Teachers from across the state gathered at the Minnetrista Cultural Center Tuesday to present their progress into bringing the future of teaching to Indiana schools.
Through a grant funded by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, the Evidence-based Professional Instructional Change, or EPIC Institute, has identified ways to improve curriculum and student learning.
Diane Bottomley, associate professor of elementary education and member of EPIC, said this includes "a different way of thinking about the planning process."
Instead of creating lesson plans without an end goal in mind, Bottomley said, teachers are looking first at the big picture of what they want students to gain from the lessons, and then planning accordingly. She said this change has led to more motivated, engaged students who are able to demonstrate learned skills in immersive learning situations, instead of just handwritten tests.
The eight schools participating in these adjustments have also begun using R GRADE, an online rubric assessment, which allows teachers to track the progress of their students over long periods of time.
"It makes learning more meaningful," she said.
Bottomley also said the Anderson elementary school where Ball State University student teachers work is one of the schools using designs created by the EPIC Institute.
Several Ball State elementary education majors came to the event to learn ways to improve teaching methods in their classrooms.
"The whole point was to get insight into how to run our classrooms," senior Karena Nedza said.
Senior Carrie George said several of her professors are involved in EPIC and had already taught her many of the trends that were presented at the event, such as grading rubrics, learning logs and classroom management.
Recent Ball State graduate Julie Biddle attended the event to display the advantages of using media to improve teacher performances.
As an undergraduate requirement, she said, she videotaped kindergarten teacher Megan Noel and her students during a lesson. After editing the video, which wasn't required, Biddle said it was an effective learning tool for her and a great reflective tool for Noel.
Noel said by watching the tape, she could see what worked and where she could make improvements to accommodate the needs of her class.
Biddle said this learning experience was so valuable that she thinks Ball State should make an adjustment to their curriculum.
"Education majors are going to kill me for saying this," she said, "but I think they should change the current requirement from just watching it once to editing it too. There's just so many benefits to it."
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