Researchers: Dr. Esther Laryea and Dr. Josephine Djan
Grant Category: SOTL Seed Grant

Project Summary:
The objectives of this research paper are threefold:

1. To assess the effectiveness of case teaching in improving learning performance.
2. To evaluate the effectiveness of case teaching in achieving learning outcomes.
3. To explore the mediating channels through which case teaching affects learning performance and learning outcomes.

Researcher: Stephen Emmanuel Armah
Grant Category: SOTL Seed Grant

Project Summary: For over a decade, I have provided opportunities for development economics students to engage in cross-cultural interaction on foreign aid with Michigan State University students. However, I am not sure I understand fully to what extent students are benefiting from my efforts. How are Ashesi students learning from MSU students and what specifically are they learning from them? Is the initiative as beneficial to my students as I think or is it rather beneficial in a disproportionate way to the MSU students? I want to find this out to evaluate whether to target better, improve, expand, or discontinue the project. Apart from the fact that the cross-cultural interaction enriches the college experience for students in a manner unique in the Ghanaian context, what I learn from the students may help me modify and enrich my teaching by incorporating teaching strategies, information, websites, data sources, software etc. that students find useful through engagement with their MSU peers. I will publish the result of my research to help others considering cross cultural interaction.

Researchers: Prof. Marty Bullis, Leonard Baer, and Daniel Kwame Acquaah
Grant Category: SOTL Seed Grant      

Observation & Problem Statement:
Ashesi University has experienced significant student body growth in the last decade.  Classes that were originally designed to be smaller seminars (10–20 students) have increased. This has required some instructional adaptation by faculty in order to “keep the seminar feel and style,” while supporting 40+ students in an individual class.

Leadership 1 (L1) is an example of an Ashesi core class that was originally designed as a Socratic-dialogue-style seminar class, in which students would investigate classical and modern texts in leadership and ethics using extended, analytical, and critical thinking discussions. In 2021, L1 sections have 40–43 students and are conducted online using ZOOM. L1 faculty have noticed a hesitancy of students to engage in the type of seminar dialogue that smaller class sizes foster more naturally—there is less “room to remain anonymous” in a small seminar. L1 faculty have been meeting weekly during the Spring 2021 semester to dialogue about class issues and to share instructional techniques to use in weekly synchronous sessions.

The L1 faculty propose to conduct a preliminary study of student perceptions/attitudes regarding seminar engagement and instructional practices used in this year’s newly redesigned course. The redesigned course has synthesized elements from a decade of syllabi into a 4-unit progression, in which students examine historical and applied leadership texts, along with contemporary examples of African change leaders. Faculty have worked together to align assignments and rubrics, share synchronous and asynchronous teaching and feedback techniques, and explore how to increase online engagement. The anticipated SoTL study would seek to support the course’s adaptation to online, any future hybrid offerings, and the return to post-COVID face-to-face instruction of the new curriculum.

Specific Observed Issues

1. Hesitancy by students to speak up in an online classroom with a high number of participants
2. Lack of capacity to adequately mentor students one-by-one
3. Problems with giving adequately detailed feedback on class-assignments 
4. Adequate complexity of course content, including text and materials, that foster student interest and learning.

Desired Outcome
Understanding what instructional techniques and curriculum components are most readily stimulating students to want to dialogue critically in a larger class. We hope this will lead to an extended investigation of the course’s instruction and curriculum in the 2021–2022 academic year, with the potential project of developing an Ashesi University toolkit of the type developed at the University of Reading (n.d.).