CoTL 2020 Pecha Kucha | Session 02 | 10:55am - 11:35am

10:55am - 11:35am | Pecha Kucha | Session 02

Explainable AI: Just Trust Me
Harold Pardue | University of South Alabama
hpardue@southalabama.edu

The phrase “just trust me,” demands blind faith, trust by edict. As educators and leaders, we are professional explainers. Students trust our expertise and knowledge of complex phenomena and theories to the degree to which they trust our explanations. But what if the teacher does not provide an explanation? What if the teacher cannot provide an explanation? AI algorithms are just such an “expert”. When an AI algorithm is brought into the classroom to improve learning outcomes, students must trust the answer without explanation. A real concern is, when an AI algorithm personalizes content or learning strategies for a student, for example, it will do so with bias. But unlike a human teacher, it will apply bias without an explanation. A novel approach to addressing this concern is to derive an explanation by applying social science theories and methodologies to the algorithm, essentially by treating the algorithm like a person.

Reducing Test Anxiety Through Standards-Based Grading
Drew Lewis | University of South Alabama
drewlewis@southalabama.edu

Standards-based grading (SBG) is an alternative form of grading in which students' grades are based on how many content standards they master, rather than a weighted average of assignment scores. The literature contains many anecdotal and theoretical claims on the benefits of SBG: for example, SBG is thought to promote a growth mindset and reduce test anxiety. This talk will describe two SoTL studies attempting to use validated, reliable instruments to test these claims. In particular, we found that SBG does, in fact, reduce students' test anxiety.

Increasing Student Accountability & Interaction in an Undergraduate Nursing Health Assessment Course
Jennifer Anderson | University of South Alabama
janderson@southalabama.edu
Kim Norris | University of South Alabama
kcnorris@southalabama.edu
Telina Sikes-Doggett | University of South Alabama
tdoggett@southalabama.edu
Brenda Woodmansee | University of South Alabama
bwoodmansee@southalabama.edu
Kim Cooper | University of South Alabama
kimcooper1998@gmail.com

Practice is an essential component to a nursing student’s success in learning critical assessment techniques required for future clinical courses and at the patient’s bedside. Students must be proficient in their assessment skills and possess the ability to interact and communicate effectively with others. An undergraduate nursing health assessment course tasked with the challenge of increasing student accountability with practicing learned techniques, restructured the course to include mandatory small group practice sessions that required students to interact closely with course faculty, students in the course, and Standardized Patients. This small group practice requires students to build community by interacting with others outside of their normal closed circle and prepares them for interacting with patients in the future. This initiative directly ties in with the Quality Matters standard number five of increasing learning activities and learner interaction.

Employability Skill Development in Students with TED Materials
Christina Vintoniv | Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas, Ukraine
christina.vintoniv@gmail.com

Developing essential employability skills are one of the most important factors that aid students in becoming competitive in their careers and more successful in the future. According to Pearson Education, these highly sought after employability skills fall into four areas and can be gained with the help of TED materials. Based on my own experiences in organizing TEDx conferences in Ukraine, I use formal and non-formal education that can help students build their own employability using their own unique skills.
I will be using TED materials and the Pecha Kucha style of presentation to engage my audience throughout the session. After the presentation, I will facilitate discussions with my participants about the use of this type of innovative pedagogy and how they may use these materials to aid in the development of their students. Resources and materials will be provided so that the audience can use them at their convenience.

CoTL 2020 Schedule - Program at a Glance