Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, "drones") are taking off in higher education, for promotional, operational, and also instructional uses. Drones provide new opportunities for faculty and students in all fields from the creative arts to sciences, to work on real-world applications, create new instructional materials, and produce new creative works.

For the past several years I have begun to incorporate the use of drone imagery into the fieldwork component of my Geology course. Drone footage provides aerial views of field sites that allow us to map sites, closely examine outcrops that would otherwise be inaccessible, and develop 3D digital terrain models through the use of photogrammetric analysis.

In this presentation I will describe our drone setup and how I have used it in the field component of my course, online sites and mobile apps that help manage flights and analyze the imagery, and the (increasingly open) regulatory environment.

The SUNY COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) initiative offers students the opportunity to engage with other students from around the globe without the expense of travel. Traditionally, the SUNY COIL Center holds an annual conference where faculty from around the world share their experiences. Some of the most highly attended sessions of these conferences are those where students are sharing their experiences. These sessions are always very inspiring. So inspiring that the COIL Support team at Monroe Community College wondered what it would be like if there was a COIL conference that was 100% student-centered. So, in the Spring of 2018 they began planning one. After much planning and preparation, the hosted the conference at MCC in November of 2018. The keynote, presentations, and panels consisted of students from several SUNY campuses as well as students who participated via video conference from other countries.

Criminal Justice Database Operations is offered each semester during the year as well as during the summer as part of the BS in Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Technology curriculum in the Security Systems and Law Enforcement Technology Department. The course introduces students to Database Operations which is often taught in Computer Science curriculums. Due to the technical nature of the course material, some students can be overwhelmed.

Based on the results from Student Evaluations of the course in the Fall Semester 2017, 81% of students who responded strongly agreed that the Instructor encouraged student participation. In the Fall Semester of 2016, 78% of students in one section strongly agreed and in another section, 84% strongly agreed. While these results are favorable, it was evident that some students were reluctant to respond to questions asked in class and it is hard to tell whether it was due to fear of failure or some other force.

There has been research related to integrating technology into the pedagogy of difficult subjects like Integral Calculus. (International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science & Technology. Dec2016, Vol. 47 Issue 8, p1261-1279. 19p.) Other research gathered student’s opinions about the implementation of Classroom Response Systems in university lectures. (Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences Volume 228), 20 July 2016, Pages 183-189. The findings of the Procedia research showed that students gave an overall positive evaluation of the Classroom Response System (CRS). It also identified CRS’s as enhancers of attention, participation, classroom dynamics, and learning.

The success of the Classroom Response Technology (CRT) implementation is assessed by both Qualitative and Quantitative methods. The Qualitative methods uses data from the Student Surveys that are taken at the end of each semester. The Existing Survey has a question that asks about whether or not the Instructor encouraged student participation. Prior to the implementation, the results from the surveys taken indicated that on average, about 80% of students strongly agreed. The expectation is that this metric should increase after the CRT implementation. Additional questions could also be added to the existing survey to gather additional qualitative data.
Quantitative analysis was conducted based on the average student grade results before and after the implementation. If the CRT has the expected impact, the average results will improve over time.

An online discussion forum allows nursing students to post their opinions on the topics in a learning module and critique peers’ thoughts. However, when responding to peers, students may lack the necessary critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The peer-to-peer feedback tended to be unclear, failing to address the issues at hand, or the students could not optimize the problem that would lead to an effective solution.

This article describes and discusses strategies that help nursing students structure their thoughts and develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills in online discussion forums. I asked Bachelor of Science (BS) and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) nursing students to code the feedback they gave their peers as “problems,” “barriers,” “solutions,” “actions,” or “evaluation.” Additionally, I asked students to describe a problem following the COPE framework (Creativity, Optimism, Planning, Expert information). This exploratory and descriptive study relied on student work and feedback. We used a learning analytics framework to guide the analysis.

Overall, helping online BS nursing students structure their thoughts when teaching critical thinking and problem solving might address the needs and challenges of BS nursing students who are learning online. These strategies could be applied across various disciplines and levels that require critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Today’s student population is diverse as well as their reasons for pursuing higher education. Some students will transfer while others are developing or enhancing skills in preparation for employment. Others may be exploring liberal arts options before committing to a course of study. A high percentage of students lack basic English and math skills and are enrolled in developmental courses to address these deficiencies in preparation for the rigor of academic course work.

It is incumbent upon us as faculty to ensure that all students are able to communicate effectively. In addition to communication skills—always in demand by employers—critical thinking and problem solving are concomitant skills that students should possess to enter and succeed in the workplace. These skills are more important than ever in our globalized, digitally empowered world that revolves around the ubiquitous written word.

In regard to written communications, English departments introduce formal academic writing in composition courses. Students learn to think, organize, research, and compose documented essays. Other courses may require research papers enabling these basic skills to be transferred to other disciplines. However, not all courses require writing assignments—either low or high stakes opportunities for students to practice their skill.

Before one can write, one must think as thinking is a prerequisite to writing. Students who are given frequent opportunities for writing will undoubtedly improve not only their thinking and writing but also their self-confidence. They become more comfortable and familiar with the process and are proud of the product they create.

Writing-intensive courses are one of the 11 high-impact practices endorsed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). These practices are active learning experiences that improve student performance, create a sense of ownership and responsibility of and for learning, and foster metacognitive reflection—all resulting in richer, deeper learning.

The presenters recognize the importance and similarities of both academic and professional writing but also acknowledge the differences. Although both types of writing require clarity, purpose, and correct grammar, academic writing demonstrates knowledge to a professor. On the other hand, professional writing is written for a multitude of reasons to a variety of audiences.

This writing initiative has been made possible through a SUNY Innovation Instruction Technology Grant in collaboration with two other institutions and in partnership with Excelsior Online Writing Lab (OWL). The presenters are able to embed discipline-specific writing in their courses and thus better prepare students for their future professional endeavors.

While Open Textbooks have been promoted for their ability to reduce the cost of education for students, a more transformational impact of open texts is the opportunity for Open Pedagogy that they provide. A well-known example is "The Open Anthology of Earlier American Literature", where DeRosa worked with her students over several semesters to assemble and annotate public domain materials from key early American authors.

But how does Open Pedagogy apply to text development for introductory STEM courses, where there is perhaps less emphasis on critical interpretation of text and more of a focus on presenting foundational frameworks that students will use in upper level courses? In this talk I discuss my experiences over the past several semesters working with students from my sophomore-level Geology course, to combine and curate materials from a number of open geology texts and other materials into a physical geology textbook that is customized for our local region.