Professors Candary Noltensmeyer, Katerina Spasovska and Matt Binford presented at the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning on February 25 at Georgia Southern University.
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, or SoTL, is an interdisciplinary conference where professors present various levels of research and tests. It provides a variety of perspectives surrounding pedagogy at a high level.
Conference attendees are selected by submitting an abstract to a peer-review committee. Presenters are held to a standard of academia, presentation and innovation.
Noltensmeyer began attending SoTL in 2017 and enjoyed the format of presentation and conversation, and has attended every year since.
“SOTL conferences are all about sharing teaching ideas from a wide range of perspectives and academic disciplines. Because this particular SOTL conference is International, the perspectives are even wider,” said Noltensmeyer. “I love new teaching ideas and testing new teaching techniques! Going to this conference allows me to engage deeply with other professionals with the same goal of helping students meaningfully engage with the material we are trying to teach. I bring back a wealth of new teaching ideas and ways to engage students from different perspectives.”
Binford, Noltensmeyer and Spasovska presented on how students use AI in the classroom and how it informs what they read and perceive in the news.
This topic intertwines each professor’s area of practice. Spasovska specializes in news and journalism, Binford has experience in Artificial Intelligence, and Noltensmeyer has nuanced experience with interpersonal communication.
Noltensmeyer enjoys participating in conferences and research so that she can continue to grow her intergenerational understanding and activities in the classroom.
“Research indicates that what we learn while playing is learned faster and is more likely to be remembered. I like to create unique classroom spaces where students feel like they belong and can play with the material they are learning,” said Noltensmeyer. “We have to remember that the classroom is where we practice thinking and speaking, yet where we also make mistakes. When our messy learning experiences are fun, it’s more than just a lesson, it’s an engaged experience through connection with others. It’s only by coming together as a community that we can work through our challenges together. Why not make it fun?!”
The presented research is an integral way to connect the department and build off one another in interests and studies. And include students, to recognize and understand how they see bias and discover news.
While SoTL was an opportunity to present the results from their pilot research, Noltensmeyer said they are looking to publish their research and attend more conferences in the field of study. By the end of April, they will produce another survey for students to assess how they discern whether stories are credible and if they can detect AI-generated articles. The research will also be submitted for Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval.