Enhancing the Student Learning Experience at Iowa State University
Iowa State University (ISU) is dedicated to providing students with an exceptional educational experience, both inside and outside the traditional classroom setting. By focusing on high-impact opportunities, innovative online learning platforms, and collaborative research, ISU prepares students for academic and professional success.
High-Impact Opportunities Beyond the Classroom
ISU recognizes the importance of experiential learning and offers a variety of high-impact opportunities designed to enhance the student experience. These opportunities allow students to develop crucial expertise and soft skills, such as leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving, which are highly valued in today's competitive job market.
Tutoring, Peer Mentoring, and Teaching Assistant Roles
Students can gain valuable experience by serving as tutors, peer mentors, or teaching assistants. These roles not only reinforce their understanding of the subject matter but also allow them to develop their communication, leadership, and mentoring skills.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
ISU encourages students to turn their ideas into reality through various innovation and entrepreneurship programs. Cyclones are encouraged to surface solutions to real-world problems. These initiatives include pitch competitions, the Start Something LAS Academy, and the summer CYstarters program, which provide students with the resources and mentorship needed to launch their own ventures. Students can build community with other innovators through these programs.
Internships
Practical internships offer students a career edge, allowing them to apply their knowledge in real-world settings. ISU students have secured internships with leading companies such as Google, Goldman Sachs, Kingland, and Capital One. These experiences provide valuable insights into the industry and help students build their professional networks.
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Study Abroad Programs
To broaden their perspectives and gain a global understanding, students can participate in study abroad programs during spring break, summer, or semester-long programs. These experiences expose students to different cultures, enhance their language skills, and foster personal growth.
Iowa State Online: Innovative and Accessible Education
Iowa State Online is committed to delivering exceptional educational experiences through distinguished faculty at Iowa State University. Iowa State Online provides quality online education.
Centralized Online Learning Structure
Iowa State Online, a unit within the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT), officially launched on January 3, 2023. This new structure centralizes online learning and delivery across campus into a single service center, streamlining the process and ensuring consistency in quality and support.
Partnerships and Support
Iowa State Online partners with colleges to provide consistent marketing and branding, student support, and new online program development for Iowa State University online programs. This collaborative approach ensures that online programs meet the needs of students and align with the university's academic standards.
Mission and Goals
Iowa State Online will help CELT fulfill its mission of increasing access to consistent, student-centered learning experiences at Iowa State University. By expanding access to high-quality online education, ISU aims to serve a wider range of students and meet the evolving needs of the workforce.
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Faculty and Research
Faculty Research Interests
Quality-of-life and faculty research interests are important factors for prospective students when choosing a university. While visiting campus may not always be feasible, particularly for international students, ISU boasts great faculties in various fields.
Academic Job Market Considerations
For students interested in pursuing a career in academia, it's important to consider the factors that influence success in the academic job market. While there may be slight differences between institutions, securing an academic job at a research university depends mainly on a strong publication record and the connections of PhD/postdoc advisors.
Industry Opportunities
For students interested in industry positions, academic pedigree may not be as crucial as practical skills and experience. While attending a prestigious program can be beneficial for certain specialized roles, the overwhelming majority of industry jobs prioritize relevant skills and experience.
Faculty Profiles
Evrim Baran
Evrim Baran is an associate professor of educational technology in the School of Education at Iowa State University. She holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instructional Technology and Human Computer Interaction from Iowa State University. Her scholarship converges the disciplines of educational technology, human computer interaction, and learning sciences to answer complex problems in today’s learning environments. Dr. Baran’s career highlights include 2015 AERA TACTL SIG early career scholar award, award winning papers at international journals and conferences, and research and teaching excellence awards at ISU and METU. She has directed international grants and research projects on mobile learning, teacher education, and STEM learning environments. Dr. Baran has four-years corporate experience in instructional design. She teaches courses on online learning, evaluating digital learning environments, and advanced instructional design.
Dana AlZoubi
Dr. Dana AlZoubi is a PhD student of ‘Curriculum and Instruction’ in the School of Education and co-majoring in human computer interaction department at Iowa State University. She holds a Masters Degree in STEM education from Lebanese American University, a ‘Maitrise’ in biochemistry and Bachelors in chemistry from Lebanese University. She is currently working as a research assistant with Dr Baran. Dana has 12 years of work experience in the field of science education.
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Secil Akinci-Ceylan
Secil Akinci-Ceylan holds a BA in Linguistics from Hacettepe University, Turkey. She then worked as an instructor and taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses at Izmir Institute of Technology for three years. She earned her MA in Teaching English as a Second Language in Applied Linguistics and Technology Program at Iowa State University and has experience teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) courses in the English Department and Intensive English and Orientation Program (IEOP) at ISU. While at Iowa State, she taught ESL courses such as ISUComm (ENGL 150), ENGL 101B/C, and ENGL 99 Reading, Speaking and Listening to undergraduate and graduate students and worked on two research projects. She is currently a PhD student in Instructional Technology in the School of Education at ISU and working as a research assistant on an engineering education project.
Ozlem Karakaya
Ozlem Karakaya holds a BA in English Language Teaching from Marmara University, Turkey and Master’s of Science in Curriculum and Instructional Technology program at the School of Education, Iowa State University. Ozlem is currently a Ph.D. student in Curriculum and Instructional Technology program at the School of Education, Iowa State University.
AI-Powered Learning Tools: VitalSource Bookshelf CoachMe
The Role of AI in Education
Can AI create effective learning tools for students? How can we use artificial intelligence (AI) to support student learning? It’s the question dominating higher education. While there are many proposed ideas and new AI technologies being developed, VitalSource has taken an approach based in learning science and backed by research.
Learning Science and the "Doer Effect"
Our team of learning scientists at VitalSource has been studying the “doer effect,” the learning science principle that doing practice causes learning and proven that this learning-by-doing approach improves student outcomes. Developing AI for question generation was only the first task for the learning science team; the next was evaluating their performance in natural learning contexts.
Efficacy of AI-Generated Questions
VitalSource’s team of learning scientists studied the efficacy of questions generated through AI, proving that these questions are equivalent to human-authored ones in an award-winning 2021 paper. In particular, the research showed that students do not treat automatically generated questions differently than human-authored questions on key question performance metrics.
Bookshelf CoachMe: Implementation and Results
VitalSource officially launched Bookshelf CoachMe in January 2022. During the 2022-23 academic year, ISU faculty volunteered to incorporate Bookshelf CoachMe into their teaching practice, assign the study questions as homework, and monitor student engagement via data reports.
Student Feedback and Outcomes
The early data from the research study is compelling. Students generally completed 100% of available practice in all assigned chapters, and in one course, content use tripled over the prior semester. Students responded favorably as well. Most encouraging of all: as the research has progressed from tracking student engagement with the questions to examining a potential link between engagement and learning outcomes, data from a spring 2023 course at ISU showed that students who used Bookshelf CoachMe had higher scores on their quizzes.
Collaboration and Impact
“Our teams have always been dedicated to ensuring students get the content they need, where they need it, most affordably, equipped with tools that help students learn effectively,” said Michael Hale, Ph.D., Chief Learning Officer for VitalSource. “Accelerating student success takes close collaboration between all stakeholders in this changing educational ecosystem, and our research partnership with VitalSource has allowed us to do just that. Since its launch over a year ago, Bookshelf CoachMe has generated more than 2 million unique study questions and been used by hundreds of thousands of students. It has also been recognized with multiple industry awards for its transformative impact on student learning.
tags: #student #learning #experience #professor #Iowa #State
