In the ever-changing world of education, the Professional Science Master’s (PSM) program strives to serve our students using innovative tools and techniques. At the OLC Innovate 2024 conference, PSM Instructor Dr. Beth Ann Murphy traveled to Denver, Colorado, to share an innovative method she conceived to empower students to be able to navigate the enumerable resources and processes they will encounter over their academic journey. This information is traditionally introduced during PSM’s new student orientation sessions.
Developing A Fresh Approach
At OLC Innovate 2024, Dr. Murphy shared a problem she faced when facilitating new student orientation: when presented with an overwhelming amount of new resources, students struggled to retain information. Her solution was to incorporate more elements of active engagement into orientation, including an interactive scavenger hunt.
“The goal [of new student orientation] is for students to be able to find the information they need in order to be successful academically,” said Dr. Murphy.
The PSM, Rutgers School of Graduate Studies, and the Rutgers New Brunswick Campus websites are critical information sources students can use to navigate the administrative part of their academic journey. Here, students find information about class registration, university policies and procedures, events of interest, and more.
Initially, PSM new student orientation sessions used a traditional lecture format with a PowerPoint slide deck presentation and one-way, presenter-to-audience communication. However, students didn’t retain information from this traditional lecture and presentation. Dr. Murphy designed an experiment to test the student’s ability to remember information presented during the orientation session.
Dr. Murphy tracked audience responses using the Zoom polling function to a simple yes/no question that students could answer using our website: “Do you know who your academic advisor is?” She knew that a 25-30% “Yes” response rate left much room for improvement.
“We decided that we had to change things,” said Murphy. “You can’t do the same thing and expect something different, right?”
Dr. Murphy continued to adjust orientation by incorporating more technological elements to keep the audience actively engaged—including zoom polls, breakout rooms, and a scavenger hunt. Dr. Murphy created this scavenger hunt using the tool Articulate 360. In teams, students explored the PSM website to find answers to their commonly asked questions using Rutgers-associated web resources.
As Dr. Murphy experimented with orientation, the numbers showed that active learning increased the effectiveness of orientation. Incorporating these new engagement techniques resulted in a higher rate of students reporting that they were able to successfully navigate the PSM website and find their academic advisor.
The Professional Science Master’s program serves a unique student population. Our students take classes online, in person, or through a hybrid fashion. To best serve our new students, we explore innovative avenues to make new student orientation engaging and informative.
This new orientation aims to build self-reliance in students. It showed them that the information they need is out there, they just have to know how to find it.
From Classroom to Conference Stage
Dr. Murphy knew that she couldn’t keep this new method to herself. She submitted a proposal to share her findings at the OLC Innovate 2024 Conference.
“It’s important to share what we’re doing with the general community,” said Dr. Murphy.
Her presentation opened avenues of discussion between attendees. Sharing her findings may also provide a solution to anyone facing a similar problem.
“Going to this conference [gave] me ideas of similar things that I can try in our program to help our students, instructors, and staff,” said Dr. Murphy. “Technology keeps on moving forward.”
The PSM program has previously shared insights at educational conferences. In 2023, Dr. Murphy joined Dr. Tom Bryant, lead instructor for our signature Science and Technology Management Capstone course, and Suzanne Inhaber, co-instructor, to present the keynote address and workshop “Teaching Ethics to Tech-ENTR Students” at the Midwest Engineering Entrepreneurship Network (MEEN) Conference.
Dr. Murphy is an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice, the Drug Discovery and Development Curriculum Coordinator, and the lead instructor of the PSM course Ethics for Science and Technology Course. Before joining Rutgers, she held a 25-year career as a drug discovery research scientist at Merck & Co. Connect with Dr. Murphy on LinkedIn or contact her by email at bam165@rutgers.edu.