HOME /

2020-2021 - LInc Faculty Fellowship Discussion Group

2020-2021 - The LInc Faculty Fellowship Discussion Group 

Monthly discussions among LInc Faculty Fellows centering on course and instructional transformation. Discussion focus on key principles in teaching and learning, and on research-based recommendations on instructional techniques aimed at improving student learning. 

Participants: 
LInc Faculty Fellows: James Honan, Ethimios Kaxiras, Michael Smith, Salil Vadhan
LInc: Eric Mazur, Lisa Frontado 
LInc Pedagogical Fellows: Salma Abu Ayyash, Robert Haussman, and Deniz Marti


Welcome New Fellows  
August 28, 2020 
Discussion Leader: Eric Mazur, PhD 

Backward Design and the Development of Learning Goals
September 11, 2020
Discussion Leader:  Eric Mazur, PhD 

Intrinsic Motivation
October 30, 2020 
Discussion Leader: Michael D. Smith, PhD

  • G. L. Herman D. E. Goldberg, K. Trenshaw, M. Somerville, J. Stolk. The Intrinsic- Motivation Course Design Method. International Journal of Engineering Education. Vol 33, No. 2(A), pp. 558- 574, 2017. 
  • Yeager, D. S., Henderson, M., D’Mello, S., Paunesku, D., Walton, G. M., Spitzer, B. J., Duckworth, A. L. (2014). Boring but important: A self-transcendent purpose for learning fosters academic self-regulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107, 559–580.

Learning Outcomes
November 20, 2020 
Discussion Leader:  James Honan, EdD 

  • What are the Outcomes? from By Design: Planning Research on Higher Education by Light et al. [Light, RJ, Singer, JD, Willett, JB, & Willett, JB 1990, By Design: Planning Research on Higher Education, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.]

Specifications Grading
December 11, 2021
Discussion Leader:  Ethimios Kaxiras, PhD

  • Nilson, L., & Stanny, C. (2015). Specifications grading : Restoring rigor, motivating students, and saving faculty time (First ed.). Sterling, Virginia: Stylus. – Chapter 8: The Motivational Power of Specs Grading  
  • Optional Reading: Nilson, Linda. (2016) Yes, Virginia There’s a Better Way to Grade. Inside Higher Ed.
  • Tim Kaxiras also presented the design changes made in his course AM10 this past Fall as well as the results from a design evaluation model based on the paper referenced below. Tim’s collaborator, George Neofotistos shared with us how he used the model in AM10. 
  • Optional Reading: Bordogna, Clelia & Albano, Ezequiel. (2001). Theoretical Description of Teaching-Learning Processes: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Physical review letters. 87. 118701. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.118701. 

Student Participation 
March 26, 2021 
Discussion Leader: Michael D. Smith, PhD  

  • A Reflection Piece – Student Participation – Michael D. Smith, PhD
  • Key Research Findings Regarding Assessing Student Participation – a short literature review outlining key research findings and recommendations- Deniz Marti, PhD

Assessing Expertise Development in Strategic Finance Through the Lens of Fuzzy Trace Theory
April 16, 2021
Discussion Leader: James Honan, EdD 

  • Corbin, J. C., Reyna, V. F., Weldon, R. B., & Brainerd, C. J. (2015). How reasoning, judgment, and decision making are colored by gist-based intuition: A fuzzy-trace theory approach. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 4(4), 344–355.  – 
  • Expertise Development  - Reyna, V. F. (2012). A new intuitionism: Meaning, memory, and development in Fuzzy-Trace Theory. Judgment and Decision making. 

Guiding Questions: 

  • What does expertise look like in a course you are teaching? 
  • How is it developed? 
  • How do you assess it?

An Exercise on Understanding and Communicating Mathematical Proofs.
May 21, 2021
Discussion Leader: Salil Vadhan, PhD 

  • Reading: An Exercise on Understanding and Communicating Mathematical Proofs – Salil Vadhan – May 2021

In this document, Salil describes a type of exercise that Robert Haussman and Deniz Marti have designed for his new course, CS 120  “Introduction to Algorithms and Limitations.