Instructor Spotlight: Ricki Burnett Arndt, Utah State University, Brigham City

Ricki Burnett Arndt Shares Best Practices for Fostering Student-Centered Learning at Utah State University, Brigham City

Utah State University-Brigham City is part of the Utah State University statewide campuses located in Brigham City, Utah. As part of USU’s statewide system, USU Brigham City offers more than 30 bachelor’s degrees, 26 master’s and three doctorates, as well as a variety of certificate, licensure, and endorsement programs.

About Ricki Burnett Arndt, ‘Student-Centered Educator of the Year’

Mrs. Burnett Arndt is a Laboratory Education Specialist in biology at USU Brigham City and teaches blended and hybrid microbiology as well as human anatomy and physiology courses with up to 25 major and non-major students per section. 

Most recently, Ricki was honored as the Student-Centered Educator of the Year as part of the 2024 Golden Goggles awards program. As a winner in the category of Student-Centered Learning, Ricki works tirelessly to foster student-centered learning in every way possible. She is dedicated to creating an exciting, flexible, and organized learning environment to support student success and empower them to explore scientific concepts in ways that resonate with their lives and career goals. 

Ricki’s impact on microbiology at Utah State University is significant and growing. Not only has she created a lab curriculum that has been shown to increase student scores and satisfaction, she has co-authored a new microbiology textbook that the department will start using this fall. Moreover, in her new role as Lab Specialist, she is training two additional lab instructors for courses at different campuses.

Tips for Keeping Learning Student Focused

From developing curriculum that works seamlessly for students completing their activities on campus and at home, Ricki demonstrates a dedication to student learning that continues to make significant impact. In fact, when an analysis of curriculum that predated Ricki was compared to Ricki’s new lab curriculum, students showed significant assignment and test score gains with the curriculum Ricki had developed. 

These are Ricki’s top tips for keeping learning focused on students.

Create a Consistent & Effective Course Structure

• Consistency across courses taught: Use a single LMS templateThis decreases the learning curve and promotes retention for students. 
• Organization: Keep the LMS organized and up to date and use it to maintain regular contact with students. 
• Setting expectations: Apply backwards design in lesson planning. Set clear expectations for students in the syllabus and always verify understanding of the expectations.
• Mixing it up: Incorporate different methods of instruction. For example, at-home activities, like hands-on labs, engage non-traditional students and their families. 
• Meet regularly with other lab instructors and across campuses/locations: Discuss learning outcomes, ensuring the quality and rigor of the learning experience for every student is similar while simultaneously fostering a stronger sense of community among instructors.

Clearly Communicate Learning Outcomes

• Make outcomes easy to find or highly visible in your LMS. Point to, reference, and remind students where these are and why they are important.
• Be sure to share your learning outcomes prior to class so that students feel better prepared and understand what topics they should focus on.
• Use your learning outcomes as a guide when preparing an assessment.

Make Access Easier

• Enable flexibility and work with students who have unique situations that might alter their abilities to continue in the course.
• Provide detailed course policies.
• Promote good study habits and make students aware of academic and mental health resources, while providing curriculum resources, memory aids, and mnemonics.
• Offer office hours by appointment (7 days a week) over Zoom rather than arbitrarily selecting a time, and be proactive in your communication as well as responsive to student inquiries. 
• Make recordings of all lectures and reviews available in a timely fashion.

Ricki works to create in-person and at-home versions of her labs. She leads Zoom versions of the in-person labs so that the content and quality of instruction are equal across all students, and should a student still not be able to attend, she posts recordings and offers office hours—a constant innovator always putting her students’ needs at heart. When you put all these practices to use, they pay off for students. 

As one of Mrs. Burnett Arndt students shared, “Finally, I made it. I don’t even know how but am grateful. I just want to thank you sincerely for everything that you did to see me succeed. I am very humbled and appreciate you more than you know.”

“One of the most important things you can do as an instructor is keep regular contact with students. This helps students feel cared for, which works wonders when they have a concern or worry. They feel more comfortable coming to you and saying that they don’t understand this concept or need more help. And that builds additional community, belonging and focus for that student.” -Ricki Burnett Arndt, Lab Specialist, Utah State University, Brigham City

For more tips and best practices on keeping learning student-centered, check out our Peer Learning webinar on demand.