The Teaching Innovations in Pedagogy and Scholarship award is co-sponsored by the Provost’s Office and the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. The purpose of the TIPS Awards is to recognize innovative and authentic learning experiences created by faculty.
Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Nicole Hill presented this distinct honor to three outstanding faculty members at the August 17, 2022 University General Meeting in the Luhrs Performing Arts Center with hundreds of members of the Shippensburg University in attendance.
“These faculty and their courses showcase the strength of Ship’s commitment to responsive teaching, student-centeredness, and student-supported learning,” said Provost Hill, adding that each recipient received $500 to be used for professional development activities in addition to a certificate in recognition of their achievement.
Awardees Include:
DR. TOM HATVANY, assistant professor of Psychology, recognized for Psychology 105 and 205: Research Design and Statistics for Behavioral Sciences I and II. College of Arts and Sciences.
Research design and statistical analysis are fundamental skills all psychology majors must demonstrate yet mastering these learning outcomes is challenging for some students. To ensure that students have resources and materials that explicitly demonstrate knowledge and skills, Dr. Tom Hatvany transitioned to an open source, flexible, user-friendly, and robust software program created at the University of Amsterdam known as JASP (https://jasp-stats.org). He has created a YouTube channel that details all procedures and explanations related to using JASP as part of research design and statistics. At present, Dr. Hatvany has uploaded 97 videos with approximately 23 thousand views, averaging out to approximately 250 YouTube views per day. In a time when learners migrate to electronic media to help learn a new task, Dr. Hatvany’s series of videos serves as a free way for students to gain additional knowledge. As a result, Dr. Hatvany has gone beyond using an open-source resource like JASP to create a free tool that transitions across two courses, thereby embedding itself in students’ learning journey.
DR. BEN MEYER, associate professor of Exercise Science, recognized for Exercise Science 333: Biomechanics. College of Education and Human Services.
Biomechanics is required of all Exercise Science Majors in two concentrations. The learning objectives include solving linear and angular kinematics and kinetics problems, active learning laboratory experiences, and exploring current research. Through the collaborative use of Google Drive and its included webapps, Dr. Meyer scaffolds students’ learning using Google Slide templates which provide a roadmap for students’ research-based presentations. On lab days, students enter data directly into a Google Sheet and as a class use that same spreadsheet to analyze data. Dr. Meyer has linked the data sheets and presentation templates together, ensuring that the data are presented accurately and removing the duplication of work. As such, the quality of analyses in written and oral presentations has increased greatly. With the support of an Educational Equipment and Technology Fee Grant, Dr. Meyer worked with the other department faculty to slowly build up a collection of new and cutting-edge equipment for students to use, with program alumni reporting that they use the same or similar equipment in graduate school, and the applications of this technology are widely used with high-performance athletes or older adults in rehabilitation settings. As a result, the Exercise Science students enrolled in Biomechanics learn to value data as evidence of their ongoing learning journey into understanding measurable factors that influence and even predict growth and success as part of the course and into their professional experiences.
DR. MOHAMMAD RAHMAN, associate professor of Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship, recognized Marketing 339: Social Media Marketing. Grove College of Business.
In the Spring of 2022 Dr. Mohammad Rahman taught the first sections of Social Media Marketing offered in the Digital Marketing and Analytics program within the BSBA degree. Two innovative projects were incorporated into the class, one using a simulation and the other a real field experience. The simulation experience provides students with background knowledge and skills prior to undertaking a field/service experience with a local business. Using current industry practices typical for social media marketing managers, Dr. Rahman has incorporated real time simulations that engage students in hands-on learning that develop competencies for their field/service project. In the field/service experience portion, students are assigned clients connected to the Shippensburg University Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Students develop and present a social media marketing plan for their SBDC client, including digital marketing goals. As a result, Marketing 339 prepares emerging professionals to optimize business and industry output in ways that mirror what will happen out in the workforce.
