504: AU Signature Skills Demo: Developing Spark in Student Research Skills in Today’s Learning Environment

Date: Thursday, August 20

Time: 9:15 AM – 10:15 AM

Presenters: Aaron Boesenecker (Assistant Professor, SIS | Global Inquiry), Brenda Chow (Senior Professorial Lecturer, CAS | Biology), David Vazquez (Associate Professor, CAS | Literature and CAS | Critical Race, Gender & Culture Studies) & Sarah Iverson (Assistant Professor, CAS | Sociology)

Moderator: Anna Olsson (Assistant Vice Provost, Center for Faculty Excellence)

Session Description:

“Join us for one of eight sessions where faculty discuss the process of integrating AU Signature Skills into their course assignments and classroom activities. Faculty panelists will discuss ways to spark a sense of curiosity and intellectual purpose in students to foster durable skills.

Sarah Iverson’s projects focus on 1) developing lifelong curiosity and ethos of inquiry though an in-class group activity asking students to apply abstract theory to real-world cases without a “correct” answer, 2) practicing the critical use of evidence and sources by developing scaffolding assignments to support a semester-long independent research project, and 3) fostering principled disagreement and seeking common ground through student message board debates on complex contemporary issues.

Brenda Chow’s projects utilize laboratory research to enrich 1) dependability, trust, teamwork and collaboration by performing experiments; 2) critical use of evidence and sources by communicating scientific discoveries in the written format; and 3) deep reflectiveness and self-direction by peer review and iterative writing.

David Vazquez’s projects map Deep Reflectiveness and Self-Direction onto a Creative Assignment that is designed as one of the culminating activities in the course. The Creative Assignment asks students to create an art object (e.g., a short story, visual art, a podcast, or a short film) that grapples with key ideas in the course. The assignment seeks to route key ideas and concepts through different neural pathways in the brain. He also revamped his labor-based grading rubric to explicitly link the grading policy to Deep Reflectiveness and Self-Direction, Principled Disagreement and Seeking Common Ground, and Lifelong Curiosity and the Ethos of Inquiry.

Aaron Boesenecker’s projects address three AU Signature Skills in the context of an Advanced International Studies Research course: Critical Use of Evidence and Sources, Effective Communication in Writing, Speech, and other Modes, and Lifelong Curiosity and Ethos of Inquiry. A revised low-stakes writing and peer-commenting exercise early in the semester guides students through an initial examination and evaluation of primary source material suitable for their research projects. A mid-semester low-stakes writing and peer-commenting exercise provides an opportunity for students to generate analytical data visualizations and interpret these results in writing. The final, comprehensive assignment brings together the three Signature Skills in a final research project and seeks to empower students to continue their research beyond the classroom through future presentation and publication opportunities.

The AU Signature Skills were developed by a group of AU faculty and staff this spring to operationalize AU’s goal to help students develop into thoughtful and engaged professionals, and are an extension of AU’s Meet Our Moment Strategic Plan.