#  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.