Thomas Mennella

I have been an instructor in higher education for over ten years. Starting as a non-tenure track lecturer at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst, I taught a Principles of Biology survey course that I designed to give psychology majors taking neuroscience courses a better core foundation in biological principles. As an Assistant Professor at Delaware State University (DSU), a small public university, I experimented with Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and was an early-adopter of the iClicker student response system. Now an Associate Professor at Bay Path University, a private liberal arts institution in western Massachusetts, I primarily teaches Genetics and Cell and Molecular Biology. I was an early-adopter of the flipped classroom format at Bay Path and I’m intimately involved in Bay Path’s iPad initiative. At Bay Path University, I have given professional development presentations on the flipped classroom format, on the logistics of running a flipped classroom, and on the use of Tegrity and Screencast-O-Matic as a platforms for lecture capture. In addition, I have presented the flipped classroom philosophy to prospective students and their parents at Bay Path recruitment events. I have given numerous scientific presentations, and more recently, I’ve become an outspoken proponent of flipped learning, presenting at NERCOMP2014, NERCOMP2015 and the national Teaching Professor Conference in 2015. I also guest blogged on EmergingEdTech.com (

http://www.emergingedtech.com/2014/07/my-flipped-classroom-i-will-never-teach-another-way-again/), as well as being an invited speaker for the faculty at UMass – Dartmouth, where I presented approaches to flipped learning in February 2015. More recently, I’ve presented on alternative assessments of student learning and I’m currently interested in exploring the interplay between growth mindset, grit, and student success in college courses.