Current Faculty Fellows
2022-2023 Faculty Fellows
Rebecca Catto, Assistant Professor
Sociology, Kent Campus
Description of Faculty Fellows project:
I am using my faculty fellowship to research and establish more effective and equitable forms of assessment. I address the following questions: How can I and others redesign exams to test what needs to be tested and avoid the potential for them to be discriminatory? Does an exam being open book hinder rather than help students? Given how and what students are now learning K-12, is the timed, in person, written exam an anachronism? What could or should we do instead? through a combination of desk-based research and conversations with Kent State faculty, leading to a workshop and an online resource.
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Dr. Jessica Leveto, Associate Professor
Sociology, Ashtabula Campus
Description of Faculty Fellows project:
"Addressing Course Accessibility for Parenting/Caregiving Students"
In this project, I will examine the needs of parenting/caregiving students at Kent State University and develop a workshop for faculty to learn instructional practices to make their courses more accessible and supportive for parenting/caregiving students.
This project will simultaneously assess the needs of parenting/caregiving students to identify instructional needs while surveying faculty/instructors on their course policies, pedagogical practices, and experiences with parenting and caregiving students. I will draw upon previous literature on pedagogical practices, universal design, and accessibility to ensure equity, access, and inclusion for parenting/caregiving students. I will review programs/practices available at other institutions and build on the data from our needs assessment of students and pedagogical practice survey of faculty to create a workshop for faculty. The workshop will focus on 1) centering student voices, 2) educating for accessibility, and 3) increasing visual support to build community and construct a culture of care and inclusion for parenting/caregiving students