General Team Update
This month the EDLI Team worked on expanding the mid-semester evaluation process to the Center for Integrative Studies in General Science (CISGS). This raised concerns and discussions about scaling, however, rates of adoption were low, which may indicate that these can be rolled out more broadly as an offering without too much additional effort. During the process of announcing the mid-semester evaluation, we were also able to sample 22 faculty with regards to attitudes and perceptions about student success. One interesting finding is that roughly a quarter of faculty indicated they would feel some degree of discomfort if all of their students earned a “C” or better in their course, which may indicate teaching philosophy of faculty may be a barrier to student success initiatives.
These quick, temperature surveys have provided some indicators that have allowed the team to think more broadly about our work. Another instance of these smaller surveys was done by the Multimodal Classroom Project that examined course modality preferences of students. These data will also serve as the basis for grant opportunities such as the NSF COVID DEI Challenge.
This month the team collaborated on the EDLI Fellows onboarding process and was able to lay out the process and documents to standardize the experience. We also continued to tweak the EDLI website to better communicate our work and the resources that have been created and curated.
Multimodal Classroom Project
EDLI has compiled preliminary results from student surveys and course observations of the multimodal courses: Preliminary Hyflex Course Findings Fall 2021. Highlights include that students have mixed modality preferences, with about 50% preferring in-person, 25% preferring Hybrid/Hyflex models, and 25% preferring online classes. Additionally, courses that were planned for multimodality in the Hyflex-designated classrooms feature more interaction between online students, instructors, and face-to-face students. We will also use this preliminary data to develop a guide for instructors in the Hyflex-designated classrooms in Spring 2022. We have hired a graduate student assistant to help run multimodal courses in Broad and contribute to the research and evaluation of these classes for the remainder of fall and for spring (Contact: Caitlin and Jun).
EDLI mid-semester course student feedback survey statistical analysis
EDLI continues to conduct statistical analysis on the data collected from the EDLI mid-semester course student feedback surveys. First, as detailed in the EDLI newsletter 3, a reliability analysis was conducted on the data collected from eight different courses across our three colleges wherein the EDLI mid-semester survey was implemented during this past academic year. Results from the analyses offered support to the quality of the instrument. Specifically, the reliability measures (Cronbach’s alpha values) ranged from .798 to .812 for the set of four questions we developed for capturing student perception of the “alignment” between course activities and learning objectives, indicating high levels of internal consistency.
Second, with the SIRS data provided by the Broad College of Business, Jun conducted a correlational analysis on the average student ratings for their instructors and courses from the EDLI mid-semester student feedback surveys and the official SIRS surveys. Here is the snapshot of the data used:
The correlation coefficient between the mid-semester average instructor rating and the SIRS average instructor rating was 0.831, a strong positive correlation.
The correlation coefficient between the mid-semester average student perceived learning rating and the SIRS average course rating was 0.299, a weak positive correlation.
Note that although the positive correlations were observed for the sample (sample size N = 5), there wasn’t enough evidence to suggest that the correlations existed for the population (the correlation coefficients were not statistically significant).
Third, Jun ran a paired samples t-test to compare the means of the midterm average student perceived learning ratings and the SIRS average course ratings for this sample. The t-test revealed statistically significant differences between the midterm average student perceived learning ratings (M = 3.60, SD = 0.23) and the SIRS average course ratings (M = 3.96, SD = 0.15); t(4) = 3.375, p = 0.028 < 0.05. Based on this result, it will be meaningful to explore what adjustments each course instructor had made after receiving the mid-semester student feedback for these courses (Contact: Jun and Jeremy).
Projects Engaging Campus Collaborators
Progress continues on a campus-wide conversation surrounding the possible creation of a federated teaching and learning center. EDLI has been central in early conversations around this topic and continues to play a key role in driving the process forward. Subsequent to a meeting with senior MSU leadership, Dean Joe Salem of the MSU library assumed leadership of the project. His first request was for a campus-wide environmental scan of the current teaching & learning support initiatives. Under Jessica Sender’s guidance, a small committee of contributors completed this Environmental Scan Document, which is a high-level summary of the various activities surrounding teaching & learning support.
A broader ad-hoc group is currently in the final revision phase of that document before it will be shared with Dean Salem. He then will submit it to Senior Assoc. Provost Thomas Jeitschko, who will identify the next steps. EDLI is well-positioned to continue to have a voice in conversations surrounding this topic, meaning the needs and values of our core units will be well represented as this project progresses.
