Wynard’s session at conference to be presented on campus at TechFest

Tammy S. Wynard, North Central College visiting instructor of health and physical education, presented at the annual American School Health Association conference in Portland, Ore. The conference brought together professionals from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as those working in higher education, K-12 school teachers, nurses and community health education professionals.

Wynard is coordinator of North Central’s health education and wellness programs and is a member of the American School Health Association Professional Development Committee.

In Wynard’s session, “Class Readiness Assessment: Motivating Students to Come Prepared by Flipping the Lesson Expectations,” participants discussed frustrations and successes of college students completing required reading or other preparation work prior to class meetings. The introduction and creation process of the Class Readiness Assessment (CRA) technique was also shared, explaining how a two-week intensive exploration of existing teaching techniques for pre-classroom reading expectations resulted in this strategy. The CRA was created to motivate students to take ownership of the class content and discussion purpose.

Session participants then broke into small groups to review sample CRA prompts and student answers. Wynard demonstrated how student answers collected online prior to the class meeting are used as an avenue of flipping the classroom and obtaining richer discussions that challenge perspectives young adults have on school, public and global health issues. To complete the session, participants brainstormed the pros/cons of the technique as well as the applicability to their own courses.

This session will be repeated at North Central College on Dec. 4 as part of TechFest—technology sessions designed for the College’s faculty and staff. Her session will give colleagues an opportunity to discuss how they may apply the technique to their own discipline specific courses.

Wynard joined North Central’s faculty in 2011. She earned a B.S. in community health education/speech communications from Illinois State University and an M.S. in school and college health education from Indiana University.