Two Pew Grants Come to USM

Rieser plans training for marine conservation. Broida champions interactive learning.

John Broida believes that the fundamental assumption of the current instructional model is flawed. He asserts that there are more effective ways to enhance learning than the model in which faculty members meet with large groups of students at regularly scheduled times and places. He believes computers provide an alternative.

Last fall, the associate professor of psychology decided to test his thesis by incorporating an Internet-based program called BRAVO! into his introductory psychology courses. Through BRAVO!, Broida presents texts, lecture notes, even tests, online. The program is set up so that students take practice tests, get links to aid research, and interact with each other in a chat room.

Using Broida's experience with BRAVO! as a model, USM applied for and became one of 10 institutions nationally to receive a $200,000 grant from the Pew Grant Program in Course Redesign. The program, which is conducted by the Center for Academic Transformation at Rensselaer with the support of the Pew Charitable Trusts, was established to "encourage colleges and universities to redesign their instructional approaches using technology to achieve cost savings as well as quality enhancements." John Bay, executive director of academic support and director of the Center for Teaching, and William Wells, associate provost for technology, information systems and libraries, worked with Broida on the grant proposal. Among other institutions awarded grants are Penn State University, Virginia Tech, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The grant will provide the hardware and staff support so that interested faculty can redesign introductory courses to provide interactive learning opportunities for students. Some 50 computers will be installed in Bailey Hall this January.

Broida will develop an asynchronous psychology course as part of the Pew-funded grant. He is convinced that interactive, computer-based learning is particularly suited to introductory level courses. "I prefer that my students spend time mastering material with my input and guidance," Broida said, "rather than spending an hour and a half listening to me talk."

The approach has raised questions throughout academia: Is there tangible proof that it improves student learning? Does it provide a sufficient degree of accountability? Can faculty accurately track and evaluate a student's progress?

"I'd argue that in a large lecture hall, a faculty member doesn't know what each student is doing," Broida responds. "Here, I know what each individual is doing. My students are required via computer to contribute to a question posed at the end of each section, a strategy that can generate more dialogue than traditional class discussions."

Broida admits that with programs such as BRAVO! it's difficult, if not impossible, to verify who actually is taking each test. But he emphasizes that the program increases student learning because students are required to retake the tests until the material is mastered.

Bay believes that the grant program has some "real potential to help us determine if we can deliver improved introductory courses with the help of technology, where appropriate." The grant also will build USM's computer infrastructure so that other faculty can explore this method of instruction.

Rieser takes next step in saving oceans

Alison Rieser wants scientists working in marine conservation to have a better understanding of how environmental policy gets designed.

Alison Rieser, director of the Marine Law Institute at the School of Law, was one of 11 people in the world to receive a 1999 PEW Marine Conservation Fellowship, the largest and most prestigious award for preservation of the seas. The award was announced July 12 by the the Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation.

She plans to use her grant for $150,000 to create a textbook and Web-based learning resource for graduate students in marine sciences. Marine experts often know little about the process that creates the public policy impacting the marine world, Rieser says. She wants to address that gap in scientific training so that scientists can play a greater role earlier on in policymaking that affects ocean conservation.

The recipients of the tenth annual Pew Fellowships were each selected for an innovative, interdisciplinary project that addresses an urgent conservation challenge facing our seas. The total of $1.5 million awarded annually by the Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation makes it the world's largest award for marine conservationists.

Rieser will create a field guide to the public policy process. "I believe educating the next generation of marine scientists about the policy process will make them more likely to design their research to supply timely and applicable information, to participate in the policy-setting process and to insist upon a rigorously correct use of science by government agencies," Rieser said.

To supplement the textbook, Rieser plans on creating a web-site containing the full text of policy related documents as well as video clips of scientists in action in the policy-making arena. "The web is a way to deliver actual images and words from the process of creating public policy. If students actually see the documents and the film of hearings with a scientist participating, they will be better equipped to visualize themselves doing those kinds of activities in the future," Rieser said.

Rieser is a specialist in marine conservation law, property rights management regimes, and fisheries management. She has been at the Marine Law Institute at the School of Law since 1980.

The other ten 1999 recipients come from Australia, Mexico, the Philippines, Tanzania, and the United States.

"These awards are about much more than leadership," said Cynthia Robinson, associate director of the Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation. "We're not focusing on past achievement, but rather, investing in future solutions."

The Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation is an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts in partnership with the New England Aquarium.

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