Introduction to Climate Change (SUS 103)

Posted on May 23, 2018 by greggji

SUS 103 HYB – Introduction to Climate Change                                                          This course provides an introduction to the principles of climate change science with an emphasis on the empirical evidence for human-caused climate change.  Students will learn critical thinking skills to assess such questions as:

  • How do we apply physical science principles to understand the drivers of global warming?
  • How do we predict trends in climate change?
  • How do we calculate and understand uncertainty in these predictions?
  • What is valid science in the global warming debate?

This course satisfies the Physical Science requirement of the Baccalaureate Core.  There are no prerequisites; this class is open to all OSU students.  In order to be successful in this course you will need to be able to read at the college level and interpret graphs.  You will also need to have a working knowledge of: OSU’s Canvas software where the course resides, your internet browser so you can access required Web links, and a word processing program so you can create files to be uploaded to Canvas.

For the HYB version of this course, students will have the same learning outcomes as the on-campus and ecampus versions of the class, but lectures will be online with classtime reserved to review difficult concepts,  help with assignments, and interact in person with the instructor and others in the class via group activities that reinforce key concepts. Four of the labs for this version will be hands-on labs where you perform experiments or create climate change posters on campus (4 weeks, 24 students per lab) with the remainding labs preformed on-line (5 weeks).  There will be up to 72 students per section (2 sections) with students interacting in groups of 8 at nine work stations in the LINC active learning rooms.

Each week, you will have five types of material to work through, the last two of which will be graded.

  1. A series of Mini-Lectures that run 5 – 15 minutes each for a total of 15-50 minutes for the week.  These are professionally designed mini lectures designed for eCampus learning, and often have embedded videos to help you understand the concepts.  They are mainly produced by COMET from UCAR and Denier101x from the University of Queensland in Australia, so large teams of scientists have developed them and specifically made them accessible for learning onLine.  They will be a useful learning resource before you begin your course reading.
  1. A Reading assignment in “Our Changing Climate: Introduction to Climate Science” 1st Edition, by Chad M. Kaufman (one chapter per week).  The great thing about this textbook is that it has weblinks on nearly every page.  So you will read a bit, but then go to a link and see a satellite image in action, or see the actual Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) documents – right as you are reading about them in your text.  I think you will enjoy this new type of reading experience.
  1. Chapter Review Questions and Critical Thinking Questions.  I will post the Chapter Review Questions and the Critical Thinking Questions (together with the Answers!) so you can test yourself and see if you got the main points for each chapter.  This can be useful either for the weekly quizzes, or in studying for the midterm and final exams.  You will find these files on Canvas at the end of the “Required Content” page (2nd in each of the weekly modules).
  1. Chapter Quizzes (10 @ 15 pts each).  The weekly chapter quizzes are posted on Canvas. The quizzes will help you focus on which material is most important in each Chapter, so when the reading gets dense (and it does sometimes!) – I likely will not expect you to know the material in that much depth.  You can open the quiz and go back and forth to the book to make sure you get the answers correct for each question.  Then think through the questions in #3 above, and you should be good to go.  You are welcome to read all the details, but I am gearing the class toward the big picture, the lab activities, the discussion boards, and extra credit activities.
  2. Lab Assignments are nearly half of your grade (9 @ 50 points each).  Half of your labs will be performed on campus (weeks 2, 4, 6, and 8, 24 students per lab) with hands-on experiments:
    • watching CO2 warm air,
    • manipulating the energy budgets of miniature sand ecosystems,
    • watching the CO2 from your breath acidify water, and
    • visiting the OSU ocean sediment and ice core labs.  These lab visits are rare opportunities as there are only a handful of these labs in the world!                                                                                                                                                                                   The remaining labs (weeks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9) will be performed on your own time on canvas.  For these labs you will:
    • be guided to websites where you will access historical climate data and see for yourself if the globe appears to be warming and if this pattern holds for various countries and locations throughout the globe,
    • visit websites that animate satellite images to see how data are collected from space and why this is important to help fully understand the mechanisms of Earth’s changing climate system, and
    • access links to specific passages of publications that have documented the current impacts of climate change on various sectors, regions and resources where you will work through exercises related to these impacts.

There will also be two required Discussion Boards where you will watch the movies “An Inconvenient Truth” (week 5) and “Merchants of Doubt” (week 8) and write a short essay/blog that you will post to your discussion group and be able to see and comment on how others responded to these movies.  The rubric for how to get full credit on each Discussion Board will be posted in the Canvas module.

Linkage of the on-line and in-person aspects of this course will enable you not only to be familiar with the content and have access to the extensive online resources so you can keep up with (or know where and how to access new findings) on the science of human caused climate change that develops in the future.  But it will also allow you to have informed discussions and interactions with others that will form the basis for how you will interact and vote on this issue as it prevails throughout your business, economic, and personal decisions for the rest of your life.  Ultimately, transfer of this information beyond the classroom to friends, family and work associates will enable you to provide an active voice on decisions that will affect the environment for the rest of your life and the lives of future generations.

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Intro to Design Management at a Glance

Posted on May 21, 2018 by marksa

What is Design Management and Why it is Important?
Design is integral to the success of any organization or business, as it functions both as a process (design as a verb) and product or service (design as a noun). Design management lies at the intersection of design and business, bringing together analytic and creative problem-solving skills. Design management encompasses an understanding of creative problem-solving processes, coupled with the fundamentals of business and design innovation and strategy.

The role of a design manager can vary and even the title design manager will be different depending on the organization. Design managers see opportunities for ways in which design can bolster a business or organization and are able to identify and articulate those within and outside the organization. Design managers are adaptive, flexible, articulate and work on diverse teams and projects. This course will introduce you to the basics of design management and give you the opportunity to apply management processes to various projects throughout the term.

Class format
Intro to Design Management is a 4 credit Hybrid Course, where approximately 40% of the course will take place in a traditional face-to-face classroom and 60% will be delivered online via Canvas. Within the course Canvas site, students will find a variety of materials that complement the face-to-face in class activities. The class will meet twice a week in the classroom for 50 minutes each class session. As a Hybrid course, there is an expectation that students will spend at least four hours online a week for this course or approximately two hours per class hour of classroom time.   

Current course outcomes include
• Explain about design management within the context of different design
disciplines and business organizations
• Identify the conditions and experience drivers for design, design
management and design strategy within a given organization or project
• Apply existing design management perspectives and models to the study
of design management
• Analyze how design addresses user needs and plays a key role in shaping
the user’s experience with systems, products and services
• Propose a design management plan for a team project
• Assess needs, requirements, and constraints of design products,
processes, and services in various design management situations

Classroom time will be spent on introducing new projects and activities, bringing in guest speakers and having students interact with one another and make presentations. I want to make “seat” time as interactive (person(s) to person(s)) as possible and plan on creating weekly online “stories” to replace in-class lectures. These stories will give the students an immersion into the material they are reading and learning about in a different way from traditional Powerpoint Lectures. There will be other online course components including weekly online quizzes and a discussion board.

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THE SMALL ANIMAL ULTRASOUND COURSE IN A NUTSHELL

Posted on May 21, 2018 by stiegers

Abdominal ultrasound is a crucial tool in the evaluation of the abdomen of dogs and cats with abdominal disease. It is increasingly critical as a veterinarian to be able to obtain high quality ultrasound images and be able to interpret these images in the framework of the signalment and clinical history of the patient. Currently, veterinary students receive a limited amount of ultrasound training at OSU.

This course will be offered as hybrid course using Canvas. The course will be a 3-credit course offered in the Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine at Oregon State University. Student needs to be in 3rd year standing and have successfully passed VMC 764 or an equivalent veterinary diagnostic imaging course to enroll in the hybrid small animal ultrasound course.

In the course, approximately 2h per week will be face-to face and approximately 4 hours of the class will be done on-line through Canvas. The online aspect of the course is designed to help the student understand the basic physics of ultrasound and principles of abdominal diagnostic ultrasound.  The online course includes indications for performing an abdominal ultrasound, animal preparation, positioning, scanning techniques, and normal sonographic anatomy of the abdomen. Included in the online material will be demonstrations of routine abdominal organ ultrasound examinations, as well as features on ultrasound system knobology and image optimization. You will online familiarize yourself with the normal ultrasound anatomy specific for the abdomen in dogs and cats, which is crucially important as ultrasound is a diagnostic technique, which requires a lot of anatomic understanding. Furthermore, the course will also include additional cases studies of small animal patients with abdominal disease using still images and videos.

In the class meeting times of the hybrid course, pertinent veterinary ultrasound case examples will be discussed and these selected cases will be in line with the weekly online material. In the class meeting , well will work on verbalizing imaging findings, designing a list of differentials as well as discussion of additional diagnostic plans. The class time will also be used to discuss questions of the weekly online material.

Students will be evaluated on each learning objective using quizzes, literature topic review projects, group projects using rubrics, participation online and in class.

This course will require a large time commitment from the student; however, as face-to-face meeting times are short, the student will have the possibility to perform the online aspect based on their time availability.

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Creating a seamless student learning experience: merchandising math

Posted on May 20, 2018 by Brigitte

In DSGN 472, Merchandise Planning and Control, students learn retail merchandising math at computational and conceptual levels.  Currently, content is delivered through a series of lectures paired with in-class activities.  Students apply what they learn through math homework assignments and Excel-based assignments developed with assistance from merchandising professionals.  Current course learning outcomes include:

  • Solve and interpret mathematical problems related to merchandise planning and control.
  • Use appropriate mathematical techniques throughout the six-month planning process.
  • Apply qualitative, analytical, and technical skills to develop merchandise assortment plans that are in-line with specific target markets, geography, selling format, marketplace trends, and performance goals.
  • Communicate rationale for decision-making throughout the assortment plan development process.
  • Use industry-relevant technology to formulate and communicate merchandising decisions.

Non-hybrid format:  This 4-credit course meets twice a week (1 hour, 50 minute each session). Class size ranges from 25 to 50 students.

Hybrid format:

  • Face-to-Face instruction/interaction will occur at the beginning of each week (100 minutes).  This time will be used to have in-class discussions that stem from reading online group discussion which occurred during the previous week, a review activity and question/answer session addressing math concepts covered the previous week, a short introduction to math concepts that will be included in math problem sets for the current week (this introduction will include an in-class activity).  Class time will also be used to introduce the more complex Excel-based assignments (6-month plan, assortment plan).
  • Online instruction/interaction will occur after the face-to-face class session (100 minutes throughout the week.  Students will watch a series of tutorials that introduce each math concept and related computations.  Typically, one tutorial will cover only one math concept.  After watching each tutorial, students will complete a practice math problem set.  When they struggle with a specific problem, students can access an “on-demand” tutorial that shows a video of how to solve the problem.  In addition to watching tutorials and completing math problem sets, students will search online for current news articles that relate to the math concepts covered during the week.  Students will work in small groups set up on Canvas to share and synthesize what they learned from the news articles (note:  each group will share what they learned with the entire class in the next face-to-face setting).
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Histopathology in Hybrid Format

Posted on May 18, 2018 by lohrc

Skin Pustule

Identification of specific disease processes is essential for the diagnosis, treatment and prognostication of health issues in patients of any species. Disease processes can lead to functional and/or morphological changes in tissues and cells of the body. Some of these changes can be readily identified by physical examination or by using clinical imaging modalities (radiographs, MRI, CT). However, in many instances microscopic examination of affected organs is required and comes in two primary flavors. 1. Cytology is minimally invasive and examines individual cells taken from tissues and fluids. 2. Histology is more invasive but allows examination of tissues (i.e., cells in context). In general, disease processes lead to very specific and distinct morphological changes. Thus, cytological and histological examination of diseases organs can add tremendous value to the clinical work-up.

The Basic and Advanced Histopathology Electives provide students in the third year (VMB768) or fourth year (VMB786) of the veterinary curriculum with the opportunity to connect basic veterinary sciences such as anatomy and histology with the study of diseases (pathology, microbiology) and clinical practice (medicine, dermatology, oncology). The courses are unique due to their interdisciplinary and interactive approach, practice-relevant content and use of simulations. Actual cases sourced from submissions to Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory are used to illustrate the logical progression in the work-up of a clinical case: from the patient history and clinical presentation through sample collection and submission to the diagnosis based on diagnostic tests (cytology and histopathology) and communication of results (case report). More specifically, the courses provide students with an opportunity to

  • explore the utility and limitations of two common diagnostic approaches (cytology and histopathology) used in companion animal practice and
  • develop an understanding of best practices in the diagnostic work-up of common disease conditions in a simulated environment. Enrollment is currently limited to 10 students per session. In the hybrid format, enrollment will be limited to 25 students per session.

Enrollment is currently limited to 10 students per session. In the hybrid format, enrollment will be limited to 25 students per session.
Students use out-of-class time to

  • review and critically appraise case materials (patient histories, sample submission sheets, virtual cytology and histology slides)
  • practice descriptive skills, and synthesize case data to formulate diagnoses
  • identify likely differential diagnoses
  • devise treatment plans, and
  • articulate prognostications.

In addition, students research the primary disease conditions and writes a brief synopsis.

On-site/in-class group discussions use a multiheaded microscope and overhead projection system to permit in-time visual cues and illustrations. The group discussions center on the case materials and the case work-ups generated by the students online with the goal to

  • integrate independent online work,
  • practice communication skills,
  • clarify uncertainties,
  • further explore the diagnostic process.

Students are assesses on quality of their case write-ups, participation in the discussion and demonstration of skills (microscopy).

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H 513 – a monster of a hybrid course

Posted on May 18, 2018 by carozzas

H 513 Integrated Approach to Public Health comprises the common core of the MPH degree, something that used to be accomplished through 5 separate courses.  The H 513 learning objectives cover critical and interdisciplinary content in foundational areas of public health, and the course is designed to deliver that core knowledge in a way that demonstrates both the application and the integration of the different public health disciplines. This course is team-taught by 5 instructors, is required for all incoming MPH students (51 last year) and is 12 credits.  Hence, the monster.

We are structuring the hybrid version to meet 2x a week.  Tuesdays will be devoted primarily to a “data camp” which will cover introductory material in quantitative and qualitative methods.  Thursdays will be used for a case study which will allow students to apply the concepts covered that week in the online materials.  We will be using online discussions, short assignments and activities, and quizzes (self-study and graded) to assess student progress and knowledge.  In addition, students will be organized into Student Learning Community groups the first week of class and those groups will work through a course project together.

The key method we are using to link the online material and the classroom time is the weekly case study.  Each case study will be tied to the learning objectives for that week, which in turn are mapped to course-level learning objectives.  Our hope is that this case study approach will both illustrate and reinforce the course concepts while also giving the students an opportunity to explore additional concepts.  If it all works like envisioned, maybe we can tame this monster.

Image result for frankenstein

 

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My hybrid course in a nutshell

Posted on May 18, 2018 by yangse

FIN 441 talks about financial institutions such as banks, insurance companies, and investment funds, etc. Students will learn how financial institutions operate and why their efficient operation is important to the economy. The course is offered in the fall (2 sections) and winter term (1 section) and each section is expected to have 45 enrolled students. The course will be conducted in a hybrid format. The online and classroom meeting will be equally weighted. The classroom meeting will take place once per week, with 10 meetings in total plus a final. Students must have taken FIN 240 (finance) or BA 360 (intro to financial management) before taking the course. It is expected that students will mostly be in their 3rd or 4th year and will have at least chosen finance as their major or minor.

The weekly course cycle is described as follows. First, a weekly learning module will be posted. A typical learning module will include reading assignments (e.g., textbook), online lecture videos, a short online quiz, and a low-stakes homework assignment. The online quiz and the low-stakes assignment are expected to be completed before they come to the class. In addition to online learning module, I will pose weekly questions in the discussion board and incentivize students to share their opinions online with bonus points. After students fully absorb the knowledge from the online learning module, they will come to the class to demonstrate their understanding.

The main activity during the classroom meeting is the “guided and graded” in-class group exercise. Students will work as a group (which includes up to 4 members per group) on the problem sheet they receive in the beginning of the class. The problem sheet typically includes about 10 quantitative problem solving and may include some essay questions. Although students work with group members, they submit their answers individually before leaving the classroom. They are allowed to use textbook or any internet resources as an aid. And since it is guided, if they have any questions or encounter any difficulties, I will be their guide and provide them with hints. The difference between online quiz and the in-class exercise is that the former measures the degree to which students achieve the lower learning domain in Bloom’s taxonomy while the latter focuses on the higher learning domain. The in-class exercise thus reinforces the online learning activities through the development of problem solving skill and the application of the concepts they learn online into practical examples.

After the classroom meeting, a new cycle begins.

 

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Designing the Hybrid Introduction to Merchandising Management Course

Posted on May 17, 2018 by reynolry

DSGN 276: Introduction to Merchandising Management is four credit course that provides the introductory knowledge necessary to prepare students for working in the retail industry. It introduces students to the retail industry including basic terminology, industry history, and merchandising management decisions. The course prepares students for the more advanced knowledge acquired in the Merchandising Management design major and business administration concentration. The course bridges the College of Business first-year experience with the Merchandising Management curriculum. Students are generally College of Business sophomores, but the class also includes some upper-level students who were admitted under a prior curriculum catalog and still need to complete the course as a graduation requirement.

While the face-to-face course design met 1 hour and 50 minutes twice a week, the three sections of 35-45 students for the hybrid design being offered Fall 2018 will meet once a week for an hour and 50 minutes. The primary course objectives are for students to (1) recognize and recall basic retail and merchandising terminology and (2) use basic retail math skills to solve merchandising management pricing problems. The secondary course objectives are for students to (3) discuss potential career paths in the retail industry and merchandising management and (4) interpret retail history in the U.S. to understand how the retail industry has evolved to its current environment.

Students complete online multiple choice quizzes on the assigned textbook readings. Previously, in-class lectures occurred during the first of two days a topic was covered. Under the hybrid format, lectures will be presented as video recordings and be viewed by students online. The discussion questions related to the lecture topics will become online discussion questions. In the face-to-face course design, the second class meeting included in-class activities, which will continue to occur during the face-to-face meetings of the hybrid course. These activities include Think-Pair-Share related the week’s topic, reading an online timeline of the History of Retail in the U.S. and discussing the key themes for a period of time, conducting a gap analysis of skills needed for their potential retail career, grouping retailers based on format type, analyzing the customer segments for a given zipcode, completing practice retail math problems, and examining pricing strategies of competing retailers. Finally, student’s knowledge will be assessed with exams.

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General Human Nutrition (NUTR 225) in a nutshell

Posted on May 16, 2018 by sjennife

General Human Nutrition (NUTR 225) is a 3-credit course designed for non-nutrition majors. NUTR 225 addresses the relationship of food and nutrients to the promotion of health and fitness across the lifespan, with emphasis on the young adult. Current issues in food and nutrition (e.g., fad diets, food safety, food security, dietary supplements) are also examined. Current enrollment in the in-seat course is 114 students. The course is open to all students, and is required for some CPHHS majors as well as students in some nursing and dental hygiene programs. The majority of students who take this course have very little, if any, science background. They are generally very interested in learning about nutrition and health from a consumer perspective.

The in-seat course currently meets in the classroom on a T/Th schedule. My plan is for the hybrid course to meet in the classroom on Th only. Classroom and online meeting times will be used for the following activities:

Classroom time is for:
1. Providing an overview of major and minor concepts, and how they fit together
2. Explaining difficult concepts
3. Expanding on the textbook to include newer and more advanced information on current issues
4. Participating in group activities
5. Taking exams
6. Asking and answering questions

Online time is for:
1. Completing modules that will prepare students for in-class meetings, including readings and videos
2. Taking pre-class quizzes to assess learning and to inform the instructor on which topics are most difficult
3. Engaging in peer discussions related to course topics
4. Completing the course project, including peer review
5. Participating in group activities
6. Asking and answering questions

Online and classroom experiences will be linked in a variety of ways. Specifically, the online activities will help students prepare for class by completing readings, video lectures, and quizzes prior to class meetings. Class time can then be used to focus on difficult concepts and to expand on current issues in nutrition. Students will have opportunities to interact with one another and with the instructor via discussions that will take place both online and in the classroom, for example. Students will also complete a course project, which will be primarily completed online with requirements for peer review that will take place online and face-to-face during class time. As I continue to develop this course, my goal is to incorporate more experiential learning opportunities, in and out of the classroom.

I am looking very forward to offering the hybrid version of NUTR 225, and to seeing how it evolves over time. I believe the students will greatly enjoy the hybrid course delivery!

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Open-ended Discussion Boards to enable student-led discovery/content

Posted on April 24, 2018 by greggji

For my course I will have 2 open-ended discussion boards that students can post new information that they have come across from other sources outside the class.  This will allow students to contribute to the direction of the course discsussion while earning optional extra credit points toward their grade in the process.  The first of these will be to post relevant news articles on climate change.  The second will be to post relevant blogs, youtube videos, or websites that question whether:

  • the climate is warming,
  • humans are responsible,
  • warming will have an impact, or
  • it is feasible to try to make a change.

Below is the post for the News discussion Board.  I would love it if folks have suggestions or thoughts on how to improve upon it.  Thanks in advance!  Jillian

Example Discussion Board Post:

WOW – Global Climate Change is all over the News!  And just in time while you are taking this course on Introduction to Climate Change.  To help keep everyone abreast of all that is happening, post Global Climate Change News articles or links of interest on this new Discussion Board.

Maximum extra credit on this Discussion Board will be 40 points.
All points will be added after the Discussion Board closes at the end of week 9.
Rubric:
5 points: Posted a link to an article, blog, seminar, etc. together with an overview of the content and a statement describing what aspect of this course’ lectures/labs/reading it addresses. (Also post each to Turnitin!)
1 point (maximum of 5 of these types of posts):
Conversational post
                e.g.: “OMG, XXX is so amazing! (must be specific to the post!).
                           Then state what further information would you want to know?
                           Thanks for posting!
3 points (maximum 3 of these types of posts):
Short but thoughtful response to someone else’s post (1 paragraph).
e.g.: I agree with you and also found the part where they said “xxx” super interesting.  Although I am not sure I agree with or understand the point where they said “xxx”.  Does anyone get this or have any insights on xxx???  It seemed related to xxx in this course….
5 points: Involved response to someone else’s post (2 or more paragraphs).
Should include additional links or references to course material and be posted to Turnitin!
10 points: Outstanding original post or response that nails the entire issue (3 or more paragraphs).  Must include at least three references using proper citation format as outlined in the Start Here module and be posted to Turnitin.
“Liking” is also possible – so go ahead and “like” posts that you find interesting!

 

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