Module Link 

This resource was originally developed with resources from the College STAR grant. That grant has ended and the College STAR modules will now permanently reside at the East Carolina University Office for Faculty Excellence.

Module Introduction

At Appalachian State University (ASU), Mr. Jeff Goodman uses a model known as the 5E Instructional Model to introduce scientific concepts to his students. This model helps frame instructional practices for teaching course content in the following sequence: engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation.

He describes his rationale in using the method:

In terms of outcomes, I want my students to be people who are more curious than they were at the beginning, who think that the content that I thought is inherently fun and accessible, that they can hold onto and know at some level.

Mr. Goodman has been ASU for 20 years, and is currently teaching in the College of Education. He took one year to teach high school, and spends one day a week in his wife’s middle school classroom “trying to see if this stuff actually pans out – and it’s hard!”

Support for this Module

Original development of this module was made possible by the College STAR (Supporting Transition Access and Retention) initiative.  College STAR was a grant-funded project focused on partnering postsecondary educational professionals and students to learn ways for helping postsecondary campuses become more welcoming of students with learning and attention differences. Much of this work was made possible by generous funding from the Oak Foundation.

Module Link

This resource was originally developed with resources from the College STAR grant. That grant has ended and the College STAR modules will now permanently reside at the East Carolina University Office for Faculty Excellence.

Module Introduction

“How do you feel about writing?”

I typically pose this question on the first day of the semester in a “vote with your feet” exercise. We line up across the room: at one end are those who enjoy writing and feel confident in their abilities and at the other end are those who dislike writing altogether. Students find a place along the spectrum and share their reasoning out loud. Many students cluster near the middle, where a plethora of fears and anxieties spills forth:

            “I never know how to get started.”

            “I can never make it long enough.”

            “It's ok if I’m writing about something I know.”

            “I’m never really sure what the teacher wants, or if its good enough.”

I usually place myself somewhere near the center. “I’ve been told I’m a good writer, but I have such a hard time getting started. I never know what to say, or I say too much.” Many students will nod in sympathy. A show of hands reveals that many of us often feel overwhelmed when starting a writing project.

As an instructor in a Writing Intensive course, I teach both writing skills and disciplinary content. As I design my courses each semester, I aim to weave these together in ways that are mutually supportive and that address students’ concerns. Throughout the course, I want to foster writing as an ongoing habit and give students multiple opportunities to engage with writing. One powerful strategy for doing this is through Daily Writing assignments.

In this module, I will share my experience using frequent, short writing assignments to prepare students to be successful in a longer, formal assignment. This module focuses on the design of the jazz dance unit within my History of Dance I course, a Writing-Intensive designated course at ECU. The process of considering the content and writing skills for a particular assignment and then designing shorter assignments to lead up to it can be used by instructors in a variety of disciplines.

Scaffolding instruction and UDL

The teaching process described in this module uses frequent, low-stakes informal writing prompts that are deliberately designed to scaffold the writing process, leading students to develop the content knowledge and writing skills needed for a specific formal writing project while at the same time generating, in manageable chunks, material that can potentially be incorporated into that project.

The term “instructional scaffolding” is used by Applebee and Langer (1983) to describe a process that “allows the novice to carry out new tasks while learning strategies and patterns that will eventually make it possible to carry out similar tasks without external support” (p. 169). In the case of a college writing project such as the one described in this module, the complex writing is a new task, and support is provided to learn the strategies and patterns for accessing content knowledge and deploying it with discipline-specific writing skills.

The process of scaffolding instruction through informal writing assignments is one way to implement UDL Principle 2: “Provide multiple means of action and expression,” specifically Checkpoints 5.3 “Build fluencies with graduated levels of support for practice and performance” and 6.2 “Support planning and strategy development” (CAST 2012). An instructor, working backwards from the goal of the finished paper, considers the constituent knowledge and skills and designs shorter writing assignments that provide support in the form of focused questions, templates, or prompts for brainstorming. Collectively, these assignments can guide students through the planning process of a major writing project, preventing total procrastination and encouraging students to develop a process-oriented approach to writing that may transfer to future projects.

Applebee and Langer (1983) explain the steps that teachers, as designers of instruction, take to create the scaffolding that will allow their students develop as writers:

Teachers approaching instruction from this perspective must a) determine the difficulties that a new task is likely to pose for particular students, b) select strategies that can be used to overcome the specific difficulties anticipated, and c) structure the activity as a whole to make those strategies explicit (through questioning and modelling) at appropriate places in the task sequence. (p. 169)

This module describes how these three steps were adapted to create scaffolded instruction in a writing-intensive course. Just as a scaffolding is used to facilitate the construction of a building and then removed when it is no longer needed, scaffolded instruction helps students to work through the steps to a process that they may not be ready to take on independently. Key to this process in a writing-intensive course is the use of frequent, low-stakes assignments that function as the braces, brackets, and platforms students use as they construct a formal writing project.

Support for this Module

Original development of this module was made possible by the College STAR (Supporting Transition Access and Retention) initiative.  College STAR was a grant-funded project focused on partnering postsecondary educational professionals and students to learn ways for helping postsecondary campuses become more welcoming of students with learning and attention differences. Much of this work was made possible by generous funding from the Oak Foundation.

Module Link

This resource was originally developed with resources from the College STAR grant. That grant has ended and the College STAR modules will now permanently reside at the East Carolina University Office for Faculty Excellence.

Module Introduction

Developed by Allan Carrington, the Padagogy Wheel is designed to connect Bloom's Taxonomy with Apple iPad applications (commonly known as "apps"). The Padagogy Wheel is divided into five segments that relate directly to the cognitive domains of Bloom's Taxonomy. Within the five segments of the wheel, subcategories explore each domain further with related action verbs, activities, and iPad apps. The goal of the Padagogy Wheel is for students to access the higher order thinking of Bloom's Taxonomy via iPad technology. The wheel allows teachers to develop outcome-oriented lessons by choosing an outcome, activity, and form of analysis or creativity. The Padagogy Wheel was designed to target engagement through immersive learning (Carrington, 2012). 

According to Carrington, when teachers discuss engagement, they are also referring to motivation. If teachers are unable to motivate students to interact with the material and participate in the learning process, they will be unsuccessful.

Support for this Module

Original development of this module was made possible by the College STAR (Supporting Transition Access and Retention) initiative.  College STAR was a grant-funded project focused on partnering postsecondary educational professionals and students to learn ways for helping postsecondary campuses become more welcoming of students with learning and attention differences. Much of this work was made possible by generous funding from the Oak Foundation.

Module Link

This resource was originally developed with resources from the College STAR grant. That grant has ended and the College STAR modules will now permanently reside at the East Carolina University Office for Faculty Excellence.

Module Introduction

Winifred Gallagher, author of Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life (2010) theorizes that “Your life - who you are, what you think, feel, and do, what you love - is the sum of what you focus on” (p.1).  Mindfulness is a process of practicing the art of attention.  It holds the promise of engendering focus, presence, and receptivity along with an inner perspective that supports flexibility of mind, non-judgmental self-awareness and reduction of stress and anxiety.

This case study highlights multiple means of engaging students with processes of mindfulness throughout a college course on leadership.  Mindfulness processes and evidence of student achievement in this area are not situated as a gradable components of the class, instead, mindfulness outcomes are integrated into the class as a mode of inquiry, an experiential process with no right or wrong answers, no rubricized criteria, and feedback is given as affirmation and encouragement. The UDL goal of providing multiple means of student engagement and internalizing self-regulation intersect with several experiential aspects of the classroom mindfulness practices. Additionally, engaging students in foundational mindfulness practices creates opportunities for self-regulation, reflective self-assessment and the development of personal coping strategies.

Support for this Module

Original development of this module was made possible by the College STAR (Supporting Transition Access and Retention) initiative.  College STAR was a grant-funded project focused on partnering postsecondary educational professionals and students to learn ways for helping postsecondary campuses become more welcoming of students with learning and attention differences. Much of this work was made possible by generous funding from the Oak Foundation.

Module Link

This resource was originally developed with resources from the College STAR grant. That grant has ended and the College STAR modules will now permanently reside at the East Carolina University Office for Faculty Excellence.

Module Introduction

Mnemonic strategies are commonly used across content areas to help students remember important information or concepts. When we talk about mnemonics, people often think of mnemonic acronyms that enable people to remember items through the use of a catchy word or phrase in which the acronym letters begin each of the terms in a list. For example, many people remember the colors in the rainbow using the acronym "ROY G BIV," which represents the colors in the order they appear in a rainbow-red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. But there are many other types of mnemonics. They can be classified in two broad categories: organizational mnemonics, which help students organize previously acquired information; and encoding mnemonics, which allow students to transform new information in a meaningful way. In this module we will look at the different types of mnemonic devices as well as strategies for implementing them in the classroom.

Support for this Module

Original development of this module was made possible by the College STAR (Supporting Transition Access and Retention) initiative.  College STAR was a grant-funded project focused on partnering postsecondary educational professionals and students to learn ways for helping postsecondary campuses become more welcoming of students with learning and attention differences. Much of this work was made possible by generous funding from the Oak Foundation.

Module Link

This resource was originally developed with resources from the College STAR grant. That grant has ended and the College STAR modules will now permanently reside at the East Carolina University Office for Faculty Excellence.

Module Introduction

This module offers fun ways to engage students and a fast, low-stakes way to express and assess student learning each week.  Students, individually or in groups, summarize the main lesson they learned in class that week by using a series of creative, expressive communication techniques, which facilitate multiple means of expression and engagement.  I describe the instructional strategy for engaging students in otherwise wearying or intimidating courses.  

The senior capstone course in sociology is known among students for being challenging and tedious.  They must pass the capstone course with a C or better to graduate and, unlike many of their other courses, it is not topic-driven and thus not so relevant to their life experiences and interests.  I therefore wanted to find ways to engage students and acknowledge the difficulties and pressures of this rigorous required course by introducing an affective dimension to the learning process.  Further, realizing that I did not always know if the lessons I sought to impart were being understood well, I wanted to find ways to assess how well students were learning what I was teaching each week.  

While my sociology course is a traditional face-to-face class, the devices I share can easily be used in online environments as well.  This module provides a series of templates that teachers can download and use, electronically or on paper, online or face-to-face, to engage students in fast and fun reflective summaries of that day’s or week’s lesson.  While I used these as quick in-class assessment activities, they could also be assigned as homework activities.

Support for this Module

Original development of this module was made possible by the College STAR (Supporting Transition Access and Retention) initiative.  College STAR was a grant-funded project focused on partnering postsecondary educational professionals and students to learn ways for helping postsecondary campuses become more welcoming of students with learning and attention differences. Much of this work was made possible by generous funding from the Oak Foundation.

Module Link

This resource was originally developed with resources from the College STAR grant. That grant has ended and the College STAR modules will now permanently reside at the East Carolina University Office for Faculty Excellence.

Module Introduction

Lecture Capture refers to a wide range of technologies designed to preserve information created in a classroom setting. In a traditional sense this could be considered student notes or distributed PowerPoint slides. Recently schools have placed greater emphasis on using video recording technologies for this purpose. As such, videos will be the primary focus of this module, which provides details on the types of technologies available to create a range of different types of recorded lectures, and places them within the context of the Universal Design for Learning.

There are numerous options available for creating videos, from camcorders placed in the room to complex video-management systems. Most systems designed specifically for lecture capture create two simultaneous videos-- one captures the classroom, while the other captures the computer screen or projector. At East Carolina University, the two primary technologies involved in this process are Tegrity and MediaSite, although there are numerous others available on the market. This module will discuss the use of these technologies to record in the classroom, as well as how they can be used outside the classroom to fulfill a variety of purposes, including assignment feedback, just-in time instruction, make-up lessons, and research tutorials.

Support for this Module

Original development of this module was made possible by the College STAR (Supporting Transition Access and Retention) initiative.  College STAR was a grant-funded project focused on partnering postsecondary educational professionals and students to learn ways for helping postsecondary campuses become more welcoming of students with learning and attention differences. Much of this work was made possible by generous funding from the Oak Foundation.

Module Link

This resource was originally developed with resources from the College STAR grant. That grant has ended and the College STAR modules will now permanently reside at the East Carolina University Office for Faculty Excellence.

Module Introduction

Aligned with adult education theories, enacting democratic practice can have a positive impact on student learning and engagement. Cervero and Wilson (2006) emphasize the role of power in the process of planning educational programs for adult learners; they theorize that the four key dimensions of the “planning table” at play are these: power relations, interests, ethical commitments, and negotiation. This is particularly important in higher education, where the teacher-student relationship is structured such that the teacher holds the power to assign grades and typically the teacher makes planning decisions prior to the course even starting. Putting theory into practice, each dimension can be considered as teachers plan for activities and assignments, course policies, course content, and student evaluation (Weimer, 2013). Educators have experimented with efforts to return power to students by collaborating with them in a range of higher education projects, such as the design of a cohort-based graduate degree program (Colin & Heaney, 2001), pre-service teacher education curriculum development (Enright et al., 2017) and redesign of a first-year undergraduate science course (Bengtson et al., 2017).

In this case study, I explore the role of power in curriculum and course design through considering approaches to involving students in the planning process. In my own teaching, I involved my students in the design of a new graduate course. Student perspectives on participating in this process were gained through an open-ended survey conducted after the conclusion of the semester. Questions were based on the theoretical framework of Cervero and Wilson (2006) in order to gain insight into the role of the student and teacher in the planning process. Qualitative analysis of student responses was conducted based on the constant comparative method (Lincoln and Guba, 1985) in order to reveal common themes. Additionally, I led a Practice Session at the 2020 Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy in which attendees shared their ideas and strategies. Synthesizing experiences from my own practice and input from workshop participants, I describe strategies for engaging students in the decision-making process and discuss real-world tensions in this work that serve as entry points for further reflection and exploration.

Support for this Module

Original development of this module was made possible by the College STAR (Supporting Transition Access and Retention) initiative.  College STAR was a grant-funded project focused on partnering postsecondary educational professionals and students to learn ways for helping postsecondary campuses become more welcoming of students with learning and attention differences. Much of this work was made possible by generous funding from the Oak Foundation.

Module Link

This resource was originally developed with resources from the College STAR grant. That grant has ended and the College STAR modules will now permanently reside at the East Carolina University Office for Faculty Excellence.

Module Introduction

If you ask students, academia is full of right and wrong answers. However, Dr. Vicki Klima, Professor of Mathematical Sciences, disagrees: "I think that in general, we believe that math is about the right answer. But it's not so much about the right answer. It's about logical thinking. And the way we progress through to the solution is more important than the number that you write at the end."

In her algebra classes at Appalachian State University, Dr. Klima utilizes an inquiry-based learning approach called presentation problems. In this method, students attempt to solve a mathematical problem, work towards a solution, and write down their questions in places where they are stuck. Then, in class, a student is asked to present the problem and their solution on the board for the class to discuss. Students then correct their work or answer their questions during the class review. The technique emphasizes process over product and identification of strengths as well as weaknesses; it reduces student stress, and increases student involvement. Best of all, it is a practice that can be applied across disciplines.

Support for this Module

Original development of this module was made possible by the College STAR (Supporting Transition Access and Retention) initiative.  College STAR was a grant-funded project focused on partnering postsecondary educational professionals and students to learn ways for helping postsecondary campuses become more welcoming of students with learning and attention differences. Much of this work was made possible by generous funding from the Oak Foundation.

Module Link

This resource was originally developed with resources from the College STAR grant. That grant has ended and the College STAR modules will now permanently reside at the East Carolina University Office for Faculty Excellence.

Module Introduction

Learning abstract theories can be challenging to students, more so when instructor proximity and simultaneous class interactions are much different in the online class environment. As classrooms and instructional environments continue to evolve, instructors must be more and more intentional about ensuring that students make connections between the actual roles theories play in real life situations.

This case study depicts a project-based learning method to improve student engagement, understanding, and mastery of the abstract theories within the online class environment. An overarching three-stage project was introduced to the students in an online Educational Psychology class, together with detailed project guidelines, grading rubrics, and discussion forums. Students were required to find a problem in their personal /professional life, decide on their project of interest, and apply the theories being presented in the course to solve the problem. Students are tasked with documenting their attempts and effectiveness with their project and reflecting on the learning that occurred during this experience. This project-based learning method will be explained in the context of a motivation class. However, the method can be broadly used across disciplines which involve the teaching of abstract theories.

Support for this Module

Original development of this module was made possible by the College STAR (Supporting Transition Access and Retention) initiative.  College STAR was a grant-funded project focused on partnering postsecondary educational professionals and students to learn ways for helping postsecondary campuses become more welcoming of students with learning and attention differences. Much of this work was made possible by generous funding from the Oak Foundation.