Baynham Award
The Baynham Award honors and recognizes teaching excellence of one faculty member each year at Hanover College.
Student Senate nominates students from different majors to participate in the Baynham nomination committee each year. The Associate Provost of Faculty Development meets with the nomination committee to solicit eligible nominees from the faculty (must have at least 4 years of Hanover College teaching and not have won the award in the past 4 years) and to discuss characteristics of teaching excellence. From all eligible faculty, the student committee selects a small number of finalists for a final vote, which is open to current seniors and the past two years of graduating classes. The award is announced at the Honors Convocation ceremony in April each year. Winners are invited to give a campus lecture.
Congratulations to...
Elizabeth Winters(Communication) received the 2024 LEAP Indiana distinguished teaching award.
Glene Mynhardt received the PALNI open educator award for the 2023-2024 academic award for her work in selecting no-cost teaching resources for Biology courses. The PALSave program offers annual awards, grants, and stipends for affordable learning.
Tim Brooks received the PALNI open educator award in 2022 in recognition for his work in adopting open source materials for Engineering classes.
Rachel Davidson (Communication) was awarded the 2023-2024 Instructional Technology MVP. Congratulations, Rachel!
Q: What are some of the ways you use technology to engage students in the learning process?
I use Moodle...a lot. I share content on Moodle (e.g., I post recorded lectures, slides, and assignment guidelines). I try to get students to check Moodle frequently by giving them asynchronous and ongoing tasks (e.g., creating a forum, requiring them to post outside of class, and then requiring them to read and respond to at least one of their peers). I started something new-ish this year when going over assignment descriptions: During a class, I tell students to pull up the assignment guidelines from Moodle and look over the document individually. Then, I have them ask me questions about the assignment. Whatever questions they don't ask, I then fill in the blanks. This approach ensures that they know all resources are on Moodle and that they read the assignment guidelines (at least once!). Finally, during quarantine I learned how to record lectures and upload/share them via Microsoft stream. Since then, the lectures have been extremely helpful when I've had to miss a class--before I learned how to record lectures, I would just cancel class; now, I can post a previously recorded lecture and create an asynchronous assignment!
Q: Are there ever instances when you go "old school" paper/pencil or tech-free? When and what does that look like in your classes?
Yes, I am old school when it comes to seminar-style discussions, student speeches, and film screenings. I typically lay out ground rules for all parts of class time...For discussions, speeches, and film screenings, in particular, I tell students no laptops, no phones...just paper and a writing utensil are all that is needed for this part of the class. By doing this, my hope is that students are more present and focused on the conversation, speech, and/or film.
Q: Now, how about teaching a fully online summer class... how does your technology use differ than when teaching in person?
My summer online classes are fully asynchronous. Because there are no in person sessions, I make sure to try and connect with each individual student in as many ways as possible. I implement strategies so that they can see me in addition to hearing me and reading emails from me. For instance, when I record my lectures, I'll share my webcam on the first slide so that they can see my face in addition to hearing my voice. I also reach out to each student via email individually (this is manageable for a summer class with small enrollment). I try to get student communication preferences at the beginning of the term. I've learned that some people like GroupMe or WhatsApp for reminders and quick notes as opposed to emails (sometimes I just send a message on Group Me and say "check your Hanover email for an important message from me!").
Q: What advice or guidance would you offer for other faculty regarding instructional technology?
Be open to trying new technology but don't overdo it! I try to experiment with at least one new technology strategy per semester and that's enough for me! Also, near the beginning of the semester, I like to get student feedback about how they learn best. I typically use a variation like this one (feel free to use this survey and modify to your needs) to try and better understand how students learn best and if there is anything I can do to help them. Most of the time, students say "n/a" but occasionally I get helpful notes from students explaining easy ways that I can help them learn the course material.
Past Instructional Tech MVPs
Congratulations to the 2022-2023 Instructional Technology MVP, Nasrin Shahinpoor (Economics). Nasrin uses Moodle for all of her classes to help students keep track of grades and access assignments 24/7. She uses Moodle discussion forums for her larger classes to keep students interacting outside of class hours. Nasrin encourages colleagues to try learning new technology, "It might be hard to start and learn new things, but it's worth your time and students would appreciate you more for using it."
Alexis Smith (German) was awarded the 2021-2022 inaugural Instructional Technology MVP award. Students especially appreciated how she adapted her Modern Languages course materials to be free, open-source materials to help them with accessibility and cost savings!
To nominate a deserving colleague for the Instructional Technology MVP award, contact Valerie Young (youngv@hanover.edu).