Pre-College Students Put Course Concepts into Practice in the Innovation Hub

This summer, students participating in Seton Hall University's pre-college programs through Continuing Education and Professional Studies (CEPS) explored new ways to engage with course content through the technology and support available in the Innovation Hub. From accounting and entrepreneurship to investing and women's health, faculty partnered with members of the Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center (TLTC) to create hands-on learning experiences that connected classroom concepts with real-world applications. The result was a summer of experimentation that challenged students to think differently, test their ideas and discover new possibilities within the subjects they were studying.

For Danielle DiMeglio, M.B.A, assistant professor and director of the CPA Pathways Apprenticeship Program, the Innovation Hub offered an opportunity to help students recognize how accounting concepts are part of everyday life. Students enrolled in Accounting for the Future: Unleash Your Potential explored those concepts through a life-size Monopoly game that used the Innovation Hub’s Sphero robots as player pieces. As students moved around the board, they purchased properties, collected rent and managed resources while considering concepts such as assets, cash flow and revenue.

The activity was designed as a capstone project by six post-baccalaureate students in Seton Hall’s CPA Pathways Apprenticeship Program at Withum, working with DiMeglio and Instructional Designer Jarrod Cecere. Although students enjoyed the technology in the Innovation Hub, DiMeglio believes the people who helped make those experiences possible left the strongest impression. “It’s really the people that make the magic happen,” she said.

In Ben Pincus’s pre-college Entrepreneurship course, students approached the Innovation Hub from a different angle. Pincus, M.B.A., associate dean for assessment and engagement, partnered with Director of Instructional Design and Training Renee Cicchino and Cecere to challenge students to identify a need within the University community and develop a product to address it. Pincus wanted students to move beyond discussing entrepreneurship and experience the process for themselves. “The ability to really think about how a product would work was important,” he said. “There was no better way to do that than with the Innovation Hub.” 

Using design software, students customized product prototypes, including doorstops and charging cord organizers, then produced them using 3D printers in the Maker Studio. When the first designs did not work as expected, students evaluated the results, identified areas for improvement and revised their designs before printing a second version. The experience culminated in the Content Creation Studios, where students recorded elevator pitches for their products before presenting their ideas to a group of judges from the University community. 

For Pincus, one of the most valuable parts of the experience was seeing students problem-solve, persevere through uncertainty and find their own way forward. “Seeing them deal with confusion or problems or just a blank slate and figuring something out was really cool,” he said. 

The Innovation Hub also supported activities in other pre-college courses throughout the summer. Mark Schild, M.B.A., associate dean for student success and instructor of finance, incorporated virtual reality, robotics and podcasting into Investing 101, while Angela Baglio, D.P.T., faculty associate in the Department of Biological Sciences, incorporated podcasting and visual design into her Women’s Health course. These pre-college experiences represent just some of the ways the Innovation Hub’s studios, technology and support can be incorporated into academic programs across the University.

About the Innovation Hub

Located within the Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center (TLTC) on the ground floor of Walsh Library, the Innovation Hub provides Seton Hall students, faculty and staff with spaces to explore emerging technologies, develop new skills and experiment with new approaches to teaching, learning and creative work. The Innovation Hub includes the Maker Studio, Content Creation Studios, Exploration Studio and other technology-enabled spaces designed to support experimentation and collaboration across disciplines. 

Categories: Science and Technology