Videos Highlight Creative Faculty Projects

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The Teaching and Faculty Support Center and Global Campus partner to provide student success and teaching grants to U of A faculty. Traditionally, grant recipients are asked to make a poster presentation at a TFSC event to show how they used their grant money towards student success. This year, Cheryl Murphy, professor of educational technology and vice provost of distance education, reached out to Lynn Meade, TFSC co-director, to create a new opportunity. The idea was for the units to work together to allow faculty the option of making a video about their work.

Meade said, "This was a perfect addition to the grant program. This will allow the TFSC to not only financially support the work of our faculty, but also to highlight their work for a larger audience. Innovation breeds innovation, and highlighting this work has the potential to inspire other teachers to try new things."

The partnership with Global Campus is a natural one. Murphy was a TFSC co-director from 2006 to 2009, and she continues to actively support the mission and vision of the TFSC. In addition, Global Campus helps to fund the Student Success Grant program.

"Global Campus values our partnership with the TFSC and is delighted to play a small role in highlighting the incredible work faculty have done as part of the Teaching Improvement Grant program through the creation of project videos," Murphy said. "From curricular integrations that include augmented reality and digital design to student support projects such as active allies and mental health first aid training, the work these faculty have completed will have tremendous positive impacts on students' learning and well-being."

These faculty videos can be accessed on the TFSC webpage and on the new Teaching and Faculty Support Center Video Space:

• Allison Boykin, Michele Kilmer and Callie Bradley, Eleanor Mann School of Nursing, "DNP Project Success: An Interdisciplinary Approach," $4,945.59
• Dede Hamm and John Hickey — School of Human Environmental Sciences and Department of Continuing Education, "Event Management Simulation Development for Intro to Event Planning and Management," $4,649
• Lori Murray, Eleanor Mann School of Nursing, "Improving Online Teaching to Promote Professionalism," $2,295
• Ryan Calabretta Sajder, Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures, "Digitizing Italian Studies: Virtual Reality in the Italian Curriculum," $5,000
• Ringo Jones, Department of Communication, "360° Video and Mixed Reality Storytelling," $4,999.95
• Josiah Leong, Department of Psychological Science, "Innovation Brain Imaging Analyses on a Shared Educational Resource," $2,500
• Kathi Jogan, Department of Animal Sciences, "Active Learning through an Engaging Digital Environment," $2,498.16
• Renee Speight and Suzanne Kucharczyk, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, "Video Coaching Technology to Improve Preparation of Students as Licensed Special Educators," $4,975

Meade said, "We anticipate offering the video option to our grant recipients in 2024, as it serves as a compelling medium to effectively communicate the scholarship of our faculty."

More information on Teaching Improvement and Student Success grants can be found on the teaching grants page of the TFSC website.
Established in 1992, the Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center serves as an interactive resource for faculty to enhance teaching and learning. Events coordinated by the center include the Faculty Lunch Series, Faculty Enrichment Series, Winter Teaching Symposium and Teaching Camp. For more about the TFSC and its programs go to Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center | Teaching and Faculty Support Center | University of Arkansas (uark.edu).