eLIS Blog

STEM + Art = STEAM

What is STEAM?
Over the last several years there has been a renewed push towards STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) education with the goal of increasing student performance in these areas. In 2009, the Obama Administration launched the Educate to Innovate initiative “to move American students from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math achievement over the next decade” and ensure a strong workforce with 21st century skills. As these initiatives grow, several advocates have started to believe that there’s a key piece missing: art and design.

Why STEAM?
The integration of art and design with science and technology promotes new ways of thinking. Right-brain thinking developed through the arts leads to innovation and creative problem solving. Arts education allows you to see the world differently and according to Stephen Lane, CEO and Co-Founder, Ximedica, design-based thinking enables STEM to succeed. John Maeda, President of RISD, has launched http://stemtosteam.org/ because “Design creates the innovative products and solutions that will propel our economy forward, and artists ask the deep questions about humanity that reveal which way forward actually is.” Artists observe and question the world around them and so do scientists.

Women are especially underrepresented in fast-growing, high-wage STEM fields. They make up only 25 percent of the workforce and study STEM subjects in college at a lower rate than men. The White House wants to increase the number of women and minority women in STEM fields. The integration of art is a way to make STEM subjects more engaging to a wider audience that may have traditionally avoided these areas such as girls and students who don’t learn linearly. Jennifer Burg uses music-making to teach computer science to her Wake Forest University students. Music is the vehicle, but programming and understanding technology is the goal.

How is It Being Done?
The key is integration rather than art, science, and math taught separately. Check out a few of the examples below for inspiration.

• Robotics, Engineering and Poetry: Students make poetry dioramas using robotic tool kits.
• Stemtosteam.org: Case studies on STEAM integration including Andover Public Schools
• Moundsview Public Schools: Middle schools turn STEM into a standards-based STEAM program
• Sesame Street: Elmo uses math to solve problems

[Logo image via StageNotes.net]

myLesley Tips & Tricks with Nick Pietrowski

Talking with many faculty, myLesley can be seen more as a barrier than a tool for success. I am going to share with you four tips and tricks I have learned through my experience about myLesley. You will see a common theme of improving efficiency, particularly no longer having to enter grades twice.

Use the Journal Function in myLesley
As many of you, I use journaling in my courses. The problem with traditional journaling is we are not able to know what the students write until class is over. If you post a journal in myLesley you are able to check it before class. This also saves you from having to enter the grades twice. You are able to grade journals as you read them in Bb reducing human error.

Use the BlackBoard App
When I say I check journals right before class, I may be reading them as I am walking into University Hall. This is most likely when I am making a group comment about what the class may be nervous about at midterm and finals time.

Wikipedia turned some people in higher education off to using wikis. They are valuable! You can have students create stories or lab reports in a wiki. Wikis are about collaboration. The great thing is that you can grade them right in myLesley so there is no double grading.

Some faculty give quizzes on the reading in their courses. You lose an hour and forty five minutes of instruction time in a semester if you give seven quizzes that take 15 minutes! That is a little over half of a full class time. I recommend doing something similar to quizzes in myLesley, Reading Checks. They are multiple choice, not timed, and students must complete them in one sitting. I have talked to many students and they agree that one must read before taking a reading check even if it is untimed because it will take them longer to find the answers if they do not. One of the great things about Reading Check or Quizzes in my Lesley is they self grade and automatically enter into the gradebook so you do not have to double enter grades.

These four things are the short list of how I have been able to improve my courses in myLesley. There are many things I have learned through my online, hybrid and face-to-face experiences that I hope to share with you in the future.

Nick Pietrowski

Senior Lecturer at Lesley University

29th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning

Instructional designers Sarah Krongard and John McCormick of Lesley’s eLearning and Instructional Support group (eLIS) will be conducting a three-hour workshop on the design of online collaborative learning activities at the 29^th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning in Madison Wisconsin this summer.  Recognized internationally for the quality and integrity of its program, the conference provides an exchange of current resources, research, and best practices that are relevant to the design and delivery of distance education.  Last year’s conference included over 800 attendees and representation from 21 countries.  Sarah and John look forward to sharing the ideas and new thinking gleaned from the event!

New Online Seminar: Twitter as a Learning Tool

Please join eLIS for a fully online two-week seminar in myLesley. This class is designed to introduce participants to social media through the lens of Twitter. Participants will collaboratively explore the functionality of the tool by employing specific networking strategies discussed during the class.

Never used Twitter? No problem! We’ll work with you to learn the ins and outs of this popular social media platform.

Twitter as a Learning Tool runs from April 8th – April 21st.

Register for the Seminar

In addition, we are also hosting a brief webinar on Monday, April 8th at 3 PM EST. The Twitter as a Learning Tool: Kickoff Webinar will introduce participants to the basics of Twitter, including a walk-through of the technical logistics, how to sign-up for an account, and an exploration of the unique Twitter vocabulary. Anyone who is new to Twitter (whether you plan to participate in the two-week seminar or not) is welcome to attend.

Register for the Webinar

We look forward to tweeting with you!

Professional Development Opportunities for Spring 2013

Faculty Brown Bag – MyLesley Tips & Tricks
Friday, March 8
1:15pm – 2:30pm
Doble Hall, Room 309
Register for the Brown Bag

Join Nicholas Pietrowski, Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education and Psychology, for a discussion of best practices for faculty use of myLesley for web and mobile devices. This hands-on talk will highlight how myLesley is being used to increase faculty efficiency, engage students, and expand the possibilities of learning.

Using Group Work for Student Collaboration
A Fully Online Course Taught in myLesley
March 18 – March 31
Register for the Seminar

This seminar will help you design group activities in your myLesley course. We will identify strategies for designing and scaffolding group work. You will also design a series of learning activities, tied to your course’s learning objectives, that require students to work collaboratively (either completely online or across face-to-face and online activities). We will provide resources for structuring and assessing these activities. Tools explored in this seminar may include Group areas and discussions, wikis, blogs, VoiceThread, and/or Webspiration.

Faculty Brown Bag - Social Media for Social Change: Researching Current Events through New Media
Wednesday, March 20
12:00pm – 1:30pm
University Hall, Room 3-085
Register for the Brown Bag

Join Laura Fokkena, PhD Candidate in International & Comparative Education, as she explores how students can augment (not replace!) traditional research by following current events via Twitter, Facebook, wikis, blogs, photo- and video-sharing sites, livestreaming, and other social media.