Dr. Todd Kelley is an Associate Professor in Technology Leadership and Innovation, Purdue Polytechnic Institute. He is intrigued by practices and strategies for progressive engineering programs and found that undergraduate students often struggle solving everyday problems and lack communication and brainstorming skills. Kelley responded to these concerns by developing Designing Technology for People, a collaborative course to study design problems and develop innovative solutions.

Kelley partnered with Dr. Sherri Briller, an Anthropology instructor with expertise in teaching students to analyze human-technology interactions. Since 2015, this interdisciplinary course requires collaborative student design teams to frame and solve problems discovered by investigating how people interact with technology. Student design teams first engage in ethnographic techniques, learning to listen and observe people to better understand their needs and problems. In other words, before students rush to the whiteboard with design ideas, they must first understand the people they are design for.

Additionally, design teams are purposefully formed with students from diverse majors across campus, personality types, and different areas of expertise. Kelley added components of peer-to-peer feedback and CATME peer surveys throughout the course to improve and enhance feedback on students’ progress. These pedagogical approaches improve student performance and result in deeper team thinking about their progress.    

Kelley also adapts to teaching challenges. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kelley implemented Microsoft Teams and OneNote for students to collaborate and upload engineer’s notebooks. Kelley’s adaptation allowed students to communicate, plan, and develop design solutions across online platforms. These distance learning technologies help students to seamlessly share ethnographic fieldwork, conduct patent searches, record team brainstorming sessions, and document design sketch iterations. He also serves as a Co-Advisor for the Design and Innovation Learning Community and Coordinator for Student Teaching Placement for Engineering Technology Teachers.

Kelley has received multiple teaching awards for his teaching excellence and scholarship of teaching and learning: TRAILS: Teachers & Researchers Advancing Integrated Learning in STEM; TRAILS 2.0: Teachers & Researchers Advancing Integrated Learning in STEM 2.0; M3 Mission, Meaning, Making- Transforming Undergraduate Learning Toward Innovation; SLED: Science Learning through Engineering Design; 2018 Gerhard Salinger Award for Enhancing I-STEM Education through Technological/Engineering Design-Based Instruction (International Technology & Engineering Educators Association); 2016 Distinguished Technology Educator Award- a mark of professional distinction; and the March 2016 International Technology and Engineering Teacher Education (ITEEA).

The following table maps Dr. Kelley’s teaching excellence evidence to evaluation activities.

Activity	Example Evidence
Mentoring and Advising Learners Beyond the Classroom, e.g., undergraduates, graduates, interns, residents	Co-Advisor for the Design & Innovation Learning Community Coordinator for Student Teaching Placement for Engineering Technology Teachers
Awards and Recognitions	TRAILS: Teachers & Researchers Advancing Integrated Learning in STEM TRAILS 2.0: Teachers & Researchers Advancing Integrated Learning in STEM 2.0 M3 Mission, Meaning, Making- Transforming Undergraduate Learning Toward Innovation SLED: Science Learning through Engineering Design 2018 Gerhard Salinger Award for Enhancing I-STEM Education through Technological/Engineering Design-Based Instruction (International Technology & Engineering Educators Association) 2016 Distinguished Technology Educator Award- a mark of professional distinction March 2016 International Technology and Engineering Teacher Education (ITEEA)
Curriculum Development and Teaching Innovations	Undergraduate students often struggle solving everyday problems and lack communication and brainstorming skills. Kelley responded to these concerns by developing Designing Technology for People, a collaborative course to study design problems and develop innovative solutions. Partnered with Dr. Sherri Briller, an Anthropology instructor with expertise in teaching students to analyze human-technology interactions. Since 2015, this interdisciplinary course requires collaborative student design teams to frame and solve problems discovered by investigating how people interact with technology. Design teams are purposefully formed with students from diverse majors across campus, personality types, and different areas of expertise Added components of peer-to-peer feedback and CATME peer surveys throughout the course to improve and enhance feedback on students’ progress During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kelley implemented Microsoft Teams and OneNote for students to collaborate and upload engineer’s notebooks. Kelley’s adaptation allowed students to communicate, plan, and develop design solutions across online platforms. These distance learning technologies help students to seamlessly share ethnographic fieldwork, conduct patent searches, record team brainstorming sessions, and document design sketch iterations.