Three innovative projects from St. Cloud State University are among 21 earning funding in the Minnesota State Educational Innovations 2020 Shark Tank Open.
The three projects each earned $10,000 Small Seed grants to support innovative efforts to serve students.
The Shark Tank Open is designed to fund innovation that shows great potential for improving teaching, learning and access for students across its 37 colleges and universities. The event usually consists of faculty and staff presenting their project ides to an audience and a panel of judges in an effort to earn up to $25,000 in innovation funding. This year due to COVID-19 physical distancing, presenters pitched their ideas virtually with panelists reviewing and scoring the pre-recorded pitches. A total of 64 unique projects were submitted from across the Minnesota State system.
The St. Cloud State projects are innovating the way the university offers classes and support programming.
Dr. Phyllis Greenberg is leading the way in “Creating an Age-Friendly SCSU” by implementing age-friendly principles at St. Cloud State that are set forth by the Age-Friendly University Global Network. Through this project, St. Cloud State will be one of the campuses in Minnesota to join the Age-Friendly University Network. The project will expand access to education among older adults and encourage the participation of older adults in university core activities and ensuring the university’s research agenda is informed by the needs of an ageing society.
Nicolas Haverhals and Kristin Bratt are teaming up to innovate in online learning and educational technology with “Light Board for Online Lectures”.
The use of lightboard technology allows instructors to produce high-quality online lecture videos that reflect best practices and open up more in-class work time in flipped classroom designs. Their resulting video productions could be used in any developmental online mathematics course at St. Cloud State. Haverhals and Bratt plan to invite faculty from across campus to explore the use of the technology in their own teaching.
Jen Johnson and Erica Karger-Gatzow are innovating ways to improve wellbeing and a sense of belonging at St. Cloud State through their “Peer Wellness Coaching: Improving Belongingness and Retention at St. Cloud State” project. Peer Wellness Coaching is a free service that gives students and opportunity to discuss their personal goals in a collaborative and encouraging environment where they can learn about campus resources available to them. Connecting with peers increases students’ sense of belonging and overall health and wellness. Peer Wellness Coaches are graduate students from a variety of programs who are specially-trained in motivational interviewing.
