Active Learning

STEM Active Learning Academy

Anonymous — Sun, 30 Jul 2023 23:03:02 +0000

STEM Active Learning Academy Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 07/30/2023 - 17:03

Leilani Arthurs , Department of Geological Sciences

We are happy to announce the Active Learning Academy will continue for another year! This program is NSF-funded, faculty-driven, and supported by ASSETT and the CTL. The Active Learning Academy offers STEM faculty professional development (PD) opportunities to learn and apply research-based instructional strategies and course design principles to an undergraduate STEM course of their choosing. These strategies and principles are straightforward to implement and known to enhance student learning. They are also aligned with �� Boulder's current efforts to have a “common student-centered approach to learning [PDF]” and to be a “T1 at the R1” [PDF].

The academy offers a series of three semester-long PD programs that build from one to the next: Learning by Design, Follow-up Mentoring, and Course Re/Design. Participants who successfully complete the first program are eligible but not required to participate in the second program. Those who successfully complete the first and second program are eligible but not required to complete the third program. Faculty who complete any of these programs can claim them in their annual performance. They will also receive additional recognition in the form of a faculty development award, a certificate, and a letter for their reappointment, promotion, and tenure file.

The programs offered through the Active Learning Academy are currently scheduled as follows:

Learning by Design: Fall 2024
Eight meetings per semester, once every other week
Award: $1500

Follow-up Peer Mentoring: Spring 2025
Two meetings per academic year (kick-off and wrap-up) and five meetings with a peer mentor
Award: $500

Course Re/Design: Summer/Fall 2025
One symposium presentation and numerous meetings to (re)design a course
Award: $1500 (two awards per cycle)

Tenure-stream and teaching professor ranks are eligible to participate. We are currently accepting applications for the fall 2023 Learning by Design cohort. The first program meeting will be held during the third week of instruction. Lunch will be provided at all meetings.

Space is limited! Cohort size is limited to 8. Preference will be given to pairs of faculty members from the same department who partner to complete Learning by Design together.

Submit your application by May 28, 2024. Send questions to Amanda.McAndrew@colorado.edu, Karen.Crouch@colorado.edu, Kalpana.Gupta@colorado.edu, or Leilani.Arthurs@colorado.edu

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Congratulations to the Fall 2021 Learning by Design cohort!

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 18:52:11 +0000

Congratulations to the Fall 2021 Learning by Design cohort! Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 10/12/2021 - 12:52

Amanda McAndrew

Image Caption: Pictured left to right - Jennifer Scheib (CivilEng), Colleen Scanlan-Lyons (ENVS), Katherine Lininger, (GEOG), Jay Arehart (CivilEng), Andrew Tan (IPHY), Diana Oliveras (Creative Minds RAP), Donna Louie (Creative Minds RAP) and Bradley Markle (GEOG).

Over the last eighteen months, we’ve all experienced unprecedented shifts in our daily lives, including how, when, and where teaching and learning happens. One bright side is that these shifts have given us the opportunity to examine precisely those aspects of teaching and learning. To that end, �� Boulder has incredibly dedicated faculty who are engaging in professional development to become even better at their teaching craft.

A few of those dedicated faculty were recently accepted into the Fall 2021 Learning by Design cohort and will be spending this semester examining the design of their courses and ways to infuse active learning strategies into their teaching. Please join ASSETT in congratulating these eight faculty who were selected from a very competitive group of applicants:

Jay Arehart, Instructor, Civil Engineering
Katherine Lininger, Assistant Professor, Geography
Donna Louie, Instructor, Creative Minds RAP
Bradly Markle, Assistant Professor, Geology and INSTAAR
Diana Oliveras, Instructor, Environmental and Natural Sciences RAP
Colleen Scanlan-Lyons, Associate Research Professor, Environmental Studies
Jennifer Scheib, Instructor, Civil Engineering
Andrew Tan, Assistant Professor, Integrative Physiology

This offering is available thanks to the efforts of Leilani Arthurs, Associate Professor of Geological Sciences. She and her team were awarded a $2.3 million grant by the National Science Foundation to implement the Active Learning Academy (ALA), a series of three professional development programs. This series of programs is aimed at building capacity at �� Boulder for student-centered teaching in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses. Arthurs is the lead facilitator of the ALA, with Amanda McAndrew (ASSETT) and Alisha Clark (Assistant Professor of Geology and an ALA alum) in supporting roles.

The first in the ALA series is the Learning by Design program. It is an eight-session program with primary goals to (a) introduce participants to research-based instructional strategies and course design principles that facilitate active learning in an undergraduate STEM course they teach or will teach and (b) cultivate a faculty learning community that together explores ways to apply active learning to their chosen courses. After the end of the fall semester, participants will have completed and submitted a teaching portfolio for their chosen course, which can be later used for reference in annual reviews, promotion, and tenure. Additionally, they will be awarded a $1000 stipend for their efforts. The Learning by Design program is in its third year and will be offered again in fall 2022.

Participants who complete the Learning by Design program will have the opportunity to continue their pursuit of teaching excellence in the other two ALA programs. The second in the ALA series is the Follow-Up Mentoring program, which will be offered each spring semester for four years. The third in the ALA series is the Course Re/Design Award program, which will be offered during the summer/fall period for three years.

For additional information about the Active Learning Academy and its programmatic offerings, please contact Leilani.Arthurs@colorado.edu, Alisha.Clark@colorado.edu or Amanda.McAndrew@colorado.edu.

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On Learning By Design Community of Practice

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 23:38:51 +0000

On Learning By Design Community of Practice Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/22/2021 - 16:38

Despite the threats and uncertainties in 2020, ASSETT’s support helped the Active Learning Academy (ALA) run smoothly and brought an additional informed perspective to our new modality of teaching. The faculty fellows remained steadfast in their ongoing professional development as STEM educators and unwavering in their commitment to high quality undergraduate STEM education. Many participants appreciated the time to reflect and were left wanting more time together! One explained, “getting peer reviewed and feedback from my colleagues has been very useful in improving my learning plan for the class I’m redesigning. I hope to get this feedback in the future and hence would reach out to my colleagues and seek feedback if they are available.” Please join us in recognizing these faculty fellows’ accomplishments and celebrating the department chairs who supported their participation!

Active Learning Academy Newsletter

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Congratulations to the Learning by Design Fall 2020 Cohort

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 21:38:23 +0000

Congratulations to the Learning by Design Fall 2020 Cohort Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/12/2020 - 15:38

ASSETT would like to recognize eight faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences who have been accepted to the Learning by Design program. During this unprecedented time of shifting classes to remote learning, life is quite hectic. Yet these faculty remain committed to improving their teaching practice and finding time to gather online to learn best practices in student-centered course design and active learning.

Please join us in congratulating these dedicated Learning by Design participants who were selected from a very competitive group of applicants:

Lisa Barlow, Sr Instructor, Baker RAP/Environmental Studies
Donata Giglio, Asst Professor, Atmospheric and Oceanic Studies
Kyle Luh, Asst Professor, Mathematics
Florencia Orosz, Visiting Asst Professor, Mathematics
Dennis Perepelitsa, Asst Professor, Physics
Julian Resasco, Asst Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Harrison Stalvey, Instructor, Mathematics
Colin West, Instructor, Physics

This program is available thanks to the efforts of Leilani Arthurs, Assistant Professor of Geological Sciences. She and her team were awarded a $2.3 million grant by the National Science Foundation to implement the Active Learning Academy (ALA), a series of three professional development programs. This series of programs is aimed at building capacity at �� Boulder for student-centered teaching in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses. Arthurs is the lead facilitator of the ALA, with Amanda McAndrew (ASSETT) and Janet Casagrand (Senior Instructor of Integrated Physiology and an ALA alum) in supporting roles.

The first in the ALA series is the Learning by Design program, which will be offered each fall semester for four years. This is a six-session program that meets every other week (dates to be determined based on applicants’ input). The primary goals of the Learning by Design program are to (a) introduce participants to research-based instructional strategies and course design principles that facilitate active learning in an undergraduate STEM course they teach or will teach and (b) cultivate a faculty learning community that together explores ways to apply active learning to their chosen courses. After the end of the fall semester, participants will have completed and submitted a teaching portfolio for their chosen course, which can be later used for reference in annual reviews, promotion, and tenure. Additionally, they will be awarded a $1000 stipend for their efforts.

Participants who complete the Learning by Design program will have the opportunity to continue their pursuit of teaching excellence in the other two ALA programs. The second in the ALA series is the Follow-Up Mentoring program, which will be offered each spring semester for four years. The third in the ALA series is the Course Re/Design Award program, which will be offered during the summer/fall period for three years.

For additional information about the Active Learning Academy and its programmatic offerings, please contact Amanda McAndrew, Leilani Arthurs, or Janet Casagrand.

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Faculty Reading Group to Explore Gamification

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Faculty Reading Group to Explore Gamification Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/02/2019 - 00:00

Interested in using games and simulations in the classroom? Join in the Gamification Reading Group, a part of ASSETT’s Student Success Innovation Incubator.

We are starting out this spring by reading Minds on Fire: How Role-Immersion Games Transform Higher Education by Mark Carnes. He’s a historian at Barnard College who developed the Reacting to the Past pedagogy, which involves role-playing games in historical scenarios.

We will be meeting over four Wednesday afternoons, 3:30–5:00 pm in CASE W311: January 29, February 12, February 26, and March 11. During one of those sessions, we will play a sample Reacting to the Past game, so we can all get firsthand experience with Carnes’s method.

ASSETT will provide free copies of the book to the first 10 participants who sign up by December 20.

To register or for additional information, contact Professor Michaele Ferguson.

We hope to see you in January!

Michaele Ferguson, Political Science
Catherine Kunce, Program in Writing and Rhetoric
David Paradis, History

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Summer Book Club Kicks Off May 23!

Anonymous — Thu, 02 May 2019 18:15:31 +0000

Summer Book Club Kicks Off May 23! Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/02/2019 - 12:15

With spring classes behind us and fall a few months away, now’s a perfect time to reflect on the past semester and begin brainstorming for the semester ahead!

Join ASSETT’s summer book club to mingle with colleagues while discussing Empower: What Happens When Students Own Their Learning by John Spencer and A. J. Juliani. This visually engaging book is a light read, but it’s chock-full of meaningful reflections and profound insights into ways instructors can deepen student engagement and motivation. For a taste of what’s in store, watch this short video by John Spencer, which outlines seven ways students benefit when they take charge of their own learning.

The book club will meet three times:

Thursday, May 23: Kickoff meeting to distribute books and meet the participants;
Wednesday, May 29: Hands-on workshop on to explore BuffsCreate, a new service that provides students with a web space to cultivate their digital identities and showcase their research, professional, and creative works;
Thursday, June 6: Wrap-up discussion and course planning activities.

Meetings will be held from 1:00 to 3:00 pm on each of the above dates.

ASSETT will provide free copies of the book, limited-edition BuffsCreate swag, and light refreshments for all registered participants. This opportunity is open to Arts & Sciences faculty and staff, including graduate students with instructional duties.

Only 10 spaces are available -- register soon! For additional information, contact Amanda McAndrew.

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Perusall (March 2018 tech)

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 22:16:10 +0000

Perusall (March 2018 tech) Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/20/2018 - 16:16

In 2015, ASSETT conducted a campus-wide Teaching with Technology survey of faculty from across campus. A theme that emerged was they wanted strategies and tools for motivating students to prepare in advance. Our Tech of the Month, Perusall, was designed to do just that — it helps students master readings faster and gain a better understanding of the material through collaborative reading.

Developed by renowned physicist Eric Mazur, Perusall is an online annotation tool that promotes active, collaborative reading. Through this tool, faculty assign readings, either through online textbooks, articles, or PDFs. Students can highlight, create private or public comments, and answer questions around the assigned reading. As noted in Perusall’s one-page rubric, students are encouraged to annotate thoughtfully by creating comments that deeply engage points in the reading, stimulating discussions, offering informative questions or comments, and helping others by addressing their questions or confusions.

Perusall also has some nice course management features. For large enrollment courses, students are automatically placed into smaller groups for each document. Students can only see and can respond to comments and questions from other group members. Faculty can also provide automated personalized guidance for students—especially for those who may be falling behind and not engaging with the readings and peers. Perusall creates a Student Confusion Report that summarizes areas of text that students found confusing. And Perusall can also be integrated into Canvas, ��’s new learning management system. If you’re interested in using this tool in your course(s) and would like assistance, one of our Student Fellows will be happy to provide you with support.

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Vilja Hulden Integrates Team-Based Learning

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 15:37:44 +0000

Vilja Hulden Integrates Team-Based Learning Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 02/14/2017 - 08:37

The problem I grapple with is in the broad realm of critical thinking. More specifically, I want students to experience studying history as a process of reasoning - asking a question, speculating on an answer, looking up information, modifying the answer (and/or the question), asking new questions.

Part of my concern with this emphasis on reasoning is that it makes studying history more fun. But I also want to put it to more history-specific uses. To that end, I explored team-based learning in this seminar. It provides a structure for group work that holds promise for improving students reasoning and professional skills.

Challenge

The problem I grapple with is, I suppose, in the broad realm of critical thinking. More specifically, I want students to experience studying history as a process of reasoning - asking a question, speculating on an answer, looking up information, modifying the answer (and/or the question), asking new questions.

Part of my concern with this emphasis on reasoning is just that, well, reasoning is important; part of it is that it makes studying history more fun. But I also want to put it to more history-specific uses.

First, I want students to understand that context matters – historical actors lived in a different context and therefore their values & thoughts & concerns & assumptions were different from ours. BUT that does not mean that they were less intelligent than we are, or even more ignorant.

Second, I want students to realize that because context matters, it is less than useful to think of history in terms of the golden path that led us to this best of all possible worlds. At least to some extent, we need to understand historical actors on their own terms.

Third, I want students to at least begin to draw the conclusion that context matters not only in history, but in fact in the present as well: we are not loosely floating individuals, nor simply “products of our time,” but something rather more complex. Because we aren’t the former, it matters what the structures around us are. Because we aren’t the latter, we can change those structures.

Context

I am concerned with this problem in most classes, but especially in survey-type classes (e.g. HIST1015, America to 1865). The pressure to “cover” material is so heavy in those classes that breaking from it is not easy, at least for me. It seems to me that there’s also quite a bit of student resistance to breaking away from coverage; that is how they’re used to measuring their learning, and that is what they know how to deal with (read the textbook, do the exam). Also, these tend to be large lecture classes (I usually have 80-90 students), which limits the kinds of exercises we can do.

At the same time, I’m aware that people are using various kinds of technological interventions (having students tweet responses to questions and displaying these through Tweetwall or similar tools, for example) as well as effective group work and other active learning strategies to address these problems.

I have no wish to teach history as one damn thing after another, and I don’t think the students benefit much from it if I do (though I’m not claiming that coverage classes are worthless — some people enjoy them and retain much information, but I don’t think that describes the majority of my students). Thus, the implications are basically that most students — especially those not inclined to like history — will learn very little in my survey class that they take with them to other classes, let alone beyond college.

Plans for Implementation

Given that the problem is most acute in the survey class, I’m going to try to do an intervention in that class specifically. Fortuitously, I am scheduled to teach a smaller version of the survey (33 students) this spring (2016), so that gives me a little bit more flexibility.

I’m drawing on what I think have been the most successful features of the survey as I have taught it up to now: group work on specific tasks and assignments involving the students in imagining other, historical, lives.

Group work on specific tasks has been fairly successful in earlier iterations of the class in getting students to reason using data and facts, one of the main goals I have for the course.

For example, I have had students examine tabular data drawn from the census and figure out whether there’s more social mobility in the U.S. or in Great Britain in the 19th century, guided by specific questions; this has been fairly successful but could be more effective if there were a better way for students to report their findings (something I hope to address; see below).

Similarly, imagining other lives has seemed to engage students. Twice, I’ve had an essay assignment where students read about the young women working in the Lowell textile mills in the 1830s (aka the Lowell Mill Girls) and then write a letter pretending to be one of those girls. They are required to provide an explanatory footnote for each statement in the letter, as in “Here I am, working with my sister Sally…. (footnote: Most women came to the mills because they already knew someone who worked there [citation]).” This has been a fairly popular assignment and students have done surprisingly well with it.

Below, I describe how these will be leveraged more fully and formally in the new iteration of the survey.

In-class team work

Here, I’m drawing on the principles of “Team-based learning” (see http://www.tblcollaborative.org/), which emphasizes structured group work that holds each group member accountable and encourages discussion through demanding that the group make a specific choice based on the data. In TBL, this is done through group quizzes (individuals take the same quiz and then take it in a group) and through in-class application assignments that pose a more complex question that the group must answer, usually in the form of “choose the best X” or something similar.

I don’t aim to completely revamp the course in the TBL mold, but rather to draw on it for ideas.

I will use a modified version of the group quizzes, and will use the application exercise principles as a resource, but I will keep some lecture days in the course and some of the group work will diverge from the TBL guideline of having all groups work on the same problem.

As in TBL, the teams will be the same throughout the semester. Each team will be the expert on one broad demographic category (urban workers, Northern middle-class women, Native Americans…) throughout the semester, and their team assignment is also related to that category.

To offset student fears that they will be stuck doing the work for the whole group, each team member is accountable to his/her team: each student’s grade for team work is adjusted using a percentage multiplier determined on the basis of peer evaluations from his/her teammates (this is lifted directly out of TBL as well). Also, the final exam will be tied to the team assignment, so students will need to demonstrate that they at least know what their team was doing.

Team project & leveraging imagination

Each team will have an assignment that mirrors the Lowell Mill Girls assignment I have used before: using our class reader and some other assigned readings, the team will construct a life story for a character they imagine into being but that must be historically plausible and that draws on the readings assigned to the team. The readings reflect the broad demographic categories assigned to the team. Like the Lowell Mill Girls assignment, the team project requires both the imaginative portion (the life story) and the documentation (footnotes explaining how we know how this person might have lived and what they might have done).

In addition to the life story, each team will write a letter from the subject of their life story, dated April 20, 1865 (that is, a few days after the fall of Fort Sumter, thus tying their character to the Civil War).

In each assignment, there is a draft and a final version; the draft version is created on Google Docs and gets feedback from me and from one other team.

Technologies to make group work more efficient

As already noted, the team assignments will be created on Google Docs, enabling the team to collaborate on writing without having to arrange meetings outside of class (we will also build in time in-class to work on the assignment at least enough to make plans and to brainstorm).

The other part where technology is crucial is in bringing out the results of in-class group work. This is even more important in larger classes, of course, but even in my 33-student version it can be helpful (and of course, I am hoping to scale this up to the larger survey). The main issue is that having groups report sequentially is terribly boring, and if all groups are working on the same task, becomes very repetitive. Thus it would be desirable to have a technology that would enable one to display the groups’ results simultaneously.

Originally I had planned to use Padlet (https://padlet.com/) , but though it looks neat, the problem is that at least as far as I can tell, there is no way to prevent groups from seeing other groups’ submissions when they submit their own results. Also, I don’t really need the ability to add images etc., as group reports will almost always be textual. So I’ve decided to use PollEverywhere (https://www.polleverywhere.com/), which, though very expensive for the paid versions, has a free version that allows 40 submissions per question/task, which is quite sufficient even for my large classes when using it for the group reports. The reports are free text, can be submitted on the web or by text message, and can be hidden until I want to display them. Then they can be displayed either as a text wall, a grid, or a word cloud.

Indicators of Success

The success of the intervention is measured both through the quality of the work students produce, individually and in groups, and through a goals writing assignment (beginning of term) and a self-evaluation writing assignment (end of term). I may add a survey using SALG or similar, though I haven’t decided on that yet.

Reflection

The main goal is to get students to think about history as something that requires them to use their reasoning skills, not just their memorization skills, and to recognize that indeed, history was made by real people just as stupid and faulty and persevering and sentimental and brave and petty as ourselves, and that those people were shaped by their environment even as/if they tried to change it. The in-class group work will particularly highlight the reasoning skills; by doing these tasks in groups and then comparing the results between groups, students get to see their peers thinking, and possibly outperforming themselves, hopefully underlining that reasoning is hard work but that it can be done. The team project will emphasize the human element in history by asking students to put themselves in the shoes of an imaginary historical person.

[video:https://youtu.be/SHSQFv-fr-s]

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SIG - Faculty Collaborate to Develop Critical Thinking Opportunities

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Nov 2016 15:48:52 +0000

SIG - Faculty Collaborate to Develop Critical Thinking Opportunities Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/21/2016 - 08:48

This semester, 10 faculty from across the college of Arts and Sciences participated in a Special Interest Group (SIG) on Encouraging and Developing Students’ Critical Thinking Skills. From readings and discussions, to student personas, to development of specific student activities; participants have been highly engaged in creating significant critical thinking learning experiences for their students. Due to popular demand, we’ll offer this SIG again during Spring 17. Please apply and include your available times to meet.

We recognize these Fall 16 Participants for their commitment to the continuous improvement of teaching and learning:

Bilge Birsoy, Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology
Doug Duncan, Program of Writing and Rhetoric
Nicole Jobin, Sewell RAP
Henry Lovejoy, History
Suzanne Magnanini, French and Italian
David Paradis, History
Kathryn Plath, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Julian Resasco, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Petger Schaberg, Program of Writing and Rhetoric
Andrew Martin, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Definitions of Critical Thinking by our participants.

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Martin's Online Communities Promote Better In-Class Discussions in International Affairs Courses

Anonymous — Tue, 24 May 2016 21:11:05 +0000

Martin's Online Communities Promote Better In-Class Discussions in International Affairs Courses Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/24/2016 - 15:11

Contributed by albyantoniazzi at Flickr Creative Commons.

Dr. Jessica Martin wants to hear what her students think. Martin, �� Boulder Instructor of International Affairs, creates class Tumblr and Facebook pages for her students to build community and discuss current events relating to their courses--whether post-Cold War politics, the September 11 attacks, or the Arab Spring. Students' posts and comments on these online spaces contribute to their participation grades, and Martin has found that these online forums encourage more students to participate in class. "I notice, by the middle of the semester that more students are talking...It's helped to create a better dynamic," Martin says. She may ask a student to speak in class about their latest post to the class Facebook Group or Tumblr Page. "Where did you find that article?" Martin may ask a student in class; or, "What does this article tell us about the news event?"

Students appreciated Martin's effective class discussions and nominated her for an ASSETT Teaching with Technology Award in the Spring of 2013. One student wrote about Martin's Post-Cold War World course:

Dr. Jessica Martin is an amazing professor with an incredible talent to lead thoughtful engagement and discussion with little more than provoking and skillful questioning...her online discussion through Tumblr was unique and fun to use. This was my first class that used Tumblr as a medium for sharing and discussion outside the classroom. We were encouraged to post pictures, articles, journals etc. to our class Tumblr page in order to share ideas and information about the Arab Spring to our classmates and professor. While we received participation credit for our posts, the Tumblr page was a fun outlet to communicate on and introduced me to new sources and stories that I wouldn't have found without it. Dr. Martin was always trying to find ways to engage her students and her Tumblr page was a smart and creative way to encourage participation and learning.

Not only have the online forums engaged students, but they also serve as effective avenues for building critical thinking skills. Martin challenges students to search online to find evidence for their arguments, and then take a step further to examine the articles that they find for the writers' perspectives and opinions. "We try to have students find different arguments in the information they find...We really want to get as many perspectives as possible," she says, and, ultimately, "I hope they get better at analyzing information," she says. Martin says that her 9/11 class's Facebook group page serves as an extensive archive of media about that topic that seniors can refer back to when finding evidence for their final research papers.

Martin has encountered a few challenges with using these online forums for class discussion. Sometimes, students hesitate to create Tumblr accounts if they are not already registered at Tumblr. Also, since students' Tumblr usernames often differ from their real names, she must keep track of which aliases belong to which students in order to give students proper credit for their participation in online discussion. When it comes to the class Facebook pages, Martin tells students that she only views the students' participation on the class Facebook Group page--she does not Friend students, or visit their Facebook profiles.

Martin has found that online communities build connections among students. She has seen students make new friendships, sometimes just beginning with a post to the class Facebook page. "It's a good way for students to get know each other," she says. The communities formed during the semester seem to last long after the classes end.

Martin considers trying, "... a class blog where students could post," for future classes. Most importantly, when using social media in class, "Students had fun with it!" she says.

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