10 Tips for Humanizing Teaching Online Out there in the World
Keynote Speaker Anthropology Professor, Dr. Michael Wesch
Michael Wesch is the creator of the Teaching Without Walls video series which includes the top ranked YouTube video for college online teaching. The New York Times listed him as one of 10 professors in the nation whose courses “mess with old models” and added that “they give students an experience that might change how they think, what they care about or even how they live their lives.” His videos have been viewed over 20 million times, translated in over 20 languages, and are frequently featured at international film festivals and major academic conferences worldwide. Wesch has won several major awards for his work, including the US Professor of the Year Award from the Carnegie Foundation, the Wired Magazine Rave Award, and he was named an Emerging Explorer by National Geographic.
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Engaging Students through POGIL & Differentiated Instruction
Presented by Dr. Miriam Frances Abety and Professor Annette Zayas
We will present a brief Differentiated Instruction (DI) strategy followed by an introduction to Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) as well as a sample of a completed POGIL assignment, including how to prepare students before they begin.
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View additional presentation: POGIL Activity Student Responses
Being Sustainable through Biology: Aquaponic Systems
Presented by Bryan Pineda, MDC Student
Faculty Mentor: Professor Jaeson Clayborn
Aquaponic gardening integrates fish farming and soil-less hydroponic) crop production in a highly productive system that conserves water by recirculating nutrient-rich fish effluent as fertilizer for horticultural crops. This integrated system eliminates fertilizer runoff, conserves water through treatment and recirculation, and conserves space through higher crop yields per unit area. Aquaponics is particularly well-suited for urban areas, especially where uncontaminated fertile soil is scarce. Aquaponic systems are emerging as more efficient alternatives to conventional agriculture practices. Traditional methods for gardening will have to adapt to climate change (e.g., drought, water deluge). As aquaponic systems become popular at schools and homes, people will want to experiment with non-traditional plants beyond leafy greens and tilapia. Available literature reviewing the ability and likelihood of successfully growing non-traditional crops and fish in tropical climates is sparse. Integrating the construction and maintenance of mini-aquaponic systems in BSC1005 and BSC2011 presents an active-learning, hands-on approach to the knowledge gained in class. Students learn how to conduct experiments through the application of the scientific method with minimal supplies. Application to real-world scenarios in class challenges students to connect the dots and rise to the occasion.
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As part of Project SUBE, MDC students participated in early experiential project-based teaching activities with K-12 students in collaboration with identified nonprofit community partners at informal learning centers during the Fall 2018 and Spring 2019. These experiential learning activities immersed students who may have not considered a career in teaching secondary science, grades 6-12, in the teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) using a hands-on teaching approach. Students were required to complete a minimum of 15 service-learning hours to explore STEM teaching as a possible career. A total of 106 students, 72 from the School of Education (68%) and 34 from the School of Science (32%), participated in the SUBE service-learning opportunities, accruing 1,388 community service hours.
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Using Virtual Reality to Inspire Real World Civic Action
Presented by Dr. José Sebastián Terneus
This presentation will explain how professors can use virtual reality fieldtrips to educate and inspire students to take civic action. Specifically, Dr. Terneus will share how he used a virtual reality documentary about deforestation in the Amazon to teach his College Composition students about climate change. The VR fieldtrip ultimately motivated his classes to become more sustainable and advocate for climate action in Miami. Dr. Terneus’ presentation will conclude by sharing affordable and accessible strategies for implementing VR into your classroom.
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A Virtual Gaming Experience to Engage Players in Insect Conservation: Butterfly World 1.0
Presented by Dr. Jaeson Clayborn
Urbanization and indifference are major threats to Earth’s biodiversity and ecosystem services beneficial to humanity. Biodiversity preservation and habitat conservation generate countless ecosystem services for humans ranging from nutrient cycling and pollination for crop production to reduced stress and increased memory and attention span. The human population is expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050 with the majority residing in cities. The demand for space and resources presents a significant conundrum between humans and wildlife. A reconciliation ecology approach to ongoing urbanization can thwart biodiversity loss.
Simply put, connections can exist between urban gardens and forests. It's time to consider a scalable reconciliation ecology approach to insect and ecosystem conservation through experiential education and virtual empathy. City life often disconnects people from the natural environment leading to “extinction of experience” and “environmental apathy.” However, virtual reality (VR) is the new frontier in environmental education with the potential to bridge the intention-behavior gap.
VR users, rather than being passive learners, can make decisions in the virtual environment and observe impacts from their choices on the environment, on their own livelihoods and on future generations. By interacting with the environment, users' engagement is reinforced and could enhance retention of information and potentially change behavior. VR can deliver natural world experiences in homes, schools, and community centers reaching local and distant people. VR is not exclusionary allowing elderly and disabled people to participate in the experience. Our serious game, Butterfly World 1.0, has the potential to transform the way people learn about nature
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Escaping Social Injustice through Gamification and Dialogue
Presented by Professor Emily Sendin & Librarian Isabel Duque
Escape rooms with social justice issues at their center is “a type of live-action social game that require groups of four to ten individuals to work together to solve a series of puzzles in order to escape from a locked room.”An escape room will be erooms that address social impact would even be more beneficial to the students and the campus communities at large. One example of how social change can be incorporated into escape room methodology is the escape artist Risa Puno’s most recent project: The Privilege of Escape. Her newly designed escape room “addresses privilege and social inequality” (Spira). For Puno, “a game that requires collective problem-solving to get through uncomfort.
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Video Editing Made Easy with Adobe Premiere Rush
Presented by Professor Thomas Demos
This innovative workshop will show faculty how to empower their students to produce videos that reflect on and share learning. Faculty will learn how their students can use Adobe Premiere Rush CC to produce polished, professional, multi-modal content that includes video, still images, sound effects, music, graphics, and text. With Rush, students will be transformed from mere consumers of digital media into producers of high-quality and shareable videos. Students exposed to this innovative way of learning and sharing will be more digitally literate upon graduation and will be better prepared to succeed in the 21st century economy.
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