ABE SoTL

ABE’s philosophy of scholarship and research is applied to answer specific and practical problems in relation to student learning. Toward this end, much of our research is based on classroom experiences. Although we would agree that there is a general acceptance of what is good teaching, we also argue that each learning opportunity is unique and is informed by a host of different circumstances: teacher skills, student skills, learning styles, classroom environment, content of the course etc. . . We believe that to provide our students with the best possible learning experiences, it is our job to be reflective about our teaching and systematically analyze what is happening in the classroom and the ABE community at large. To accomplish this, we try to triangulate data between quantitative and qualitative approaches to get the best sense of where our community is heading. Starting in their first year, students are asked to participate in focus groups, surveys, and individual interviews to spot check what is happening in our classrooms. In partnership with industry, ABE has entered into an OPAL assessment survey that students and employers fill out after internships based on ABET aligned outcomes/competencies. Finally, we have developed a unique eportfolio system for competency assessment that provides opportunities to study student learning outside of the traditional classroom.

To date, we have published (X) articles from our classroom research. You can see a list of them below. [Note - this list is very incomplete as of 6/25/05.]

Publications

Thomas J. Brumm, Steven K. Mickelson, and Anthony Ellertson. “Using ePortfolios to Develop and Assess ABETAligned Competencies.” Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition. Nashville. June 2003 http://www.asee.org/conferences/proceedings/search.cfm

Ellertson, Anthony.  "Some Notes on Simulacra Machines, Flash in First-Year Composition, and Tactics in Spaces of Interruption." Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric and Technology 8.2 (Fall 2003) <http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/8.2/index.html>

Ellertson, Anthony. "Information Appliances and Electronic Portfolios: Rearticulating the Institutional Author." Karios: A Journal of Rhetoric and Technology (Forthcoming)

Fisher, David, Thomas Bowers, Anthony Ellertson, Thomas Brumm, and Steven Mickelson. "As the Case May Be: The Potential of Electronic Cases for Interdisciplinary Communication Instruction." IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 46 (2003): 313-19.

Peer Reviewed Presentations

Ellertson, Anthony. “Multimodal Interface/Database Integration for ABET Aligned Electronic Portfolios,” Association for Teachers of Technical Writing, San Antonio, TX, March 2004.

Invited Presentations:

Brumm, Tom, Ellertson, Anthony, and Mickelson, Steven. “Building a Community of Practice,” Learning Communities Regional Open House Conference, Ames, IA, February 2004.

• Invited to speak about using the electronic portfolio system to help build communities of practice within the Agricultural and Biosystems Learning Community.

Ellertson, Anthony, Brumm, Tom, and Mickelson, Steven. “ABE English 105 Link,” 5 th Annual Learning Communities Institute, Ames IA, May 2003.

Invited to present session as a Learning Communities Innovations Award Recipient.