Biography
- AS, Business Administration, Edinboro University
- BA, Music, Edinboro University
- MM, Music Studies, Temple University
Alisha Nypaver joined the full-time faculty of the Music Studies department at Temple University in 2016 after serving as a part-time member 2010-2016.
In addition to teaching entry-level music theory, Nypaver specializes in large General Education music courses including World Musics and Cultures, Exploring Music, and Shakespeare in Music. She has been deeply involved in online and hybrid course design at the undergraduate and graduate level, creating an online version of Exploring Music and a hybrid version of World Musics and Cultures. With a background in ethnomusicological studies, Nypaver has researched and presented papers on early Irish music and serves as the faculty advisor for the Vietnamese Student Association.
Her current research interests focus on testing and integrating cutting-edge educational tools in both traditional and online classrooms, finding new ways to teach digital citizenship, and pedagogical practices for music in higher education. Her work in educational technology has been recognized through her 2017 nomination for the Innovative Teaching with Technology Award and invited lectures.
Past projects include a 5-stage immersive listening experience for non-music majors, experiments in writing “un-Googleable” multiple choice questions designed to measure higher-level critical thinking skills, and a comparative study of students who were allowed to use various technology tools on a final exam. She is currently conducting an experiment that measures the effects of peer-review on student presentations and is concentrating on designing new assignments intended to help students become more conscientious consumers and producers of digital media.
In addition to her work in teaching and new course development, Nypaver serves as a Quality Matters online course reviewer for Temple’s GenEd department and is an active guest lecturer in and around the Philadelphia area. She has also served as a project contributor for educational resource companies including Study.com and Soomo Learning.