Papers by Cinnamon Hillyard
C an effective training be designed for temporary and student employees across multiple academic ... more C an effective training be designed for temporary and student employees across multiple academic service units? This question was addressed by a group at the University of Washington (UW) Bothell after one student employee's misunderstanding of university policy ignited a lively discussion at a monthly Academic Services managers' meeting. It was discovered that many units were training on topics and procedures that were common to all, but that this training was neither consistent nor regular. The management group consisted of leaders from the campus Academic Services units at UW Bothell. At this institution, Academic Services includes the Campus Library and Media Center, Information Systems, the Writing Center, the Quantitative Skills Center, Visual Resources, Educational Technology, and the Teaching and Learning Center. Although staffs regularly collaborate across these units to ensure delivery of services for students, they had never collaborated on student and temporary employee training and development. A sense of urgency to find some common ground in this area quickly emerged because, on a growing campus, these units were becoming increasingly dependent on a large, diverse pool of temporary employees. The group set out to design a quarterly training program that could meet multiple goals and provide cohesion across several service units.
Numerical schemes for the partial differential equations used to characterize stiffly forced cons... more Numerical schemes for the partial differential equations used to characterize stiffly forced conservation laws are constructed and analyzed. Partial differential equations of this form are found in many physical applications including modeling gas dynamics, fluid flow, and combustion. Many difficulties arise when trying to approximate solutions to stiffly forced conservation laws numerically. Some of these numerical difficulties are investigated. A new class of numerical schemes is developed to overcome some of these problems. The numerical schemes are constructed using an infinite sequence of conservation laws. Restrictions are given on the schemes that guarantee they maintain a uniform bound and satisfy an entropy condition. For schemes meeting these criteria, a proof is given of convergence to the correct physical solution of the conservation law. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the theoretical results.
Some consumers finance discretionary spending at extremely high interest rates. Many carry substa... more Some consumers finance discretionary spending at extremely high interest rates. Many carry substantial balances on their credit cards at effective annual rates as high as 36 percent, and some pay annual rates on “pay day ” loans as high as 400 percent. High interest debt can rapidly cascade into an overwhelming financial burden, threatening the consumer’s credit and long-term financial health. This survey study investigates how quantitative literacy may promote forward-looking financial decisions, decisions that recognize the long-term consequences of current choices and may favor the future over the present. In addition, we examine the consumer’s confidence in their quantitative skills. Confidence in working with numbers could help consumers think through the implications of their financing choices. Although quantitative literacy and consumer education matter, we propose that consumer values also may be important in explaining financial behavior. In particular, materialism may driv...
Faculty Viewpoints on Teaching Quantway® Quantway is a quantitative reasoning-based pathway for d... more Faculty Viewpoints on Teaching Quantway® Quantway is a quantitative reasoning-based pathway for developmental math that has been developed as an alternative to the traditional remedial algebra sequence. To explore the experiences of faculty involved with Quantway, we interviewed eight individuals who have taught the course in the past year to survey their attitudes and opinions about students in their classes, the materials and pedagogies in use, and the collegial interaction of networked faculty. Faculty were selected with the intention of gathering a broad set of opinions resulting from differences of location, experience, and other factors. In this paper, we summarize those interviews by identifying common themes reported by the faculty that highlight strengths and challenges of teaching Quantway. Themes include perceptions about changes in student engagement and attitudes as well as changes in their own mindset; the evolution of teaching strategies and materials used inside and ...
Journal of STEM Education: Innovations and Research, 2019
What motivates, and demotivates, students in their engagement in at-home work for high-stakes ass... more What motivates, and demotivates, students in their engagement in at-home work for high-stakes assignments, such as test preparation and writing and revising papers? This paper outlines a student-centered method to identify learning strategies and obstacles students actually use and face versus what’s reported as most advantageous in the literature. This method provides awareness and agency of strategies and obstacles to attempt to change student behavior and perceptions. The three research goals were 1) identifying learning strategies and obstacles with a student-centered design method, 2) mapping the strategies and obstacles to the Expectancy-Value-Cost Model (EVC Model) (2015) of motivation theory, and 3) analyzing the effectiveness of those strategies and obstacles and reporting the results to students in between major class assessments. Our results show that across Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines and student levels, students use and encounter...
Numeracy, 2020
Criado-Perez, Caroline. 2019. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. (New York: ... more Criado-Perez, Caroline. 2019. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. (New York: Abrams Press). 304 pp. ISBN: 978-1784706289 The author provides a plethora of examples and data to illustrate how women have been miscounted in many areas including daily life, the work place, design of spaces and technologies, health care, and public systems. Invisible Women provides cited data that could be examined in multiple data literacy courses. This text reminds readers that gender equity still needs attention. The author’s extensive bibliography and examples also provide a basis for exploring data gaps of other invisible populations.
PRIMUS, 2018
The entire editorial and publishing team for PRIMUS takes this moment here to thank all the many ... more The entire editorial and publishing team for PRIMUS takes this moment here to thank all the many individuals who have served as referees in recent months. The peer-review process is critical to bringing high quality and relevant articles to PRIMUS readers, and this process depends on the time and commitment of the dedicated and knowledgeable experts in the field who volunteer their considerable time and efforts to referee for the journal. At this time, we publicly credit our referees to acknowledge and endorse their work and, even more importantly, to remind ourselves of how the journal is not possible without their outstanding efforts. Below is an alphabetical list of the many recent PRIMUS referees. We are deeply grateful to each and every one of them for their contributions to PRIMUS. Their broad expertise, insightful questions, thoughtful criticisms, and expository recommendations make the papers we publish unequivocally better.
Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games - FDG '10, 2010
Integration of video games into introductory programming (CS1/2) courses motivates and engages st... more Integration of video games into introductory programming (CS1/2) courses motivates and engages students while contributing to their learning outcomes [17, 1, 2]. However, it is challenging for general faculty members teaching CS1/2 courses, few of whom have computer graphics or games backgrounds, to integrate video games. Game-Themed Instructional (GTI) Modules are designed specifically to encourage general faculty members to teach CS1/2 concepts using interactive, graphical, game-like examples. Six independent and self-contained GTI modules were created as a collection of interactive graphical example programs designed to demonstrate one single programming concept (e.g., conditional statements). This paper discusses the design parameters and implementation of the GTI modules and describes a case study of selectively adopting some of the GTI modules in an existing CS1 class. The results of the study demonstrate that it is possible for a faculty member with no games or graphics background to blend GTI modules into an existing CS1 class with minimum alterations to established course materials. The GTI modules are excellent catalysts, enabling faculty to begin exploring teaching with game-themed materials and helping students to be more engaged in CS1 topics.
Proceedings of the 41st ACM technical symposium on Computer science education - SIGCSE '10, 2010
Despite the proven success of using computer video games as a context for teaching introductory p... more Despite the proven success of using computer video games as a context for teaching introductory programming (CS1/2) courses, barriers including the lack of adoptable materials, required background expertise (in graphics/games), and institutional acceptance still prevent interested faculty members from experimenting with this approach. The Game-T hemed programming Assignment (GTA) modules are designed specifically for these faculty members such that they can selectively pick and choose a subset to experiment with and gradually adopt the materials in their own classes. The design and academic merits of the GTA modules have been verified and presented previously [24]. This paper begins by describing results from GTA workshops for CS1/2 faculty and goes on to detail the results of our year-long project in adopting the GTA modules in classes. In this case, we have demonstrated that introductory programming concepts can be examined, practiced, and learned based on GTA modules when neither the faculty nor the students involved have backgrounds in graphics or games. More importantly, our results showed that it is straightforward to blend the GTA modules into existing classes with minimum alterations. The GTA modules are excellent catalysts enabling faculty to begin exploring teaching with game-themed materials.
Numeracy, 2015
Quantway is a quantitative reasoning-based pathway for developmental math that has been developed... more Quantway is a quantitative reasoning-based pathway for developmental math that has been developed as an alternative to the traditional remedial algebra sequence. To explore the experiences of faculty involved with Quantway, we interviewed eight individuals who have taught the course in the past year to survey their attitudes and opinions about students in their classes, the materials and pedagogies in use, and the collegial interaction of networked faculty. Faculty were selected with the intention of gathering a broad set of opinions resulting from differences of location, experience, and other factors. In this paper, we summarize those interviews by identifying common themes reported by the faculty that highlight strengths and challenges of teaching Quantway. Themes include perceptions about changes in student engagement and attitudes as well as changes in their own mindset; the evolution of teaching strategies and materials used inside and outside the classroom; and the relevance of connections between faculty at different institutions involved in the project.
PRIMUS, 2007
Abstract Popular culture provides many opportunities to develop quantitative reasoning. This arti... more Abstract Popular culture provides many opportunities to develop quantitative reasoning. This article describes a junior-level, interdisciplinary, quantitative reasoning course that uses examples from movies, cartoons, television, magazine advertisements, and children's literature. Some benefits from and cautions to using popular culture to teach mathematics are suggested.
Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture, 2011
Numeracy, 2013
Some consumers finance discretionary spending at extremely high interest rates. Many carry substa... more Some consumers finance discretionary spending at extremely high interest rates. Many carry substantial balances on their credit cards at effective annual rates as high as 36 percent, and some pay annual rates on "pay day" loans as high as 400 percent. High interest debt can rapidly cascade into an overwhelming financial burden, threatening the consumer's credit and long-term financial health. This survey study investigates how quantitative literacy may promote forward-looking financial decisions, decisions that recognize the long-term consequences of current choices and may favor the future over the present. In addition, we examine the consumer's confidence in their quantitative skills. Confidence in working with numbers could help consumers think through the implications of their financing choices. Although quantitative literacy and consumer education matter, we propose that consumer values also may be important in explaining financial behavior. In particular, materialism may drive many American consumers to take on high levels of debt. Understanding consumer financing choices may require a better understanding of the consumption behavior that motivates those choices. Results from a diverse sample (n = 267) of consumers confirm that both quantitative literacy and subjective numeracy, the individual's confidence in applying quantitative skills, are positively related to forward-looking financial behavior. The impact of materialism on financial behavior is largely mediated by impulsive consumption, the tendency to make frequent purchases without forethought or consideration of the financial consequences. Finally, subjective numeracy may encourage a less-impulsive, more-considered approach to consumption decisions.
College Teaching, 2008
This interdisciplinary analysis examines the use of visual images in the college classroom. The t... more This interdisciplinary analysis examines the use of visual images in the college classroom. The three authors—a community psychologist, a literacy specialist, and a mathematician—share examples and critical reflections that illuminate the strengths and challenges in using this medium to meet teaching and learning goals. The authors highlight one dimension of their work with visual images, promoting student capacities and skills.
College Teaching, 2008
In this interdisciplinary analysis, the authors examine the use of visual images in the college c... more In this interdisciplinary analysis, the authors examine the use of visual images in the college classroom. They share examples and critical reflections that illuminate the strengths and challenges in using this medium to enhance the social context for learning. The use of visual images to develop classroom community and connect learning outcomes to students' lives beyond the classroom is explored.
Active Learning in Higher Education, 2010
This study examined the frequency of small groups in university students’ coursework and how that... more This study examined the frequency of small groups in university students’ coursework and how that related to their general attitudes toward learning in groups and their views about different aspects of group work. We administered a survey to 208 students in an upper-division interdisciplinary arts and sciences program. Students reported that they had been in multiple groups, of different duration and types, both in their current program and in courses at their lower-division institutions. A regression analysis uncovered strong relationships between students’ past and present group experiences, peers, and instructor clarity about group purpose. The findings suggest that successful group work is no longer a matter of instructor effort but requires campus initiatives and interdepartmental coordination if students are to understand and experience the benefits of learning in small groups.
President's Column, 2008
Cinnamon Hillyard and Katharine A. Whitson an effective training be designed for temporary and st... more Cinnamon Hillyard and Katharine A. Whitson an effective training be designed for temporary and student employees across multiple academic service units? This question was addressed by a group at the University of Washington (UW) Bothell after one student employee's misunderstanding of university policy ignited a lively discussion at a monthly Academic Services managers' meeting. It was discovered that many units were training on topics and procedures that were common to all, but that this training was neither ...
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Papers by Cinnamon Hillyard