PROJECTS

Prompt:

• After collaborating with ORISE for an in-person STEAM workshop, I was asked to develop and present a series of two-day, 4-hour professional development sessions focused on virtual engagement and skills development.

• This was at the height of the pandemic, so all sessions were administered over Zoom to participants from various states, although most were from Texas.

• Some sessions required technology that was mailed to participants ahead of time and their use was modeled for teachers.

​Process:

• After discussing with my colleagues about teacher needs, I proposed five sessions and all were accepted: lab practices, interactive platforms, STEAM for Beginner, STEAM Advanced, and Ecology Resources.

• I employed a variety of online tools to increase engagement and model effective strategies, reflecting on and improving my strategies as each session passed, particularly with explaining what the Google Site was and what was expected during breakout room sessions.

​Result:

• After attending one of my sessions, a science coach from a local school district contracted me through Insights to present a session (Lab Practices) to science teachers in his district!

• Participant Evaluations: I received 4.95/5.00 rating on "Knowledge of Instructor" and 4.95/5.00 rating on "Quality of Material Presented".

• Participant Comments from Zoom chat:

  1. • "Thanks Sue! We sit through a LOT of PD. That was definitely worth the time!"

     • "Ms. Huffman thank you for this class and I really enjoyed it and I actually learned something today."

     • "I normally don’t like PD but you are so good Sue that I came to all of them! Thank you!"

     • "Great ideas, Sue and everyone. And Sue, thanks for your continued genuine enthusiasm and passion, especially for an evening workshop after a busy day!"

Prompt:

• ORISE received funding to develop professional development for teachers but had no funding for maintaining the PD or even to pay for a premium version of Canva Learning Management System (LMS).

• Because of this, everything had to be automated: from controlling participants' progress through the course to emailing them certificate of completion.

• Based on their requests, I developed two sessions: developing students' data skills and incorporating inquiry.

Process:

• I had to learn an entirely new program as I built the class (Canvas LMS). By leveraging my experience with other software, FAQ pages, and Canvas community forums, I accomplished the task.

• In order to automatically email certificates, I researched and incorporated Google Plug-Ins with Google Slides.

• At multiple stages, I shared the courses with the ORISE manager and other staff for testing and feedback.

• I utilized another website, Canva, to ensure consistent graphics, font, and color styles throughout courses and certificates.

Result (Numbers continue to grow each week):

• Data Skills class: 64 participants

• Inquiry class: 80 participants

Prompt:

• Background: The ASPIRE group is a multi-university, international collaborative whose focus is on electric vehicles that charge wirelessly while driving on solar-powered electrified roadways.

• ASPIRE partnered with Upward Bound college preparation program to host Saturday workshops for high school participants that exposes them to the aims of the program and engineering as a career option.

• I was brought in to design the workshops and either run them myself or train graduate students to present them.

​Process:

• The big challenge was how to break down the research into digestible pieces for students while simultaneously giving them the opportunity to explore and make connections with relevant topics and technologies. I accomplished this by honing in on small aspects of ASPIRE that related to concepts already introduced in high school curriculum.

• Some topics explored:

  1. 1. • Powering LEDs through static electricity

        • Constructing solar-powered carts

        • Collecting air-quality data with PocketLab sensors simultaneously with a group from CU Boulder

        • Converting a battery-powered RC car to charge wirelessly

​Result:

• Students wrote poetry... on a Saturday morning!

• Summer Camp students were excited and motivated to develop their own instructional materials and volunteered to take an activity from the workshop to a community event

• ASPIRE CO-PI continues to return to me to develop additional workshops and curriculum