Funded Projects
| Project Title | Overview of the Project |
|---|---|
| A University-Community Social and Environmental Justice Film and Discussion Series: Diverse, Interdisciplinary Learning Experiences for Students through the Integration of Classroom Study and Community Engagement James Crowfoot Environment and Sustainability David Schoem LSA $10000.00 |
Faculty associated with the Michigan Community Scholars Program, teaching First-Year Seminars, English Composition courses, and the UC 102 lecture course, will collaborate to offer as part of their courses, a monthly series of films and discussions for students that will be held in the setting of the Ann Arbor Public Library and open to all members of the university and all citizens of Ann Arbor and the surrounding communities. All films will have a focus on social justice and/or environmental justice issues and will be organized according to three substantive themes central to subsets of these faculty's courses, including intergroup relations and dialogue, education, and sustainability. Faculty will meet in the Spring/Summer term and throughout the fall and winter semester to design the series (films and discussions), revise their courses (to integrate the films, discussion, facilitation, and discussion follow-up into their syllabi), and evaluate student learning. Films will be held in September, October, and November 2009. The film series will be coordinated in partnership with the Ann Arbor District Library and Michigan Television. In addition to students being required to attend, there will be extensive publicity to attract members of MCSP and the Ann Arbor and University community to the films. A successful pilot run of the film and discussion series took place in academic year 2008-09 and for the coming year the project will be linked directly to course syllabi. |
| Redesigning Clinical Skill Training through Technology Michelle Aebersold Nursing Bonnie Hagerty Nursing $9934.00 |
Project Summary: The purpose of this project is to restructure and redesign clinical laboratory teaching and learning activities for the sophomore year in the School of Nursing baccalaureate program using eLearning technologies. Goals are to increase student access to skill learning activities to improve proficiency, increase quality and safety of student clinical performance, establish consistency in teaching skills, reduce costs by reducing the number of faculty necessary for clinical skills training, promote integration of knowledge and skill learning from an evidence-based perspective, and improve student and faculty satisfaction with clinical skill training. School of Nursing faculty, Clinical Learning Center and information technology staff will review, evaluate, select, and develop educational technology that will restructure lab clinical skill teaching and learning in the sophomore year. Appropriate products will be purchased from vendors and some tools such as additional modules will be developed with an expert in instructional design. An educational program for faculty will be planned and implemented in consultation with an expert in teaching methods using new technologies. Students will have unlimited opportunities to review and learn skill development through eLearning systems, develop more proficiency in clinical skill performance prior to hospital placements, and become more responsible and accountable for their learning through self-directed experiences. The School of Nursing will benefit from reduced faculty costs, and improved utilization of hospital clinical placements with students better prepared to care safely for patients. [Project Duration]: Planning for the project implementation began in April of 2009. The revisions to the undergraduate courses N254 and N221 began in September of 2009 for N254 and mid-August 2009 for N221. The revisions that were rolled out were the complete redesign of the skills lab portion of each of those courses. The revisions to N256 rolled out in January 2010. All faculty and instructors associated with the skills lab were trained in the new format in August of 2009. [Overview of the Project]: In the first term, sophomore students enroll in two lab based courses, Assessment of Health and Illness and Health Maintenance I. In these beginning nursing courses, students learn basic skills necessary to assess the health status of individuals from infancy through old age. Emphasis is on the assessment of physical, developmental, psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual dimensions of the clients. Students learn to distinguish normal from abnormal and judge the functional abilities of the client. Key objectives address mastery of basic nursing skills necessary to provide proficient evidence-based nursing care. The following term, students enroll in Health Assessment II and Health Maintenance II. In these courses, students expand their assessment and skill repertoire, integrating content from other courses such as pharmacology and pathophysiology. Usually 14-16 students are assigned to a course section with one clinical lab instructor per section. Each instructor teaches skills through demonstration and supervision of students in their section. This results in inconsistency in teaching and evaluation of skill mastery and limits opportunities for students to practice those skills. In addition, multiple faculty are required to supervise the lab sections. Additionally, the teaching strategies have focused on traditional methods to deliver content. Our students come from a diverse background and our teaching methods need to embrace more learner-centered approaches and more multi-contextual learning environments (Giddens, 2007). [Phase One]: We reviewed, evaluated, selected and developed appropriate educational technology that will allowed us to restructure the sophomore lab learning experiences for two courses, Health Maintenance I and Health Maintenance II. These courses focus on fundamental skill development such as vital signs, medication administration, tube care, and catheterizations. By redesigning teaching and learning methods to incorporate new technologies, students: • have access to unlimited opportunities to review explanations and demonstrations through eLearning activities to better prepare them for skills practice and evaluation • learn skills from uniform content and performance expectations, and consistent teaching approaches • become more proficient in clinical skill performance prior to hospital placements, thus promoting patient safety and maximizing hospital clinical experiences • become more responsible and accountable for their learning through self-directed learning experiences • demonstrate greater satisfaction and enthusiasm for their learning. The School of Nursing has benefited from reduced instructional costs, improved utilization of hospital clinical placements, and improvement in student and faculty satisfaction. |
| Introducing Intercultural Competence Through Case Studies $10000.00 |
For intermediate Spanish, we seek to introduce the use of online case studies to have students attain higher levels of intercultural communicative competence. We feel that students will not only gain knowledge on intercultural competence at the international level, but also within their own communities. This innovation aligns with the university's educational goal for more internationalization of the curriculum. We would like to use media clips of "critical incidents, " authentic cultural scenarios that prompt reflective thinking. Outside of class students will analyze these incidents and also be asked to evaluate and reflect on a peer's response in order to prompt additional reflective growth on the world and themselves through the lens of another language and culture. |
| Practice-Centered Curriculum Research and Development for Graduate Health Information Judith Calhoun Public Health Kai Zheng Public Health $10000.00 |
The current climate for healthcare reform, combined with the new administration's determination to aggressively promote the adoption of HIT, has created the need for skilled individuals who are capable of planning, implementing, managing, and integrating clinical and administrative information, technologies, and systems in health care organizations. However, the School of Public Health Department of Health Management and Policy has not yet incorporated HIT into its core curriculum. Further, there is a paucity of prior publications addressing curriculum planning related to profession-based skill development in HIT, and there are no known practice-centered curriculum endeavors based on market-oriented evidence in graduate-level HIT courses. The proposed project aims to address this gap. |
| Preparing for Leadership in the Nonprofit Sector in the US: An Opportunity for Service Learning John Tropman Social Work $10000.00 |
This project proposes to reach out to undergraduates interested in nonprofit organizations and presenting material on the nonprofit sector at home and abroad to them; Using an interdisciplinary approach (several disciplines plus nonprofit executives), it will provide not only knowledge but a team-based project opportunity in local nonprofits. |
| Evaluation of a New Core Curriculum for SNRE’s Interdisciplinary Professional Masters Program David Allan Environment and Sustainability $8350.00 |
SNRE seeks support from the Gilbert Whitaker Fund to undertake an evaluation, with assistance from CRLT, of its recently instituted core curriculum. With CRLT's assistance, we seek to (1) facilitate faculty discussions about the SNRE core curriculum including desired outcomes, course learning goals, and ways to improve; (2) collect data using surveys and focus groups to evaluate the whether the core is, overall, meeting its objectives and how individual courses are meeting course-specific learning goals; (3) facilitate a faculty-wide discussion through a working meeting or a retreat to discuss implications of information gained through the above process; and (4) develop an evaluation process to assist SNRE in the evaluation of student experience in the core on an on-going basis. |
| Creation and Evaluation of a Web-Based Breast Disease Curriculum Mark Pearlman Medical School $10000.00 |
The primary goal of the project is to create and assess a comprehensive web‐based breast health education curriculum for University of Michigan medical students and Obstetrics and Gynecology postgraduate students. The curriculum will be housed on C‐Tools at the University of Michigan. Our web‐based curriculum will consist of nine learning modules, each containing two to three lessons, which will cover different aspects of breast care. We will assess our educational program using a randomized controlled trial. We will randomly assign half of the students to receive access to the web‐based breast curriculum in addition to the traditional methods of teaching (test group) and half to only receive the traditional methods of teaching with no access to the program (control group). Our pretest‐posttest design allows us to measure the effect of the web‐based curriculum on knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Knowledge questions will address factual information about breast health. Skill questions will provide scenarios or videos that depict the beginning of a procedure and then ask learners what should be done next. Attitude questions will address professionalism (i.e., perceived responsibility for breast care), interpersonal communication (with patients, staff, and other physicians), and confidence. |
| Engineering Online Gateway System Jeff Ringenberg Engineering Marcial Lapp Engineering $9727.00 |
Through the development of a computer‐based "gateway" examination system, we seek to ensure adequate comprehension of the material presented in introductory engineering courses. Our goal is to statistically show that these gateway exams are beneficial to students by reinforcing core concepts that are vital to succeeding in a particular engineering course. |
| Assessing the LSA Upper-Level Writing Requirement Naomi Silver LSA $10000.00 |
The Sweetland Writing Center plans to undertake a comprehensive analysis and assessment of the Upper-Level Writing Requirement (ULWR). To enhance the coordination and support offered to students and instructors who participate in LSA's Upper-Level Writing Requirement, we propose a multi-pronged approach that will (i) collect data on the current state of the ULWR and visions for its future; (ii) revise institutional guidelines and application materials to direct faculty proposing or renewing ULWR courses; and (iii) develop instructional materials, workshops, and other forms of faculty and GSI support to promote best practices and excellent writing instruction in all departments. |
| Assessing Integrative and Lifelong Learning through Mportfolios Melissa Peet Administration $10000.00 |
The Integrative Learning and Mportfolio Initiative is a campus‐wide effort aimed at supporting a wide array of units to use ePortfolio tools along with integrative teaching and assessment methods to improve students' learning. 15 pilot sites with over 1300 students have participated in the Mportfolio pilot thus far, and many more units are requesting participation. The Mportfolio Research team has developed an Integrative and Lifelong learning (IL) Assessment Module that is currently being tested with over 500 Mportfolio students in a range of disciplines/units. Whitaker funds would be used to further develop and refine this module in order to: 1. develop a data model that would allow researchers to compare the development of integrative learning in students from different disciplines/units and at various levels of learning; and, 2. identify and disseminate a series of assessment and teaching‐related best practices for facilitating and capturing integrative learning across a variety of units. |
| Engineering Lectures in the Vocabulary of Graphic Design: Improving Student Comprehension and Retention in Engineering Lectures Steven Yalisove Engineering Francis Nunoo-Quarcoo Art & Design $10000.00 |
Graphic designers are experts at communicating with imagery. Engineering lectures are not prepared by graphic designers but by engineering faculty. This proposal is an attempt to infuse the best practices of graphic design into engineering lecture design by developing a set of graphic grids and iconic images for a set of typical lecture activities. Central to the approach is a focus on the active learning needs of a student during a lecture. This includes separating computer generated material from handwritten chalkboard material. These graphic grids and iconic images will provide a pathway for enhanced comprehension during lecture and retention afterwards. Assessment of comprehension and retention will be performed. Attention will also be given to developing methodologies for rapid acquisition of graphic design skills for engineering faculty. |
| Institutionalizing Assessment as Part of Introductory Course Reform in Physics $9720.00 |
The Department of Physics is undertaking significant reform of all of its large introductory physics courses. These reforms include modernization of content and major changes in the structure of the classes. This Whitaker proposal seeks funds to establish a solid framework for assessment in advance of these reforms, and to utilize these assessment tools during the next two years. In the long term, we will use these tools to continuously monitor change in the effect of our courses on students, building more substantive and quantitative assessment in to the fabric of the Department's teaching. |
| Use and Usefulness: Assessing Learning Resources in Large Lecture Science Classes $9885.00 |
We have developed and tested a new assessment survey, called "Use and Usefulness," which is both easy to administer and provides a wealth of information about how students are engaging class resources. In the proposed project, we wish to expand the scope of our study, which was developed in the organic chemistry teaching program, to include the other major introductory LSA science courses in physics, EEB, and MCDB. We hypothesize that this cross-disciplinary comparison will produce a unique profile on how introductory science classes at the University of Michigan encourage self-regulated learning practices. |
| Investigating the Efficacy of Screencasts as Learning Tools in College of Engineering Courses Joanna Millunchick Engineering $10000.00 |
University lecturing is changing as a result of increasing student populations, student diversity, and transformative technologies. One of the newest technological developments is the availability of screencasts, recordings that captures audio narration along with video images. Many instructors have adopted this approach in their courses, but we still need to take a closer look at what kind of screencasts impact student learning, and how students and instructors use those screencasts. This proposal requests funds to examine how this new learning technology is used in various settings and determine whether it impacts student learning. Specifically, we will conduct focus groups with students in classes that use screencasts and interviews with instructors to examine attitudes towards these new resources and effects of their availability on the "learning workflow." The results of these focus groups and interviews will also form the basis of more rigorous studies on their impact on student learning. |
| Development of an Interdisciplinary Management and Leadership Curriculum for Medical Residents James Cooke Medical School $10000.00 |
Funding from The Gilbert Whitaker Fund for the Improvement of Teaching is requested to support the development and implementation of a unique leadership curriculum aimed at improving teaching and learning for medical residents at the University of Michigan. The project's goal is to create a comprehensive leadership curriculum with multiple learning tracks and then pilot at least two of the targeted areas during elective months within the 2010-11 academic year. Learning tracks will offer residents the opportunity for individualized training in high priority areas such as research, clinical practice, education, healthcare policy, healthcare administration, international medical practice, and the delivery of medical care to the underserved. As a first step, the planning group will create an overarching curricular plan and then involve 30 family medicine residents in the pilot testing of at least two of the targeted areas. The enhanced learning experiences will have an impact on hundreds of resident learners over time given that participation in the leadership curriculum will be required of all residents in our program. The initiative will also offer a rare opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration among faculty in the Department of Family Medicine (DFM), Ross School of Business, and the School of Public Health, and also for innovative partnering with university professional staff. The proposed project and planning process are an important departure from both existing and traditional curricular planning practices. While the results will improve teaching and learning in the Dept. of Family Medicine, the resulting curricular framework will be relevant to other residencies at the University of Michigan and across the country. |
