Digital learning tools have been around for years—but always in the background, serving as a supplementary resource to the face-to-face learning environments synonymous with “the college experience.”
But then pandemic teaching brought digital pedagogy to the forefront, throwing students and teachers alike into the deep end of online tools and programs.
For those of us who equated learning with large lecture halls and labs, the transition was eye-opening.
People were understandably frustrated, confused, angry, and—perhaps most notably—concerned that the value of higher education was diminished by going fully virtual.
But out of that chaos came new ways of approaching teaching and learning. New ways of connecting and engaging. And even, perhaps, a new sense of empathy between teachers and their students.
Now that some of us are returning to in-person learning, there’s a concern that we’ll forget everything we learned about digital pedagogy over the past two years.
That’s why now felt like the perfect time for Course Hero to celebrate teachers who are reimagining the college experience by leveraging digital tools in unique and impactful ways.
In April, we launched Course Hero’s inaugural teaching grant program, inviting instructors to share their classroom project ideas for the Fall 2022 semester. We wanted to fund projects that put a spotlight on digital pedagogy—but in ways that still humanize the learning experience in a very tangible, community-oriented way.
After all, it’s still people who are at the heart of technology. The more we can learn to use technology for the betterment of ourselves and society, the sooner we can view digital tools as an ally and not an enemy.
Reviewing the hundreds of applications that came in gave us insight into the struggles teachers face—but more importantly, it showed us how far teachers are willing to go to support their students, no matter the modality of teaching.
I am honored to present to you the 51 recipients of Course Hero’s Teaching Grant for Digital Learning and a brief abstract of their respective project ideas.
M.E. (Peg) Achterman, Seattle Pacific University
Journalism students will use MediaStorm to evaluate and create campus-centric stories.
Sharon Alston, Norfolk State University
Students will utilize geographic information systems to map the social determinants of health of socially vulnerable communities.
Brianna Anderson, Georgia Institute of Technology
Using the digital tools ArcGIS and Scalar, students will work collaboratively to create interactive, public-facing digital exhibits and story maps that educate visitors about the history of systemic environmental injustices in Atlanta.
Sundaram Arumugam, Navajo Technical University
Students will support a Navajo land energy audit by working with the local community on Navajo land.
Carolyn Bergman, Georgian Court University
Students will create a digital study guide on the stages of mitosis.
Yvonne Braun, University of Oregon
Students will create multimedia social justice resources embedded in a world map, which will be available for public access.
Lashanda Brumfield, Dillard University
Student teams will produce a podcast series to educate peers and local community leaders on topics related to local environmental health issues affecting the public.
Michael Brunson, Kansas State University
Students will create digital “lookbooks” based on nature treks from weekly field excursions about Kansas flora and fauna and natural history.
William Campbell, University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg
This will be a flipped class featuring digital markup of eBooks, focusing on digital literacy in the humanities.
Jeremy Caplan, CUNY Newmark Graduate School of Journalism
Journalism students will focus on citizen journalism by participating in weekly immersions into new communities to research and produce digital stories about residents.
Fernando Carvalho, San Francisco State University
Student teams will tackle two projects: vertical gardens and furniture for educational environments with a combination of physical and digital modeling.
Vincent Chen, Georgian Court University
In the Introduction to Exercise Science and Wellness course, students will work as groups to design and create a four-image infographic social media post explaining the knowledge in each course chapter. The infographic must speak to the lay audience using easy-to-understand images with minimal text. After posting the infographics on social media, students will interact with audiences by replying to comments and discussions.
Emily Ciesielski, University of Central Missouri
Students will create a digital multimedia timeline with a focus on children’s language development and cultural variations in language development.
Lori Clinchard, De Anza College
Students will record oral histories focusing on religious differences that will be uploaded and shared with the community.
Teresa Cusumano, Lehigh University
Students will create a webpage and podcast devoted to diversity and nonnative communication.
Ahmed Dallal, University of Pittsburgh – Swanson School of Engineering
Students will use machine learning algorithms and cloud-based data visualization tools to support electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure planning.
Desiree Diaz, Swarthmore College
Students will work with Latinx artists and the community to create a website dedicated to Latinx Art/Activism.
Emily Dosmar, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Lower-division students will be assigned a final project where they develop a health care solution using MATLAB language programming. The grant will fund the top two students to attend the annual Rocky Mountain Bioengineering Symposium to present their work.
Elizabeth Dulemba, Winthrop University
Design students will interact with graphics software to learn animation and multimedia basics.
Nancy Forster-Holt, University of Rhode Island
Students will gain real startup experience via a student-developed app called Kanu.
Gary Graves, Fullerton College
Students will research and create an AI chatbot for campus Q&A.
Silvia Imanda, University of Arkansas at Fort Smith
Nursing students will use the GoReact platform to create video assignments focused on training nursing students to do virtual telenursing health assessments.
Theresa Kemp, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire
Students will create a magazine article using PowerPoint and iMovie.
Estelle Lebeau, Johnson & Wales University
Students will help community gardens understand soil health and provide digital reports to influence local policy.
Lu Liang, University of North Texas
Students will create geographic information system (GIS) story maps of their local community and support local mapping and open-resource materials.
Jeremy Logsdon, Western Kentucky University
In small groups, students will create a lesson and activity for other college students that will be delivered via podcast and shared out through our university’s Student Success Center.
Maren Loveland, Vanderbilt University
This will be a digital storytelling group project with a focus on digital humanities.
Janine Lyman, University of South Florida
Faculty will create 3D models with augmented reality to build students’ understanding of statistics.
Tiffany Maldonado, Sam Houston State University
Students will work as consultants for women- and minority-owned businesses. They will engage in hands-on work with clients and produce digital reporting.
Gabriella McBride, New York University Silver School of Social Work
Students will participate in a simulation activity involving a complex engagement role play that requires working through biases and using a lens of cultural humility. Students will be assessed on the simulation by their peers and professors.
Jennifer Newton, Ohio University
Students will create PSAs on disability/ableism for social media.
Graham Plumb, California College of the Arts
Faculty will create a kit for tangible interaction for students to make physical and digital prototypes that they’ll create websites to document.
Chapman Rackaway, Radford University
Students will create a media literacy podcast.
Christina Ragan, Georgia Institute of Technology
Students will produce videos on challenging topics with embedded quiz questions for their peers. Students will vote on the best videos, and the winners will present at a conference.
Jayme Renfro, University of Northern Iowa
Student teams will create entries with audio recordings that will be combined into a fully accessible online public administration and policy encyclopedia.
Stephen Schock, College for Creative Studies
Students will create virtual digital models of consumer product concepts that will be produced on a 3D printer.
Lalaine Sevillano, The University of Texas, Austin
Students will research social issues to create digital publications using Flipbook.
Amanda Skidmore, Morehead State University
Students will create digital media—infographics, podcasts, videos, or games—on soil science for their peers and future students.
Bonnie Slavych, Missouri State University
Student teams will design and create patient education materials (PEMs; e.g., infographics, digital videos) to educate patients, caregivers, other health professionals, and the public.
Julie Smith-Gagen, University of Nevada, Reno
Students will turn an existing card game into an online game to diversify assessment strategies and motivate students to engage with the topic. The focus will be on immunology and vaccination.
Helena Solo-Gabriele, University of Miami
Students will collect samples from the campus lake to test, analyze, and map using GIS nutrients which will be documented and presented.
Matthew Sweeney, Academy of Art University
This is a capstone project for art education students where they design the curriculum and the promotional materials for their programs.
Leah Van Vaerenewyck, Lesley University
Students will adapt a literary work from class into an audiobook, a graphic novel, a short movie, or an animated film, with an option for them to make them accessible to the public.
Jojin Van Winkle (Co-Teaching with Siovahn Williams), Carthage College
Grant recipient Professor Van Winkle, along with Professor Siovahn Williams also of Carthage University, will lead a project where students create short videos on racial inequality in connection with social justice.
Jennifer Vidrine, Paul Quinn College
Students will create an app to help locals order from their university’s farmer’s market.
Eileen Wallis, California State Polytechnic University Pomona
Students will collaborate with the Historical Society of the Pomona Valley to create a digital version of their 4th-grade field trip to their Palomares Adobe site using film and other media.
Matthew Weathers, Biola University
Students will create a game featuring a cutting-edge development environment with a faculty-developed website and videos for other faculty.
Cassie Whitt, Western Kentucky University
The proposed class project is a student-run TikTok account that would be used across 2 sections of an undergraduate Social Psychology class. For this project, students from each section would be required to collaborate with their classmates to plan, record, edit, and publish a TikTok video each week.
Joanne Williams, Olivet College
Students will share community news via a campus newsletter, website, or radio program.
Garry Yates, Clark Atlanta University
Lower-division students will begin collecting content and building their online portfolios to be used throughout their academic careers and beyond.
An-Di Yim, Truman State University
Students will produce public outreach videos on anatomy topics using 3D modeling. The topics will be health or lifestyle issues relevant to either everyday life or clinical significance.