Presentations from Towson Spark #2
May 4, 2011 at the Towson Marriott University Club
Towson Spark #2 Presenters
Christa Schmidt: Intergroup Dialogues: Encouraging Interaction Around
Difference
Daniel Rozmiarek: Get Your Students to START Texting in Class
Jay Zimmerman: Portraits of Groups - Visualizing Mathematics
Kimberly A. Voigt: Digital Fabrication @ TU!
Kristen E. Rawlett: Health Disparities Research
Margie Anne Bonnett: How to Turn On Tuned Out Students
Phil Davis: Experimental Animation
Precha Thavikulwat: How to Organize Students for Group Projects, and Keep
them Happy, without Doing a Lot of Work
Rodney L. Stump: Service Projects That Extend Over Two Courses
Shaun Johnson: The Manliness of Education Reform
Presenter Bios and Presentation Details
Christa Schmidt - Intergroup Dialogues: Encouraging Interaction Around Difference
Following the theme of the Multicultural Conference this semester, “Dangerous Teaching”, Towson University is looking for ways to encourage appropriate and engaging communication among faculty, staff, and students with regard to human diversity. A program that was developed at the University of Michigan, referred to as Intergroup Dialogue, has been cropping up at universities across the country to encourage students to engage with one another around their differences, thereby teaching them how to talk about difference in a way that is not so “dangerous.” The program fosters self- and other-awareness and develops sensitivity by encouraging interaction among individuals who are different, which complements the university’s objectives of infusing multiculturalism into its structure and curriculum. In this presentation, the Intergroup Dialogue model will be presented, including a brief summary of the learning objectives, pedagogical foundation, and the four stages of implementing a dialogue group. The presentation will conclude with possibilities for inclusion of Intergroup Dialogue on the Towson University campus.
Christa Schmidt is an assistant professor in the Psychology Department and the director of the master's program in Counseling Psychology. She is primarily engaged in teaching and training graduate students to become professional counselors and therapists, with a strong emphasis on developing self-awareness of culture, power, and privilege. Her research centers around the intersection of physical health and psychological well-being, particularly as it pertains to individuals who are marginalized by society (e.g., persons of color, LGBT individuals). Before coming to Towson in 2009, she was a staff psychologist at the Counseling Center and affiliate faculty of the Counseling Psychology program of the University of Maryland, College Park.
Daniel Rozmiarek - Get Your Students to START Texting in Class
I use PollEverywhere.com to give students the opportunity to bring their texting into class in a meaningful and constructive way. I accept that my students will bring their digital devices to class, so instead of reprimanding students for texting in class, I give them a way to contribute to the discussion. Students use their own phones and computers during class to text, tweet, or post a response to a question or even ask their own question. This digital writing tool encourages quiet students to participate and it gives all students an equal opportunity to be heard. As the teacher, I have a digital record of all their questions and comments.
Daniel Rozmiarek has been teaching in the College of Education at Towson University since 2004. He holds a master's degree in Education from the University of Delaware. He is an experienced teacher in social studies and special education. Prior to teaching at the university level, he was a teacher in Baltimore City, Harford County, and the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Mr. Rozmiarek is a 2006 Teacher-Consultant with the Maryland Writing Project and a past editor of Writing Works, the MWP newsletter.
Jay Zimmerman - Portraits of Groups: Visualizing Mathematics
This presentation is looking at visual representations of abstract mathematical objects called GROUPS. These representations can be used to get students excited about mathematics and as abstract art. The presenter has shown these at conferences around the world and at a AAUP sponsored talk at Towson University on October 12, 2007.
Dr. Zimmerman is a professor in the Department of Mathematics at Towson University. He has been interested in connections between mathematics and art for some time and decided to explore ways of visualizing his mathematical discipline. He has presented the results at Bridges conferences around the world.
In the last five years our students have been engaged in digital 3d design and 3d digital fabrication from modeling objects to laser cutting to 3d printing/rapid prototyping. Learn about the primary methods of 3d printing/manufacturing and Materials! Plastics, starch, stainless steel, color printing, medical grade nylons, post consumer recycled glass and so much more! Do you KNOW how things are being made? See what all the fuss is about!
Professor Kimberly Voigt is all things digital. Passionate and knowledgeable about digital design technologies, her emphasis is on their innovative impact on both design and the world. New materials, cutting-edge materials and rapidly evolving printing technologies inform her creative practice from concept to final product.
Kristen E. Rawlett - Health
Disparities Research
This presentation describes the application of the health belief model (HBM) and the vulnerable populations conceptual model (VPCM) to a rural, underserved community. The focus population is affected by a lack of community resources, increased risk factors and poor health outcomes. The health belief model focuses on the individual’s perceptions and likelihood of taking action. Resource availability, relative risk and health status are the focus of the VPCM. Both frameworks are systematically evaluated by established criterion. The VPCM is considered a better fit to explore the hypothesis that there is a relationship among access to healthcare, use of health promotion services and disease states in susceptible populations.
Kristen is currently full-time faculty in the Department of Nursing at Towson and a PhD student in Nursing at University of Maryland, Baltimore. She has been a registered nurse for 15 years in practice settings such as the emergency department and a Level I Trauma Center in Columbia, SC. Her previous teaching experience includes instructor positions at Arizona State University and Harford Community College. Kristen has been a Family Nurse Practitioner since 1999 and currently practices in Conowingo, Maryland at a Federally Qualified Health Center serving the uninsured and underinsured in the surrounding area.
Margie Anne Bonnett - How to Turn On Tuned Out Students
Need ways to turn on tuned out students? Do you find some students have potential but fail to live up to it? Want to create a more engaging and energetic class? Learn these top training tips to make teaching easier. In this five minute program, learn how to quickly rev-up sleepy, passive students before class starts and keep that momentum going.
Margie Anne Bonnett is a corporate trainer for Sandler Training Institute, a national and international company located in Owings Mills. She is the vice president of the Timonium franchise charged with the responsibility of improving sales and management teams performance with companies such as AmeriPrise, American Lung Association, Network Referral Group, ReMAX, Coldwell Banker, Maryland Technology Extension Services, World Kitchen, Spudnik, and more. She continues to provide workshops and lectures for organizations such as the Small Business Development Center, Anne Arundel County Chamber, Toastmasters, Maryland Realtor Investors, etc. Margie Anne teaches the sales management and marketing principles courses in Towson's College of Business and Economics.
Phil Davis - Experimental Animation
Animation's orthodox style is often associated with children's cartoons and a Disney aesthetic, with a heavy emphasis on narrative, continuity, and character-based humor. However, there exists a wide range of alternate approaches, techniques, and styles of animation that utilize the power of illusion inherent in the frame-by-frame manipulation of imagery and sound. My course on Experimental Animation explores the techniques and artists that have pioneered the use of animation as an art form unique from live-action narrative filmmaking and outside of the structure of the studio system. The course covers the range of animation techniques including: hand-drawn, stop motion, pixilation, cut-out, CGI, 16mm scratch film, and other hybrid forms. Through the exploration of the history, aesthetics, and techniques of these unorthodox approaches students are exposed to the inherent beauty and form of the moving image that cannot be captured by the traditional photographic process.
Phil Davis grew up in rural New Hampshire where he learned to draw and throw rocks. He received his BFA in Film Art from Syracuse University and MFA in Imaging and Digital Art from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is currently an assistant professor in the Electronic Media and Film Department at Towson University where he teaches courses in animation, visual effects, and film/video editing.
Precha Thavikulwat - How to Organize Students for Group Projects, and Keep them Happy, without Doing a Lot of Work
I will present a technological solution to the problem of organizing students for group assignments. The solution consists of an Internet-based computer program that students access to register themselves and that the instructor accesses to customize its group-assignment algorithm. The instructor has the option of allowing students to move between groups. The program tracks all changes in group composition, thereby providing a complete time-stamped record of changes in group membership across all groups.
Precha Thavikulwat is professor of management in the Department of Management of the College of Business and Economics. He teaches international business. His research interest is in business simulations. He is an associate editor of Simulation & Gaming: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Theory, Practice and Research, a consulting editor of the Journal of Simulation/Gaming for Learning and Development, and a past president of the Association for Business Simulation & Experiential Learning.
Rodney L. Stump - Service Projects That Extend Over Two Courses
This presentation will discuss how two marketing courses were linked through student research and consulting projects for the benefit of three area nonprofit organizations (WYPR, TU Center for Adults with Autism, and William E. Proudford Sickle Cell Fund). In phase one (Fall 2010), a survey was developed and conducted for each organization as part of a semester-length group research project in MKTG 441 (Marketing Research and Forecasting). This information was subsequently used to guide the development of a marketing campaign during phase two (Spring 2011), a group project in MKTG 361 (Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations). This provided students with meaningful experiential learning opportunities while also providing these organizations with needed marketing support to address critical issues they are confronting.
Dr. Rodney L. Stump (Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University, 1993) is a professor of marketing and co-chairs the Summer Trimester Task Force, as well as being the former chair of the Marketing Department and an assistant dean in the College of Business and Economics of Towson University. He is a Fulbright Scholar alumnus (Canada 2002-2003). Dr. Stump has taught marketing courses at several institutions at the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels. Dr. Stump conducts research in nonprofit marketing, business-to-business marketing, channels of distribution, organizational purchasing, marketing strategy in transitional economies, and minority and women-owned business enterprises. His work has been published in many top academic journals and in a variety of national and international conference proceedings. Dr. Stump has also provided extensive service support to the university, college and department, as well as to the surrounding community and the academy. Prior to joining academia, Dr. Stump was an officer of a commercial bank with responsibilities in retail marketing, research and development, accounting, and branch management.
Shaun Johnson - The Manliness of Education Reform
As one follows the education reform discourse, the primacy of male figures is obvious. Numerous leaders in education, many of whom are only tangentially related to the profession, hedge fund managers, charter school founders, philanthropists, legislators, and politicians are largely men. Even many of the classroom teachers profiled throughout this conversation, so-called "game changers," are men. What is going on here?
Shaun Johnson, PhD, is an assistant professor of elementary education. His scholarly interests include social studies education, masculinity and gender studies, social action and service learning, and education reform. Shaun blogs regularly on his personal website At the Chalk Face1 and also writes for both The Huffington Post, Inside Higher Education, and EdVoices.
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