Organizing Campus Symposia, Lectures, and Events

In this section I give some examples of how I have engaged in organizing events while I was at Florida Southern College. Being involved in this capacity has been rewarding, especially when others on campus appreciate and enjoy the events that I host. I also enjoy getting to spend the day with students and/or other faculty that are excited to learn. Of course, hosting events were impossible during the COVID semesters, so most of the events that I hosted occurred before 2020. 

I co-organized the 2019 Math Department Hartje Lecture Series

In the spring of 2019, I helped to organize and secure a speaker for the Florida Southern annual Hartje Lecture Series.  The Hartje lecture is an endowed lecture series which aims to bring in speakers to popularize and disseminate research in mathematics to undergraduates and the general public. The speaker I helped secure for this lecture was Will Cousins, a data analyst for the Tampa Bay Rays. Will discussed what machine learning is about, and how those concepts are being used in the game of baseball. Below are some pictures from the event and here is a link to the flyer. 

I helped the Math Club host a Research for Undergraduates (REU) Event

As described in the "Faculty Advisor to Student Groups" section of this website, I invited two students in fall 2022 to come talk about their experiences completing an NSF funded research experience for undergraduates (REU). I created this event in conjunction with the Math Club to hopefully make this a regular club event. Each student talked about their experience in the REU and the overall project they worked on, their roles within that project, and what benefits they have gained. They also described the process to apply and where to find current REU’s to which they could apply. I hope that the Math Club can continue to host this event in the future. Below is a picture of the event.

I Hosted the SIMIODE II Challenge Using Differential Equations Modeling (SCUDEM)

As I discuss in more detail in the "Engagement Beyond the Classroom" and "Collaborative Work with Students" sections of this website, the SCUDEM challenge comprises undergraduate student teams of up to three students to create and justify a mathematical model for a given situation. The students are given three problems to choose from and have one week to create their model and conduct elementary analysis of their model and describe its limitations. After the week is over, each team presents their work in a conference style at a local site.

In October 2018, I hosted the second annual SCUDEM challenge local site at Florida Southern. I worked closely with our administrative assistant to reserve a building and the rooms, and to set up catering. Other than Florida Southern, New College of Florida was the only other school that attended this event. I coordinated with students who had taken my differential equations class and other math faculty who agreed to volunteer to be judges. I helped them to understand their role in the event and went over the rubrics to be used in judging team presentations. 

I would look forward to hosting this challenge again in the future. Below are some pictures of the event.

I Hosted a "Professional Development Initiative" at Florida Southern College

At Florida Southern College, the professional development initiative (PDI) is a paid workshop for faculty to gain knowledge or learn something new. As I described in the "Scholarly Events on Campus that Contribute to Intellectual College Life" section of this website, I co-hosted a PDI on alternative grading with Christian Robertson (computer science, chair). This PDI was meant to introduce faculty to the paradigm of specifications grading and assist them as they try to restructure one of their courses to be more mastery-based. Through this PDI, I met several faculty on campus that I did not know had already been implementing a form of mastery grading. Each session was filled with rich conversation around different aspects of a grading scheme and the pros and cons of different strategies. 

Below is an outline of the sessions of our PDI and a snapshot of one of our virtual meetings.

A Workshop in Adopting Mastery Based Assessment

Faculty are encouraged to sign up with a course they teach for which they want to adopt a form of mastery grading. This PDI will investigate the facets of using mastery based assessment by showcasing what the facilitators do that has been successful. In the first session, the facilitators describe how they use mastery grading and field questions from the faculty. The other sessions serve as individual workshops for faculty to brainstorm how they would incorporate a certain aspect of mastery grading into their course and create course materials they could use the next semester. Many examples are outlined in Linda Nilson’s book, Specifications Grading.

Facilitators: Jason Elsinger & Christian Roberson

Session 1:  Introduction to Mastery Based Assessment.

Session 2:  Creating a Standards Checklist and Grade Bundles.   

Session 3:  Organizing and Creating Reassessments.   

Session 4:  Creating a Grade Book and Student Buy-In.