Funded Projects
| Project Title | Overview of the Project |
|---|---|
| Deliberative learning: Connecting urban planning theory and practice using case studies and peer-learning Lesli Hoey Architecture and Urban Planning Harley Etienne Architecture and Urban Planning $10000.00 |
One of the key challenges for urban planning courses is the difficulty connecting classroom learning to the realities of professional practice. This project combines peer-learning with a rich set of case studies created by planning professionals for use in graduate instruction. The methodology will allow students to apply abstract planning theories and concepts to real scenarios and projects, debate alternative planning approaches with their peers, enable creative and critical group thinking, expand their geographic and institutional knowledge base, and better prepare them for their capstone and professional experiences. For the instructor, the methodology will allow them to connect theory to practice and to quickly identify which concepts students are struggling to understand or put into practice. Our much larger goals are to establish Michigan's Urban and Regional Planning program as an innovator in planning education and to create a library of planning-specific cases that may serve our program and others. Professionals with detailed and long-standing knowledge of planning practice will draft cases studies in collaboration with faculty based on actual scenarios where practitioners faced a difficult planning decision. Ultimately, we hope that the integration of peer-based learning and practice-based case studies throughout urban planning education will foster more insightful professional judgment and bring forth more creative solutions to today's toughest planning challenges. |
| Increasing and assessing technical argument integration into Mechanical Engineering ME395 laboratory 1 via writing workshops and report review Kenn Oldham Engineering Thomas Bowden Engineering Kelly Rohan Engineering $6000.00 |
This work would assess the impact of changes to the teaching of technical arguments and communication in Mechanical Engineering's core junior laboratory course, ME395. Two primary instructional changes would be incorporated: first, the conversion of a substantial portion of technical communications lectures to a writing workshop format; second, the introduction of laboratory reviews by mechanical engineering technical faculty. The goal of these changes is to improve student's communication skills and argument structure, particularly within the context of interpreting and presenting results in a "big picture" context. The writing workshop format provides greater opportunities for hands-on instruction on technical communications elements, while instructor feedback on dealing with laboratory uncertainty and on reporting progression of technical findings should improve student report structure and coherence. Success of these changes would be assessed through a review of student lab reports from semesters before and after instructional changes were made. The assessment would categorize the type and frequency of errors in student writing and the coherence and completeness of students' technical argument. This would be used to measure changes student writing quality under the new instructional format, and provide an opportunity to evaluate which aspects of student writing are most and least affected by ME395 activities. The proposed work has the potential to impact all undergraduate students in mechanical engineering. |
| Course Portals and Automated Problem System Yaoyun Shi Engineering Essl Georg Engineering Don Winsor Engineering $10000.00 |
The objective of this project is to develop a set of elearning technologies that are scalable and extensible, together with two integrated applications of those technologies: Course Portals and Automated Assessment System. The initial focus will be on undergraduate computer science courses, for which there is still much room and a great need for developing such technologies. The design seeks to maximize adoptability, through easy-to-use interfaces and building blocks that are easy to customize and extend. The technologies are expected to be scalable to many other courses, with the benefit of substantial financial savings and significant improvement in instruction quality. Some preliminary work has been done through the KnoAtom Project (KnoAtom.eecs.umich.edu) led by the Director. |
| Developing an Integrated Approach to Teaching Legal Writing to Upper-Level Law Students $10000.00 |
This project is an attempt to improve the teaching of legal writing to upper-level law students. The project involved a new clinic for appellate advocacy, offered in the fall of 2013. The course was scheduled to launch under a single clinical professor, and the grant funds were used to add a second professor from the legal practice program. The two professors co-taught the class. This type of collaboration has never occurred at the law school. The project had three specific goals: 1) to create a new learning experience for students utilizing the skills of professors from two distinct departments; 2) to improve the teaching in the clinical law program by learning new techniques on how to teach legal writing to upper level students and 3) to improve the teaching in the legal practice program by providing legal practice professors evidence of how students research and write in the context of actual case work which will inform future developments of the first year legal research and writing curriculum. |
| Bridging the gap between Biostatistical methods and epidemiologic investigation: A proposal for the development of a new course providing an interdisciplinary educational experience for the modern quantitative epidemiologist Bhramar Mukherjee Public Health Veronica Berrocal Public Health Carlos Mendes de Leon Medical School $10000.00 |
The goal of this proposal is to create an interdisciplinary educational experience for Ph.D. students in Epidemiology (and also available as an optional elective for Masters students in Biostatistics) through a uniquely designed course that contains lectures on advanced biostatistical methods, but places them in the context of applications that fall broadly under four special topics. The present curriculum for doctoral students in epidemiology does not offer the option of in-depth learning of statistical models and methods in these four contemporary topics that arise frequently in the present scientific context. These four topics are: (1) Spatial data analysis; (2) Methods for studies of interaction, in particular gene-environment interaction; (3) Advanced methods for longitudinal data; (4) Modern techniques for model building and variable selection. The course will equip the new generation epidemiologists with state of the art statistical methods in these domains, and teach them the craft of translating a practical problem to mathematical equations. Students will be competent in constructing and describing the assumptions and models at a preliminary level in each of these four topics. However, the entire theoretical learning process will be placed in the context of sophisticated modeling of data from large complex studies. If funded in Stage I, a Stage II proposal on a sequel course on advanced statistical methods for the analysis of high through put data and "omics" data in modern epidemiologic studies will be developed. |
| Neuroscience Graduate Program Curriculum: From Fundamental Knowledge & Skills to Integrative, Critical Thinking Rachael Seidler Kinesiology Audrey Seasholtz Medical School Edward Stuenkel Medical School $10000.00 |
Several years ago we created and charged our curriculum committee with reviewing our existing Neuroscience didactic classroom approach. In addition to other coursework outside of the program, we have students take a "boot camp" laboratory class during two weeks in August (Neurosci 623), followed by a year-long sequence of courses which survey the current state of knowledge in various areas of Neuroscience (Neurosci 601 (fall), 602 (winter)), accompanied by Neuroanatomy lecture and lab (Neurosci 570, 571) in the winter semester. The curriculum committee came up with a specific plan to reorganize this sequence, with the overall vision of: a) Building upon and taking advantage of best teaching practices, such as problem-based and active learning approaches, and becoming a world-wide leader in graduate Neuroscience education (Neurosci 623). b) Providing our students with an initial foundation of knowledge in the broad, multidisciplinary field of Neuroscience (Neurosci 601, 570, 571). c) Promoting transition to integrative and critical thinking skills which will help students to create and evaluate new knowledge in this rapidly expanding field (Neurosci 602). This will leave them well poised to begin their scientific careers as they settle on their home laboratory at the end of their first year in the program. Achieving this vision required our efforts and attention in three areas: curricular reform, faculty development, and assessment of the effectiveness of our changes. |
| Incorporating Technology into Advanced Health Assessment Through the use of a Digital Standardized Patient Nicole Boucher Nursing April Bigelow Nursing Michelle Pardee Nursing $10000.00 |
The ultimate goal of this project is to enhance the advanced health assessment skills of nurse practitioner students using innovative simulated patient technology. Tina, the digital standardized patient allows students to practice communication, advanced assessment, diagnostic reasoning, clinical decision-making, and basic procedural skills on complicated patients that better mimic real-world experience. The digital standardized patient allows the faculty to vary the complexity of information to range from common abnormal findings to rare abnormal anomalies. Additionally, the encounters with Tina facilitates students in developing diagnostic reasoning skills over the term by engaging students in a question and answer session focused on clinical assessment problem-solving and diagnostic reasoning. The digital standardized patient also allows the student time for self-reflection about the interaction. The digital standardized patient program tracks each individual student's progress throughout the term. Additionally, the class as a whole is tracked to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the class. These tracking methods will aid faculty in modifying the classroom and laboratory content to help facilitate students learning. Additionally, the tracking methods can be utilized to facilitate small group discussion during the small group clinical time. |
| Transforming Technical Communication in Large Laboratory Courses: Creating a More Engaging Learning Environment Mary Northrop Engineering Elaine Wisniewski Engineering $9450.00 |
Large engineering laboratory courses, such as the Laboratory I course in Chemical Engineering, offer invaluable hands-on experiences to engineering students at the University of Michigan. Further, the technical communication (TC) component embedded in such courses provides a real-world context to the projects and provides practice in the type of engineering communication typical of professional situations. However, the size of these classes, generally 50 to 90 students, the teamwork aspect of the laboratory work, and the small percentage of the total course devoted to TC (generally 25% or less), creates an environment in which it is easier to lecture to large groups and grade team-written reports and presentations with little time devoted to individual, or team, interactions and even less time available to address communication issues with individuals. |
| Rethinking Media and Communication Research Methods Amanda Lotz LSA $10000.00 |
The Communication Studies department is preparing for the implementation of a massive undergraduate curriculum revision in the Fall of 2013. The cornerstone of this revision involves the expansion of the existing required course Comm 211 Evaluating Information, which covers the basic features of quantitative social scientific analysis into a two-semester, sequential, team-taught course Comm 121/122 Evaluating Information and Analyzing Media I and II that places quantitative and analytical ways of knowing in conversation. These courses must service roughly 400 students a year and are taught in two 80 minute blocks with a 2 hour weekly lab. This Whitaker Fund application requests the funds to hire a graduate student during the summer of 2013 to work with instructors to develop the labs for the these courses and to aid the instructors in preparing lectures that "flip" the large class dynamic. |
| Estill Voice Training and the Musical Theatre Performer:Integrating the Estill Voice Training System Into the Musical Theatre Curriculum Catherine A. Walker Music, Theatre & Dance $10000.00 |
This project was designed to offer faculty members, exposure and training in the Estill Voice Training System. The Estill Voice System is an innovative and practical instructional strategy that teaches stage performers how to approach a variety of vocal parameters such as: pitch, diction, and voice quality in both singing and speech. It assists them to more fully inhabit their characters through voice. The Estill Voice System codifies explicit terminology to and helps communicate with singers/actors/public speakers as they embody a variety of vocal styles and unique characters in live performance. The Estill Voice System offers specific and practical tactics to allow singers to exercise maximum flexibility in their vocal performance. This system has been thoroughly researched and is scientifically precise. Using these strategies, allows performers to safely explore a diverse spectrum of vocal colors and styles. As we have begun to integrate the Estill Voice Training System into the Musical Theatre Department curriculum, we are able to offer our students additional skills as they enter this highly competitive, rigorous and diverse field. In addition to facilitating a singer/actor's ability to access an array of vocal styles, these precise skills offer coping strategies, which will support their vocal health throughout their career. This project included both departmental and inter-departmental faculty collaboration. Funding from this grant was also used to purchase the equipment necessary for the students to utilize the Estill Voice Print Plus program. |
| Microsoft Kinect Platform for Game and App Development for Patients with Autism David Chesney Engineering $10000.00 |
The purpose of this proposal is to create an ‘eco-system' in which students can create meaningful computer applications and games for children with autism. Students working on the game and app development are freshman- to senior-level undergraduates in the Computer Science and Engineering Division of the College of Engineering. The overall team for the project is widely collaborative, including the College of Engineering, UM Health Systems, Eastern Michigan University School of Education, and Microsoft Corporation. The underlying objective of this project is to do something meaningful and relevant for children in need, and also to have a significant educational experience while doing so. |
| Revised Elementary French Curriculum Lori Mc Mann LSA $10000.00 |
The primary goals of this project are 1) to prepare for the implementation of a redesigned curriculum in the elementary French program (French 101-232), including new textbooks, 2) to enact a 2nd year curriculum that will be more easily adaptable to UM study abroad courses, 3) to incorporate newer technological trends and fully exploit the capabilities of the enhanced classrooms, and 4) to improve excellence in teaching practices in these multi-sectioned courses. At present, we are conducting a search for a new textbook for French 101, 102, 103 and another textbook for French 231 and 232, which we will implement in the Fall of 2012 and possibly pilot during a spring or summer term (2012). The steps comprising the project for which we are requesting funding are as follows:• survey students during the Winter term of 2012 to establish a point of reference to assess the effectiveness of the revised curriculum at a later date.• redesign course curriculum in the Fall 2012 and Winter 2013 terms.• restructure /reform the elementary French review course, French 103, so that it responds better to students' needs for review. • incorporate and adapt multimedia activities for each course.• offer workshops / training to instructors for the use of new materials and technology.• offer opportunities each term for cultural hands-on, interactive events (food tasting, French games, music, film, etc. ) in order to create excitement about these cultures and to build a greater community of undergraduate learners of French. • survey students again after having used new materials for at least one year to assess results and determine further improvements to be made. |
