Faculty and Staff

Solnosky recipient of 2023 Teaching and Learning with Technology Impact Award

Ryan Solnosky, associate teaching professor of architectural engineering in the College of Engineering Credit: Photo providedAll Rights Reserved.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Ryan Solnosky, associate teaching professor of architectural engineering in the College of Engineering, is the recipient of the 2023 Teaching and Learning with Technology Impact Award.

The Teaching and Learning with Technology Impact Award celebrates the accomplishments of faculty members whose work transforms education through the use of technology. The award is given in recognition of excellence represented by a single contribution or series of contributions.

Nominators said Solnosky employs a multitude of technological teaching tools to help his students get the most hands-on experience in the classroom.

“Solnosky integrates technology in a meaningful way into his extensive teaching activities in which he has contact with roughly 300 students,” a nominator said. “He promotes the use of teaching and learning technology to his students and his fellow faculty through grants, workshops and presentations, and, to an even wider audience, those outside of Penn State.”

He’s largely abandoned the “chalk and talk” style of lecturing, opting for his students to watch pre-recorded lectures ahead of time so that the classroom can be spent implementing concepts covered in the lectures. The recorded lectures, which Solnosky records using lightboard videos at Penn State’s Media Commons, cover theory and implementation, allowing students to learn in their own time while also being able to re-watch concepts until they’re understood.

“To be successful in this type of teaching, I adopt technology as the vessel. Here we leverage complex concepts into manageable pieces that reveal their simplicity while still thinking broadly,” Solnosky said. “In creating these strategic technology experiences, I have been able to get students away from memorization and focus on problem-solving approaches and the associated reasoning. Technology has propelled me to emphasize questions like ‘what just happened’ and ‘why were these decisions made?’”

Class time is spent doing more engaging examples where students can develop solutions and compare results. Often students reverse engineer architecture or engineering systems, which isn’t possible in the field, but is easily done through the use of computers.

In a class for second-year students focused on building materials and modeling, Solnosky integrated Revit modeling to enhance students’ skills in contemporary design techniques while detecting clashes in design spaces. In more advanced courses, he integrated virtual to physical immersion by using virtual reality so that students on multidisciplinary teams can experience their projects. Solnosky further relied on 3D printing to help his freshman students visualize their computer-generated designs.

In a capstone course, Solnosky fosters student-led learning by implementing virtual discussion boards and real-time Zoom mentoring rooms that foster interactions between students, faculty, and even outside experts.

“Solnosky has taken a leadership role in advancing active learning techniques within the department,” a nominator said. “He has presented to the faculty and he answers questions, assists with troubleshooting and has offered a summer workshop for faculty on teaching with technology.”

Last Updated April 11, 2023