2022 SUMMER PROJECT

1   TEAM:

2   WHY:

  • To better facilitate student learning through careful design of the lab experience.

  • To grow graduate students into leaders.

3   HOW:

  • Daily morning meetings and 2-3 discussion meetings per week.

  • Reached for a collaborative environment, according to the 3 C's of team culture: Communication, Cooperation, and Collaboration.

  • Used the Deming PDCA cycle to track the current state, desired future state, progress, reflection, and standardization.

  • Grew an understanding of the 8 process wastes and 9 Ultralearning principles.

  • Looked at the value stream as a whole: put the customer first, analyzed the current state, envisioned a better future, and committed to continuous improvement. (Asked: Who is the customer and what do they want/value? What is the current state? What should the future state be? What can be fixed right now?)

4   WHAT:

  • Performed PDCA cycles to record the purpose, track work progress, and reflect on what is working or not working.

  • Discussed current state wastes in student learning process: lab manuals, TA training, and equipment.

  • Developed a future state vision for a world-class lab experience for the student, where the student's mind and memory is considered first:

    • Comprehension
      • Simple and thorough explanations
      • Visual helps
      • Extra resources
      • Active learning through discussion
      • Oral evaluation
    • Retrieval & Retention
      • Repetition
      • Unaided (or Free) Recall through memory exercises about previous labs
      • Spacing: progressively spreading out episodes of exposure or recall, bridging the gaps between lectures, homeworks, and exams.
    • Experimentation: encourage thinking to connect the concept to real world!

  • Designed a world-class lab manual, full of learning opportunities: new aesthetic, "Idea to Remember", pictures of Equipment, Real World Applications, QR codes to videos and extra resources, standardized template for future improvement, pictures for setup and procedure, and "Now, Think!" section.

  • Replaced the pre-lab worksheet with an interactive quiz after the Canvas pre-lab concept video.

  • Remade the lab worksheets from the ground up, including a memory exercise at the beginning for extra credit and a Conclusion page for the students to summarize the lab in their own words.

  • Created new TA training standards.

Updated: 2023-10-06