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It's All Fun and Games 'til Somebody Gets Learnt: Exploring the Potential for Video Games in Education Dr. Crystal Steltenpohl February 28, 2020 The Entertainment Software Association estimates 60% of Americans play video games daily, and 64% of U.S. households own a device that they use to play video games, meaning most Americans have some familiarity with the medium. While video games are largely known for their entertainment value, educators have long explored using them as educational tools in the classroom, to varying levels of success. Steltenpohl’s multidisciplinary team is working to develop an open access video game to teach high school and undergraduate students about the research process, including qualitative and quantitative methodology, research ethics, and open science. Throughout the creation of the game, they hope to learn more about how people learn by evaluating learning outcomes along the way, in line with educational best practices in psychology and beyond. |
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Dr. Jessica Rick |
Finding the Flexibility in Workplace Flexibility: Understanding How Workers Communicate About Work/Life Policies February 7, 2020 Research has demonstrated many benefits of workplace flexibility for both workers and organizations. So it’s no surprise that more and more organizations are offering different types of workplace flexibility. What is surprising though, is many workers do not use the policies that are supposed to make work/life balance possible. Dr. Rick’s presentation will focus on how workers communicate about work/life policies, why workers feel uncomfortable using flexibility policies, and things we can do to make workplaces—and employees—more accepting of these policies. |
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Dr. Casey Pycior |
Winning in Writing: Approaches to Drafting a Novel November 22, 2019 The Streak is a novel-in-progress about a fictional Pecos League baseball team, the Dodge City (Kansas) Gunslingers, that, prior to the beginning of the novel, inexplicably go undefeated over the course of a season, and a Disneyfied “based on a true story” movie has been made about their streak. The novel explores the psychological effects the winning streak and the subsequent movie has on the players. Dr. Pycior will read from his draft of work, talk about his process for writing, and take questions from the audience. |
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Dr. Cacee Hoyer |
Innovative Approaches to Research: A Case Study for Social Media as Archives November 8, 2019 The ‘Grey Street Casbah and Surroundings’ is a private Facebook group that focuses on the shared spaces of Durban’s commercial district by creating an informal archival repository that connects urban history, memory studies, and the digital humanities. This presentation urges an examination of such social media sites as a new way to examine urban history. Often ripe with nostalgia and intimate portrayals of personal and family histories, this platform provides a new space to reify contemporary understandings of well-known historical spaces within the Durban CBD. The informal nature of this space allows the average layperson the ability to participate in historical inquiry and exhibits the diverse ways well-known, and obscure, spaces in Durban are remembered and memorialized. Hoyer argues the wealth of knowledge generated on informal online platforms, such as this Facebook group, should influence and inform historical interpretations of our urban pasts. |
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Mr. Joseph Uduehi |
Colorblindness: A Visual Art Resource October 18, 2019 Colorblindness or Color Vision Deficiency affects approximately 1 in 10 Caucasian men. Colorblindness is a condition where it is difficult for the individuals to differentiate actual colors of objects, with red and green being the most common type of colorblindness. My presentation will focus on the visual arts resource that I developed to assist colorblind individuals in dealing with the challenges posed by colorblindness. This resource can be integrated into classroom curriculum development and everyday life. |
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Dr. Melissa Stacer |
My Time Behind Bars: Going to Prison and Jail for Teaching and Research September 13, 2019 Since 2011, Dr. Stacer has been spending time in prisons and jails. What began as field trips for criminal justice students evolved into a large research project exploring the impact of correctional facility tours on students. After years of taking students to these facilities, Dr. Stacer was then able to attain her goal of conducting research with incarcerated individuals themselves via surveys and interviews. This presentation discusses these projects and focuses on her experiences going behind bars: the joys and difficulties of taking students on such trips, the preparations involved in going to a correctional facility, and the experience of sitting face to face with the convicted. |
