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2021 Awards for Innovations in Teaching and Learning

August 25, 2021
Submitted By: Office of Marketing and Communication
photo of Michael Clancy
Michael Clancy
photo of Kristin Comeforo
Kristin Comeforo
photo of Celia Lofink
Celia Lofink
photo of Rebecca Ranucci
Rebecca Ranucci
photo of Julie Sochacki
Julie Sochacki

The University’s annual Awards for Innovations in Teaching and Learning recognize faculty members who have shown exceptional dedication, innovation, and effectiveness in the classroom through recent and specific achievements in teaching. The 2021 winners were announced during the virtual faculty-staff kickoff on Aug. 25. This year’s awardees:

Michael Clancy, professor of politics, economics and international studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, led students in his American Foreign Policy class through a two-week simulation exercise on foreign policy crisis situation. Students take on roles such as President, Secretary of State, and Speaker of the House, and then are given an acute foreign policy crisis they must solve. To teach the course virtually, Clancy introduced an online communication tool known as Discord to conduct a virtual simulation—and found that students thrived using this platform. “In a year where many of us were simply trying to keep our head above water, Professor of Politics, Economics, and International Studies Katharine Owens observes, “it is notable that Professor Clancy  learned about a new platform, mastered it, introduced it to his students, tailored his simulation accordingly, and used this tool to provide an exceptional opportunity for our students.” Clancy discovered that “the online tool almost worked better than previous in-person experiences. Students are digital natives, especially when it comes to communication. They thrived on the platform and came up with multiple strategies along the way. They learned a lot about U.S. foreign policy and how to use a new communication tool that will serve them in the future.”

Kristin Comeforo, associate professor of communication in the College of Arts and Sciences, has harnessed digital storytelling to push students in her Systems of Oppression course to unpack complex systems such as racism, sexism, and classism. She has empowered students to build their own knowledge and theory through their lived experiences and employed digital video to create an engaging virtual classroom. After watching, reflecting on, and discussing “digital stories” throughout the semester, students were assigned a final project that required them to create their own digital learning platform of videos. Students reported that the digital storytelling videos they watched in class made them reflect more on their own privilege and oppression—and made them feel more empowered to make social change themselves. "On the whole, I have observed students engage more strongly with video content, and exhibit more motivation and excitement for their final video projects," says Comeforo. In this Zoom class, which could have easily slipped into me being a head talking to a gallery of black boxes, videos kept students tuned in, and generated strong participation, discussion, and overall student learning." "This approach of having students tell their stories and explain ideas through video is a forward-looking approach to education, and recognizes the increased importance of effective communication through media," says Associate Professor of English Don Jones. 

A pair of faculty— Celia Lofink, clinical instructor of management marketing and entrepreneurship and Rebecca Ranucci assistant professor of management and marketing entrepreneurship in the Barney School of Business, teamed up to develop a course collaboration event between two required courses in the Barney School’s BSBA program, and when the flip switched to remote learning, they had to modify this event, which had previously been held in large meeting spaces to accommodate more than 100 students. Using Blackboard Collaborate, they assigned students into groups so they each had their own meeting space for the time of the scheduled event. Each meeting was recorded to enable both instructors, who were moving in and out of the rooms in real time, to go back and review video for each session. Across both the fall and spring events, there were 228 students in 21 groups involved. By bringing sophomore and senior students together, Lofink and Rannucci "provided a very interesting approach to solving the very same problem," says  Irina Naoumova, chair of the Department of Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship. "I see great potential in their work and expect that they could share their experience with other colleges on campus. On top of a clear impact on student learning, this work has the potential to be further developed in a research project on student-to-student interaction between different age groups."

Julie Sochacki, clinical/applied associate professor of English and modern languages in the College of Arts and Sciences, has students in the course titled Becoming More Resilient produce a podcast that shares their stories of resilience, inspiration, and strength. The Becoming More Resilient podcast is a tangible way for students to apply what they have learned in class to create something meaningful, honoring their diversity and identities as well as their hardships and triumphs. Sochacki found that the "project was effective for many reasons. Sharing their assessment with a large audience of listeners motivated students to put their best foot forward. The students worked harder because the work has a deeper meaning, they developed a growth mindset through trial and error, they made connections between learning and their world, they found their creative voice, and were fearless in their creativity." Bryan Sinche, chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages, observes, "As teachers, we often avoid doing new things because they are difficult, but Julie seems to embrace new things for that very reason. She knows that she will learn something new by teaching something new and challenging, and she looks for opportunities to test her knowledge (and resilience)."