KYNETIC is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (REACH) and part of the national NIH Proof-of-Concept Network.

The program offers entrepreneurial education and proof-of-concept/product development grants to accelerate the translation of academic innovations into biomedical products by investigators throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky.听聽

KYNETIC awarded grants to the following applicants聽or teams, three of which are from UofL:

• Andrea Behrman, University of Louisville
• Levi Beverly聽(PI), Robert Buchanan (Co-PI), Craig Grapperhaus (Co-PI), University of Louisville
• Christina Ralph-Nearman聽(PI), Cheri Levinson (Co-PI),聽University of Louisville
• Daniel Boamah聽(PI), Kimberly Green (Co-PI),聽Western Kentucky University
• Andrew Long聽(PI), Steven Wilkinson (Co-PI),聽Northern Kentucky University
• Mark Fritz, University of Kentucky
• Kip Guy, University of Kentucky
• Jill Kolesar, University of Kentucky

The KYNETIC program is led by the University of Louisville, the University of Kentucky, the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development and Kentucky Commercialization Ventures.

The pre-application window for KYNETIC鈥檚 Cycle 7 is currently open. The deadline is 5 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 13. Pre-applications can be聽.

KYNETIC Project Managers are available for consultation before you submit your pre-application and throughout the application process. You can find more information聽.

In the 50 years since its creation, the Pell Grant has helped more than 80 million students attend college and pursue their dreams. The Pell Grant has increased access to higher education for countless low-income and first-generation students. That access has helped close a massive opportunity gap 鈥� a bachelor鈥檚 degree holder earns a median of , which is about 75% more than if they had only a high school diploma.

At the University of Louisville, the opportunity gap has been closing for the past several years thanks to a dedicated focus on supporting underrepresented and at-risk students, including those who receive a Pell Grant. UofL鈥檚 six-year graduation rate has improved by 8% over the past six years, for instance, marking the highest rate in university history.

Geoff Bailey, executive director of the REACH program, believes UofL is among few that has made such material strides.

Part of this success comes from our vast ecosystem of programs and resources provided for students to help them navigate their educational journey. This includes REACH, which provides peer tutoring, academic coaching, seminars, intervention courses, financial and academic workshops and more. There is also the Student Success Center, which REACH partners with frequently. It consists of student success coordinators, the First Year Experience office, exploratory advising and first-gen programming.

Additionally, last year UofL launched the Cardinal Commitment Grant, a last-dollar scholarship that pays for the remainder of a student’s tuition after they have received and applied for federal and state grants and additional institutional aid. Students must be eligible for a Pell Grant to take advantage of this new program.听

Leveraging data to identify students most in need of support聽

Another way UofL differentiates itself is by having the resources in place to dive deeply into metrics and understand what programs are working. For instance, REACH has the ability to pull data sets to examine how students from certain cohorts 鈥� such as first-generation or Pell Grant-eligible 鈥� are faring when they use its services compared to those who do not.听

鈥淭his allows us to make sure our students are performing well and retained. It鈥檚 pretty rare to have this sort of staffing and political support. I can think of maybe four other schools that have this type of support,鈥� Bailey said. 鈥淲e want to make sure our most vulnerable populations are receiving support so they can take advantage of our resources. We know there is a correlation between our deep dives and graduation rates.鈥�

Having the resources in place also allows REACH to target students who may need the most help getting through their academic careers.

鈥淔or the students who are not using us and who have below a 3.0 grade point average, this allows us to get into the weeds with them, message with their advisers and follow up. We make sure we鈥檙e bending over backwards with a support message because we are seeing that Pell Grant recipients who use our services are going to thrive and do better than those who don鈥檛,鈥� Bailey said.

To get to that point, Bailey and his staff have to find out why a student may not be leveraging these resources. There are three primary reasons 鈥� they鈥檙e thriving and don鈥檛 need the help; they prefer to figure things out on their own and don鈥檛 want to come in; or they have jobs and are simply too busy.

鈥淭he third one is the one that scares me because they can鈥檛 carve out more time to get more help and we can鈥檛 move the needle so easily on those students,鈥� Bailey said.

At a high level, tutoring services are what make the most difference for students who are most at risk of dropping out, but there are additional services they can receive during their time here. UofL鈥檚 student-facing teams also work to make sure these services run tandem with students鈥� courses, so they can get support outside of class, apply knowledge beyond class and develop better habits overall. Bailey said it鈥檚 critical that all of these services and resources are top-of-mind for students and their parents.

鈥淲hen students take tours, even if they鈥檝e not yet applied, they鈥檙e hearing about our services and support. They end their campus tours at the Belknap Academic Building, where they learn about critical support services offered by the Student Success Center and REACH. Advisers are reminding them constantly of the services we have,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e wrap around and reinforce the key areas that students need to pay attention to as they transition to college. Without that, we鈥檇 be like any other school.

“Our ability to forge campus partnerships is what makes an impact and where we distinguish ourselves. It鈥檚 woven into our institution that everyone has a role in student success.鈥�

Why it鈥檚 important to prioritize Pell Grant students

Zooming out a bit, it鈥檚 important to understand the impact the Pell Grant has, and has had for the past 50 years. The biggest barrier to obtaining a college degree is funding.

Kentucky has one of the , at 16.3%. , only about one-fourth of Kentuckians have a bachelor鈥檚 degree or higher.

Thirty-four percent of undergraduate , and 51% of funds go to students whose families earn less than $20,000 a year. In Kentucky, nearly 94,000 students are Pell Grant recipients, averaging about $4,000 a year.

鈥淓conomically, a good portion of our state is depressed. If we鈥檙e going to move the needle, a college education is the great equalizer. We play a critical role in helping to break the cycle of poverty,鈥� Bailey said. 鈥淭he Pell Grant fosters opportunities those students wouldn鈥檛 otherwise have and we鈥檙e not just issuing money and saying, 鈥榞ood luck.鈥� We鈥檙e focused on being stewards and helping to change lives.鈥�

UofL鈥檚 work is hardly done. The institution will continue to target Pell Grant-eligible students as part of its overall priority to increase access to higher education. For example, the 2022-23 budget allows for a 0.0% tuition increase for undergraduate students, as well as the continued development of the Cardinal Commitment financial aid program.

NCLCA Award

For its work, REACH was recently awarded the National College Learning Center Association President鈥檚 Outstanding Learning Award for Specialized Populations. UofL was the only four-year institution to be recognized this year.

The grant will help UofL increase early student success in five College of Arts & Sciences courses in math, biology and chemistry 鈥� all required for many STEM+H degree programs 鈥� that traditionally have high rates of grade D, failure and withdrawal (DFW). Low grades or failing these courses can lead students to abandon the STEM+H fields, take longer to graduate or leave UofL altogether.

鈥淯ofL is committed to recruiting, retaining and launching graduates prepared to serve the commonwealth鈥檚 STEM+H workforce needs in information systems, engineering, nursing, medicine and other fields,鈥� said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi. 鈥淢any thanks to the James Graham Brown Foundation for this funding to help the university continue to serve the community鈥檚 needs.鈥�

鈥淪tudent success is a priority for our foundation because we believe that equitable educational attainment will increase economic and social mobility for Kentuckians,鈥� said Mason聽B. Rummel, president and chief executive of the James Graham Brown Foundation. 鈥淲e are supporting this initiative with the University of Louisville because undergraduate learning assistant programs have shown the potential to dramatically improve academic performance.鈥澛�

The effort builds on student-success programs already in place at UofL through the Resources for Academic Achievement (REACH) unit. It will place advanced undergraduate, peer-level structured learning assistants (SLAs) within the classrooms of the five College of Arts & Sciences courses in math, biology and chemistry. The SLAs will work with instructors to engage small groups of students within the classrooms to help them better understand the material and prepare for assignments.

REACH director Geoff Bailey said the SLAs will help students break down concepts and apply information using critical thinking exercises.

鈥淚f we can infuse student leaders in these classes to a ratio of about 1 for every 25 students who need assistance, we have an opportunity to move the needle in ways that we haven’t been able to do previously,鈥� Bailey said. 鈥淭his enables us to take it to a whole other level just because of the sheer numbers.鈥�

The JGBF grant will train and support the SLAs from any undergraduate major with hourly wages and tuition stipends. Based on projected enrollment, Bailey expects to hire 59 students for these positions to support classes beginning in the Spring 2022 semester. Students hired for the program must have earned an A or B in the class they will assist, have good communication skills and be approved by a faculty member for this role. The SLAs also will benefit from participation as peer mentors, gaining resume-building experience in small-group leadership by helping early college students develop classroom success skills.听

Students may apply for SLA positions at the .

The four-year Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (REACH) grant from the National Institutes of Health will help fund a public-private consortium, the Kentucky Network for Innovation & Commercialization 鈥� KYNETIC. The new organization will use NIH funding to advance the most promising biomedical research innovations from the state鈥檚 eight public universities and the Kentucky Community & Technical College System. Ultimately, its goal is to create startups that commercialize the technologies for public benefit.

KYNETIC, whose founding members will contribute a $2.56 million direct-cost match, will provide guidance and technical resources to advance the technologies toward commercialization. Additionally, KYNETIC will assist in scaling the resulting startups to help tackle some of the biggest health challenges facing the US population, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.

Innovations that KYNETIC will help bring to market may be new pharmaceuticals, therapies, devices and other health-related technologies. Those products could directly intervene in disease processes and conditions individuals suffer, or they may address health disparities like lack of health care access in rural areas or populations suffering disproportionate rates of disease and premature death.

As resulting startups move into clinical trials phases, many will rely on the strength of Kentucky鈥檚 public hospitals and health care systems.

UofL President Neeli Bendapudi said the expanding resources available through UofL Health will further support health care research.

鈥淲ith the acquisition of Jewish Hospital and other KentuckyOne Health properties, researchers at UofL will have additional opportunities to recruit patients for clinical studies to advance research emerging from KYNETIC,鈥� Bendapudi said. 鈥淧rojects developed through KYNETIC will have the potential to further existing UofL research efforts in optimal aging, improve access to quality health care in underserved urban and rural regions, and bolster efforts to both attract and retain top faculty and students at UofL.鈥�

In addition to its statewide approach, KYNETIC will intentionally seek both innovations and entrepreneurs from diverse and underrepresented groups.

Paula Bates, PhD, professor of medicine at UofL and co-principal investigator on the grant, said the state will benefit from broader collaborations facilitated by KYNETIC.

鈥淲hen you get people from different backgrounds working together, you see innovation blossom,鈥� Bates said. 鈥淚 am looking forward to seeing some new collaborations, being able to share what we have learned and learn from other people in Kentucky. I think this is a really powerful way to reach everybody in Kentucky and get some great knowledge transferred and some great new ideas.鈥�

Linda Dwoskin, PhD, UK professor of pharmaceutical sciences and co-principal investigator on the grant, said KYNETIC will benefit researchers, institutions and communities across Kentucky including underserved communities and populations.

鈥淚t is an honor to work with the University of Louisville, C3 and public academic institutions across the state to advance and accelerate innovative ideas that could lead to new products and technologies,鈥� Dwoskin said. 鈥淭hroughout the state we have untapped resources of inventive and entrepreneurial individuals and groups whom we hope to provide opportunities that will aid in transforming ideas and discoveries to tangible health benefits.鈥�

鈥淜entucky鈥檚 ability to win this grant 鈥� one of only a handful ever awarded nationwide 鈥� was made possible in large part because of the unprecedented collaboration between our economic development cabinet, public universities and technical colleges in creating our non-profit commercialization center, C3,鈥� said Governor Matt Bevin. 鈥淭his grant further validates the significance of C3鈥檚 public-private structure and our decision to revitalize Kentucky鈥檚 innovation and entrepreneurial support system. Together, we can have a truly positive impact on the health of Kentuckians and people around the world.鈥�

KYNETIC will leverage commercialization resources led by co-investigators Allen Morris, PhD, executive director of the UofL Commercialization EPI-Center, Ian McClure, executive director of the UK Office of Technology Commercialization, and April Turley director of C3鈥檚 Commercialization Core. It also will build on the experience brought by a current REACH hub at UofL () and other existing tech-transfer programs at UofL, as well as the regional IDeA biomedical technology transfer accelerator hub at UK聽

Check out more in the video below:聽

Now, the team is ready to take on a much bigger role. UofL will host the next NCLCA conference in early October at the Hyatt Regency downtown.

The university鈥檚 hosting opportunity came about last year, when Bailey was elected vice president of the NCLCA, an organization that includes professionals across the higher education spectrum 鈥� from those working in tutoring centers to faculty.

REACH鈥檚 goals are to improve students鈥� academic performance, help students transition to college life and support student retention. For NCLCA, a main objective (and one of the reason鈥檚 Bailey became involved) is to ensure professionals in student success fields have access to the best information to achieve those goals.

鈥淲e are looking to find key metrics to establish benchmarks, assessing retention and recruitment efforts, learning best practices on how to grow revenue. It is extensive,鈥� Bailey said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 important for us to be involved to remain cutting edge and to make a dynamic impact on a quickly-changing population.鈥�

Bailey believes UofL is ahead of many other institutions in terms of emphasis and priority the school places on academic success services.

鈥淯ofL recognizes the types of study skills we teach and the pedagogies we teach. We receive learning center support through tutoring that makes a huge difference to our students regardless of their academic levels,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not just talking about students who are failing; we also have honors students use us regularly. We are well positioned because what we have here sets the bar for ourselves and other institutions.鈥�

UofL鈥檚 REACH team, for example, has established training curriculum that allows faculty and staff to have a better understanding of where a college student is intellectually. The team also has all three College Reading and Learning Association certifications that are available.

鈥淗aving all of this is important for us to make sure we鈥檙e putting our best foot forward and serving out students in the best way we can,鈥� Bailey said. 鈥淲e serve 鈥� and want to serve 鈥� as a model for other institutions and provide guidance to those struggling to develop their own curriculum.鈥�

Being a benchmark school for academic services isn鈥檛 REACH鈥檚 main objective, however. Helping UofL鈥檚 students is, and the unit has done just that by offering structured study sessions and tutoring for undergraduate courses, peer mentoring for more than 3,500 students, seminars on student success topics, intervention courses in mathematics and reading and more.

According to Bailey, REACH鈥檚 service hours grew 24.3% last year 鈥� for 81,005 total service hours during the 2017-18 academic year. That growth is on top of the 24.5% increase the year prior.

鈥淭his growth is attributable to students recognizing the inherent value in these services 鈥� recognizing that they鈥檙e getting something out of this free service,鈥� Bailey said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to help a student no matter where they鈥檙e coming from 鈥� if they鈥檙e struggling or they鈥檙e acing. We simply want to ensure we鈥檙e helping them where they鈥檙e at and help them achieve whatever academic goal they have.鈥�

In addition to sharing best practices, hosting the NCLCA conference will allow the team to showcase REACH鈥檚 new space in the Belknap Academic Building. Bailey said the timing is ripe: The NCLCA recently published a book called 鈥淟earning Centers of the 21^st 颁别苍迟别谤.鈥�

鈥淲e are living that right now. If you look around this building with the embedded technologies we have here 鈥� the glass dry erase boards, the activing learning spaces, the success of our emporium math model. These professionals are going to get to see this first hand and I think we鈥檒l be a showcase piece for other institutions across the country,鈥� Bailey said. 鈥淭he facility we have now matches the caliber of services we provide.鈥�

The opportunity to host this conference will also allow UofL to build stronger allegiances with other institutions, which is a significant benefit. 聽

鈥淭his will help us build on our services based on what we learn from them. In this field, we all have the same goals and that is to make sure our students are successful,鈥� Bailey said.

REACH will host the NCLCA conference at the Hyatt Regency downtown in October, and nearly 500 attendees are expected. The theme for this event is Racing Toward Student Success 鈥� a play on the city鈥檚 horse racing heritage.听

When the Belknap Academic Classroom Building opens in August, employees from the strategic enrollment management and student success office will be running the welcome desk.

That set up is purposeful, as the building itself is dedicated entirely student success. Granted, the definition of 鈥渟tudent success鈥� can be arbitrary, but for Jim Begany, vice provost for strategic enrollment management and student success, and Joe Dablow, executive director of student success, it comes down to:

• Graduation rates
• Retention rates

En route to that college degree, the enrollment management and student success team helps students adapt to college life and enhances their academic skills for a better college experience.

鈥淲e can define (student success) in other ways, such as the experience students have while they鈥檙e here, if they get the services they need, if they get jobs after graduation or go onto grad school,鈥� Begany said. 鈥淏ut the graduation rate and the retention rate is ultimately the end result of most of the work we do.鈥�

To support these objectives, the building will feature classrooms and labs that facilitate active learning, as well as a student success center that offers academic support and advising all in one spot. This proximity should better enable the work Begany, Dablow and team are doing to reach UofL鈥檚 goals.

鈥淣ow, we have staff all around campus and I am looking forward to being in one place. The building can be a starting point for us to make sure we鈥檙e efficient in making enhancements and providing the services our students need,鈥� Dablow said.

Although we鈥檙e months away from the official ribbon-cutting ceremony, it is important to note that UofL is already on track to hit its 6-year graduation goal of 60 percent by 2020. This is up from the 48 percent graduation rate from 15 years ago.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been doing this great work already and have made significant progress already. What we鈥檙e excited about when this building opens is to better create a synergy amongst these different areas,鈥� Begany said. 鈥淚t won鈥檛 make this job any easier, but having these folks in the same space will provide a better opportunity to engage our students.鈥�

Exploratory students

Dablow oversees the Student Success Center, which includes first-year programming efforts to promote retention; advising and support to about 1,500 鈥渆xploratory students;鈥� and student success coordinators, who are available to help students overcome obstacles and complete the path to graduation.

The exploratory students fall into two main groups: pre-unit students, which include those who know what path they want to be on but haven鈥檛 gotten there yet, e.g. a student who wants to be an engineer but hasn鈥檛 yet been accepted to Speed; and students who are undecided majors.

鈥淲e have students come in and they say they want to do something, but they don鈥檛 really know how and we鈥檙e helping them get to where they need to be,鈥� Dablow said.

REACH

Resources for academic achievement 鈥� more commonly known as REACH 鈥� will also be located in the new building. The primary goals of REACH, overseen by Geoffrey Bailey, are to enhance or improve students鈥� academic performance, help students transition to college life and support retention rates.

Bailey noted that the transition to the BACB will provide more immediate access to the entire team as UofL works to expand its services for the largest (predicted) incoming class in school history.

The unification of services, coupled with other student success-driven services and programs, will enhance the ability to provide immediate assistance to students and foster a high-touch, high-tech approach to academic support, Bailey adds.

鈥淪tudents will be able to travel from many of their classes directly to our centers and staff, which helps reduce physical and other perceived barriers for access,鈥� he said. 鈥淔urther, given our close proximity to our partners, we鈥檒l also see enhanced collaborations and referrals that will directly benefit students.鈥�

Bailey anticipates this ability to facilitate high-impact practices and provide personalized attention to set the bar for learning centers nationwide.

鈥淎lthough student success has always been an essential part of REACH鈥檚 mission, the new space and proximity of our partners will foster additional opportunities for us to collaborate and have an integrated approach to supporting student learning,鈥� he said.

Additionally, the new space will provide opportunities to expand the use of innovative academic support models such as peer-assisted learning (PAL). PAL provides academic support in historically difficult, introductory college courses.

鈥淕iven the nature and design of the active learning classroom spaces and support services in BACB, it offers the possibility of an additional tool in our arsenal of academic support mechanisms for UofL students. This is absolutely essential for all students, but it is especially true for serving student populations who have been historically disenfranchised or marginalized and for first-generation students,鈥� Bailey said.

鈥淲hen a student is engaged, they鈥檙e more likely to stay. We want to create that for them prior to getting here, when they get here and while they鈥檙e here. That will give us a better opportunity of keeping them here,鈥� Begany added.

Recruitment tool

In addition to streamlining student success and engagement efforts, the team is excited about the recruitment possibilities the new building brings. The nearly 170,000-square-foot structure boasts a number of state-of-the-art features from active learning classrooms to technology-rich lab spaces.

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 not get excited when you look at the building and I鈥檓 excited about what that means for us in terms of recruitment,鈥� Begany said. 鈥淭here is a real energy there.鈥�

鈥淎 picture is worth a thousand words,鈥� Dablow added. 鈥淲e can take a prospective student on a walk-through tour and we don鈥檛 even have to say anything.鈥�

The award comes despite Rummage being limited to a 20-hour work week due to being a full-time student.

Rummage has been with REACH as a math tutor since August 2016. He has achieved the status of Master Tutor, which is a level III certification through the College Reading and Learning Association. In order to teach GEN 103/104, Rummage accepted a UTA position with REACH 鈥� the first of its kind. Typically, only GSAs and program coordinators teach the course.

The move helped him on both a personal and a professional level.

鈥淲orking as a math tutor and instructor is my way of giving back. In the past, I wasn’t so strong in mathematics. As a non-traditional student at JCTC, I had instructors who invested in me, and math became alive to me,鈥� Rummage said.

Within two semesters at JCTC, he began working as a tutor in the math lab. He then joined REACH upon transferring to UofL and worked his way through level I and II certification while working in the GEN 103/104 program. That鈥檚 when he decided to apply to be a Master Tutor.

鈥淒uring this process, I became interested in a potential future as a REACH GSA.听I began to glean as much knowledge as I could regarding this role in advance and had some amazing mentors during the process,鈥� he said.

Rummage’s favorite part of the job is working with his students, as well as the REACH team.

鈥淚t鈥檚 so rewarding to see a tutee grasp a concept and totally take ownership of the math problem that mere minutes ago was giving them a headache,鈥� he said. 鈥淚’m constantly in awe of our true team atmosphere here at the University. Our REACH team always pulls together in a united front to help students succeed, and that’s why we’re here.鈥�

The Peer Tutor of the Year Award is awarded to one student tutor per year by the Association for the Tutoring Profession. Rummage was nominated by the REACH leadership staff.

鈥淏eing nominated was a tremendous honor in itself. I was extremely surprised when I found out that I was chosen from a pool of nominees nationwide,鈥� he said.

Rummage plans to graduate in December 2018 and then intends to apply for the 13-month MBA program offered by the UofL College of Business. He also plans to apply to a GSA role with REACH so he can continue to teach GEN 103/104 while pursuing a post-graduate degree. 聽

From there, his goal is to enter the public accounting fields and eventually obtain CPA certification.

Woolwine, who is also the coordinator for GEN 105, has worked at REACH since 2009. The seminars he created incorporate gamification elements to increase students’ active learning and engagement with topics that help build stronger academic skills and decision-making behaviors. He decided to include elements of gamification based on the research he was reading.

鈥淚 feel that it resonates with our target demographic at UofL. Many students play video games, so why not help them learn through a similar approach?” he said.

That gamification approach is one of the program’s differentiators. Another is the customization of the content, which was made possible when REACH switched to the Articulate Storyline software.

鈥�(Seminars) are geared towards the topics we feel students at UofL need. Each online seminar mentions various resources around campus. I also think the interactive components set us apart. For example, the online test-taking seminars ask students to answer questions related to test, and based on how they answer they may see information on particular strategy for overcoming test anxiety,鈥� Woolwine said.

Because of these types of details, Woolwine admits he wasn鈥檛 too surprised when the award was announced.

鈥淚 knew that we had a really unique and innovative program. I have presented at several conference on our program and many conference participants mention that they felt the program was innovative,鈥� he said.

REACH鈥檚 evolution

REACH has offered onsite seminars for UofL students since 2000. When Woolwine joined UofL, he identified a need for the seminars to also be offered online. He created 鈥淰ersion 1.0鈥� of the Online Student Success Seminars, which consisted of two YouTube videos that were recorded in Spring 2010.

鈥淔or these videos we recorded our onsite seminars and layered the slides and other materials into the videos. The topics we choose for the Version 1.0 were time management and study skills,鈥� Woolwine said.

But, the YouTube videos did not provide the level of interaction the team was craving, so they developed Version 2.0 in Spring 2012 using Adobe Captivate 5.5. Topics were textbook reading and becoming a disciplined student.

鈥淭hese new interactive seminars allowed students to not only complete the activities from the digital handouts without printing them, but they could also answer questions, complete assessments, drag and drop items, highlight items, etc.,鈥� Woolwine said.

This version provided more interaction; however the seminars relied on Adobe Flash, which has limits, and so Woolwine sought to create another iteration. Version 3.0 was introduced in Summer 2013 using Articulate Storyline, with the topic test taking.

That fall, REACH How-to-Guides were introduced, focusing on the topics final exams, time management, note taking and textbook reading. The fourth interactive seminar on note taking was developed in 2014.

Throughout the development of these online seminars, Woolwine became more interested in e-Learning and Instructional Design and enrolled in the Masters of Science in Human Resources and Organization Development in the College of 成人直播. During his studies, he read up on the work of Karl Kapp, a leading researcher on gamification, which inspired him to develop the idea of the 5^th online seminar: 鈥淭he Quest for Time,鈥� focusing on time management.

In this seminar, students must help save 鈥淎lex鈥� a student at UofL who used bad time management practices and turned into a zombie. They must navigate across the 鈥渃ampus鈥� and learn time management strategies to help save 鈥淎lex.鈥�

Woolwine is currently in the process of redesigning the “Studying Smarter” online seminar using Articulate Storyline. It, too, will incorporate gamification elements.

鈥淭he idea behind this new seminar will be that students are in a 鈥榖reakout鈥�-type of room and must investigate the various clues located around the room to unlock the various doors and escape,鈥� he said.

The REACH team also plans to add a preparing for finals topic to the online seminar program and has been discussing other new topics to include.

As the program has evolved, so too have the participation numbers.

In the fall 2011 semester, 13 students completed an online seminar and 558 completed an onsite seminar.

In the fall 2016 semester, there were 2,023 requests for online seminar with total of 920 completions, and 1,012 requests for onsite seminars and 692 completions.

The number of students who completed seminars at REACH increased from 572 in 2011 to 1,612, which is roughly a 282 percent increase.

NCLCA Award

The Innovative Use of Technology Award was created at the NCLCA Conference in 2010 to recognize 鈥渋ndividuals, learning centers or institutions that use innovative technology solutions on the learning center to improve student learning, assist learners who may learn different, improve resource usage, increase student engagement, or enhance learning strategies.鈥�

More information and past winners are .听