Facilitating cross-disciplinary communication: a case study approach using immediate feedback-assessment techniques

10:00am-10:45am

https://westminsteredu.zoom.us/j/91279985418?pwd=SWxSaWloTlJ4Ry90bGsya2p6THpBdz09

Meeting ID: 912 7998 5418

Passcode: 541511

Led by Helen Boylan, Alison DuBois, and Brian Petrus (Westminster College)

The Environmental Project Management Academy (EPMA) uses weekly case studies in it curriculum as a way to promote cross-disciplinary communication. The case studies, often based on controversial situations, encourage the students to explore the connections and recognize the practical implications linking environmental science, business, and leadership.  Students read the case studies and discuss them in small groups.  Following discussion, a short, multiple-choice quiz is taken individually and then in the small group using the immediate feedback-assessment (IF-AT) technique.  The professors then guide whole-class discussion, intentionally focusing on the environmental science, business, and leadership aspects of the case and the interplay among those three areas.  The case studies are structured so that students are actively practicing communication skill development. Skills such as active listening and the use of questioning techniques during these case studies help set the stage for later project teamwork and associated team feedback.

This breakout session will model the EPMA case study approach with participants taking part in small group discussions, the IF-AT quiz technique, and whole-group conversation related to a case study on industrial hemp.  Participants will also deliver and receive a sampling of peer feedback based on CATME (Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness), a critical feedback tool used in the EPMA program.

Participants will be given an opportunity to brainstorm and discuss ways in which this information on cross-disciplinary case studies, IF-AT quizzes, and/or CATME team feedback can be applied to their own course assignments.