Latest Faculty Spotlight Blog Posts
Meet Bethany Wilcox: 2023 Teaching with Technology Award Winner
Fall Celebration of Excellence in Teaching with Technology
STEM Active Learning Academy
Spotlight Videos
Featuring faculty, staff, and students discussing technology-related techniques and resources that have proven success for supporting teaching and learning.
Faculty and Staff in the Spotlight
Jennifer Shannon Assistant Professor and a Curator of Cultural Anthropology
Dr. Shannon received an ASSETT Development Grant to buy equipment to make her ethnographic methods course more hands-on. Now she gets students out in the field interviewing people, participating in events, and experimenting with recording devices that anthropologists use to collect data.
- Helping Anthropology Students Collect Field Data
Carole McGranahan, Associate Professor
As a participant in the Teaching with Technology seminar, Dr. McGranahan has experimented with multiple platforms of social media for student engagement in the classroom. She’s had good success with Twitter and connecting students to experts in the field and blogs for engaging students in reflective writing for extended audiences.
- Teaching with Technology: Carole McGranahan
Mark Amerika, Professor
Dr. Amerika encourages his students to work together to create a digital showing of theirs and previous students' interactive online art, art history research, and conference contributions. The student-maintained sites expand the classroom spatially and temporally to new audiences.
Douglas Duncan, Senior Instructor & Director of Fiske Planetarium
Dr. Duncan participated in Teaching with Technology seminar, works closely with CU Physics Education Research Group, and teaches a seminar on Excellence in Teaching. His current research is in the area of teaching physics and astronomy to non-science majors. In his classes he uses various types of multimedia to get his students use imagination to better engage with the subject matter. Dr. Duncan has written a book on the use of Clickers in the classroom, and conducted a study on the effect of laptops and cellphones on students’ grades.
- Tips for Successful “Clicker” Use
- Digital Devices and Student Performance
- Digital Devices, Student Behavior, and Student Learning
Seth Hornstein, Senior Instructor
It is clear that one of Dr. Hornstein’s priorities is advancing teaching and learning in Astronomy. He is active in the Learning Assistants program here at CU and further, the Center for Astronomy Education. Dr. Hornstein is active in reforming teaching practices for the department with student centered teaching approaches using clickers for peer instruction, Desire2Learn, and other engaging activities. Additionally, his students recognize his efforts in ASSETT’s student poll requesting nominations of teachers using technology well.
Ingrid Ulbrich, Lecturer
Seeking to provide resources for her students benefit, Dr. Ulbrich has embraced lecture capture. In a field such as chemistry, it’s often helpful for students to review, again and again, how problems were solved or how a difficult concept was explained. Having first captured lectures in for a large class via OIT’s automated system, she later decided to follow the “do it yourself” method to continue providing a much needed resource for her students.
- Is Lecture Capture Effective?
Elspeth Dusinberre, Associate Professor
Dr. Dusinberre has been experimenting with transformative technologies including recording lectures “old style” with a regular video camera to automated lecture capture systems and video game development. Her ongoing practice to improve student learning by technological and pedagogical applications is evidenced by the 6 teaching awards she has received in her tenure at CU-Boulder.
- CU Professor Spotlight: A Virtual Expedition
- Dusinberre Interview on Lecture Capture
Michele Jackson, Associate Professor & Director of ASSETT
Dr. Jackson founded ASSETT to develop initiatives and provide support for teaching and learning through technology in the College Arts & Sciences. She works to create opportunities to build community for faculty seeking to try new ways of teaching with technology. Dr. Jackson researches communication technology use in computer science, engineering and education workplaces. She teaches online and face to face classes and loves to experiment with new technologies and pedagogical practices.
- Studies in Communication and Technology
Matthew A. Koschmann, Assistant Professor
Dr. Koschmann’s interest in new technologies and pedagogical practices is evident in his work to develop whiteboard animations for his courses and teaching online. He has received grants to produce the animation, service learning projects and investigating innovative teaching with technology practices.
- Teaching with Technology: Matt Koschmann on Animation
- Whiteboard Animation: What is Organizational Communication
- Whiteboard Animation to be used in Communication Courses
Kendra Gale, Instructor
Dr. Gale is always interested in staying ahead of the curve in her use of technology in the classroom. Giver her discipline of visual communication, she continually seeks out ways to increase students visual literacy with digital tools as evidenced in her recent ASSETT Development Award.
- Development Awards: The Story Behind the Picture
Catherine Stager-Kilcommons, Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator
Catherine has been dedicated to helping students with learning disabilities achieve their learning goals through technologies available in her Assistive Technology lab that traditional classrooms do not offer. The lab offers software that converts speech into text, workstations with adaptations available to help students with physical limitations, and high-contrast keyboards and cameras that magnify text on computer screens.
Lori Emerson, Assistant Professor
Embracing the past so the present can be seen is the motto of the Media Archaeology Lab. Dr. Emerson’s teaching and research experiments by entwine past and present technological tools to create innovative ways of thinking about how technology is shaping our culture. Examples of her work are evidenced in her Teaching with Technology explorations with Sifteo cubes and digital poetry.
- Teaching with Technology: Lori Emerson
- Sifteo Cubes in the Humanities
- Media Archaeology Lab
Ed Rivers, Professor
Winner of multiple teaching awards, including the Faculty Assembly, Dr. Rivers is known for his interest in digital media, particularly podcasting. He is continually active in seeking out opportunities to improve his teaching practice and sharing his experiences as evidenced in his participation in the Teaching with Technology Seminar and leading several sessions at COLTT, Colorado Learning and Teaching with Technology Conference.
Ben Robertson, Instructor
Having participated in FTEP’s and ASSETT’s faculty seminars, Dr. Robertson thinks deeply about how and which technologies to incorporate in his courses. From a humanistic point of view, Dr. Robertson lays out his teaching with technology philosophy and holistic framework.
- Nine Theses on Teaching with Technology
- Teaching with Technology: Ben Robertson
Elena Kostoglodova, Senior Instructor
Dr. Kostoglodova continually seeks to improve her teaching which includes enthusiastically integrating technology. She recently participated in the Spring 12 Teaching with Technology seminar and experimented with VoiceThread and Second Life.
- 25 Types of Fun VoiceThreads for Foreign Language Classes
Angel Hoekstra, Lecturer and Lead Coordinator Graduate Teacher Program
Dr. Hoekstra possesses a strong interest in improving teaching practice including technology integration. She enjoys sharing her experiences by leading discussions for the Teaching with Technology seminar and Graduate Teacher Program workshops. Additionally she regularly partners in research projects on teaching with technology topics.
- Teaching with Technology: Dr. Angel Hoekstra
- Digital Devices, Student Behavior, and Student Learning
Susan Kent, Professor
To make her online and face to face history classes dynamic, Dr. Kent uses videos, maps and various engaging web resources. She has also completed and published an e-textbook, and has successfully integrated it into her teaching.
- E-texts: Textbooks of the 21st Century
Phoebe Young, Associate Professor
Dr. Young has participated in the Teaching with Technology seminar, teaches online and face to face classes. In her teaching she utilizes clickers, screencasts, and learning management systems. She is particularly interested in researching how these variously technologies can help assess student growth in historical thinking processes.
- The Half Flip: Weekly Previews and Just in Time Teaching Techniques
Thomas Zeiler, Professor
Dr. Zeiler is a strong proponent of teaching with technology and regularly incorporates lecture captures, clickers, video and learning management systems into his teaching. He teaches online and face to face classes. His strength is supplementing unique pedagogical approaches with proven technological practices.
- Zeiler Interview Discussing Online and Face to Face Teaching
Kira Hall, Associate Professor
After seeking out new ways of incorporating technology into her course during ASSETT’s Teaching with Technology Seminar in the spring of 2012, Dr. Hall received kudos from multiple students in a recent ASSETT poll asking which professors use technology well. Dr. Hall clearly knows how to engage her students with technology. Students commended her for using multiple types of media in her lectures, engaging them in online discussions and for providing them an option to create video essays.
- VoiceThread as a Teaching Tool for Courses on Language and Society
Michael Klymkowsky, Professor & Director of CUTeach
Dr. Klymkowsky has participated in initiatives across campus including ASSETT’s Teaching with Technology seminar, the iSTEM symposium, and the DBER seminar. His research interests include digital deep thinking and embedding Socratic formative assessments and in course design and e-texts with annotation.
- Teaching with Technology: Michael Klymkowsky
- Making Course Materials More Deeply Digital (and Socratic)
- Conceptually-oriented, scaffolded, and socially-interactive course design with embedded Socratic formative assessments
Mark Winey, Professor
Driven by the need to alleviate the rising costs of textbooks for students, Dr. Winey co-wrote an innovate open electronic textbook with Dr. Kenneth Kauter. The result is an innovative approach
that allows genetics instructors to easily share, update, and reorganize materials in a constantly changing discipline.
- Winey/Krauter Interview on Open Textbooks
Kenneth Krauter, Professor
Driven by the need to alleviate the rising costs of textbooks for students, Dr. Krauter co-wrote an innovate open electronic textbook with Dr. Mark Winey. The result is an innovative approach
that allows genetics instructors to easily share, update, and reorganize materials in a constantly changing discipline.
- Winey/Krauter Interview on Open Textbooks
Noah Finkelstein, Professor & Director of iSTEM
Dr. Finkelstein is one of the principal investigators of the CU Physics Education Research group and CU STEM Education initiative. He serves on several national committees, has won a number of awards, and was elected as CU’s Presidential Teaching Scholar in 2012. Dr. Finkelstein’s research interests include the examination of successful uses of technology in physics education and student learning.
- Impacts of Curricular Change: Implications from 8 Years of Introductory Physics Data
Steven Pollock, Professor
With avid research interests in physics education, Dr. Pollock worked on a Curricular Change study with Dr. Noah Finkelstein as part of the iSTEM initiative. Additionally, he was commended in our ASSETT student poll of teachers using technology well.
- Impacts of Curricular Change: Implications from 8 Years of Introductory Physics Data
E. Scott Adler, Associate Professor
Being willing to experiment and take risks with technology in the classroom, Dr. Adler has found a recipe that works for his students. Recently commended by students in ASSETT’s poll to find teachers using technology well, he engages students with clickers in a way that reproduces national data on current issues in political science. Additionally, he is experimenting by capturing his lectures and preparing to teach online this summer.
Moonhawk Kim, Assistant Professor
As a recent participant in the Fall 12 Teaching with Technology Seminar, Dr. Kim is very interested in collaborative learning. He regularly incorporates Google applications for student projects and most recently he is exploring ways to increase student engagement with collaborative reading using a tool called nb developed by MIT.
- Collaborative Reading of Academic Articles
- Improving Learning Outcomes through Collaborative Reading
- Implementing Collaborative Reading
Amy Goodloe, Lecturer
Amy Goodloe and blogging are nearly synonymous at CU-Boulder; one can hardly discuss digital composition without speaking of Amy. Having taught many courses for PWR, she is a master in preparing students to write in the digital world in which they live. Her specialties are digital composition, digital storytelling and digital media.
Jennifer Lewon, Assistant Professor-Clinical
Jen regularly teaches online and makes the utmost use of learning management systems capabilities. She is never afraid to experiment with a new idea for engaging her online students and finding ways to help them learn better. She incorporates screen recordings, videos, video quizzes, and many more LMS features.
Michelle Ellsworth, Assistant Professor & Associate Director of CMAP
Not only does Dr. Ellsworth seamlessly incorporate technology into her teaching, she also finds opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. While working with Dr. Michael Theodore from the College of Music, students use innovative forms of technology in their performances. Further Dr. Ellsworth prepares her students for the future of dance by helping students view the web as a new stage and create electronic portfolios.
- Integrating Websites into Dance Artists’ Performances and Portfolios
- Ellsworth and Theodore Interview on Interdisciplinary Performance
Amma Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin, Assistant Professor
Dr. Kootin embraces imagination her use of technology in the course “Performing the Archive” and in teaching and collaborating with her students on the production. She is able to expand the classroom walls by inviting guest speakers to participate via Skype.
- Performing The Archive: Using Modern Technology to Describe Turn of the Century Innovation
