STELAR Faculty Fellows
Colin Martin
2017-2018 STELAR Faculty Fellow
Colin H. Martin is a Clinical Professor with the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Biology, and is our 2017-2018 STELAR Faculty Fellow. Learn more about Colin’s areas of study in blended teaching by reading his January 30, 2018 article Offering Thoughtful and Effective Online Courses That Our Students Actually Want to Take.
Office: OWS 256
Email: chmartin@stthomas.edu
Learn About Former Faculty Fellows
Chientzu CANDACE Chou
2016-2017 STELAR Faculty Fellow
Chientzu CANDACE Chou is an associate professor of Learning Technology at the University of St. Thomas' Department of Teacher Education. She was a Senior Fulbright Scholar (2015-16). She has been designing and implementing online and blended learning for two decades. She has taught courses on Adult Learning, Instructional Design for E-Learning, Online Teaching and Evaluation, Immersive learning Through Virtual Worlds, Principles of Educational Research, Digital Storytelling, and Use of Technology for Instruction. During the 2016-2017 academic year, Candace served as a STELAR faculty fellow for academic technology. As a Faculty Fellow, Candace facilitated the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) monthly workshops, provided one-to-one consultation to faculty, and advocated for technology-enriched instruction.
Dr. Chou continues to provide leadership around the intersection of technology and pedagogy by:
- Collaborating with STELAR instructional designer Michael Wilder to develop interactive content to teach research methods via Canvas
- Presenting at the National Online Learning Conference (OLC) in November 2017 on the topic of “Ice-breaking activities for building an online community: Infusing innovative tools to enhance online interaction. “
- Integrating virtual reality into curriculum to enhance student engagement and content learning
- Providing ongoing collegial support and leadership with faculty by helping them practice and use new technology such as Zoom, welcoming faculty to "shadow" her in online courses and virtual sessions, and building online community using FlipGrid.
- Involving students in service-learning projects that infuse creativity into technology learning with teens in the community library
- Encouraging students to promote social causes through digital story telling
- Exploring the use of game-based learning and differentiated instruction for online learning with STELAR instructional designer Glori Hinck
- Publishing research studies on digital badges, one-to-one learning, and virtual reality
Dr. Chientzu Candace Chou can be reached at ccchou@stthomas.edu
Lynn Stansberry-Brusnahan
2016-2017 STELAR Faculty Fellow
L. Lynn Stansberry Brusnahan is an associate professor. She served as a 2016-2017 "Faculty Fellow in Technology" at the University of St. Thomas. In 2014, she received an international Blackboard “Exemplary Course” award which represents significant achievements in outstanding online course design. In 2012, she was recognized as the Autism Society "Professional of the Year." She has a Ph.D. In Urban Education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a focus in Exceptional Education. At UST, she coordinates the autism spectrum disorders program in the School of Education. She has served on the Autism Society of America National Board and on the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities Board. Two governors have appointed her to serve on Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities. Additionally, she serves on the advisory board for the Minnesota Life College. Her goal in life is to make a difference in the field of ASD.
While serving as a Faculty Fellow, Lynn worked with the STELAR team, the Associate Vice President of Academic Technology, and the Director of Faculty Development to contribute to creative and effective technology-enhanced instruction at St. Thomas.
Lynn continues to provide leadership around the intersection of technology and pedagogy at the university by:
- developing and teaching online courses
- integrating technology that enhances teaching into coursework
- identifying creative ways to provide learning opportunities for students through technology
- presenting on active student engagement strategies to create optimal online learning experiences
Dr. Stansberry-Brusnahan can be reached at llstansberry@stthomas.edu.
Uta Wolfe
2016-2017 STELAR Faculty Fellow
During the 2016-2017 academic year, Uta Wolfe was a STELAR faculty fellow for the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). During that time she led a faculty learning community for those interested in conducting and publishing SoTL projects, offered a Faculty Development workshop on basic SoTL design and implementation issues, and offered individual mentoring for those interested in SoTL. Dr. Wolfe also developed several hybrid classes as well as online and computer-based activities for face-to-face classes. As reported in the 2009 Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education, Wolfe developed a series of computer-based neuroscience labs for a course that would otherwise rely solely on lecture. The labs were shown to significantly improve both course ratings and student performance (Wolfe, 2009).
To date (2018) Dr. Wolfe continues to demonstrate the intersection of technology and pedagogy including the following:
- Continuing to lead a faculty learning community Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).
- Presenting (with students) “Undergraduate students prefer giving presentations online over in-class” (Ortman, H.A., Hunt, C.J & Wolfe, U.) at the Association for Psychological Sciences Teaching Institute.
- Dr. Wolfe developed an online ‘Environmental Neuroscience Module’’ for a psychology class. The module increased students’ pro-environmental attitudes as well as their knowledge of environmental issues. The research on the environmental module is now “in print” in the Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education.