Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT)

Blackboard


  • Faculty Training for Fall Start! (8/17/2020)

    Faculty Training Sessions – Fall 2020

    Please note that session meeting links will be emailed to you prior to the session dates. Please choose the option at the end of the survey to receive a copy of your workshop sign ups.

    Blackboard Basics: Learn the basics of building your course in Blackboard
    – Thursday, August 20, 9am-11am

    Blackboard Collaborate Ultra: learn about synchronous online meeting using Blackboard’s integrated meeting tool.
    – Thursday, August 20, 1pm-2:30pm

    Blackboard Tests: learn how to create online quizzes and tests in Blackboard
    – Thursday, September 10, 12pm-1pm
    – Tuesday, September 15, 2pm-3pm

    Blackboard Grade Center: learn how to set up and navigate your course gradebook
    – Wednesday, September 23, 12pm-1pm
    – Thursday, October 1, 9am-10am

  • CELT Tribute (5/15/2020)

    Frontline Nursing Faculty

    Click to listen to the podcast with frontline faculty.

    During this pandemic, we pay tribute to our heroic frontline faculty from the Nursing department.


    Dr. Linda Dalessio (upper left) has joined the faculty at Western Connecticut State University full time as an assistant professor. She has taught at Western as an adjunct professor in the BSN program at Waterbury since 2008. Linda graduated with her ADN in 1984 from Capitol Community Technical College in Hartford and received her BSN in 1999 from Elsevier College in New York. She went on to receive her MSN in Forensic nursing at Quinnipiac University. Linda then attended   St. Louis University and graduated in 2005 with a post master’s degree as an acute care nurse practitioner. She is certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Linda has worked as a critical care nurse and nurse practitioner in acute and adult care in many different areas.

    She has authored and co-authored grants obtained from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. Linda currently has completed a chapter in an upcoming publication for acute care nurse practitioners that deals with toxicology and overdose in the intensive care unit. Publication should be early in 2015. Linda is a member of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) and has been CCRN certified since 1989.


    Dr. Eileen Campbell (upper right) is an assistant professor of Nursing at Western Connecticut State University. Eileen is also a practicing Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN). Eileen’s research interests include nursing education and pain management.  As a first-generation college graduate and first-generation American, Eileen is passionate about helping students navigate college and be successful in the nursing program.


    Professor Doreen Graham (bottom left) is a full- time Assistant Professor in Nursing at Western Connecticut State University. Doreen has been a full- time professor this past five years and is in the process of finishing her Doctorate dissertation in Nursing Education at Western Connecticut State University. Doreen is also a part-time per diem Nurse Practitioner at Waterbury Hospital in the Cardiovascular Critical Care Unit. Doreen’s background in both nursing and advance practice nursing has been for over thirty years in critical care. Doreen is board certified in critical care and is a member of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and the American College of Cardiology. Professor Doreen Graham is also a member of both the Mu Beta and Kappa Alpha Chapters of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.

    Professor Doreen Graham teaches undergraduate nursing at Western Connecticut State University. Doreen is also a preceptor for WCSU advance practice nursing students in the cardiovascular unit.


    Andrew Hull (bottom right) is the Nursing Simulation Coordinator at Western Connecticut State University.

     

    References

    Campbell, E. (2020). Faculty perspectives of teaching pain management to nursing students. Pain Management Nursing21(2) 179-186.

  • CELT Podcast: Dr. Veronica Howard (5/13/2020)

    Open Educational Resources

    Click to listen to the podcast with Dr. Veronica Howard

    Dr. Veronica Howard teaches Intro to Behavioral Analysis (PSY A200) in UAA’s Social Sciences Building.


    In this podcast, Dr. Veronica Howard, our featured speaker from University of Alaska Anchorage, will discuss open educational resources.


    Dr. Veronica Howard is an assistant professor of Psychology at the University of Alaska Anchorage, chair of the UAA textbook affordability committee, and founding member of the Association for Behavior Analysis International’s Open Educational Resources (OER) special interest group. As a first-generation college student, working to find ways to make higher education affordable for all students is a deeply personal mission for Veronica. Veronica’s background is in organizational behavior management and sustainable behavior change, and uses these skills to promote wide-spread adoption and creation of OER materials.

    References

    Howard, V. J. (2019). Open educational resources in behavior analysis. Behavior Analysis in Practice12(4), 839-853.

    Special thanks to Peter Puccio for recording this podcast.

  • CELT Podcast: Dr. Sharon Yamen (5/9/2020)

    Setting Expectations in the Classroom

    Click to listen to the podcast with Dr. Sharon Yamen.


    Sharon Yamen, Esq. is an assistant professor in the division of justice and law at the Ancell School of Business, Western Connecticut State University. She received her J.D. at Hofstra University School of Law. Professor Yamen holds her own practice assisting small business start-ups and has ten plus years of teaching experience. Her research is vast and varied, often pointing out disparities in the law. When not teaching, researching or practicing she can be found exploring the great outdoors.

  • CELT Podcast: Dr. Neeta Connally (4/22/2020)

    How being a Researcher can Inform Teaching

    Click to listen to the podcast with Dr. Neeta Connally


    Neeta Pardanani Connally is an associate professor in the Dept. of Biological & Environmental Sciences at Western Connecticut State University (WCSU), where she oversees the WCSU Tickborne Disease Prevention Laboratory. Trained as a medical entomologist, her research focuses upon backyard ecology and prevention of Lyme and other tick-associated diseases in the northeastern United States. Some of Neeta’s recent projects have evaluated integrated tick management tactics for preventing tick bites, assessed the effectiveness of tick-repellent clothing, and investigated the role of human behavior in peridomestic tickborne disease risk.

    Neeta’s research has been funded by federal grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and she has been a CDC TickNET project contributor in partnership with the Connecticut Emerging Infections Program since 2007. Neeta served on the U.S. Health and Human Services Tick-Borne Disease Working Group as a member of the Tick Biology, Ecology, and Control Subcommittee in 2019, and as a member of the Disease Vectors, Surveillance, and Prevention subcommittee in 2018. She was also appointed
    to the Science and Technology Committee of the 2020 CT Governor’s Council on Climate Change.

    Neeta has been recognized for her research and outreach efforts, receiving the Connecticut State University Board of Regents system-wide Faculty Research Award in 2020, the Connecticut Campus Compact Community Engaged Scholar Award in 2015, and the Connecticut State University Board of Regents Faculty Research Award for WCSU in 2014. She holds a B.S. in animal biology from Louisiana Tech University, a Master of Science in Public Health from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and a Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island. Prior to joining the WCSU faculty, Neeta was an Associate Research Scientist at the Yale School of Public Health.

  • CELT Podcast: Dr. Caitlin Faas (3/30/2020)

    Self-Care in the Time of Coronavirus

    Click to listen to the podcast with Dr. Caitlin Faas


    Caitlin Faas is an associate professor and department chair of psychology at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD. She earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Science from Virginia Tech with a specialization in child and adolescent development. Her research has focused on emerging adulthood and educational outcomes. She is also a certified life and weight coach through The Life Coach School. Follow her work at http://www.drcaitlinfaas.com/

  • CELT Podcast: Dr. Mirari Elcoro (3/24/2020)

    Bringing the Laboratory (Live or Virtual) into the Classroom

    Click to listen to the podcast with Dr. Mirari Elcoro


    In this podcast, Dr. Mirari Elcoro, our featured speaker from Framingham State University, will discuss her scholarship of teaching and learning. She will narrate her development and motivation for evaluating and disseminating the effects of bringing the laboratory (live or virtual) into the classroom. Lastly, she will highlight her current project aimed at identifying best practices for facilitating effective studying habits for students.


    Dr. Mirari Elcoro is an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology and Philosophy at Framingham State University. She obtained a doctorate degree in Psychology, with focus in Behavior Analysis, from West Virginia University. She is a Governor’s Teaching Fellow from the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia, and has been nominated to the Georgia Regents’ Excellence in Teaching Award by Armstrong State University (Savannah, GA) where she taught for nine years. She is also a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D). Dr. Elcoro serves in the editorial board of the Mexican Journal of Behavior Analysis.

    As a teacher scholar, Dr. Elcoro is passionate and invested in the scholarship of teaching and learning. She studies teaching as one of her scholarship interests. Her interest in not only in the behavior of teaching, but also in the academic and professional behaviors of her students (e.g., studying). Several of her projects focus on improving engagement in the classroom. One recent project, titled Bringing the Laboratory into the Classroom, is aimed at improving the understanding and appreciation of scientific concepts in the psychology classroom. She is also currently involved in examining the use of guided notes in undergraduate education.

    Within the experimental analysis of behavior Dr. Elcoro is interested in the study of temporal control, delay of reinforcement, behavioral pharmacology, and resurgence of operant behavior. Dr. Elcoro is also interested in the intersections between behavior analysis and neuroscience. She co-founded the minor in Neuroscience at Armstrong State University and currently teaches in the Minor in Neuroscience at Framingham State University.

    Publications in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:

    Elcoro, M., Broughton, K., & Hebert, L. Guided notes in undergraduate instruction. International Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Under Revision (Revise & Resubmit). Working on Revisions.

    Elcoro, M. & McCarley, N. (2015). This old thing? Using old laboratory equipment to enhance psychology courses. Teaching of Psychology, 42(1), 69-72. doi:10.1177/0098628314562681

    Elcoro, M., & Trundle, M. B. (2013). Student preferences for live versus virtual rats in a learning course. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 7 (1), 1-13. Retrieved from http://academics.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl/v7n1.html

    Elcoro, M. & Eagle, J. (2011). Efecto de la kava-kava en la conducta agresiva de peces betta splendens: una técnica para la práctica de laboratorio de pregrado en Psicología. [Effects of kava-kava on aggressive behavior of Siamese fighting fish: A laboratory research project for psychology undergraduates]. Analogías del Comportamiento, 12, 73-90.

    Special thanks to Peter Puccio for recording this podcast.

  • Panel Discussion: Instructional Design (2/19/2020)

    Please join our panel discussants Aura Lippincott (Instructional Designer) and Colleen Cox (Instructional Design Coordinator) from Western Connecticut State University. Our featured guest panelist is Dr. Byron Wine from the Faison Center. The panel discussion is hosted by Dr. Adam Brewer.

    Click here to watch.

    Special thanks to Peter Puccio for recording.

  • CELT Vlog: Dr. Charlotte Mann (12/13/2019)

    Supporting College Students with Autism

    Click to watch the vlog with Dr. Charlotte Mann


    In this vlog, Dr. Charlotte Mann, our featured speaker from University of Saint Joseph, will discuss strategies for supporting individuals with autism in higher education. She will review potential ways to teach essential social skills. Lastly, she will highlight her noteworthy publication that effectively improved conversational skills for college students with autism by developing problem-solving repertoires.


    Dr. Charlotte Mann is an assistant professor in the department of counseling and applied behavioral studies at the University of Saint Joseph. During her Ph.D. studies at Western New England University, Dr. Mann worked in association with the Student Accessibility Center, supporting the social skills development of college students on the autism spectrum. Her research interests focus on assessing and treating skill deficits related to social functioning, in particular the environmental determinants of conversation behavior, and supporting college students on the autism spectrum.

    References

    Mann, C. C., & Karsten, A. M. (2019). Efficacy and social validity of procedures for improving conversational skills of college students with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis.

  • CELT Podcast: Dr. Josh Pritchard (11/25/2019)

    Weekly Feedback from Students

    Click to listen to the podcast with Dr. Josh Pritchard


    In this podcast, Dr. Joshua Pritchard, our featured outside speaker, will be discussing an atypical practice of asking for weekly student feedback (rather than waiting until the end of the semester). He will discuss the pros and cons associated with weekly student feedback. In addition, he will offer potential strategies for incorporating and addressing weekly feedback.


    Dr. Joshua Pritchard has been a faculty member of Southern Illinois University’s behavior analysis program, as well as with Florida Institute of Technology (FIT). During his time with FIT, he was the chair of the FIT Hybrid Master of Arts in Professional Behavior Analysis. Pritchard has served as a consultant with state facilities under review by the Department of Justice, consulted internationally on behavioral programs and setting up practicum experience, and conducted remote supervision of international students desiring certification in behavior analysis. Dr. Pritchard is the associate editor of two behavior-analytic journals and has published in multiple journals within the behavior- analytic field on a wide range of topics from teaching verbal behavior to changing driving habits. Dr. Pritchard has also served as the President of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment, on the Executive Council of the Association for Behavior Analysis International, president of the Tennessee Association of Behavior Analysis and was a member of the Supervision Task Force of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. He is currently the president-elect of the Florida Association of Behavior Analysis.

    Special thanks to Peter Puccio and Scott Volpe for recording this podcast.