Make It Matter: Connecting Course Activities to Student Goals, Skills, and Motivation

Thursday, December 10 at 12 PM ET

This is a free event, but seats may be limited.

Students are more likely to engage when they understand why the work matters. In this webinar, expert instructors will share practical ways to connect course activities to students’ goals, everyday lives, future careers, and durable skills like communication, problem-solving, judgment, and critical thinking. You’ll leave with one assignment, discussion, reading, lab, or practice activity redesigned with a “Relevance Bridge,” plus fresh ideas from colleagues for helping students see purpose in the work before they decide whether it’s worth doing.

Make It Matter: Connecting Course Activities to Student Goals, Skills, and Motivation

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Speakers

Matthew Ingram

Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, Dakota State University

Matthew Bruce Ingram is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies and Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Dakota State University. Passionate about helping both students and educators thrive, Matthew focuses on creating engaging, practice-based learning experiences that make learning meaningful and interactive. He teaches courses including public speaking and interpersonal communication and supports faculty in exploring evidence-based and innovative approaches to teaching. His interests span student engagement, faculty development, communication, and the thoughtful use of emerging practices and technologies in the classroom.

Tracey Simmons-Willis

Chemistry Instructor, San Jacinto College - Central Campus

Tracey Simmons-Willis teaches primarily face-to-face Chemistry with a significant dual-credit population. She uses Achieve (assessments, LearningCurve, Lab Sims) and iClicker for formative checks and metacognitive skill-building. Tracey teaches with Revell (Intro) and Burdge (Gen Chem), and offers targeted study tutorials. Blackboard integration and selective polling (e.g., confidence ratings) support transparency.

Scott Cohn

Associate Professor of Psychology, Western Colorado University

Dr. Scott Cohn is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Western Colorado University in Gunnison, CO. Teaching primarily in person, Dr. Cohn's migration to online assessment over the past decade has been motivated by the desire to spend more time in class teaching rather than assessing. In the past two years, Dr. Cohn has led several conference workshops and presentations on the development of highly-accurate assessment items that objectively measure Psychology's skills-based curriculum. Currently Dr. Cohn is the Program Assessment Lead for Scientific American: Psychology, where he assists the authors in their development of an assessment program that is accessible to both students and faculty.

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Make It Matter: Connecting Course Activities to Student Goals, Skills, and Motivation

Thursday, December 10 at 12 PM ET

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Speakers

Matthew Ingram

Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, Dakota State University

Tracey Simmons-Willis

Chemistry Instructor, San Jacinto College - Central Campus

Scott Cohn

Associate Professor of Psychology, Western Colorado University

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