Symposium Schedule

Room: Varsity Hall

Welcome to the UW-Madison Teaching & Learning Community

Jennifer Mnookin, Chancellor

John Zumbrunnen, Vice Provost for Teaching & Learning, Professor of Political Science

Room: Varsity Hall

Why Belonging Matters in Higher Education

Geoffrey Cohen, Professor of Psychology, James G. March Professor of Organizational Studies in Education and Business, the Director of CohenLab at Stanford University, and the author of Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides

Session Description: A sense of belonging is surprisingly essential to our ability to succeed in life. Geoffrey Cohen talks about the importance of belonging in student well-being and achievement, and he offers concrete science-backed solutions to foster it.  These actions are especially helpful for students most at risk of feeling like outsiders on campus.  Drawing on Cohen’s and others’ groundbreaking research, this talk will showcase how a sense of belonging isn’t just a byproduct of success but a condition for it.

Biography: Professor Cohen’s research addresses the myriad problems of communal existence and offers concrete solutions for improving daily life at work, in school, in our homes, and in our communities. We all feel a deep need to belong, but most of us don’t fully appreciate that need in others. Often inadvertently, we behave in ways that threaten others’ sense of belonging. He and colleagues have developed a set of science-backed strategies for navigating modern social life that can help us overcome our differences, create empathy, and forge lasting connections even across divides. Small acts that establish connection, brief activities such as reflecting on our core values, and a suite of practices that Cohen defines as “situation-crafting” have been shown to lessen political polarization, improve motivation and performance in school and work, combat racism in our communities, enhance health and well-being, and unleash the potential in ourselves and in our relationships. His research and talks address the challenges of managers, educators, parents, administrators, caregivers, and everyone who wants those around them to thrive.

Room: Northwoods

Educating All: Considering Neurodivergence in the Classroom

Marshall Lyons and Alberta Gloria, Counseling Psychology 

Increasingly, colleges and universities are considered the “new inclusion frontier” (Brown), with an increasing number of students who identify as neurodivergent. As students often do not disclose their status (e.g., being on the autism spectrum, ADHD), this presentation will address practical considerations for how instructors can prepare and consider activities that address a broad range of learning styles, social interactions, and university expectations.

Room: Landmark

Multi-disciplinary and Cross-functional Partnerships: Creating a New Center for Innovation in Engineering Education

Chris Dakes, Erica Hagen and Angela Kita, Center for Innovation in Engineering Education

Cross-functional and multi-disciplinary partnerships are critical to the success of launching and sustaining initiatives on campus. Participants in this session will take away tangible ideas that address the following questions:

• Why are cross-functional and multi-disciplinary partnerships valuable for sustained success?
• How can I use a model for managing complex change and networking to identify organizational barriers to success?
• How can strategic and operational partnerships help overcome these barriers?
• What are my needs and what partnerships may be available on campus to help address these needs?
• What are the initial steps and strategies I can take to develop and sustain successful partnerships?

The session will begin with a brief introduction of how these questions helped launch a new Center for Innovation in Engineering Education. Participants will then individually reflect on, and share in small groups, their needs and strategies for developing and expanding partnerships in their professional contexts. A structured discussion about lessons learned will provide participants with initial steps for a plan of action.

Room: 5th Quarter

Where Do We Go When in Distress? Understanding how UW-Madison’s Outdoor Campus Can Support the Mental Wellbeing of Students

Samuel Dennis Jr., Emma Castiblanco, Bri Stevens, and Dhruv Lokhande, Environmental Design Lab and Planning and Landscape Architecture  

Where do students with mental health diagnoses seek refuge when experiencing moments of distress? The Environmental Design Lab’s most recent survey and study investigates this question, asking how UW-Madison’s outdoor campus spaces are supportive and unsupportive of our students’ mental well-being. Using five locations (Memorial Union Terrace, Lakeshore Path, Bascom Hill, Muir Woods and the Library Mall), participants will explore how each place makes them feel and what changes can be made to our campus to help our students. 

Room: Industry

TAs Transforming Teaching: Promises and Practices of TA-Led Innovation

Lynne Prost, Orion Risk, and Danielle Clevenger, College of Letters & Science

UW–Madison employs over 2,100 teaching assistants (TAs), who are vital contributors to undergraduate education. Because they are students themselves and work very closely with undergraduates, TAs are uniquely positioned to be innovative teachers. During this interactive session, a panel of Innovation in Teaching TA Award recipients share their award-winning classroom innovations. They consider: What are the opportunities and challenges of taking a creative approach to teaching? How can staff and faculty support TA innovation?

Innovation in Teaching TA Award Winner Panelists:

• Amanda Carlson, Wisconsin School of Business
• Brendan Dowling, Asian Languages and Cultures
• James Osorio, Mead Witter School of Music
• Felipe Moraga, Spanish & Portuguese

Room: Marquee

Navigating Inclusion and Bias in the Classroom Using ChatGPT’s Algorithmic Writing

Nathan Jung, Technical Communications, College of Engineering

In late 2022, Open AI launched its Chatbot ChatGPT to responses ranging from the apocalyptic to the dismissive. Working from a more practical position, this session will explore in-class uses of ChatGPT that focus on exploring issues of inclusion and bias in algorithmic writing with students

Room: Agriculture 

The Art and Science of Human Flourishing: A Pathway to Student Belonging

Tony Chambers, Center for Healthy Minds, College of Letters & Science, & Counseling Psychology

Susan Huber, Center for Healthy Minds & College of Letters & Science

John Dunne, Asian Languages and Culture & Center for Healthy Minds

We will discuss the design and impact of the undergraduate course, The Art and Science of Human Flourishing (ASHF), and some of the science behind the course and research findings from the course. We will also discuss how ASHF serves as a foundation for Badger Belonging, an L&S college-wide initiative to build a culture of belonging among students, faculty, and staff. The session will be interactive and will explore a particular focus on belonging among students, staff and faculty of color.

Lunch & Networking

Grab lunch and join a table. This is an informal time to network with campus colleagues.

Sponsored by the Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring

Room: Northwoods

College Students’ Social Identification: Issues and Suggestions from New Findings

Joshua K. Brown, Human Development & Family Studies 

Lauren M. Papp, School of Human Ecology and Human Development & Family Studies

We have new findings about how UW-Madison students’ social identification levels change over their time here. These findings identify disparities related to students from minoritized groups and suggest potential areas for targeted interventions to improve students’ experiences in our classrooms, departments, and campus. We will present our findings, introduce the social identity model of education (Abrams et al., 2020), and offer suggestions for bolstering our students’ social identification and belongingness in our domains of responsibility. Our session provides two sets of takeaways for participants. First, we look forward to presenting novel findings about UW-Madison students that will help inform future work among instructors, administrators, and policy makers. Our findings are the first to explore how identification and belonging, both crucial factors predicting student health and success, change over time and affect target outcomes. Second, we plan to present participants with targeted interventions to improve their students’ belongingness and social identification. We plan to discuss interventions at three key levels: instructor to student, within our departments/units, and university-wide policies.

Room: Landmark

It’s Not a Popularity Contest: Implementing Student Course Evaluations that Focus on Learning

Evan Nelson, Physical Therapy Program

Student evaluations of teaching are commonly delivered at the conclusion of a course, but are known to be biased, inaccurate assessments of teaching effectiveness. The objective of this session is to show how a student evaluation developed by the School of Business to evaluate the multiple roles of a course instructor was successfully implemented by the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program. An interactive presentation will demonstrate how a novel student evaluation improved course assessment.

Room: 5th Quarter

Soundwalking: Local Engagement Through Sound

Luci Mok, Mead Witter School of Music

In this session, I will showcase the soundwalk assignment as a way to engage students with their local sound world. As I do in my classes, I will scaffold, first, by engaging attendees in a sound exercise in the style of the American composer Pauline Oliveros. Then, I draw connections to the principles of a soundwalk, demonstrating how “deep listening” to the environment helps students engage with local community and Wisconsin histories.

Room: Industry

Designing Effective and Equitable Low-Stakes Learning Assignments and Activities

Emily Hall, Undergraduate Writing Fellows Program and Writing Across the Curriculum

Erica Hagen, Center for Innovation in Engineering Education

In this session, we will explore how to use “low-stakes” writing activities in order to support student learning, foster accessibility and inclusivity, and promote well-being for our students. We will pay special attention to how to incorporate such activities in STEM fields and/or in larger courses. We will also consider how to assess such activities within an inclusive framework. Participants will have the opportunity to participate in several short writing activities during the session. 

Room: Marquee

Sifting, Reckoning, and Belonging: Reflections and Lessons from the Public History Project

Kacie Lucchini Butcher and Taylor L. Bailey, Public History Project

The Public History Project team spent the fall 2022 semester facilitating discussions for courses and campus/community partners on the history of discrimination and resistance at UW for the Sifting & Reckoning exhibition. In this breakout session, PHP staff members Kacie Lucchini Butcher and Taylor L. Bailey will examine the exhibition’s interactives, surveys, and documented personal reflections to discuss the impact of the university’s history shown in Sifting & Reckoning on instructional spaces and the idea of belonging.

Room: Agriculture 

Not Accessible, Not Usable: Designing Inclusive Digital Spaces 

Laura Grady, Center for User Experience, Division of Information Technology

The university has approved a phased implementation of an updated digital accessibility policy coming into effect in July. Participants of this session will learn how the new policy helps the university community, which campus partners will help to support the policy implementation, which phases of the policy are most relevant to faculty and instructors, how to prepare for those phases, and tips for designing accessible course content.

Room: Northwoods

Leveraging Data Governance to Support Teaching and Learning at the Course and Program Level

Dan Voeks, Division of Information Technology 

Mary Thompson, Office of the Provost, Division for Teaching and Learning

Phil Hull,  Office of the Registrar

This session will provide an overview of UW-Madison’s institutional data governance program and share practical examples of how it can support teaching and learning. We will offer insights about how to engage data stewards and provide guidance about which questions and data usage warrant consultation in teaching and learning contexts. We will share lessons learned and provide opportunities for instructors, administrators and others to think about how to leverage data to support classroom and program improvements.

Room: Landmark

Using Student Wonderings to Build Inclusivity and Coherence

Adam Schafer and Brie Bradshaw, Chemistry

In this session, participants will use a shared experience to generate a model explaining how an everyday phenomenon occurs. Participant models will then frame discussions about designing and facilitating modeling activities in ways that can open space in the learning environment for inclusion and functionally emergent knowledge products. Session takeaways include: Participants will (experience and) reason about the utility of Driving Questions Boards as a pedagogical tool for managing discourse. Participants will use their experience(s) to reason about productive ways to use student wonderings (i.e., questions) to structure curricular sequences.

Room: 5th Quarter

Lowering the Stakes, Expanding Community: Collaborative Approaches to Feedback and Reflection on Teaching

Jamie Henke, Division of Continuing Studies, Mead Witter School of Music, & Division of the Arts

Lisa Jong and John Martin, Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring

Andrew McWard,  Political Science (UW-Madison) and Denison University Politics & Public Affairs (incoming )

Receiving feedback on your teaching doesn’t have to be a high-stakes, heart-pounding experience. This session features a spectrum of low-stakes, collaborative approaches to gathering formative feedback and reflecting on teaching. You’ll come away with a map of such opportunities on campus, from the Teaching Academy’s peer-driven Feedback on Teaching program, to services offered by staff with the Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring. You’ll also be invited to contribute feedback and ideas to the low-stakes spectrum.

Room: Industry

Campus Learning Support: A High-Impact Practice For Student and Tutor Success

Andy Kuemmel, Computer Sciences  

Africa Lozano-Yarl, Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement 

Amihan Huesmann, Center for Academic Excellence  

Eve Williams, Center for Academic Excellence 

Kim Mueller, Office of Undergraduate Advising 

Leah Rineck, Mathematics & Bridge Program, College of Engineering 

Susan Nossal, Physics & Physics Learning Center 

The learning support landscape on campus is diverse and growing. This session will provide a brief overview of that landscape and showcase examples of learning support as a high-impact practice that fosters a sense of belonging on the part of students and their peer tutors. Come prepared to participate and see how learning support on campus can help your students.

Room: Marquee

The Discussion Project: How UW-Madison Instructors Work to Create High-Quality Discussions

Diana Hess, Dean of the School of Education

Mariana Castro & Michael J. Culbertson, The Discussion Project & Wisconsin Center for Education Research

High quality classroom discussion improves student engagement, sense of belonging, and learning, but many instructors recognize the challenges of creating great discussions. The Discussion Project provides support in improving instructors’ use of discussion pedagogy. In this session, we will hear from three Discussion Project participants about their journey toward more vibrant discussion for student learning. Attendees can expect a sense of confidence in the feasibility of growing in their use of classroom discussion.

Room: Agriculture 

Creating Connections and a Sense of Belonging through the Humanities

Nathan Phelps and Andrea Samz-Pustol, Constellations, Letters & Science

For some undergraduates, it can be challenging to integrate insights from different breadth areas and to feel comfortable in courses outside of their areas of interest or expertise. The Constellations program inspires students to develop a compelling and integrated “big picture” perspective, by helping them see meaningful connections between seemingly disparate areas like the humanities and sciences. Program staff will lead a discussion about how our innovative courses and embedded co-curriculum help students develop a sense of belonging even in courses outside of their major.

Room: Northwoods

Exercising Interpersonal Agility to Foster Belonging and Empathy

Amy Zelenski, Department of Medicine

Benjamin Rush, Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery

Participants will engage in interactive, experiential activities to understand the principles of improvisational theater. Collective reflection will focus on how improv principles apply to teaching and learning, helping us exercise interpersonal agility and empathy in service of fostering belonging. At the end of the session, participants will be able to apply several improv principles and techniques to their classrooms to create an environment that invites students’ interpersonal and intellectual risk-taking.

Room: 5th Quarter

Incorporating Local Government Needs into UW-Madison Courses: The UniverCity Year Program 

Abby Becker, UniverCity Alliance

Patti Coffey, Psychology 

Greg Harrington, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Doug McLeod, School of Journalism & Mass Communication 

Committing to the Wisconsin Idea means that the entire University of Wisconsin should benefit state residents. Through UCY, faculty and students respond to local communities’ needs. Increasingly, communities are pursuing projects that address diversity, equity, and inclusion. In this session, hear from faculty partners about engaging communities that foster belonging and bridge divides. Participants will workshop ways for projects to be incorporated into courses, brainstorm different approaches for engaging across disciplines, and give feedback on how UCY can engage different disciplines or specific courses. 

Room: Industry

Supporting Course and Program Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging through Learning Analytics

Casey Gallimore, School of Pharmacy 

Sara Hagen, College of Engineering 

Beth Janetski, School of Pharmacy

Andy Kuemmel, Wisconsin Emerging Scholars and Computer Sciences

Kaiser Pister, Computer Sciences 

Tracy Jane Puccinelli, Biomedical Engineering

In this panel the microgrant awardees for learning analytics in support of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging will share their year-long projects. The four grant project teams will highlight how data empowered decision making supports their work inside the classroom and promotes student engagement, belonging and inclusivity. We will share lessons learned and provide opportunities for instructors, administrators and others to think about using data to support their own classroom and program improvements.

Room: Agriculture 

Critical Approaches to Building Community Within and Beyond the Classroom 

Lauren Gerlowski, Geography

Jules Reynolds, Geography & Nelson Institute

We believe that a sense of community is a powerful tool for students. Since Covid-19, we recognize a need to reestablish community in our teaching and utilize lessons learned from the pandemic around inclusivity, empathy, and creativity. As two graduate instructors with diverse experience (during and prior to the pandemic), we offer an engaging discussion on insights and strategies for both building community in our classrooms and integrating our classroom within the broader Wisconsin community. Participants will engage in discussion on and leave with insights around the following themes and questions: 

• The meaning of community in college classrooms; what assumptions do we make, what labor and politics are involved for creating these spaces?
• Reflections on the intersections of community in our classrooms with community-based learning approaches (e.g. Wisconsin Idea)?
• How can we utilize different pedagogical techniques (including, but not limited to pedagogies of care and empathy) to create classrooms as learning communities? What pedagogical techniques are useful in applying classroom learning beyond campus?

Room: Landmark

Fostering Sense of Belonging for BIPOC Undergraduates through Peer Mentoring Relationships 

Marla Delgado-Guerrero and Jeremy Thornton, UW Posse Program 

Room: Varsity Hall

Poster Session

Sponsored by the International Division 

Using Learning Analytics to Improve Computer Science DEIB: Supporting Students in Introductory Courses

Andrew Kuemmel, Computer Sciences

This poster describes a program improvement project that uses learning analytics to support diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging within the three-course introductory sequence for Computer Science majors. Using an action research framework, we identified questions to generate a student survey and followed up with focus groups. The results of the focus groups gave insights into a series of actions that the department will implement next semester. We’ll provide an overview of the project, the questions that were explored and the data that was accessed, along with plans for next steps.

What Does it Mean to Tell the Truth?: A Case Study of Student-Authorship and Cross-Generational Learning

Anisa Yudawanti, PEOPLE Program, Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement

Amy Wilson, Madison Metropolitan School District

Over the course of the 2021-22 school year, students at East High School interrogated what it means to be truthful about US history. While studying the past, students also looked to the future to imagine what liberation could look like, and how we get there together. Through the work of students at East High and John Muir Elementary, we begin to illuminate the importance of honesty, community, and connection in social studies classes and beyond. This poster showcases the process of co-authoring and co-creation. As a case study, educators can learn from this process to inspire innovative, culturally-relevant, and cross-generational work with their own students.

Laying the Groundwork for DEI at the Program Level: Fostering Community and Amplifying Student Voice

Anna Kowalkowski, Biology Core Curriculum (Biocore)

Janet Batzli, Biology Core Curriculum (Biocore)

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work is multifaceted and requires intentional grounding and advocacy at all levels in the institution. Biocore is a small honors academic program focused on undergraduate education. We developed and implemented a student-centered DEI program focused on listening to, amplifying, and responding to student voices including an internship and undergraduate-led research initiative. In this poster, we provide strategic steps and lessons learned from student, instructor, and administrative perspectives.

Reducing Determinism in the Genetics Classroom

Ben Hall Genetics

Heidi Horn, Edgewood College Biological Sciences 

Devin Wixon, Delta Program

Current genetics units in introductory biology courses potentially increase student belief in genetic determinism: the misguided idea that an organism’s genetic code determines that organism’s traits. This is a problem because belief in genetic determinism is associated with support for problematic eugenic policies and social inequality. This Delta Internship project shows how both quantitative and qualitative assessments can be used to understand student thinking about genetic determinism and how that thinking changes after instructional intervention.

Exploring Racial Differences in Disease Prevalence in a Preclinical Curriculum

Beth Altschafl, Maxfield Flynn, Beth Altschafl, Scott Mead, Bethany Howlett, Eileen Cowan, Erik Ranheim, Meghan Cotter, Jeannina Smith, and Elaine Pelley, School of Medicine and Public Health 

Race is a social rather than a biologic construct and yet continues to be discussed as equivalent to genetic risk for disease.  We sought to illuminate underlying causes of reported racial differences in disease prevalence by studying conditions that disproportionately affect certain racial groups and asked: “In this disease, for what is race a proxy?” A goal was to train learners to ask this question when encountering racial differences in disease prevalence during their education.

Addressing Learning Disparities Through Data Disaggregation

Beth Janetski, Pharmacy

Casey Gallimore, Pharmacy 

Disaggregating learning outcomes data is essential to understanding and reducing learning disparities in the classroom. The School of Pharmacy assessed for inconsistent learning outcomes among student demographic groups in a required Doctor of Pharmacy course. Disaggregating assessment data using student characteristics and learning analytics creates a holistic picture of learning disparities. We propose methods of engaging faculty in exploratory discussions of the root causes of disparities and methods to address them.

Center for Teaching, Learning and Mentoring – How We Can Help You

Brian McNurlen and Meredith McGlone, Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring

In collaboration with the crucial work done in and by schools and colleges, the center supports UW–Madison faculty and staff in their continuing growth as practitioners of the complex, challenging and dynamic craft of teaching. Bringing together ~50 professional staff members with extensive and wide-ranging expertise, the center serves instructors at all career stages, including teaching assistants, by offering campus-level professional development, course design and instructional consulting programs and services.

Center for Innovation in Engineering Education

Chris Dakes, Erica Hagen, and Haley Briel, Center for Innovation in Engineering Education

This poster will highlight the structure, priorities, guiding principles for work, current research and program initiatives, and partnerships of a newly created Center for Innovation in Engineering Education (CIEE). CIEE staff will be on hand to answer questions about the formation of the Center as well as how we can partner with other units on and off campus to advance teaching and learning priorities.

Course Success Self-Review: Improve Course Design and Teaching with Self-Directed Learning and Targeted Resources

Dan Pell and Karen Skibba, Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring

The Course Success Self-Review combines a unique tool and website to help instructors strengthen course design and delivery. This poster showcases six success-factors and 31 recommendations focusing on supporting student learning. In under an hour, instructors can use the self-review to reflect on a course and receive actionable advice to address course needs and challenges. The self-review bridges a gap between active support and self-access resources to improve instruction, and support students’ success and belonging.

Assessing Veterinary Student Confidence, Comfort Working with a Diverse Client Population, and Interprofessional Knowledge after Participating in a One Health Access to Care Veterinary Clinic, WisCARES

Elizabeth Alvarez, Ruthanne Chun, and Kelly Schultz, School of Veterinary Medicine

Simon Lygo-Baker, University of Surrey Department of Higher Education

WisCARES is a low-cost veterinary medical teaching clinic associated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison school of veterinary medicine, where students from multiple disciplines collaborate in a community setting. Participating students recognized the opportunity to learn about diversity and cultural humility, and reported increased comfort in, and compassion for, working with diverse or a low- income population. Survey results of over 100 students found evidence of increased confidence and learning related to diversity and cultural humility.

Where Do We Go When In Distress? Understanding How UW-Madison’s Outdoor Campus Can Support the Mental Wellbeing of Students

Emma Castiblanco, Bri Stevens, Samuel Dennis, and Dhruv Lokhande, Planning and Landscape Architecture, Environmental Design Lab

Where do students with mental health diagnoses seek refuge when experiencing moments of distress? The Environmental Design Lab’s most recent survey and study investigates this question, asking how UW-Madison’s outdoor campus spaces are supportive and unsupportive of our students’ mental wellbeing. Using five locations (Memorial Union Terrace, Lakeshore Path, Bascom Hill, Muir Woods and the Library Mall), participants will explore how each place makes them feel and what changes can be made to our campus to help our students.

Information Divides and Differences in Wisconsin and Beyond: A Survey

Eric Ely-Ledesma, Information School

This poster describes the course “Information Divides & Differences in a Multicultural Society.” Using social theories of capital, we explore how systems of power contribute to marginalization and discrimination in urban planning, criminal justice, the medical system, education, and information technology. We localize global and national trends by focusing on Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest. In addition to these systems, we also examine the experiences of historically marginalized groups: Native Americans, Hmong Americans, and immigrants.

Emerging Topics and Pedagogies in Animal and Dairy Science:  A Survey of Student Preferences

Eric Ronk, MaryGrace Erickson, and Michel Wattiaux, Animal and Dairy Sciences

Our research team designed a survey on emerging curriculum topics and pedagogies to characterize student preferences in Animal and Dairy Sciences (ADS). In November 2021, students enrolled in ADS 101 Introduction to Animal Sciences responded via an online form (n = 95 students enrolled, response rate = 89.5%). We will share our findings about students’ preferred topics and pedagogies and our plans to use this information to guide curriculum decisions.

Curriculum-Specific Film: Elevating Engagement in the Introductory Geoscience Classroom

Ethan Parrish & Stephen Meyers, Geoscience

Julie Libarkin, Michigan State University Geological Sciences

This study tests the hypothesis that curriculum-specific film, founded on place-based education principles, helps increase interest in, and engagement with, introductory geoscience curricula—which can/should be used to instill in students an interest in, and hopefully a relationship with, Earth. We report here results from surveys designed to assess, among other measures, students’ interest in the curriculum, their perceived identity as geoscientists, their sense of belonging, and the relevance of geoscience in their lives.

Empowered Student Learning, Improved Campus Sustainability: The UW–Madison Green Fund

Ian Aley, Office of Sustainability

Audrey Stanton, Office of Sustainability & Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies  

Ashley Monterusso, Office of Sustainability and Planning and Landscape Architecture

Leveraging campus partners for student success; Student learning assessment/learning analytics; Innovation in teaching Focus: The Green Fund supports student-initiated projects that address the environmental footprint, social impact, and operating costs of campus facilities. The power of the program lies in its collaboration with campus partners and the cascading impacts of this experiential learning process. Recent analysis demonstrates how program outcomes align with the UW Essential Learning Outcomes and the UW Leadership Framework.

Navigating the Politics, Ethics, and Bureaucracy of Higher Education in Pursuit of Support for Community Engaged Scholarship

Jalessa Bryant, Curriculum & Instruction

This poster presentation aims to reveal the intellectual and organizational demands on a graduate student conducting critical community-based research through a doctoral program focused on formal teaching and learning. Comprised of university stakeholders and community organizers, the CBR partnership intends to achieve three goals: relational trust and alignment in values between stakeholders, the curriculum development of six curricular artifacts, and the centering of Black feminist onto-epistemologies in the methodology and methods for the project.

Learning Analytics Supports Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging: Fostering Belonging in the Classroom

Kaiser Pister, Computer Sciences

This poster describes a course improvement project that uses learning analytics to support belonging for diverse groups in non-diverse environments. The Computer Science 538 gender distribution is far from parity. We use a set of engagement techniques to monitor and improve the feeling of belonging amongst all students regardless of the size of their cohort.  We’ll provide an overview of the project, the questions explored and the data accessed, along with plans for the next steps.

Learning Analytics Microgrants Program Overview: How Can We Support Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging in Courses & Programs?

Kari Jordahl and Dariane Drake, Learning Analytics Center of Excellence

Mary Thompson, Office of the Provost, Division of Teaching & Learning 

Cid Freitag, Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring

Amber Gray, DoIT Academic Technology

The Learning Analytics Center of Excellence piloted a microgrant program to explore how data-empowered educational practices contribute to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Four projects were awarded. Awardees received support with pedagogy, data analysis and governance, technology and evaluation. The microgrant model allows deep engagement and support with a small cohort that can collaborate and learn from each other while building capacity and local experience with LA and DEIB. We’ll share our process and lessons learned.

Promoting “Participatory Culture” in a Blended Course

Karin Spader, Center for Teaching, Learning, & Mentoring

Participatory cultures seek to promote creative production and peer-supported learning. With the availability of collaborative, digital tools, online/blended education has new options for student-centered, creative forms of learning experiences. This poster shares one such example of a course designed around this framework to enhance student learning by motivating and engaging students in interest-driven, peer-supported projects that can also help develop 21st-century skills. Details of the project design and student outcomes will be shared.

In Pursuit of Student Success: Data Empowered Educational Practices

Kimberly Arnold, Division of Information Technology, Academic Technology

John Zumbrunnen, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning & Political Science

Data Empowered Educational Practices, or DEEP, is a mindset and/or framework that represents a unifying force dedicated to enhancing UW-Madison’s institutional capacity to leverage data to advance equitable student success. This poster focuses on strong campus partnerships formed around the belief that a two-prong approach of leveraging teaching and learning data to provide broadly applicable enterprise solutions, as well as exploring innovative practices, can amplify educational practice.

Think Outside of the Classroom: Integrate Students in Library Work Space

Leia Verfuerth and Maddy Davidsen, UW-Madison Libraries

UW-Madison Libraries strive to enrich the student experience and create a sense of belonging for all students on the UW-Madison campus. While the Libraries’ efforts to provide inclusive and welcoming spaces for those studying or using learning resources are generally well communicated, opportunities for students to join the Library community as staff are less well known. This poster highlights a few collaborative programs between the Libraries and various other units on campus and the strategies taken to support the students to ensure they thrive through their interactions with the Libraries. The first program is the Information Specialist Internship Program (ISIP), which aims to provide real-world experiences for those who are interested in information specialist careers. Second, the Libraries hire a large number of student workers in various departments. In the daily work, students are woven into the workflow and the culture to create a natural belongingness for all the student workers. Thirdly, the Libraries support the iSchool practicum course where iSchool students can get hands-on experience in the information field of their interest.

Anti-Racist and Decolonial Pedagogies in the French Classroom

Léna Remy-Kovach, French and Italian Studies 

As educators, language instructors have a responsibility to bring discussions about racism into their classrooms. Including anti-racist pedagogy in the French curriculum is instrumental in challenging the history and legacy of colonialism in the Francophone world. I share my strategies for promoting safety and inclusivity in my French class. Connecting the past to the present, discussing intersectionality and perspective, confronting language discrimination, and fostering critical consciousness help me encourage empathy and inspire activism in students of all levels.

Empowering Student Success: Addressing Needs of Students on Academic Probation

Marshall Lyons, Valerie Orozco, and Alberta M. Gloria, Counseling Psychology

Approximately one thousand students who are academically capable are on academic probation each semester at UW-Madison. There are a myriad of reasons that extend beyond a lack of study skills. For this presentation, we address how self-reflection about values clarification, social interactions, and resource access are critical elements to assist students in the recalibration of their educational experience. These concepts are discussed for university agents (e.g., academic advisors, teaching assistants, instructors) to support student success.

Impacts of a Group Jigsaw Activity on Thoughts and Attitudes Towards Chemistry in Engineering Undergraduates

McKenzie Burns, Civil and Environmental Engineering 

A new module was developed and implemented to improve students’ attitudes towards chemistry in an undergraduate engineering course. The module, which leveraged the Jigsaw approach for research/discovery and peer teaching, focused on groundwater contamination in WI, a topic directly relevant to students as WI residents. Students reported increased positive attitudes towards chemistry after completing the module, as well as displayed increased motivation to study and self-efficacy in using chemistry as engineers.

Active Learning Applied in a Scientific Research Seminar Setting

Melissa Christopherson and Timothy Paustian, Bacteriology

Gregory Richards, UW-Parkside Biological Sciences 

People of any age and ability, in a range of subjects, respond positively to active learning compared with didactic/passive dissemination of information, but there are no studies of how active learning affects the responses of scientific research seminar attendees. The UW-Bacteriology department holds seminars in the traditional didactic format but this spring will host one seminar presented in a new format, with active learning techniques. We plan to compare responses from seminar attendees with responses to traditionally-presented seminars

Fostering Neurodiversity in Support of Effective STEM Learning

Michael Notaro, Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research

Brenda Plakans, Aaron Wilson, and Darien Becker, Welty Environmental Center 

Tawnya Cary, Beloit College Biology 

David Segura, Beloit College Education and Youth Studies 

Matt Nonemacher, Achieving Collaborative Treatment

The Center for Climatic Research, Welty Environmental Center, Beloit School District, Beloit College, and Achieving Collaborative Treatment developed Beloit’s WELCOME initiative. We hosted The Sky’s The Limit STEM Camp for autistic middle and high school students. Activities included a Terra Rover exploration of urban heat island, Beloit college tour, drones and augmented reality sandbox applications, ecological walking tour, soil profiling, tree versus human allometry investigation, water quality measurements, icebreaker activities, and science experiments. The presentation will focus on camp design, implementation, and lessons learned.

Virtual and In-Person Laboratory Tours: Engaging Students in Campus Research

Miranda Cullins, Surgery & Communication Sciences and Disorders

Anna Kowalkowski and Janet M. Batzli, Biology Core Curriculum (Biocore)

First-year student understanding of scientific research is often limited to depictions in movies and media. The lack of accurate and diverse representation poses a barrier to envisioning themselves as scientists engaging in research. We compared student experiences of virtual and in-person tours and assessed the efficacy of these tours within a first-year honors biology course; to demystify research, connect with researchers, and foster students’ identity and sense of belonging in a research setting.

Curriculum Jams: A Model Process for Community-Engaged Curriculum Selection

Monica Lobenstein, Joanna Skluzacek, and Briley Rossiter, Division of Extension, Positive Youth Development Institute

Teresa Curtis, Office of Access, Inclusion, and Compliance, ProDivision of Extension

The Curriculum Jams process brings together youth, community adults, and staff members to discuss and analyze high-quality, culturally relevant educational resources, and build participant capacity to engage in analysis work. Poster session participants will learn about the importance of engaged curriculum selection—key informant interviews, data analysis, curriculum search & filter processes, and engaged selection. Then they will see how real educational resources are reviewed to determine what makes them high-quality and culturally relevant.

Supporting Under-Represented Minority (URM) Students’ Participation In STEM Education Through WiscAMP- EXCEL Summer Program

Nafsaniath Fathema, Wisconsin Center for Education Research & Consumer Science

Norma Jimenez Hernandez, WiscAMP, College of Engineering

Increasing underrepresented minority (URM) students’ participation in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) field in the United States has always been a big challenge. This paper discusses an NSF-funded innovative “WiscAMP-EXCEL summer program” specifically designed for undergraduate URM students majoring in STEM at the WiscAMP institutions: a 19-institution consortium. Guided by the theory of cultural capital, this program is designed to provide support through an intensive 8-week immersion experience in STEM scholarship, research, academic and career exploration and advising to the students. Based on the findings from the retrospective survey conducted among the student participants from 2014 to 2019, the paper discusses the program’s impact on URM students’ expectations and attitudes towards pursuing a STEM career.

College-Wide Teaching Assistant Training & Support: Lessons Learned and Looking Forward

Orion Risk and Lynne Prost, College of Letters & Science Administration

Danielle Clevenger, Philosophy and College of Letters & Science Administration

The L&S Teaching Assistant (TA) Training & Support Team is a campus partner dedicated to graduate student teaching success. We have developed innovative programming aimed at helping TAs feel motivated and equipped to be active and inclusive teachers. We are also dedicated to offering holistic support for TAs as teachers, students, and people. Visit this poster to learn about our offerings, hear some of our wins and misses, and share your ideas about training and support needs.

Diverse and Inclusive Training Activities at Wisconsin Energy Institute and Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center

Parisa Sarzaeim, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies & Wisconsin Energy Institute

Canan Sener and Chelsea Mamott, Wisconsin Energy Institute  

Our missions in Equity and Diversity Training Sub-Committee at the Wisconsin Energy Institute and Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center include: Organization of inclusive training and teaching events, sharing inclusive activities with the rest of the Equity and Diversity Committee and employees, and promoting the importance of inclusive training and teaching for the employees and students We will present our activities and experiences, focusing on “Inclusivity in the classroom, including engaging learners with sensitive topics and issues.”

Centering Student Insight with COVE Studio

Rebecca Nesvet, Institute for Research in the Humanities

Print anthologies published for survey courses ignore student perspective by design, centering canonicity and featuring depersonalized paratext. This isn’t how editing always works. Isaac Asimov’s annotated editions reveal his family’s immigrant experiences and employ first-person language. COVE Studio platform (http://covecollective.org) centers students by aggregating student annotations of a broad, growing range of proofread, vetted global texts. When my students annotated COVE’s texts together, they saw their insights and informed subjectivities recognized as critical editing.

Understanding Self to Understand Others: A Scaffolded Process of Awareness to Create Belonging and Inclusivity

Ree Ae Jordan and Alberta M. Gloria, Counseling Psychology Department

As higher education seeks to create welcoming and inclusive spaces, a key process of learning about the identities and cultures of others is to first know one’s own (Carter, 1991). The concept of “first-knowledge is self-knowledge” to engage cultural dialogues and spaces of vulnerable meaning-making is critical. This poster addresses how scaffolded self-reflection questions, concepts, and activities can serve as the basis of cultural inclusion to know self and others for learning spaces of belonging.

Cultivating Inclusive Teamwork through Streamlined Peer Feedback

Sara Hagen, College of Engineering

Billy Kardasz, Wisconsin School of Business 

Milou Maassen, FeedbackFruits  

Discover how the Wisconsin School of Business and the College of Engineering are fostering inclusive teamwork by streamlining their peer feedback activities with the help of FeedbackFruits. Teamwork is an effective way to develop lifelong skills like leadership, inclusion, and managing interpersonal conflict. Peer and team member feedback activities can ensure that teamwork is engaging and useful for all learners, including in online/hybrid settings.

Fostering Community Through Adventure

Seth McGee and Diana Tapia Ramon, Biology Core Curriculum (Biocore)

The Biocore Program is a sequence of biology classes designed for students who are interested in an integrative undergraduate biology experience. An initiative called The Adventure Club connects Biocore students and instructors through out-of-class, co-curricular “adventures” designed to culture community and enrich the educational experience. This low-overhead, high-impact approach has fostered a sense of connection and belonging in students that extend beyond the confines of the traditional classroom.

Digital Learning Environments – Building Community

Steffenie Williams and Emily Wight, Curriculum & Instruction

Fostering belonging and a sense of community among students through the pandemic was challenging. Creating digital communities where students could learn from and with each other was an even bigger obstacle. Through collaboration and innovative digital tools, our TA and pre-service teacher teams created a digital learning environment that encouraged deep conversations, evaluation of teaching practices and times to decompress.

Expanding Access to Career Readiness Resources

Steven Catania, SuccessWorks, College of Letters & Science

The COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to rethink how L&S students could engage with career development. SuccessWorks began creating self-enrollment modules that helped students connect with essential resources in Canvas. As we move forward with integrating career development knowledge and skills directly into the curriculum, these technology-enhanced modules are now being incorporated into for-credit courses and will be an essential part of reaching all L&S students so that they can experience career success.

Using Learning Analytics to Improve Inclusion and Belonging in First Year Engineering Design

Tracy Jane Puccinelli, Biomedical Engineering

Sara Hagen, College of Engineering 

How can we use learning analytics to support inclusion and belonging for first-year engineering students in INTEREGR 170: Design Practicum? Using an action research framework, we identified questions and potential data sources to help answer them. We defined actions for course improvement to support student success, inclusion, and a sense of belonging in a team-based, hands-on design course. We will provide an overview of the project, our questions, the data that was accessed, and future plans.

Motivations and Barriers for Student Response Systems in Online General Chemistry: Non-anonymous Chat vs. Anonymous Webex Polling

Vincent Rigoglioso, Chemistry 

Nilhan Gunasekera, Madison College Chemistry 

Student motivations and barriers to student response systems were examined in the context of an online, synchronous introductory chemistry course at Madison College. Student participation in non-anonymous chat questions was compared to anonymous multiple choice Webex polling questions. This project was completed as a Delta Program Internship.