Money will allow faculty to increase access to programs and reduce course material costs for students

Vermont State University recently announced it has received a grant to fund the expansion of one of its hybrid learning programs. The grant was received from the Davis Educational Foundation established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after Mr. Davis’s retirement as chairman of Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc. The project is titled Prioritizing Access through “Face-to-Face Plus” (F2F+) Expansion + OER Adoption. This initiative is part of VTSU’s commitment to be a model for hybrid, rural education and to meet students where they are to support their educational pursuits.

“Vermont State University faculty are incredibly dedicated and thoughtful teachers, and our small classes allow for personalized attention and engaging, interactive learning,” explained Jen Garrett-Ostermiller, director of the VTSU Center for Teaching & Learning Innovation (CTLI), which administers the grant. The Davis Educational Foundation dollars will build on these strengths and increase access for students to the high-quality education VTSU offers, providing stipends to 40 faculty members, primarily for course development work that will occur in Summer 2024.

“As a faculty member who has been teaching online classes for more than a decade and as a researcher of community-based disruptive technology innovation for two decades+, I strongly feel that F2F+ modality is and needs to be a critical component of VTSU’s educational future,” said Jacob Park, Associate Professor of Business, VTSU-Castleton.

Face-to-Face Plus (F2F+) courses are hybrid offerings, meaning some of the students meet in-person on one of VTSU’s campuses with the instructor and the rest of the students joining remotely, whether from another campus or at home. This enables students to tap the expertise and course offerings of faculty across the university and allows flexible access options for students. Through the Center for Teaching & Learning Innovation, Vermont State University is committed to supporting faculty as they intentionally plan hybrid learning experiences that meet individual student needs, contrasting greatly with the emergency remote teaching of the early days of the pandemic.

“Part of what makes Vermont State University so great is how responsive and accepting we are of our students’ personal lives and the barriers they may face to completing their degree or program,” shared David Bergh, Interim President of Vermont State University. “Whether they have learning needs that make in-person instruction a challenge, are employed full-time, raising children or caring for older parents—whatever their circumstance—we are focused on an educational experience where they can succeed. This approach sets us apart in higher education.”

Faculty participants will take an ‘Intro to F2F+ Teaching’ class, taught by experienced F2F+ instructors and CTLI staff, who will serve as mentors and provide individualized feedback on plans and practice teaching sessions. A 2022 Davis Educational Foundation grant funded the initial pilot of the F2F+ program in the 2022-2023 academic year. This next phase will build on the knowledge and best practices learned from that pilot.

According to Garrett-Ostermiller, “students appreciate F2F+ classes for the flexibility they afford to attend either remotely or in-person, including creating access to a class not otherwise offered on their campus. They also value connecting with a student-centered professor who cares about all students, no matter their point-of-access to the class.”

Student Karin Robertson noted, “As an atypical student, having atypical educational options is the only way for me to obtain a higher education. Without the option of learning remotely at a time that works for my schedule, I would not be able to take classes to earn my degree. My future options now look promising.”

Caleb Cousino, also a student, added, “I would say the largest impact of F2F+ learning on my educational experience has been accelerating it. The flexibility of the F2F+ format allowed me to take three courses last semester while working full time. I also think being able to attend lectures rather than just watching lecture recordings helped me a great deal.”

The grant will also fund the application of Open Educational Resources (OERs) to the courses. OERs are materials that either reside in the public domain or have been released under intellectual property licenses that permit their free use and re-purposing by others, Garrett-Ostermiller noted.

“Because of this, they can be lower cost or even no cost to students and can help us to provide equitable and accessible experiences for students with modest resources. In partnership with the Vermont State Colleges System (VSCS) librarians, the CTLI will provide faculty with expert assistance in selecting OERs that enhance teaching and learning while reducing course-level costs to $50 or less.”

“These endeavors are deeply worthwhile, and they require time, focus, and support to thoughtfully design and implement. The CTLI staff and VSCS librarians are pleased to leverage this grant to support faculty in designing meaningful learning experiences and choosing excellent, affordable course materials, all to benefit VTSU students,” Garrett-Ostermiller summarized.

Vermont Undergraduates and High School Students Will Assist in Research That Will Guide U.S. Decisions Amid Climate Change

Vermont State University announced that Associate Professor Ross Lieblappen will lead students in a ground-breaking study about microbes in the Arctic through a nearly $3.3 million dollar contract from a collection of federal funding sources, including the US Army Corps of Engineering. Lieblappen submitted a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) proposal to fund, among other things, the purchase of x-ray imaging equipment that will allow him to study the effects of climate change on microbial environments and further U.S. leadership in knowledge of Arctic terrain.

“We’re trying to understand microbe communities in the Arctic, particularly as the Arctic is warming,” Lieblappen, who will serve as principal investigator on the project, said. “There are unanswered questions. We don’t know where each of these microbes are located, what their biological functions are or whether there is a difference in the environments in Greenland vs. Alaska vs. Canada. And with more melted permafrost, what is that going to do to those communities?” he posed.

He said the thing that excites him most about the funding he secured was the opportunities it provides for students. As the project continues, it will involve mostly undergraduate college students, but also some high school students, through a partnership with Lyndon Institute under the guidance of co-principal investigator (Co-Pi) Jill Nichols. Vermont State University Associate Professor Michelle Sama is also a Co-PI on the project, and will lead efforts in identifying particular microbes and ensuring the microbes are visible under X-ray imaging.

“Undergrads will be doing important parts of every step of this project—going into the field, going to Greenland, Alaska and Canada to collect permafrost and sea ice samples, transporting them back to the lab at a cold room facility at VTSU Randolph,” Lieblappen noted. “While the high school students won’t be making the trek to the Arctic, they will participate in the work here in Vermont—laboratory experiments to examine the effects of freeze-thaw cycles on the microstructure and location of microbial communities.

“Permafrost, winter sea ice and seasonal snow occupies an enormous amount of Earth’s land mass,” he explained. “These environments house a vast array of microbes, which we are going to study. Understanding them can help drive decisions like transport logistics, forecasts of ecosystem stability and the ability to respond to various threats. Also, we know that the most significant risks of climate change to North America include risks of degradation of marine, coastal and terrestrial ecosystems; reduced surface water available for agriculture and other human use; and risk to food and nutritional security through changes in agriculture, livestock, hunting, fisheries and aquaculture productivity. Arctic and sub-Arctic environments are at the forefront of these changes, as these environments are already experiencing warming at two to three times the global annual average,” he continued.

“We are incredibly proud of this award and the work that Professor Lieblappen and his students are leading in the arctic,” shared Nolan Atkins, Acting President of Vermont State University. “This work helps us better understand the impacts of climate change on the natural environment, including weather patterns and gives our students the opportunity of a lifetime to be part of groundbreaking global research.”

One key purchase with the funding will be what Lieblappen calls an Xray microscope, which can be used for multi-dimensional (3-D and 4-D) imaging. He stated that measuring devices he and his students previously had access to were not small enough for the “nano” scale needed for this research.

“Recent advances in imaging capabilities now allow for 3D imaging of individual microbes, but no one has yet used these advanced tools in the Arctic environments,” he related.

“Many people may be familiar with CT scans done on humans—sometimes referred to as CAT scans. This is a similar kind of measuring device, but for microbes” he noted. In the case of the machine used on humans, a narrow beam of rays surrounds the patient, who is motionless inside a unit that houses the device.

Lieblappen started work on the project in September. He hopes to be in the field during the summer of 2024.

The professor shared that the arctic is his favorite ecosystem and he is excited to do field work up there.

“It brings me back to my own time as a student, learning field teamwork skills within high winds and freezing temperatures,” he said.  “It’s not just learning to pull samples, but to do it when you feel like a mumbling, stumbling idiot in the freezing cold. I’m psyched to do that again with students. Then they will have time in the lab to extract microbes and learn about identifying microbes with state-of-the-art equipment.

“I’m also looking forward to taking students to national scientific conferences to present our results,” he added. “Providing students with hands-on, high-level scientific research experience is so valuable,” he stressed, “and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

Lieblappen is a member of the Science Department, teaching physics, chemistry, and environmental science. You can learn more about his work here. You can learn more about this particular study here.