During class, Mark Higbee's students play games — elaborate "reacting games" designed to improve oral, communication, writing and research skills. Students are assigned historical characters and given objectives to accomplish during the class period.
Higbee, an EMU history professor, has been using pilot versions of such games during his history 123 and 124 classes to determine if they motivate students. He concluded that students did perform better when playing the reacting games because the result is they wrote better and used more sophisticated detail.
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REDEEMING RESEARCH: (above, from left) Christine
Day, an EMU professor of management, discusses her
research project, "Personal Responsibility and Wise
Choices Integrated into Classroom Learning," with
Barbara Foster, an adjunct lecturer in the department
of management. Both were among 10 EMU faculty
who participated in the first-ever Faculty Colloqium.
which took place March 26 in the Student Center. The
event was part of EMU's annual "Salute to
Excellence" Week.
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Higbee presented the results of his two-year study at the first-ever Faculty Colloquium, which took place March 26 in the Student Center. Faculty and lecturers were given the opportunity to present their research, creative and scholarly activity, and serve as role models for both undergraduate and graduate students who attended the Colloquium. Ten faculty members presented orally and four displayed posters.
Students gain firsthand experience as they recreate history. They learn and remember, instead of memorize and regurgitate, said Higbee, who is currently developing a civil rights game.
"I encourage faculty to ask me questions about it," Higbee said.
Thomas Kovacs, an assistant professor of geography and geology, displayed a poster, "Using A-train to Establish the Effects of Saharan Dust on the Development and Intensity of Tropical Cyclones." His poster illustrated that aerosols — created from wind-blown dust off of the Sahara Desert — can impact tropical convection, and particularly affects the development and intensity of tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic Ocean.
"I participated in this event because it gives me a chance to show off my work and what I do," Kovacs said.
Sarah Ginsberg, an associate professor of special education, presented a poster entitled, "Collaborative Learning in a Hybrid Class." Student satisfaction and reactions about a course designed to increase collaborative learning and student satisfaction in the online portion of a hybrid graduate class were listed on the poster.
"I presented because of my commitment to faculty development to support the quality of education in the university classroom," Ginsberg said.
Other oral presentations at the Faculty Colloquium were:
Ruth Ann Armitage, chemistry, "Chemistry and Radiocarbon Dating of Rock Paintings."
Jeffrey Bernstein, political science, "Thinking Aloud about Political Thinking."
Barbara Foster, management, "Meeting Course Outcomes for the Introduction to Business Class."
Larry Kolopajlo, chemistry, "Ligand Exchange Kinetics of 2,2'-Bipyridine with (Nitrilotriacetate) nickel(II)."
Barbara Leapard, mathematics, "Using Think-Alouds to Enhance Pre-Service Elementary Teachers' Visualization of Fractions."
Tobias Schoenherr, computer information systems, "Comparing Online and Offline Purchasing in B2B Markets."
Paula Storm, science and technology librarian, and Susann DeVries , education librarian, "Is Google Scholar the Answer?"
Pamela Walsh, School of Health Sciences, "Did the Ex-Offenders Return to Prison After Treatment?"
Poster presentations included:
Lisa Barley, management, "Posting Students' Intended Outcomes and Experiences: A Teacher's Guide to Activating Student Sharing and Tracking of Marketable Values."
Christine Day, management, "Responsibility and Wise Choices Integration into Classroom Learning Experiences."
