Today's Blog is presented by Katelyn Cooper. Katey is a PhD student in Sara Brownell's Biology Education Research lab studying ways to promote equity in undergraduate biology education. Specifically she is interested in how different social identities impact student experiences in biology. Katey is also an Academic Success Coordinator in the School of Life Sciences. Students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) face unique challenges in active learning classrooms. Holding a historically – and in some ways currently – stigmatized social identity means that these students have to carefully navigate active learning classrooms. Although very little research has been done on this population thus far, work that I have done in the Biology Education Research Lab begins to explore how LGBTQIA students feel about active learning classrooms. ( http://www.lifescied.org/content/15/3/ar37.full ) In contrast to traditional lect...

Here are some ASU Library resources that you might not be aware of, from our subject matter librarian, Rene Tanner . Post how you would use these for your classes! Learn TechLib: New Resource for Technology and Learning Want to know what is happening in the world of educational technology and e-learning? And do you want reliable research based information? Then the ASU Libraries has a great source for you. Learn TechLib is an online database of journal articles, conference papers specifically for ed tech and e-learning: https://www-learntechlib-org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/ . To stay current, notice the options to receive e-mail alerts for selected journals and to receive the Learn TechLib newsletter. Makerspace in Hayden Library Want to inspire creativity and innovation among your students? Mkrspace and Mkrstudio in the Hayden Library and have all kinds of production equipment and software for any ASU affiliate to use, including video editing, 3D printing and scanni...

On Tuesday, Peter van Leusen , Gemma Garcia and I hosted the first TeachT@lk webinar for the new Fall 2016 term. Our topic was focused on working with online assessments. We started with a discussion on alignment of your objectives with your assessments, and the standards presented by Quality Matters on assessment. Peter shared Triangle of Effective Learning to help explain this concept. Gemma showed us a variety of assessment tools and tutorials in Blackboard, including Bb Blogs , Journals , Wikis and Tests . Varying assessments types, not only helps students that have different strengths, but also allows you to better access the depth of the knowledge. We also showed how to develop test questions that were beyond the typical multiple choice format, and required higher-order thinking. Finally, we discussed how to build assessments with a mindset of "Risk vs. Reward" that stresses academic integrity. From pedagogical to technological tools, there are a variety of...