Assistant Professor Destenie Nock has received a 2021-22 Wimmer Faculty Fellow Award to evaluate how social justice based active learning activities can impact student learning. This award will help her develop tools to integrate social justice considerations into course materials that will push students to think and design past theory-based lectures.

Her project will explore the effectiveness of blending compelling social justice themes into technical coursework while evaluating effective methodologies. Along with this, Nock will assess if social justice active-learning activities help students understand technical concepts or if they distract from, or further complicate, the course material in a detrimental way.

These fellowships are made possible by a grant from the Wimmer Family Foundation and are designed for junior faculty members interested in enhancing their teaching through concentrated work designing or re-designing a course, innovating new materials, or exploring a new pedagogical approach. Fellows work in close collaboration with Eberly Center colleagues and receive a stipend to acknowledge the work it takes to improve one's effectiveness as an educator.