Submit nominations for 2020 Teaching and Learning with Technology Impact Award

Submit nominations for 2020 Teaching and Learning with Technology Impact Award

Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT) is accepting nominations for Penn State faculty members whose work is driving digital innovation and transforming education.

The 2020 Teaching and Learning with Technology Impact Award call for nominations is open now through Friday, October 18. This award is given annually in recognition of excellence in teaching and learning at Penn State. The Impact Award celebrates cross-disciplinary projects, courses, and collaborations that have positively enhanced teaching, learning, and the use of learning spaces across Penn State and beyond.

Penn State tenure-line faculty or non-tenure-line teaching faculty are eligible for nomination. University faculty, staff, and students are able to submit nominations, and self-nominations are welcome.

The TLT Impact Award includes a commemorative medal, $3,000 cash award, an invitation to serve as a TLT ambassador, and additional support to extend the impact of the recipient’s work.

Last year, Laura Guertin, professor of earth science at Penn State Brandywine, and Timothy W. Simpson, Paul Morrow Professor of Engineering Design and Manufacturing in the College of Engineering, received the TLT Impact Award.

Visit the Impact Award’s website to learn more.

“The Dreamery Sessions” podcast launches featuring conversations about teaching, learning, and technology

“The Dreamery Sessions” podcast launches featuring conversations about teaching, learning, and technology

A newly launched podcast, “The Dreamery Sessions,” will tell the stories of Penn State faculty and students who are delivering on two critical themes of Penn State’s Strategic Plan: “transforming education” and “driving digital innovation.”

Zach Lonsinger, learning experiences designer with Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT), and Ray Schmitt, public relations specialist with TLT, co-host each episode. Their conversations revolve around four topics that are contributing to positive changes at the University: digital fluency, innovation, creativity, and emerging technology.

“This podcast is an excellent way to tell the stories of Penn Staters who are finding inventive ways to overcome some of the challenges facing higher education such as access and student engagement,” said Kyle Bowen, director of innovation with TLT. “We hope that these conversations will inspire members of our University community to embrace their creative ideas and work to bring them to life.”

Episodes of “The Dreamery Sessions” will go live on a bi-weekly basis with the introductory “Episode 0” and “Episode 1” unveiled on August 26. Six additional episodes will follow through the fall semester, and the show’s second season will coincide with the start of the spring semester and also feature seven installments.

The lineup of guests for the first season includes Sam Richards and Jeff Hamill talking about live-streaming SOC 119 to the world, Daniel Foster delving into teaching in an experimental classroom, and student Walter Bain detailing his role as Penn State’s “Maker in Residence.”

Interested listeners will be able to subscribe to “The Dreamery Sessions” via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Anchor. Additionally, episodes will be available to stream on the TLT website.

Faculty share their innovative ideas to engage students at Canvas Day 2019

Faculty share their innovative ideas to engage students at Canvas Day 2019

Digital teaching and learning tools enable faculty to engage students with new techniques and approaches. From integrating learning tools with Canvas that allow users to communicate remotely via Zoom to unlimited storage for photos and videos with Kaltura, the goal for Canvas Day is to build upon Penn State faculty’s experiences with Canvas in facilitating collaboration among peers to enhance teaching and learning with technology.

Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer Michael Kubit kicked off Canvas Day 2019 at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center on Friday, March 15, talking about a digital transformation in higher education, and Penn State’s commitment to putting the needs of students and faculty first by taking an outside-in approach to IT services. “Start with our users and work back to the technology,” said Kubit. “Our jobs as IT professionals is to continuously think of ways to deliver technology better, more effectively and efficiently to the university community.”

Citing a 2017 study by a Penn State Information Technology graduate student, Kubit highlighted that 95 percent of undergraduate students owned a laptop or a smartphone. Eighty-three percent used their smartphone for course-related activities for one or more courses, and 25 percent used a smartphone for all of their courses.

Luckily, for the more than 270 attendees of Canvas Day 2019, Ryan Seilhamer, program director of mobile strategy at the University of Central Florida, returned for his third visit to Penn State. Seilhamer presented on the Canvas Teacher app, which highlighted its enhanced communication features in facilitating a course on a mobile device, and on the Canvas Student app to help faculty optimize a course for the best student mobile experience.

Forty-seven faculty and staff presented at Canvas Day 2019, with 15 coming to University Park from Commonwealth campuses, despite forecasts calling for morning rain. Senior Director for Teaching and Learning with Technology Jennifer Sparrow jokingly thanked the Canvas Day planning committee for their foresight in deciding to give away umbrellas to each attendee, adding that the multifunctional, zippered carrying case for the umbrellas doubled as a case for your sunglasses.

The fun and brain-stimulating energy of the day continued with attendees playing a Canvas clue game to solve the mystery and finally put to rest the unanswered questions about what happened to ANGEL, Penn State’s former learning management system. At each morning session, attendees collected clue cards such as one for Lieutenant Colonel Terry Mustard (a.k.a Terry O’Heron, director of operations for Teaching and Learning with Technology). At lunchtime, after attendees tested their knowledge in Canvas trivia, the winning hand for the Canvas clue game revealed that ANGEL met its demise when the Canvas Panda mascot spilled a cup of coffee at the Palmer Museum of Art.

Canvas Day has evolved from faculty training sessions on the basics to becoming an invaluable networking event where faculty share and explore innovative new ways to enhance their teaching in the classroom that advance learning outcomes for students.

A few of the well-attended sessions were Instructional Designer Brett Bixler’s session on “Adding Gamification Elements to a Canvas Course” to increase student motivation and satisfaction; Instructure Director of Product Matt Goodwin’s “New Gradebook in Canvas” explained some of the new features for managing grades; and Instructional Multimedia Designer Mary Ann Mengel showed how students in a criminology course filmed stories that illustrated concepts of police work using 360-degree video.

A group of people standing in a room talking to each other. A girl is scooping ice cream into bowls.

Canvas Day 2019 attendees at One Cool Thing session enjoying scoops of Penn State Berkey Creamery ice cream.

Canvas Day 2019 wrapped up with attendees enjoying scoops of Penn State Berkey Creamery ice cream and voting for the “coolest” presentation at the One Cool Thing session. Beating out nine other presenters, Ronald Kelly, assistant teaching professor of administration of justice at Penn State Schuylkill, won the One Cool Thing competition for his mini-presentation, “Spice up your course: Student involvement with Bitmoji,” which earned him an iPad. Attendee Hongyan (Red) Yuan, an instructional designer from Penn State Berks, also won an iPad after her name was randomly selected from the list of voters for the One Cool Thing session.

By the end of Canvas Day 2019, it was sunny in the high 60s, and attendees were able to pack away that umbrella to put on their sunglasses. “On behalf of the Canvas Day planning committee, we thank everyone for attending and hope to see you next year!” said Kristen Lytle, 2019 Canvas Day chair and Teaching and Learning with Technology learning tools project manager.

TLT Symposium 2019 sparks one’s imagination for what is possible in higher education

TLT Symposium 2019 sparks one’s imagination for what is possible in higher education

On Saturday, March 16, more than 500 attendees packed into Presidents Hall at The Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center to kick off the 26th Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology at Penn State. One of the most innovative professional development events of the year at Penn State, no other conference promises to spark your imagination and stoke your curiosity for what is possible for the future of higher education.

In her opening remarks, Jennifer Sparrow, senior director of Teaching and Learning with Technology, touched on Penn State’s commitment to forward-thinking with initiatives such as President Barron’s vision for One Penn State 2025, a guiding framework for University-wide education innovation with a focus on student success and lifelong engagement. “I am proud that Penn State continues to be cutting-edge and Teaching and Learning with Technology collaborates with faculty to explore how innovative technology can transform education to advance student learning.”

Penn State leads the charge in reimagining student learning by tackling the burning discussions in higher education on topics such as immersive learning, connecting education to the workforce of the future, and promoting access and equity.

A large crowd of 500 people in a room listening to the keynote speaker's address

Keynote speaker Dan Heath addresses a crowd of more than 500 attendees at the 2019 TLT Symposium at The Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center.

After the buffet breakfast, four-time New York Times bestselling author and a Senior Fellow at Duke University’s CASE Center, Dan Heath delivered the keynote address on how to make ideas stick. “Our memories are leaky, fallible, and they deteriorate,” says Heath. “For an idea to stick, it needs to be understood, remembered, and change something.”

Citing the research done by Dr. Michael Palmer, professor of chemistry and director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Virginia, Heath captivated the audience with his explanation of how Dr. Palmer used learner-centered, backward-integrated design principles to convince instructors to rethink how they create a syllabus to teach their courses. By starting with a goal of what is most important for students to take away from a course and working backward to create the activities and assessments, the core ideas have a chance of sticking long after students leave the classroom.

Heath co-authored four must-read business books, with his brother Chip, including Made to Stick, Switch, Decisive, and their latest, The Power of Moments.

Energized by the keynote speaker’s message, attendees dashed to the concurrent sessions—two before lunch and two afterwards. The most popular sessions covered topics including 3D printing, 360-degree videos, open educational resources, learning the art of storytelling, the future of digital fluency, and leveraging prototypes of artificial intelligence applications to support data empowered learning at Penn State.

The most anticipated aspect of the Symposium every year is the Open Innovation Challenge, where five faculty innovators have five minutes to present their idea in the hopes that it will ignite the attendees’ curiosity and earn their votes as the most impactful.

Professor of Astronomy Chris Palma envisioned technology that will help students embody solar system formations; Faith McDonald, professor of English, hoped to prepare students with digital stories to face workplace challenges; Dr. Matthew Woessner, professor of Political Science, wanted to create 360-degree videos to take students to distant places through virtual reality; Josephine Wee, assistant professor of food science, wanted students to reimagine classrooms without textbooks and embrace interactive content in real-time; and Rodney Allen Trice, professor of practice in the graphic design department of the Stuckeman School at Penn State, won the challenge with his idea “Walk a Mile,” a series of 360-degree videos and photos that create an immersive experience to invoke empathy. Penn State’s Stuckeman School also houses graduate and undergraduate degree programs in architecture and landscape architecture.

Over the course of the year, Trice’s idea will be explored and developed with the help of TLT staff. “Working on the Open Innovation Challenge is the highlight of my year,” explains Zach Lonsinger, learning experiences designer for Teaching and Learning with Technology. “I enjoy having the opportunity to meet and work with amazing faculty who have this contagious enthusiasm and passion for transforming teaching and learning with their big ideas.”

The conference ended with faculty networking over scoops of Penn State Berkey Creamery ice cream while trying out some new technologies such as test driving a BEAM robot and stepping into virtual reality with headsets at the Discovery sessions.

The Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology brings together faculty, staff, and innovators to inspire new ideas for what is possible in the future of higher education. It takes one “sticky” idea to inspire innovation that changes the world. From Gutenberg’s printing press to Thomas Edison’s light bulb, curiosity fuels learning, and educators are charged with stoking it.

“It’s incredible how dedicated our faculty, staff, and students are to show up at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning to share the innovative things that they are doing in the classrooms and to learn more about what is happening in the teaching and learning community at Penn State,” says Sara Davis, 2019 Symposium chair and Teaching and Learning with Technology instructional designer. “I want to thank everyone who attended the 2019 Symposium and mark your calendars, the 2020 TLT Symposium will be on Saturday, March 21, 2020. I hope to see everyone next year.”

Rodney Allen Trice’s “Walk a Mile…” project wins 2019 Open Innovation Challenge

Rodney Allen Trice’s “Walk a Mile…” project wins 2019 Open Innovation Challenge

A few hours made all the difference when it came to how the Open Innovation Challenge (OIC) at the 2019 Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology was won. If Rodney Allen Trice, professor of practice in graphic design at the Stuckeman School in Penn State’s College of Arts and Architecture, hadn’t visited the Dreamery on January 25 the contest’s outcome would have been entirely different.

“I had only even found out about [the OIC] the day the first 250-word pitch was due,” said Trice. Zach Lonsinger and I met to tour Teaching and Learning with Technology’s facilities and he said, ‘By the way, OIC proposals are due at midnight tonight if you’re interested.’”

Trice had been tinkering with an idea for an immersive, empathy-building project for some time and knew the proverbial iron was hot and the time to strike was right.

“Of course, I had to take the challenge on and hustle to shape a few ideas into the proposal that was due within a few hours of hearing about it,” he explained.

Those few hours were enough for Trice to submit a successful proposal that led to a chance to present his project, called “Walk a Mile…” to an audience of over 500 at TLT’s marquee event, Symposium, on March 16. While he had weeks to prepare and fine-tune the presentation, Trice still got caught up in the whirlwind of activity that is Symposium.

Rodney Allen Trice presents his walk a mile project at Symposium two thousand nineteen

Trice makes his OIC-winning presentation

“Presenting that day was 120 miles-per-hour and before I knew it, I was on stage and my video was running and I was talking,” Trice said. “There was not a lot of time to get fussy or overthink anything. It was exciting and being the New Yorker I am, I loved that kind of challenge.”

For Trice, the challenge was met because his project received enough votes from the Symposium attendees at the Penn Stater to take it from an idea to an actuality. Similar to a career path that has seen him spend 30 years as an art director for magazines such as Essence, People, and Vibe before returning to teach at his alma mater, Trice’s path to bringing “Walk a Mile…” to life took some time.

“In the last few years, I’ve split time between my adult home in New York City and my hometown just outside of Pittsburgh. As I walked the streets of both those worlds, it thoroughly troubled me how polarized we are,” he clarified regarding the inspiration for the project.

“’Walk a Mile…’ was born of my observations in that time, and its goal is to use the impact of immersive experiences to communicate our common struggles and challenges,” Trice continued. “Imagine being a part of a conversation at the kitchen table where a black parent talks to their eight-year-old about police violence or standing for a few minutes in the fenced cages full of children at our southern border. It has the power to stimulate the conversations we need to have.”

Discussions of immersive experiences typically center around technology like 360-degree video, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR). These are still nascent technologies whose promise is growing in the public eye. Global law firm, Perkins Coie, recently published its third survey on AR and VR, and the number of respondents who see applications for the technology in fields like education, workforce development, and manufacturing grew from the prior two. On a personal level, Trice was sold on its educational potential from the first time he tried it.

“Way back, a friend had me put on his VR headset and I found myself inside a mud and grass yurt that was barely high enough inside to stand up,” he relayed. “I was standing by a fire in the center surrounded by a tribe of seven or eight weathered men from the more remote regions of South America. At the time, this was my one-and-only VR experience and it went so much deeper than a film or photo. I felt them and their space, and it’s weird because I remember it, now, similar to real-life experience.”

While the Open Innovation Challenge triumph required its share of legwork, now the heavy lifting for Trice and his support team from TLT will begin. It’s work that Kyle Bowen, director of innovation at TLT, says his team is eager to undertake.

“Rodney is extremely talented at producing compelling visual stories and artwork, and his vision for ‘Walk a Mile…’ is inspiring. We’re thrilled to work with him and the

Kyle Bowen introduces the open innovation challenge participants

Kyle Bowen introduces the OIC participants

immersive technology at our disposal to make this happen.”

“I hope to meet with the TLT team as soon as possible to talk about a time frame, the process of shooting the shots, and how to use this project in the biggest way possible,” Trice added.

The current focus for the group working on “Walk a Mile…” may be to gather the resources needed to make it all happen, but Trice’s ambition remains rooted in the future; whether related to his teaching or his OIC-winning project.

“My inspiration for teaching is the future,” he noted. “My students are humanity’s future, and what we’re working on each day is the future of graphic design and visual communication.”

“When it comes to ‘Walk a Mile…,’ I would love to see this show travel around the country,” Trice added. “I would love it to inspire people to begin the process of mending we desperately need, and to spark a tide of empathy projects that pierce into real-world spaces and the hearts that most need it.”

Trice was part of a quintet of OIC presenters at this year’s Symposium. Each finalist was selected from dozens of submissions and was given five minutes to present their idea to Symposium attendees. Voting took place from the conclusion of the final presentation throughout the afternoon sessions. The faculty who presented their OIC ideas alongside Trice were:

Faith McDonald, Assistant Teaching Professor of English, Penn State University Park

“Success Stories: Equipping Students to Face Workplace Challenges”

Christopher Palma, Teaching Professor of Astronomy; Associate Head for Undergraduate Programs in Astronomy & Astrophysics, Penn State University Park

“Embodying Planet Formation”

Josephine Wee, Assistant Professor of Food Science, Penn State University Park

“Reimagining Classroom Textbooks”

Matthew Woessner, Ph.D., Associate Teaching Professor of Political Science & Public Policy; Immediate Past Chair, Penn State University Faculty Senate, Penn State Harrisburg

“Transforming Teaching and Learning at Penn State with Virtual Reality”