Featured Projects

Flipped Classroom Cohort

In collaboration with ATAB and the UCT, the Center for Teaching Excellence is facilitating a year-long faculty cohort for instructors interested in flipping their classes.

As more faculty 'flip' their classrooms at Boston College, the Center for Teaching Excellence convened this cohort for instructors to think together about how to approach this pedagogical shift with their students. In this cohort participants considered key factors such as: the level of the course, the subject matter of the course, the size of the course, the instructor’s own familiarity with the flipped classroom, the ways in which the course is being flipped, and the way the rest of that instructor’s department and school are integrating flipped pedagogy.

  • Mike Barnett (Teacher Education)
  • Maureen Connolly (Nursing)
  • Nanci Haze (Nursing)
  • Annie Homza (Teacher Education)
  • Sean MacEvoy (Psychology)
  • Colleen Simonelli (Nursing)
  • Carolyn Wilson (Accounting)
  • Pete Wilson (Accounting)
  • Ellen Winner (Psychology)
  • George Wyner (Information Systems)

Personal Response System Modernization Pilot

Center For Teaching Excellence

A shift is occurring in the personal response system market toward software applications on mobile devices in place of physical response devices. Newer entrants to the space like Top Hat and Poll Everywhere have eschewed the development of physical devices altogether and focused solely on the software interface. Even industry stalwarts like i>clicker have indicated their ambition to move in this direction through such recent changes as bundling i>clicker REEF subscriptions (their mobile device solution) with new physical devices and charging students to register used devices.

Boston College needs to respond to this changing landscape, and do so quickly. Many faculty members have already started using software‐based solutions, largely without support, and have reported very good feedback from these products. Use of personal response systems at BC, in general, has declined since the beginning of this academic year, however, primarily because of the issues with the existing i>clicker system and its inability to keep up with contemporary competitors. While we will continue to support i>clicker for at least the next year, its web‐based alternative to physical devices lacks significant feature parity with the other platforms included in this pilot, which is one of the reasons that this pilot is necessary.

The CTE will be conducting a faculty pilot of two software‐based personal response tools, Top Hat and Poll Everywhere, that fulfill a range of faculty use cases. Much like current BC support of virtual communication tools, this selection of personal response system tools would ensure a good fit for a wide range of use cases. While the CTE is already conducting internal testing of these products, coupling this testing with faculty feedback will be crucial in selecting the appropriate tools for BC. The pilot will start during the 2015 Fall semester and continue through Spring 2016 with nine faculty members participating.

MediaKron Special Projects

ATAB invited faculty to submit a proposal for developing a MediaKron project and to join a cohort of faculty developing similar projects. MediaKron is a web-based toolkit for digital thinking and storytelling developed at Boston College for Boston College faculty. In addition to developing a project, faculty have committed to participating in a cohort to collaborate and discuss pedagogical uses of MediaKron and ways in which it can enhance teaching and learning. The cohort will provide a report at the end of the project outlining findings that will inform faculty and student use of MediaKron as it continues to evolve as an instructional tool.

The following 13 faculty MediaKron Special Projects cohort members will produce projects using MediaKron during the 2015-16 Academic year:

  • Stephanie Leone and Nancy Netzer, Fine Arts, McMullen Museum Collection
  • Lichuan Ye, Nursing, Sleep Education Program
  • Eric Weiskott, English, The Vision Of William Banastre, A Middle English Alliterative
  • Christopher Wilson, English, Reading Reportage
  • Laurie Shepard, Romance Languages And Literatures, The Perspective Of Literature, ENG2206 & ITAL 3314 Literature And Business
  • Laura White, Nursing, Current Issues In Pediatric Primary Care
  • Bonnie Rudner, English, Frozen In Time? Disney And Body Images
  • Amy Smith, Nursing, St. Ignatius Virtual Hospital: A MediaKron Project
  • Martin Scanlan, Higher Education And Educational Leadership, MediaKron For Educational Leaders
  • Scott Cummings, Theater Department, Mapping London Theatre
  • Johann Sadock, Romance Languages And Literatures, Giving A Second Life To Au-Dela Du Regard: Recontres Multiethniques
  • Joseph Nugent, English, Expansion Of Dubliner’s Bookshelf
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