UMBC is proud to announce the projects selected to receive grants in the 2019-2020 rounds of the Hrabowski Fund for Innovation competition.
IMPLEMENTATION & RESEARCH AWARD (Spring 2020)
Enhancing Student Engagement in Internationalization at Home: Towards Inclusiveness and Intercultural Dialogue — A multidisciplinary team led by Irina Golubeva (Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication) will develop the intercultural communication skills of undergraduate and graduate students in order to foster intercultural dialogues on campus and to enhance their preparedness for working in a culturally diverse world. The team will conduct a campus-wide needs analysis survey with a focus on campus climate; design and develop innovative online intercultural training curriculum; pilot the training; and measure the results with the Intercultural Development Inventory assessment tool. This initiative will support UMBC’s institutional strategic plan of internationalization, with a special focus on internationalization at home. This project will offer an intercultural learning opportunity to all students regardless of whether they set foot outside of the United States, and is designed to specifically address the intercultural communication needs of our diverse campus community in alignment with other existing initiatives that celebrate cultural diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice.
ADAPTATION AWARDS (Spring 2020)
Synchronous IRL/DL Technologies for Innovative Teaching — A team led by Diane Alonso, Eileen O’Brien, and Anne Brodsky (Psychology) will investigate innovative options to reach all students by connecting campuses via technology to create a dynamic hands-on experience at both the main UMBC and Universities at Shady Grove (USG) campuses. The Psychology Department has limited resources, two campuses, and multiple external settings (e.g., the Kennedy Krieger Institute) to cover, and a large number of students required to take their courses. The team planned to offer PSYC 335 in Summer 2020 as a cross-campus, two section course at USG and the main UMBC campus with WebEx providing the technological link for this class, which was taught by a faculty member and a TA using active learning. They aim to create a remote shared classroom and meeting room for use in providing better access and technological support than the traditional lecture classrooms that could also be used for remote meetings, interviews, community collaboration, and to help better incorporate the USG and Kennedy Krieger faculty.
The Accelerated Math 106 Program — A multidisciplinary team led by William LaCourse and Beatrice Lauman (College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences) will provide supplemental support for Math 106: Algebra and Elementary Functions students through intensive instruction and practice in key algebra concepts and topics. The Accelerated Math 106 Program (AMP) will provide students in Math 106 who score below a 40 percent on a pre-assessment with an additional research-based opportunity to learn Math 106 content through a six-week supplemental session. The supplemental session will use undergraduate learning assistants to support problem solving activities and group work and to provide peer mentoring. AMP will be based on the hypotheses that effectively learning algebra involves identifying misconceptions, learning the correct conceptual underpinnings, and doing extensive problem solving followed by reflection. The effects of the program will be assessed by comparing participants’ and non-participants’ content knowledge and attitudes toward mathematics learning, as well as the participants’ beliefs about the impact of the learning assistants.
Metacognitive Media Literacy: Modules Supporting Self-Regulated Learners in MCS 101 — A team led by Donald Snyder (Media and Communication Studies) will create a series of modules for the introductory MCS 101: Media Literacy course modeled after those created in Jean A. Cardinale and Bethany C. Johnson’s “Metacognition Modules: A Scaffolded Series of Online Assignments Designed to Improve Students’ Study Skills.” The team will create content and assignments for the modules focused on providing students with resources to increase their ability to self-regulate and develop metacognitive skills. The team anticipates that this intervention will produce a measurable impact on students’ ability to work independently, to critically reflect on their own learning processes, and to articulate these gains in written and oral form.
SEED AWARD (Spring 2020)
Evaluation and Enhancement of a Learning Unit on Quantum Algorithms — A multidisciplinary team led by Alan Sherman (Computer Science and Electrical Engineering) will assess and enhance materials for a two-week learning unit for quantum algorithms created by Sherman which is being field tested in CMSC 641: Design & Analysis of Algorithms. This unit introduces the new transformative paradigm of quantum algorithms, which offers tremendous potential for solving important complex problems. This project will make this learning unit, including its six videos and other materials, freely available after they are revised and enhanced based on reviews by three experts.
IMPLEMENTATION & RESEARCH AWARD (Fall 2019)
Learning Teaching as an Interpretive Process in Urban Schools — A multidisciplinary team led by Kindel Nash (Education) will conduct a qualitative investigation of the Learning Teaching as an Interpretive Process (LTIP) framework’s impact on the learning outcomes of teacher candidates who are in the Sherman Scholars Program. This framework is designed to prepare teachers to adequately support the learning of students from culturally and linguistically diverse groups, who often attend urban schools. The proposed project will impact Sherman Scholars’ abilities to navigate the complexities of teaching during their education programs and as they enter the teaching profession.
SEED AWARD (Fall 2019)
Climate Change and Society: Global Change in the Context of Maryland — A team led by Dawn Biehler (Geography and Environmental Systems) will institute a course, Climate Change and Society, accessible to all UMBC students, which will develop students’ knowledge of the causes, effects, inequities, and responses of climate change, and heighten their confidence in communicating with others about it. The team will begin by teaching an incubator course focused on climate change issues in Maryland which will cover content, feature expert guest speakers, and consist of team research to produce components of a Maryland Atlas of Climate Change. The team will analyze the results of the assessment, update course materials, and modify and develop new course modules for a larger class at a lower level for a future semester.
Proposals for the next round of Innovation Fund grants are due by October 30, 2020. For more information and to apply, visit UMBC's Faculty Development Center.
The Hrabowski Fund for Innovation exemplifies UMBC's commitment to investing in faculty initiatives that fuel creativity and enterprise and also create opportunities for student engagement.