development). The evaluation money would be used for conducting focus groups of faculty and GSI that will go through the curriculum. In response to this evaluation, the curriculum can be revised and refined, preparing it to be further implemented and distributed to Schools of Public Health, Nursing, Social Work, and beyond. |
| Musical Theatre Wellness Initiative Catherine A. Walker Music, Theatre & Dance $10000.00 |
The Musical Theatre Department is strongly committed to the health and well-being of our student and faculty community. This 3-tiered initiative is designed to enhance the wellness of the musical theatre students and provide professional development for faculty. This collaborative, multidimensional proposal involves 90 students and 18 faculty and includes Physical Assessments for Injury Prevention; Vocal Health & Pedagogy; Somatic Training in the Art of Conscious Breathing. As a direct result of the pandemic, e-learning became common practice and the hours of use of electronic devices increased substantially. Studies have linked this increased device usage to diminished physical and emotional health in both students and faculty. There has been a noticeable change in the student's connection to their bodies, breathing, posture, and alignment as well as diminished concentration, anxiety, digestive health, and quality sleep. This type of training will enrich the curriculum and teach awareness, the practice of self-care, and wellness, which will serve our students as they enter this demanding profession. This Wellness Initiative will support the physical, vocal, and emotional health of both our students and faculty. The health of an individual directly impacts the health of the community writ large. Since musical theatre requires collaboration and engagement in group activities, this wellness initiative will have an impact on the health of both the individual and the collective community. This proposal is in alignment with the University of Michigan’s commitment to a campus-wide Well-being Collective to make our campus a better place to live, work, and learn. |
| Activating Service Learning in Entrepreneurship & Leadership Antonio Cuyler Music, Theatre & Dance $6000.00 |
Through this project, I will identify, select, and partner with 25 cultural organizations across the U. S. to implement service learning in three courses: Arts in Community Engagement, Cultural Policy, and Managing Cultural Organizations About, By, For, and Near People of the Global Majority. Research has found, at a minimum, that implementing service learning into these courses will lead to gains in academic abilities, career skills development, and an overall positive college experience for students (Cuyler, 2017; Cuyler, 2018; Miller et al., 2022). Furthermore, successfully implementing service learning into my courses, could compel further evidence-based curricular enhancements because this project represents a potential improvement upon and departure from existing practice within the Department of Entrepreneurship & Leadership because few courses utilize service learning or community service as an opportunity to innovate in teaching and learning within the discipline. I will use analysis of student work, course assignment, documents review, and syllabi to disseminate, document, and evaluate this project’s four SMART goals. |
| A UM Student Facilitated Digital Wellness Conference for K-12 Students and Caregivers Elizabeth Keren-Kolb Education Kristin Fontichiaro Information $5935.00 |
Prior to COVID, pre-teenagers (age 11-13) primarily developed their independence in their physical school settings, engaging with peers in-person through academic and non-academic spaces. The COVID pandemic changed this developmental norm; remote learning led many pre-teens to be isolated and forced to replace their in-person growth with socializing on digital devices. While it was not uncommon pre-COVID for adolescents to use digital tools, pre-teens engaged in them earlier in their development and more often than did their pre-COVID counterparts. Often, digital communications were the tweens’ only way to socialize with peers. As a result, caregivers were challenged to quickly create digital tool parameters for their children. This rapid adoption was not universally embraced: caregivers struggled with the amount of screen time and number of applications their pre-teens were engaging in. Furthermore, both the tweens and caregivers were often unaware of the implications of what the tweens were and still are doing in their digital world, most critically, mental health. Thus, the need for both to better understand the implications of engaging with digital applications. Further, UM SOE teaching interns are preparing to teach national standards on digital wellness to K-12 students and need clinical experiences working with pre-teens. The UM Digital Wellness Conference will bring together caregivers, pre-teens, UM teaching interns, and experts on digital wellness to engage in active discussion and community building. Participants would spend time on campus discussing their experiences and developing strategies for their personal digital wellness, with activities facilitated by experts and UM teaching interns. |
| Michigan Difficult IntraVenous Access (Mi-DIVA) Simulation Model Ivan Co Medical School Brendan Munzer Medical School Cindy Hsu Medical School $10000.00 |
“Without studying, preparation, and practice, you’re leaving the outcome to fate” - Kobe Bryant (1978-2020) Vascular access is a life-saving procedure for critically ill patients. Its scope encompasses commonly performed peripheral intravenous access to rarer central venous cannulations for vasopressor administration, hemodynamic monitoring, and mechanical support. Training clinicians to achieve mastery in central venous access has largely relied on task trainers to simulate cannulating normal vessels under ultrasound guidance. However, the commercially available task trainers are costly and unable to simulate patients with difficult vascular access that are common in real-life clinical scenarios. As such, learners cannot consistently achieve procedural competency in situations where prompt central venous access is critical for patient care. To solve this problem, we will create a novel, high-fidelity, and low-cost simulation model for difficult central venous access called the Michigan Difficult IntraVenous Access (Mi-DIVA). We will then demonstrate Mi-DIVA’s impact on emergency medicine learners’ central venous access procedural competency with a mixed method approach. |
| Equitable Stage Makeup and Hair Modules $9999.90 |
Far too long traditional modes of teaching theatrical makeup within university training programs have privileged Caucasian skin tones and hair texture; however, the pandemic has afforded the Design & Production (D&P) program in the Department of Theatre & Drama, in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD) the time to examine and reflect on our own delivery of courses in stage makeup and methods of creating more equitable and inclusive delivering of training in theatrical makeup to all performance and design students. The goal of this grant is to ensure that all SMTD dance, theatre, musical theatre, and opera students are training in makeup and hair skills that reflect the diverse community in which they will be working and performing. By creating a series of online theatrical makeup module courses that train our students and performers not only how to apply makeup in the dressing room but guide them through the process of how to adjust and refine makeup for all skin and hair types in each of SMTD’s three main performance spaces we strive for a more equitable and unified way to teach stage makeup and hair to all design and performance majors, at SMTD. We evaluated lessons learned during the pandemic about leveraging a hybrid approach to course delivery content and how that can be a more powerful and equitable approach to capitalize on creating a sustainable teaching module to educate the entire department and beyond. |
