Classroom Ecologies: How Learning Spaces Support Different Pedagogies

Date: January 8
Time: 8:30 – 9:30 a.m.
Location: Rodney Room, Perkins Student Center

Description: This session will explore the intersection of learning space design and active learning principles.  Bringing together experiences from the Learning Space Consortium (LSC) and the University of Delaware (UD), participants will consider design principles in light of several classroom construction case studies. Participants will discuss how to take advantage of the increasing variety of classrooms built specifically to support active, team-based and problem-based learning. In this general session, participants will take a virtual tour of those spaces, all intended to support the social and technological aspects of learning.

 

Paul Hyde

Paul Hyde

Paul Hyde, Academic Technology Services

Paul Hyde, Academic Technology Services at the University of Delaware, works at the intersection of teaching and technology. He has helped lead several initiatives involving education and technology, including the formation of UD’s first teaching and technology center, the Faculty Institute program, the Student Multimedia Design Center, and Faculty Commons. He has taught for the School of Education, the Department of Art, and Professional and Continuing Studies and received UD’s Award for Excellence in Teaching Adult Students. He presents widely on active learning and learning space design.

Jeanne Narum

Jeanne Narum

Jeanne Narum, Learning Spaces Collaboratory | Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL)

As founding principal of the Learning Spaces Collaboratory (LSC), since 2010 Jeanne Narum’s professional focus is on promoting best practices in visioning, planning, and assessing physical spaces serving 21st century undergraduate learners and learning communities.  From 1989 – 2010, Narum was Director of Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL), an NSF-funded initiative to catalyze transformation of undergraduate STEM learning environments. From 2003 – 2009, with support from NITLE, Narum facilitated workshops focusing on planning technology-enhanced spaces, including information commons and classrooms. She has had leadership responsibility for over 100 PKAL/LSC facilities-related activities designed to advance awareness of how space matters to learning and of planning strategies to realize that spaces matter for a particular community.

 

Peer Mentoring and PBL

Date: January 8
Time: 9:45 – 11:15 a.m.
Location: Rodney Room, Perkins Student Center

Description: What are some models of peer and near-peer learning in PBL classrooms? How does PBL extend opportunities for various mentoring relationships? Can peer facilitators help manage PBL in large classes? How can we train and support peer tutors in PBL classrooms? Can faculty mentor other faculty in approaches to PBL?

Catherine Grimes

Catherine Grimes

Catherine Grimes, Chemistry & Biochemistry

Dr. Catherine Leimkuhler Grimes is an assistant professor in Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Delaware.  Prior to her time at UD, she assisted in the design and implementation of an introduction life science class and laboratory at Harvard University.   Her research laboratory at UD focuses on using tools from chemical biology to understand how the human body interacts with bacteria (both commensal and pathogenic).  She has uses these topics as inspiration for a Problem Based Learning (PBL) Biochemistry class that she developed at UD under the mentorship of her award winning colleague, Professor Hal White.   She is a Pew Biomedical Scholar and more recently the Research Corporation named her as Cottrell Scholar for which she will receive funding for development of a PBL bio-organic laboratory for sophomore biochemistry majors.

Hal White

Hal White

Hal White, Chemistry & Biochemistry

Hal White joined the University of Delaware Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1971. Between 1994 and 1998, he served as Principal Investigator on the first NSF/DUE grant on Problem-Based Learning (PBL) to the University of Delaware and was involved with subsequent NSF, FIPSE, and Pew Charitable Trusts grants for PBL. Currently he is an associate editor for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education where he writes commentaries on PBL. Hal has received numerous teaching awards including the 2011 Howard Barrows award for exceptional teaching from McMaster University, the 2013 CASE-Carnegie Foundation Delaware Professor of the Year, and the 2014 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education.

 

Solving Real Problems for Real Clients, Take 2

Date: January 8
Time: 9:45 – 11:15 a.m.
Location: Room 410, Harker ISE Lab

Description: PBL traditionally works with realistic, but hypothetical, problems. Increasingly, faculty encourage teams of students to take on various problems of real import by designing solutions for clients and addressing real audiences. These faculty will discuss how they break down the walls of their classrooms and engage students with solving practical problems. The session will include opportunities to talk with other participants about how your classes might engage with real problems. (Part 2 of two related panel sessions)

Kim Bothi

Kim Bothi

Kim Bothi, Institute for Global Studies

Dr. Kim Bothi joined UD’s Institute for Global Studies (IGS) as Associate Director for Science and Engineering in fall 2014. Dr. Bothi brings a multidisciplinary background in engineering and social sciences, with research and consulting experience across a range of domestic and developing country contexts. She earned a Ph.D. in global community-based resource management from Cornell University (2012), and holds earlier degrees in environmental engineering from Cornell (MS, 2007) and McGill University (BSc.Eng., 2000). In her joint position between IGS and the College of Engineering, Dr. Bothi is responsible for expanding opportunities for students, staff and faculty to engage in cross-disciplinary, globally-minded research and academic programming. She co-advises the UD student chapter of Engineers Without Borders, which links student teams with community partners abroad to implement sustainable engineering projects. More at www.kimbothi.com.

Michele Lobo

Michele Lobo

Michele Lobo, Physical Therapy

Dr. Lobo received her Masters in Physical Therapy from the Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University and her PhD in Biomechanics and Movement Science from the University of Delaware. She has been a visiting researcher at The Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and the University of California in Berkeley. Dr. Lobo’s clinical focus is in the area of pediatric physical therapy and she has experience working with children and families across in-patient, out-patient, early intervention, and school-based settings. Her teaching focuses on pediatrics, learning, and the impact of physical activity from the level of physiology through mood and cognition. Her research program focuses on: 1) understanding typical developmental processes, 2) identifying how these processes differ for those at risk, and 3) designing effective early assessments, interventions, and devices to maximize participation, play, and learning. She leads an interdisciplinary research group that includes team members from a variety of fields including rehabilitation, developmental psychology, engineering, and fashion. She is also the founder of the Super Suits FUNctional Fashion & Wearable Technology Program that developed the first exoskeletal garment for rehabilitation. The Program is currently working closely with children with disabilities and their families to develop and test a range of low- to high-tech clothing aimed at increasing independence and function.

McKay Jenkins

McKay Jenkins

McKay Jenkins, English and Environmental Humanities

McKay Jenkins has been writing about people and the natural world for 30 years. He the author of ContamiNation  (Avery, 2016, previously published by Random House as What’s Gotten Into Us), which chronicles his investigation into the myriad synthetic chemicals we encounter in our daily lives, and the growing body of evidence about the harm these chemicals do to our bodies and the environment. He holds degrees from Amherst, Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, and Princeton, where he received a PhD in English. A former staff writer for the Atlanta Constitution, he has also written for Outside, Orion, The New Republic, and many other publications. Jenkins is currently the Cornelius Tilghman Professor of English,  Journalism and Environmental Humanities at the University of Delaware, where he has won the Excellence in Teaching Award.  More line at: http://mckayjenkins.com/bio

 

 

Active Learning in the xBL Classroom: The Student Experience

Date: January 8
Time: 11:15 – 12:15 p.m.
Location: Rodney Room, Perkins Student Center

Description: A panel of students will offer their perspectives on PBL in a variety of disciplines: What do they learn? How do teams function? Who provides leadership? What can be done about loafers? How do peer tutors work most effectively? We will provide time for questions and answers from student experts.

Sarah Morales, Landscape Design

Priyha Mahesh, Honors integrated Biology Chemistry (HiBC) workshop co-coordinator

Tyler Heiss, Biochem

Sarah Kriebel, former SCEN101 student in ISE Lab, also serving as studio fellow

Pavani Vemuri, graduate assistant in Faculty Commons

Sarah Hartman, project manager with the Philippines team and incoming president, Engineers Without Borders – University of Delaware.

Dina Collins, Honors integrated Biology Chemistry (HiBC) workshop co-coordinator

Paul Hyde, moderator

 

Concept Mapping and the PBL Classroom

Date: January 8
Time: 1:00 – 2:15 p.m.
Location: Rodney Room, Perkins Student Center

Description: In this general session, participants will use concept mapping (or mind mapping) to create a model of their current understanding of PBL and its components. Concept mapping will be discussed as a way to reflect on learning, to assess current and prior understanding, and as a means of outcomes assessment in both group and individual contexts.

Hal White

Hal White

Hal White, Chemistry & Biochemistry

Hal White joined the University of Delaware Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1971. Between 1994 and 1998, he served as Principal Investigator on the first NSF/DUE grant on Problem-Based Learning (PBL) to the University of Delaware and was involved with subsequent NSF, FIPSE, and Pew Charitable Trusts grants for PBL. Currently he is an associate editor for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education where he writes commentaries on PBL. Hal has received numerous teaching awards including the 2011 Howard Barrows award for exceptional teaching from McMaster University, the 2013 CASE-Carnegie Foundation Delaware Professor of the Year, and the 2014 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education.

Jacqueline Fajardo

Jacqueline Fajardo

Jackie Fajardo, Chemistry & Biochemistry

My work centers on the CHEM103/104 General Chemistry series.  The traditional version of these courses comprise of science and engineering students who do not have a major emphasis in chemistry or chemical engineering, yet require a strong foundation in chemistry on which to build upon.  I strive to foster a continuous learning environment so that, through their experiences in lecture, laboratory, workshop, and unscheduled time in between, our students are immersed in the study of chemistry.  This immersion requires careful implementation and utilization of numerous instructional and technological resources available here at UDel.  To access my students’ unscheduled time, all of my course lectures, both in-class and supplemental, are posted directly to our course site.  Supplemental recorded lectures give me the freedom to spend our precious lecture time engaging in dialogue with the students, developing ideas, queries, and furthering our collective insights.  Methods of simple problem solving, such as techniques associated with dimensional analysis, are addressed through supplemental lectures that may be viewed by the students at their own convenience, and applied during lecture.

Mad Minute: Best Ideas, Best Practices, Takeaways

Date: January 8
Time: 2:15 – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Rodney Room, Perkins Student Center

Description: This fun and fast-paced session is a chance for participants to share their best takeaway idea.  You’ll also hear from the facilitators with their parting words of wisdom and their recommended resources for your continued exploration of problem-based learning.  Be prepared to offer your own mad minute to the mix!

[Optional post-conference session] Walking Tour of Campus Learning Spaces

Walking tour of campus learning spaces, will begin at the end of the Mad Minute session, starting out from the Rodney Room, Perkins Student Center.  Stops along the tour will include Harker ISE Lab classrooms and informal learning spaces, Faculty Commons (Pearson Hall), Design Studio (Spencer Lab),  218 Gore Hall classroom, 110 Memorial Hall classroom, and the Student Multimedia Design Center.

Limited to the first 30 participants who sign up at the registration table or through this web form.

[Optional post-conference session] Visit to Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus

Travel on your own to STAR Campus after the end of the Mad Minute session.  We’ll convene in the lobby of the Health Sciences Building for a tour of the facility.  That will be followed by a discussion of Chinese traditional and Western medicine with PBL2016 participants from Shanghai Chinese University of Traditional Medicine and will also include staff from the University of Delaware Confucius Institute.

Limited to the first 30 participants who sign up at the registration table or through this web form.

“The STAR campus is all about engagement—with the community, with the business world, and with our clinical partners—to train the next generation of healthcare professionals and to create the next innovations in healthcare through cutting-edge research.”

Kathleen S. Matt
Dean of Health Sciences