24th Annual TCC | Online Conference | April 16-18, 2019

Sustainable Learning, Accessible Technologies, & Diverse Contexts

critical thinking

Research outta the box: The Potter Box across the curriculum

Session Description
The four-part Potter Box comprises an iterative process that can be used for the ethical decision-making that should underlie the Scientific Method and the critical thinking that accompany academic research. This presentation will set forth the history and development of The Box, its applicability in various disciplinary and cultural milieux, and its special utility for us in a multiply mediated world where questions of “ethics” and “ethical behavior” sometimes confuse themselves or are seemingly answerable only with reference to “personal truth” or “believability”.

Use of the Potter Box comprises four steps, including “Definition”, “Values,” “Principles,” and “Loyalties.” Since it is iterative, the four-step process repeats itself as more information becomes available, as “values” become clearer, as stakeholders’ ethical principles gel, and as “loyalties” become plain.

The Box-user begins with Definition, a place of facts accumulation in which data are amassed from across cultures, perspectives, and disciplines. Examples of how “Definition” works in various cultures and across curricular boundaries will be seen, and participants will be asked to comment. Indeed, as each step of Box-making proceeds, Q & A, as well as brainstorming, will take place, so as to stimulate participation and discussion, as well as to develop ideas.

Presenter(s)
Katherine Watson
Katherine Watson, Coastline Community College, Fountain Valley, California, USA
Dr. Watson has been teaching French, English, linguistics, anthropology, and English as a Foreign Language for more than four decades, at first among fieldworkers in New England, then in traditional classrooms, then through television, and finally, online. She was named by the Annenberg/ CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) Project to co-conceive, develop, and teach in the Project’s first online initiative, French in Action Online, and her French Topics was the first completely-online offering in California’s Coast Community College District. Dr. Watson’s papers have been published here and abroad, by IDEA, Syllabus, Virginia Tech, Temple University, The League for Innovation, NISOD, and The International Conference on Teaching and Learning, among others. In addition, Dr. Watson is a professional translator and interpreter and trained interpreters for the United States Olympic Committee and during the World Cup. Apart from these activities, sailing and swimming and reading and writing provide joy!
Session Type
20-Minute Session
Audience
All Audiences

A recording of this presentation is available.
Click the button to the right to access the session archive.

Access/download any related materials/handouts
from this session by clicking the button on the right.

Ke Ea o Ka ʻĀina (The Life of the Land)

Session Description
7th-grade students in Hawaiʻi are required to learn about Hawaiian History. For a majority of 7th-graders, their last experience with Hawaiian history was in the 4th grade. As new scholarship emerges that accesses Hawaiian language and English language resources that were not available just a few years ago, our understanding of the events that occurred and their effect of the myriad of people inhabiting these islands has changed. It is much more nuanced. There are many voices that were not included in the story being told. Students werenʻt asked to critically think about any bias that might be present in the sources of information shared with them. There are many teachers who teach 7th-grade Social Studies, particular those recently from the mainland, who may not be comfortable with the topic. There are also students who are home-schooled. This course is designed to be asynchronous and assist teachers in delivering content on Hawaiian history in a way that exposes students to multiple viewpoints and encourages them to critically think about historic events and their effects on our society. In this course, students will use inquiry to explain the mahele (land division) from the perspective of aliʻi (chiefs), hoa ʻāina (indigenous Hawaiian commoners who work the land), and foreign-born residents.
Presenter(s)
Keahe Davis
Keahe Davis, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, USA
Keahe Davis is the Education Director at the King Kamehameha V Judiciary History Center in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. He received his B.A. in European Studies from Loyola Marymount University and is a candidate for M.Ed. in Learning Design and Technology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. In addition to his work at the Judiciary History Center, Keahe is the Vice President of the Hawaiʻi Museums Association Board of Directors, a docent at ʻIolani Palace, ‘ōlapa hula dancer with Hālau Nā Wainohia, and outrigger canoe paddler with Kamehameha Canoe Club.
William Thompson
William Thompson, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
Session Type
20-Minute LTEC Student Session
Audience
All Audiences

A recording of this presentation is available.
Click the button to the right to access the session archive.

Blue Mars: Contemplative Learning in Space

Session Description
Join us as we explore the design of an online learning game on Mars. Blue Mars is a Virtual Harmony simulation for playing extensible 3D immersive learning games. The concept is based on the Mars Expedition, our $25,000 grand prize winner in the Federal Virtual World Challenge. The first game blends space exploration, security puzzles, and moral, ethical, and survival challenges to develop critical thinking skills, contemplative practices, and values-based leadership. It features open source software, data from NASA, tributes to science fiction, and an extensible design. Blue Mars integrates data analytics, a Web ontology for classifying game behavior, feedback, and an AI mindset.
Presenter(s)
Cynthia Calongne
Cynthia Calongne, Colorado Technical University, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Cynthia Calongne is a Professor of Doctoral Studies at Colorado Technical University. Prior to teaching, she served as a software engineer for Air Force Space Command. Since 1995, she researched usability in virtual environments and pioneered 52 university classes held in virtual worlds. In 2017, she received the Thinkerer Award for lifetime achievement from the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education, and her team won the $25,000 grand prize at Defense GameTech for their space simulation, the Mars Expedition Strategy Challenge. She collaborated with Will Wright’s team to design Bar Karma, a television series. Under her avatar, Lyr Lobo, she conducts research in virtual world simulation, education, and game design.
Session Type
45-Minute Interactive Session
Audience
All Audiences

A recording of this presentation is available.
Click the button to the right to access the session archive.

Access/download any related materials/handouts
from this session by clicking the button on the right.

Promoting Critical Thinking in the Online Classroom

Session Description
The question has been asked in countless faculty meetings, “How can I get my online students to be critical thinkers?”

Critical thinking is an active learning process that requires students to study, think, and learn through processes such as reflecting, questioning, challenging, exploring, alternatives, reflective skepticism synthesizing and analyzing. In face-to-face classrooms, the professor can be actively involved in this process of encouraging students to think critically, but is it possible in the online classroom to do the same? The answer is YES!

This workshop will focus on specific teaching strategies to promote critical thinking in students taking online courses. Critical thinking activities will be discussed for both asynchronous and synchronous activities in online courses. Critical thinking online activities to be discussed will include critical thinking in reading and writing, online discussions, group activities, seminars, project-based learning, virtual field trips, online service learning projects, and connecting the online learning experience to real world applications. Workshop attendees will gain practical skills and participate in critical thinking activities that they can incorporate in their online classroom.

Presenter(s)
Julee Poole
Julee Poole, Purdue University Global, Foley, AL, USA
Dr. Julee Poole earned her Ph.D. in Psychology with a concentration in Family Psychology from Capella University – and was a professor for of Psychology for 15 years before going into administration. She has taught several universities during her tenure as an adjunct faculty member. She began teaching at Kaplan University, now Purdue Global University in 2007 She became the academic assistant chair before becoming the academic chair of the Graduate Psychology program in 2013.

She has been a nominee for the Kaplan Way (now Purdue Global) award and outstanding leader. Dr. Poole has presented at many national and international conferences. She is the author of two books on child witnessing of domestic violence, The Cryin’ House: A Story for Children Who Witness Family Violence and When Hitting Hits Home. She has published in a variety of journals to include the Family Guidance Journal and PsycCritiques. Dr. Poole has research interests in the areas of family violence, self-esteem and defense mechanisms, service-learning projects in the online classroom, best practices in online educational programs, and the use of technology in the online classroom.

At Purdue Global, Dr. Poole has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in Psychology. As the academic chair of the graduate psychology program, she is responsible for the ongoing improvement and development of the program, and providing oversight to the graduate psychology faculty in the delivery of exceptional online instruction in five specific psychology concentrations.

Susan Zukowski
Susan Zukowski, Purdue University Global, San Diego, CA, USA
Susan Zukowsk teaches various graduate psychology courses in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. She joined Purdue Global first as an adjunct faculty member and later as a full time adjunct faculty member in the online program. Previously, Zukowski has worked in health care supporting research, program development, data analytics, and building organizational leadership, performance improvement initiatives, and overall organizational success. She has taught a variety of courses in psychology, research methods, lifespan development, organizational effectiveness, leadership, prejudice and discrimination, strategic planning, business management, and project management for undergraduate students and master’s students at a school in northwestern Wisconsin.
Session Type
45-Minute Interactive Session
Audience
All Audiences

A recording of this presentation is available.
Click the button to the right to access the session archive.

Access/download any related materials/handouts
from this session by clicking the button on the right.