Alumnus Magazine | Summer 2020

Discoveries
important ways that we excel in terms of the
college experience,” Haug said. “I’m glad
that sense of connection seemed to still come
through online.
“The Facebook group was great for
pushing out a lot of information to my
students, and they could give feedback pretty
quickly,” she continued. “They were like
‘Can we keep that Facebook group open even
though class is over, so we can keep talking
to each other?’ I was like, “Yes, we have
succeeded!”
Haug said a major challenge of going
virtual was time. For her 3-D Design class,
she originally planned to have students pour
and carve plaster, but lack of time and tools
made that difficult. She decided to switch to
a completely different project that yielded
better results than when she conducted it in a
classroom setting.
“The project was based on the work of
British artist Andy Goldsworthy. He goes
out every day into nature and creates artwork
with found materials,” Haug said. “The idea
is to be alone in a quiet environment out in
nature, and I figured this project would work
well because students were already staying in
one place. The results I got for this project
were really nice and thoughtful overall, and I
think not having a lot of other things going
on helped students focus.”
Haug adapted another in-class project to
give her 3-D Design students a fun, creative
way to express themselves. She asked the
students to create wearable sculptures out of
repeated everyday items, like decks of playing
cards, plastic spoons and Q-tips. The results
were as interesting as the items used, she said.
“I told the students they could make
pieces inspired by the current state of affairs
if they wanted to, but it was not required,”
she explained. “Some students created social
distancing masks or wearable things that kept
people six feet away. Others just wanted to
do something fun or whimsical, and that was
fine too.
“It was fun to see the different takes,”
she continued. “We had students who made
some really emotional pieces and I wondered
if they would have done the same project if
they had been presenting it in a classroom
setting. I found that interesting.”
Haug said she has enjoyed opportunities
16 SUMMER 2020
to switch up her normal repertoire of projects
while challenging her students to think
outside of the box as well.
“It was good for me to shake up the way I
normally teach or work. It inspired me to be
more creative, understanding and flexible,”
she said. “My students also learned that you
have to roll with the punches. I think this
challenged their willingness to troubleshoot
and use their creative problem-solving skills
to figure things out, so that’s good too.”
ENGINEERING
ONLINE SUCCESS
Under normal circumstances, Isaac
Howard enjoys bringing undergraduate
students into the laboratory to gain
firsthand experience making asphalt,
concrete and other fundamental construction
materials. He’s a big believer in learning
by doing, giving demonstrations and
empowering students to be methodical
yet unafraid to experiment and adjust.
The longtime civil and environmental
engineering professor had to do just that to
bring his construction materials course to life
in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,
and he said the support of MSU colleagues
and alumni has played a big role in his online
teaching success.
“From guest lectures to research projects
to student support, we are very fortunate
that our construction materials program is
financially supported by dozens of private
groups, several of which are well-represented
with MSU alumni,” said Howard, the
CEE department’s Endowed Materials and
Construction Industries Chair. “Several of
our supporters serve on practitioner panels
that our students can give presentations to
about the work they’re doing. Being able to
directly engage with alumni and supporters
provides a very realistic learning environment
for our students.”
Though in-person engagement with
practitioners had to be put on hold due to the
pandemic, Howard said he was able to, with
quick thinking and colleagues’ assistance,
use resources made possible by alumni and
supporters to engage students long distance.
“I have access to a video camera that we
use to make a variety of educational videos
our students get to participate in, and this
high-quality equipment was made possible
by our supporters,” he said. “I used some
of those videos with educational content
appropriate for the COVID-19 environment
but I also was able to make use of another
resource within our department with help
from our IT group.”
Howard said he spent several days in
the college’s distance classrooms and labs,
demonstrating experiments that could be
shared in video form with his students. Missy
Runnels, a computer support specialist, and
Michael Lane, systems administrator in the
Bagley College of Engineering, recorded
the videos.
“In the college, we have an active distance
education program, and Missy and Michael
are part of our amazing IT group. They really
stepped up,” Howard said. “They took care
of setting the rooms up so I could record for
hours at a time. Having the ability to record
lectures in these nice classrooms and working
with dedicated, knowledgeable people like
Missy and Michael made it possible to send
the students one email with a link to these
videos, so they had what they needed for the
rest of the semester.”
Howard said he’s also grateful for his
teaching assistant Ashley Carey, who helped
him pilot a video assignment option for
students earlier in the semester. Among other
submission options like written reports,
students could use their cellphones to record
themselves speaking about a lecture-related
topic and upload the presentation to Canvas.
“Whether they were dealing with a nonideal
internet connection or other scenarios,
I wanted the students to understand they
could still do well in this class,” he said.
“We made sure to meet all accreditation
requirements and ensured the content was at
an appropriate level, while also giving them
more flexibility.
“A lot of engineering students may not
be as comfortable with public speaking, so
the phone presentation option helped them
become more confident by giving them a
way to privately practice and improve those
skills,” Howard explained. “I think this video
presentation option is something we could
incorporate more of in the future.”
Howard said he received multiple
emails from students, thankful for his swift
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