ON Cultivating Student Engagement in Higher Ed

In this first season's episode, we dive into a two-part series exploring the transformative journey of Poll Everywhere at the University of Delaware. Since the onset of the pandemic, this multimodal tool has become an integral part of the university's pedagogical toolkit. Poll Everywhere has the ability to gather instantaneous feedback from students, even in large lecture settings, through various interactive features. You'll learn that this isn't just about technology—but about fostering inclusion, promoting engagement, and visualizing learning in real-time.

In this series, we'll go beyond the basics. Hear firsthand accounts from esteemed faculty members who've seamlessly integrated Poll Everywhere into their large lecture classes. They'll share the highs, the lows, and the game-changing strategies they've discovered along the way. If you're keen to elevate your teaching methods or simply curious about the impact of real-time student engagement, this series is a must-listen!

This faculty panel includes:
Agnes Ly, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences and director of undergraduate advising for PSYC and NSCI majors.

Haritha Malladi, director of first-year engineering and assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering.
Stefanie DeVito, assistant professor of biological sciences. 

Part III: Tools, Tips, and Time Management in Large Lectures
With the sheer volume of students in large lectures, how do faculty ensure every student feels seen? Tune in for this final episode to explore the tools and tactics these educators use for ongoing encouragement. From time management to assessment strategies, this final episode provides their pearls of wisdom and ways that they bring their best selves to their large lecture classes.

Part II: Managing Challenges with Design and Delivery for Large Lecture Courses
Teaching a sea of students is no easy feat but it comes with the job. This episode brings to the forefront the inherent challenges of large-scale instruction and how these educators implement thoughtful strategies for managing how they design and deliver their courses. Listen to their stories of innovation and adaptability as they turn these challenges into opportunities for learning communities and engagement for their large classes.

Part I: Navigating a Sea of Students - Class Size, Types, and First Experiences
Ever wondered how the dynamics of a classroom change with its size? In this podcast, we dive into rich conversations with a faculty panel who share their perspectives related to whether or not class size mattered, the types of large courses they have been teaching, and their first teaching experiences with large lecture class sections. 

This faculty panel includes:
Agnes Ly, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences and director of undergraduate advising for PSYC and NSCI majors.

Haritha Malladi, director of first-year engineering and assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering.

Lindsay Hoffman, an associate professor of communication and political science.

This podcast focuses on the perspectives of faculty work with specifications grading. The final part of this series features Ellen Monk, Associate Professor in the Department of Accounting and MIS in the Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware. Ellen also serves as the Associate Chair of the MIS department. Ellen shares her perspective of specs grading and the challenges that can come with it. The hope is that through this shared experience, listeners gain a well-rounded point of view as to whether or not this type of assessment might be right for their students.  

This podcast focuses on the perspectives of faculty work with specifications grading. This second part of the series continues the conversation with three College of Engineering faculty members: Nazim Karaca, a data engineer at the University of Delaware who helps human-subject researchers collect and manage their data, who also teaches computer programming and ethics at UD. Sheldon Hewlett, an Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Delaware, who teaches introductory courses in materials science as well as junior labs, and Julie Karand, an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Delaware, focuses on teaching undergraduate engineering and global experiences in the engineering curriculum. These brilliant faculty members explore their methods for communicating spec grading to their students, how they reflect it in their syllabi, and the student feedback received about this type of assessment. 

This podcast focuses on the perspectives of faculty work with specifications grading. The first two parts feature three College of Engineering faculty members: Nazim Karaca, a data engineer at the University of Delaware who helps human-subject researchers collect and manage their data, who also teaches computer programming and ethics at UD. Sheldon Hewlett, an Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Delaware, who teaches introductory courses in materials science as well as junior labs, and Julie Karand, an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Delaware, focuses on teaching undergraduate engineering and global experiences in the engineering curriculum.The purpose of this series is to provide perspectives that will help you as you consider whether or not this type of assessment might be right for you and your students.

In this second episode of Season 4, the new host Dr. Lauren Kelley, welcomes Vic Wang, director of noncredit professional programs for the University of Delaware’s Division of Professional and Continuing Studies (UD PCS). Vic oversees the creation, management, and successful implementation of all online and face-to-face noncredit programs, certificates, workshops, conferences, and customized programs.  This podcast will focus on microcredentials in higher education. What is shared in this episode strives to shed light on how this impacts the recognition of educational experiences and completion. Take a listen to how microcredentials have evolved at the University of Delaware and how microcredentials, in general, have continued to evolve and change the workforce.

In this first episode of Season 4, the new host Dr. Lauren Kelley, an instructional designer in UD-IT Academic Technology Services (ATS) welcomes the UDCapture Team.  The UDCapture Team is also part of ATS and they are responsible for a suite of tools that allow faculty and students to create and share videos. This tiny team has oversight and coordination of automatic classroom capture for in-person classes, a variety of recording studios, and self-service platforms for your media.

📍Be sure to listen until the end for an opportunity to participate in an AI-based pilot with the UDCapture Team. This pilot involves profile development. After listening to this episode, if this pilot piqued your interest - please contact them at [email protected]. Space is limited to 8-10 faculty from a diversity of disciplines.

In this teaser trailer, the new host Dr. Lauren Kelley, an instructional designer in UD-IT Academic Technology Services (ATS) welcomes  ON - Cultivating Student Engagement in Higher Ed listeners to the new season.  She shares what you can expect from this reimagined podcast and promises ON listeners that they can expect to become better acquainted with support services available to them regardless of their course modality.