JOIN US AT THE BRCC-ACADIAN
If you missed the recent faculty development workshop on Supporting the Mental Health Needs of Community College Students, you are in luck. We will have a repeat performance on October 21 from 2:00 - 3:30 PM in room 210 at the Acadian Campus. Attendees will learn about common warning signs of mental health problems in this
population. Session facilitators Dr. Bridget Sonnier-Hillis and Wendy Devall will
provide information about how to respond to students who are experiencing significant
stressors or who have suspected mental health issues. This will include information
about on-campus and community resources to which faculty may refer these students.
Attendees also will learn basic, practical skills for dealing with behaviorally challenging
students. Register
TEACHING VERSUS COVERING THE MATERIAL
Nicki Monahan writes, "With access to a world of information as close as our phones, it’s
easy to feel overwhelmed by all there is to teach. New material
continues to emerge in every academic discipline, and teachers feel a
tremendous responsibility not only to stay current themselves, but to
ensure that their learners are up to date on the most recent findings.
Add to this information explosion the passionate desire by faculty
members to share their particular areas of expertise and it’s easy to
see why content continues to grow like the mythical Hydra of Greek
legend. And like Hercules, who with each effort to cut off one of
Hydra’s nine heads only to have two more grow in its place, faculty
struggle to tame their content monsters.
The two most common strategies for managing course content rarely
yield positive results. Cutting back or trimming content leads to
agonizing decisions but does not produce substantive changes." Continue reading here.
USING GRADES TO MOTIVATE
Barry Schwartz and Ken Sharpe ask the question "Do giving grades work as incentives?" In response they offer the following, "There is no question that we can use grades to get students to change their behavior, but are we getting them to learn more? One danger is
that grade-focused teaching corrodes the very meaning of learning. The
purpose of learning becomes merely the achievement of grades. Not the
mastery of the material. Not finding innovative and imaginative
solutions to tough problems. Not joining with fellow students to run
with an idea and see how much each can learn from the others. It
becomes instead what former Harvard dean Harry Lewis calls "an empty
game of score maximization." It makes the work seem pointless." Continue reading here.
Showing posts with label covering the material. Show all posts
Showing posts with label covering the material. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
SUMMER IS ABOUT COURSE REDESIGN
Dr. Maryellen Weimer has an interesting article about course redesign. She notes, introductory courses are packed with content. Teachers struggle to get through it during class; students struggle to master it outside of class. Too often learning consists of memorizing material that’s used on the exam but not retained long after. Faculty know they should use more strategies that engage students, but those approaches take time and, in most courses, that’s in very short supply. Blended-learning designs can be used to help with the problem. Technology offers other options for dealing with course content. This article recounts one faculty member’s experiences redesigning a gateway cell biology course. In a nutshell, all the lecture content was recorded as 10-20 minute voiceover PowerPoint presentations. Class time was devoted to “activities … entirely focused on student engagement with the content and with each other.” (p. 35) What happened in class did not repeat the content but was based on assigned readings in the text and material covered in the recorded lectures. A variety of interesting classroom activities was used, including a version of the time-tested muddiest-point strategy. Upon arriving in class students submitted index cards with questions about things from the readings or the lecture that they did not understand. A sample of these questions was read aloud and then students and the professor discussed and answered them. Students also participated in another index-card activity that presented them with a scenario or experimental data not discussed in the lectures or readings. Students worked on these questions in small groups and then developed and submitted a group answer. During class the instructor also had students respond to questions using clickers.
RESOURCES FOR YOU
Student engagement is just as critical in the online delivery mode as it is in face-to-face classes. If you are looking to add some active learning experiences to your eLearning course or would like to enhance your f2f classroom, you might want to take a look at the Interactive Activities in Online and Hybrid Courses website. There are examples of individual as well as collaborative learning experiences. Dr. Betsy Winston also presents a number of learning experience ideas in her article Enhancing Critical Thinking and Active Learning in Online Courses.
IS THERE A SUCCESS GENE
Paul Voosen reports on the search for a "gene for finishing college." The article points out that there will never be a “gene for educational success” or a “gene for entrepreneurship,” just as there will never be a “gene for intelligence” or a “gene for personality.” He notes that the research reveals that there is a gene variant that increases the likelihood to read books, and it is the reading, in turn, that helps determine scholastic futures. He suggests that we still encourage kids who don’t have the variant to read and that will raise their chances for educational success.
SUB-PRIME STUDENTS
Did you catch the comment by Trace Urdan about "subprime students." Apparently in a public debate, Urdan argued with David Halperin that the relatively low graduation rates of many for-profit colleges were actually pretty good, when compared to their subsidized competition (community colleges). Halperin countered, correctly, that it’s misleading to characterize most for-profits as unsubsidized, given their heavy reliance on Federal financial aid. Matt Read said in his blog post "But the line that jumped out at me was Urdan’s assertion that “[the] school offers quality instruction. The students make of it what they will.” He continues, "If your unit of analysis is the disconnected individual, then it follows that any failures must be the fault of those individuals. If you have low graduation rates, you must have subprime students. It’s a convenient belief, because it lets everyone else off the hook. If people rise or fall entirely on their own merits, then those who fell must lack merit. If they lack merit, then their failure is nothing to worry about. After all, if they had merit, they wouldn’t have failed!" he concluded.
Dr. Maryellen Weimer has an interesting article about course redesign. She notes, introductory courses are packed with content. Teachers struggle to get through it during class; students struggle to master it outside of class. Too often learning consists of memorizing material that’s used on the exam but not retained long after. Faculty know they should use more strategies that engage students, but those approaches take time and, in most courses, that’s in very short supply. Blended-learning designs can be used to help with the problem. Technology offers other options for dealing with course content. This article recounts one faculty member’s experiences redesigning a gateway cell biology course. In a nutshell, all the lecture content was recorded as 10-20 minute voiceover PowerPoint presentations. Class time was devoted to “activities … entirely focused on student engagement with the content and with each other.” (p. 35) What happened in class did not repeat the content but was based on assigned readings in the text and material covered in the recorded lectures. A variety of interesting classroom activities was used, including a version of the time-tested muddiest-point strategy. Upon arriving in class students submitted index cards with questions about things from the readings or the lecture that they did not understand. A sample of these questions was read aloud and then students and the professor discussed and answered them. Students also participated in another index-card activity that presented them with a scenario or experimental data not discussed in the lectures or readings. Students worked on these questions in small groups and then developed and submitted a group answer. During class the instructor also had students respond to questions using clickers.
RESOURCES FOR YOU
Student engagement is just as critical in the online delivery mode as it is in face-to-face classes. If you are looking to add some active learning experiences to your eLearning course or would like to enhance your f2f classroom, you might want to take a look at the Interactive Activities in Online and Hybrid Courses website. There are examples of individual as well as collaborative learning experiences. Dr. Betsy Winston also presents a number of learning experience ideas in her article Enhancing Critical Thinking and Active Learning in Online Courses.
IS THERE A SUCCESS GENE
Paul Voosen reports on the search for a "gene for finishing college." The article points out that there will never be a “gene for educational success” or a “gene for entrepreneurship,” just as there will never be a “gene for intelligence” or a “gene for personality.” He notes that the research reveals that there is a gene variant that increases the likelihood to read books, and it is the reading, in turn, that helps determine scholastic futures. He suggests that we still encourage kids who don’t have the variant to read and that will raise their chances for educational success.
SUB-PRIME STUDENTS
Did you catch the comment by Trace Urdan about "subprime students." Apparently in a public debate, Urdan argued with David Halperin that the relatively low graduation rates of many for-profit colleges were actually pretty good, when compared to their subsidized competition (community colleges). Halperin countered, correctly, that it’s misleading to characterize most for-profits as unsubsidized, given their heavy reliance on Federal financial aid. Matt Read said in his blog post "But the line that jumped out at me was Urdan’s assertion that “[the] school offers quality instruction. The students make of it what they will.” He continues, "If your unit of analysis is the disconnected individual, then it follows that any failures must be the fault of those individuals. If you have low graduation rates, you must have subprime students. It’s a convenient belief, because it lets everyone else off the hook. If people rise or fall entirely on their own merits, then those who fell must lack merit. If they lack merit, then their failure is nothing to worry about. After all, if they had merit, they wouldn’t have failed!" he concluded.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
EXPANDING YOUR TEACHING TOOLKIT
Active learning provides opportunities for students to talk and listen, read, write and reflect, all of which require students to apply what they are learning. Register now for the next faculty development seminar entitled Active Learning Methods Revealed to be held on November 19, at 2:00PM. Drs. Marcella Hackney and Margaret McMichael, Biology Department faculty, will present using classroom experience and information they gathered from an intensive workshop they attended this past summer. The seminar will be interactive and will be held in 311 Magnolia, also known as the Teaching+Learning Center.
STUDENT LEARNING DRIVEN BY EXCELLENT TEACHING
For anyone who has spent time with me, you have heard me say that everything I do is focused on improving student learning. It is our core mission and everything we do as an institution should be focused on that area. Of course, that begins in the classes that we teach. The interaction between the teacher and student is paramount to improving our retention, completion and transfer rates. Just as important is having students retain what they are learning in our classes. Nothing is more frustrating to a good teacher than having students who have completed prerequisite or lower-level courses but appear not to have learned anything. I have written about that previously on the blog and what James Lang refers to as "Coverage Theory." Getting through the material in the allotted time is not the same as having your students learn. The partnership between a teacher and student is crucial and both sides must take responsibility and remain committed for the process to be successful. It is what Barr and Tagg (1995) call The Learning Paradigm. We are designing a website for the Teaching+Learning Center. In the absence of that information, let me share some of the ways I can partner with you to help you continue to develop as a teacher. The classroom observation is a good start. I am also able to complete a focus group evaluation for you. You can also do your own assessment and I can share some methods with you. It all starts with contacting me at pourciaut@mybrcc.edu or calling me at 216.8534.
DEAR DIARY
Using the word diary may conjure up all sorts of memories for you. The diary in a general sense can be a useful thing. Even more effective is for you to begin to keep a journal. You can update it on a daily or weekly basis. The more effort you put into it, the more effective it becomes for you as a tool for critical self-reflection. A journal allows you to remember when you had a really good day in class. It also allows you to document when things go really wrong. It provides you with hard data that you can use to continue to improve your teaching. As many of you teach five, six or seven classes, it is impossible to remember what occurred in each class from semester to semester. A journal provides you documentation so that when you begin to update or alter your course in any way, you can scan the entries looking for clues that can be very useful. As we look to the Spring 2013 Semester, I am gathering names of folks who would like to participate in a journal community. Send me an email (pourciaut@mybrcc.edu) if you are interested and look for email in your mailbox on this opportunity.
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR STUDENTS KNOW
Richard Felder and Rebecca Brent offer the following sage advice on the use of assessment in your course. Most institutions use only end-of-course student surveys to evaluate teaching quality. While student opinions are important and should be including in any assessment plan, meaningful evaluation of teaching must rely primarily on assessment of learning outcomes. Current trends in assessment reviewed by Ewell include shifting from standardized tests to performance-based assessments, from teaching-based models to learning-based models of student development, and from assessment as an add-on to more naturalistic approaches embedded in actual instructional delivery. Measures that may be used to obtain an accurate picture of students’ content knowledge and skills include tests, performances and exhibitions, project reports, learning logs and journals, metacognitive reflection, observation checklists, graphic organizers, and interviews, and conferences (Burke). A particularly effective learning assessment vehicle is the portfolio, a set of student products collected over time that provides a picture of the student’s growth and development. Panitz (1996) describes how portfolios can be used to assess an individual’s progress in a course or over an entire curriculum, to demonstrate specific competencies, or to assess the curriculum. Rogers and Williams (1999) describe a procedure to maintain portfolios on the Web. Angelo & Cross (LB2822.75.A54) outline a variety of classroom assessment techniques, all of which generate products suitable for inclusion in student portfolios. The devices they suggest include minute papers, concept maps, audiotaped and videotaped protocols (students reporting on their thinking processes as they solve problems), student-generated test questions, classroom opinion polls, course-related self-confidence surveys, interest/knowledge/skills checklists, and reactions to instruction.
Active learning provides opportunities for students to talk and listen, read, write and reflect, all of which require students to apply what they are learning. Register now for the next faculty development seminar entitled Active Learning Methods Revealed to be held on November 19, at 2:00PM. Drs. Marcella Hackney and Margaret McMichael, Biology Department faculty, will present using classroom experience and information they gathered from an intensive workshop they attended this past summer. The seminar will be interactive and will be held in 311 Magnolia, also known as the Teaching+Learning Center.
STUDENT LEARNING DRIVEN BY EXCELLENT TEACHING
For anyone who has spent time with me, you have heard me say that everything I do is focused on improving student learning. It is our core mission and everything we do as an institution should be focused on that area. Of course, that begins in the classes that we teach. The interaction between the teacher and student is paramount to improving our retention, completion and transfer rates. Just as important is having students retain what they are learning in our classes. Nothing is more frustrating to a good teacher than having students who have completed prerequisite or lower-level courses but appear not to have learned anything. I have written about that previously on the blog and what James Lang refers to as "Coverage Theory." Getting through the material in the allotted time is not the same as having your students learn. The partnership between a teacher and student is crucial and both sides must take responsibility and remain committed for the process to be successful. It is what Barr and Tagg (1995) call The Learning Paradigm. We are designing a website for the Teaching+Learning Center. In the absence of that information, let me share some of the ways I can partner with you to help you continue to develop as a teacher. The classroom observation is a good start. I am also able to complete a focus group evaluation for you. You can also do your own assessment and I can share some methods with you. It all starts with contacting me at pourciaut@mybrcc.edu or calling me at 216.8534.
DEAR DIARY
Using the word diary may conjure up all sorts of memories for you. The diary in a general sense can be a useful thing. Even more effective is for you to begin to keep a journal. You can update it on a daily or weekly basis. The more effort you put into it, the more effective it becomes for you as a tool for critical self-reflection. A journal allows you to remember when you had a really good day in class. It also allows you to document when things go really wrong. It provides you with hard data that you can use to continue to improve your teaching. As many of you teach five, six or seven classes, it is impossible to remember what occurred in each class from semester to semester. A journal provides you documentation so that when you begin to update or alter your course in any way, you can scan the entries looking for clues that can be very useful. As we look to the Spring 2013 Semester, I am gathering names of folks who would like to participate in a journal community. Send me an email (pourciaut@mybrcc.edu) if you are interested and look for email in your mailbox on this opportunity.
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR STUDENTS KNOW
Richard Felder and Rebecca Brent offer the following sage advice on the use of assessment in your course. Most institutions use only end-of-course student surveys to evaluate teaching quality. While student opinions are important and should be including in any assessment plan, meaningful evaluation of teaching must rely primarily on assessment of learning outcomes. Current trends in assessment reviewed by Ewell include shifting from standardized tests to performance-based assessments, from teaching-based models to learning-based models of student development, and from assessment as an add-on to more naturalistic approaches embedded in actual instructional delivery. Measures that may be used to obtain an accurate picture of students’ content knowledge and skills include tests, performances and exhibitions, project reports, learning logs and journals, metacognitive reflection, observation checklists, graphic organizers, and interviews, and conferences (Burke). A particularly effective learning assessment vehicle is the portfolio, a set of student products collected over time that provides a picture of the student’s growth and development. Panitz (1996) describes how portfolios can be used to assess an individual’s progress in a course or over an entire curriculum, to demonstrate specific competencies, or to assess the curriculum. Rogers and Williams (1999) describe a procedure to maintain portfolios on the Web. Angelo & Cross (LB2822.75.A54) outline a variety of classroom assessment techniques, all of which generate products suitable for inclusion in student portfolios. The devices they suggest include minute papers, concept maps, audiotaped and videotaped protocols (students reporting on their thinking processes as they solve problems), student-generated test questions, classroom opinion polls, course-related self-confidence surveys, interest/knowledge/skills checklists, and reactions to instruction.
Friday, October 26, 2012
ORGANIZING FOR STUDENT SUCCESS
Josh Wyner writes in an editorial for The Chronicle of Higher Education that community colleges should be organized for the students they have rather than those who attend four-year residential colleges. He says that the re-envisioned version of community college would offer far greater numbers of block-scheduled programs. "Most students should be directed to enter comprehensive programs built around specific degree goals and schedules. Re-envisioned, community colleges would focus their hiring, professional development, and tenure systems on a single goal: improved teaching and learning," he concludes.
WORKING HAPPY
A lot of folks start out at a community college thinking they might try to "move up" at some point, but then they find themselves liking the work, liking their students and colleagues, and liking the lifestyle. And so they end up staying. For 30 or 40 years. So says Rob Jenkins in a piece he wrote for Inside Higher Ed earlier this year. He goes on to respond to the question what's it like working at a community college? by saying "I take that to be a lifestyle question, and all I can say is: I wouldn't trade careers with anybody. I enjoy the work that I do, I like my students and colleagues, I believe that I've been able to make a difference in people's lives, I've found it relatively easy to maintain an acceptable balance between work and life, and I've been able to make a decent living. What more can anyone ask from a career?"
MAKING CLASS MEANINGFUL AND PURPOSEFUL
A research project by Trudy Hanson, Kristina Drumheller, Jessica Mallard, Connie McKee, and Paula Schlegel determined that although students want to make academics a priority, they have a difficult time balancing their school life with their need for financial and social support. Sleep was often sacrificed as students frequently mentioned pulling all-nighters for completing projects. They also note that growing up with instant gratification might result in Millennials facing difficulty planning for long-term projects. Their survey sample expressed confidence in their abilities, those in the focus group acknowledged that they take short cuts because of their time demands. Students who feel they have to learn the material in class choose which assignments should be given higher priority based on rewards and consequences, and they determine which classes are most important to attend and pay attention to which assignments and classes can be sacrificed. Going to class is a higher priority than doing homework or studying because it is the only time students have set aside in their day to accomplish the learning of course content. For instructors, this means class time needs to be more meaningful and purposeful, because it might be the only time a student spends with the course material.
WHAT IS MISSING
James M. Lang is his book On Course, writes about the situation that is created when faculty are saddled with the "Coverage Model." This model asks the question, what do I need to cover during this semester? "The problem with the coverage model, Lang says, it that it only considers two elements in teaching: the teacher and the course material. The missing element is the student in the teaching-learning triad." He notes that this model constructs teaching as a performative act that involves pulling material out of your head and throwing it on the desks of your students. Their job is then to figure out the best way to lap it up and hold it down.
Josh Wyner writes in an editorial for The Chronicle of Higher Education that community colleges should be organized for the students they have rather than those who attend four-year residential colleges. He says that the re-envisioned version of community college would offer far greater numbers of block-scheduled programs. "Most students should be directed to enter comprehensive programs built around specific degree goals and schedules. Re-envisioned, community colleges would focus their hiring, professional development, and tenure systems on a single goal: improved teaching and learning," he concludes.
WORKING HAPPY
A lot of folks start out at a community college thinking they might try to "move up" at some point, but then they find themselves liking the work, liking their students and colleagues, and liking the lifestyle. And so they end up staying. For 30 or 40 years. So says Rob Jenkins in a piece he wrote for Inside Higher Ed earlier this year. He goes on to respond to the question what's it like working at a community college? by saying "I take that to be a lifestyle question, and all I can say is: I wouldn't trade careers with anybody. I enjoy the work that I do, I like my students and colleagues, I believe that I've been able to make a difference in people's lives, I've found it relatively easy to maintain an acceptable balance between work and life, and I've been able to make a decent living. What more can anyone ask from a career?"
MAKING CLASS MEANINGFUL AND PURPOSEFUL
A research project by Trudy Hanson, Kristina Drumheller, Jessica Mallard, Connie McKee, and Paula Schlegel determined that although students want to make academics a priority, they have a difficult time balancing their school life with their need for financial and social support. Sleep was often sacrificed as students frequently mentioned pulling all-nighters for completing projects. They also note that growing up with instant gratification might result in Millennials facing difficulty planning for long-term projects. Their survey sample expressed confidence in their abilities, those in the focus group acknowledged that they take short cuts because of their time demands. Students who feel they have to learn the material in class choose which assignments should be given higher priority based on rewards and consequences, and they determine which classes are most important to attend and pay attention to which assignments and classes can be sacrificed. Going to class is a higher priority than doing homework or studying because it is the only time students have set aside in their day to accomplish the learning of course content. For instructors, this means class time needs to be more meaningful and purposeful, because it might be the only time a student spends with the course material.
WHAT IS MISSING
James M. Lang is his book On Course, writes about the situation that is created when faculty are saddled with the "Coverage Model." This model asks the question, what do I need to cover during this semester? "The problem with the coverage model, Lang says, it that it only considers two elements in teaching: the teacher and the course material. The missing element is the student in the teaching-learning triad." He notes that this model constructs teaching as a performative act that involves pulling material out of your head and throwing it on the desks of your students. Their job is then to figure out the best way to lap it up and hold it down.
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