The future of teaching at BRCC.

NEW FACULTY ORIENTATION
The Division of Innovative Learning and Academic Support was thrilled to host the new faculty orientation on Wednesday. The program provided information on a diversity of topics including the scholarship of teaching and learning, how to help our student succeed, using library resources effectively, strategies for testing and assessment, using Blackboard effectively, and integrating college success skills into every course. Expert presenters included Dean Joanie Chavis, Testing Specialist Tressa Landry, Manager Susan Nealy, Dean Todd Pourciau, Director Jeanne Stacy, Dean Sandra Williams, and Executive Dean Elaine Vallette. The new faculty participants including: Catherine Doyle, Vinetta Frie, Belvin Givens, Emily Graves, Cyndy Giachetti, Jessie Herubrock, Loretta Jarrell, Jennifer Knapp, Albertha Lawson, Kristen Pasquier, Asoka Sekharan, and Bridget Sonnier-Hillis. Active learning and student engagement dominated the conversation. The future looks bright for teaching and learning at BRCC.

WHAT IS UP WITH THOSE GREEN SHIRTS
The Division of Innovative Learning and Academic Support team donned peaceful green shirts on Wednesday to kick off this year's theme of Keep Calm and Be Engaged. As we mentioned previously, BRCC is stepping up its efforts on student engagement. The shirts are a humorous reminder that we are all part of our students success. By the end of the day, some members of the team were receiving some outrageous financial offers for their shirts but no one wanted to part with them. Look for the shirts to reappear as we celebrate learning throughout the coming academic year. Who knows, maybe you too will be lucky enough to be recognized for engagement excellence and receive a coveted green shirt.

Anderson, Linder, and Harris join BRCC

BRCC WELCOMES NEW EMPLOYEES FROM CATC
We are very excited to announce the addition of some new team members in the Division of Innovative Learning and Academic Support. Barbara Linder has joined us as an Academic Support Specialist. Wanda Anderson and Karen Harris have joined us as Testing Center Specialists. The addition of new staff means that we can respond more effectively to the many requests we are receiving from faculty and students in the areas of testing, assessment, and pedagogy. There is a bit of sad news from the Testing Center as we are losing Tressa Landry, who is following her husband to Lake Charles. The good news is that in addition to our newest team members, Debbie Johnson remains with the Testing Center. Look for expanded hours coming soon to better meet your testing needs.

MENTORING PROGRAM RELAUNCH
As a learner-centered institution of higher education, BRCC is committed to fostering good teaching that develops deeper learning leading to student success. Good teaching, in its essence, is defined as helping students learn in ways that make a sustained, substantial, and positive influence on how they think, act, and feel. Research shows that constructive mentoring and reviewing of faculty works to help such faculty meet high standards of rigor, depth, and innovation in teaching and learning, and to realize their full potential as scholars, teachers, and members of the academic community. In addition, mentees, when compared with un-mentored faculty, tend to feel more self-assured, exhibit greater political savvy, profess to feel more confident about their teaching, and, generally, in the long run tend to be more prolific. Faculty with mentors have been found to be more productive and they indicate higher career and job satisfaction, while achieving greater long-term success than those not mentored. The Mentoring Program is being re-launched beginning with the fall 2103 semester. If you are interested in becoming a mentor or mentee, contact Dr. Todd Pourciau at pourciaut@mybrcc.edu or 216.8534.

KEEP CALM AND BE ENGAGED
The New Faculty Orientation for the fall 2013 semester will be held on Wednesday, August 21 from 9:00 AM until 12:00 PM. All new full-time faculty hires are invited to attend the active workshop to be held in room 311 Magnolia Building. A special invitation is extended to the former CATC faculty who are joining the BRCC family. Topics to be covered include faculty development about teaching and learning, online delivery, responding to student's needs, testing, and student success. If you have not already received an invitation but would like to attend this event, contact Barbara Linder at 216.8228 or via email at barbaralinder@catc.edu.

CAN WE TALK
The Teaching+Learning Center will be offering a common reader Faculty Learning Community using Ken Bain's book What the Best College Teachers Do (which will be provided to the participants). The Faculty Learning Community will begin on September 4 and run until October 10, meeting from noon until 1:00 PM in the Teaching+Learning Center (311 Magnolia Building). Faculty Learning Communities have been utilized by higher education institutions for a number of years and are designed to provide faculty with quality time to focus on topics related to the scholarship of teaching and learning. Typically a FLC will agree on accomplishing a few learning objectives over the course of the term. If you are interested in joining this FLC, contact Barbara Linder at 216.8228 or via email at barbaralinder@catc.edu.

NOTE TAKING 101
Here are a few tips taken from a recent copy of The Teaching Professor newsletter on how you can help your students improve their note-taking abilities. When you say something important, go ahead and give students time to write it down--word for word if they like. Then give them 30 seconds to look at what they have written and put it in their own words. If you have two or three students read what they have written, you will reinforce the importance of the point and at the same time you can talk about the student's versions of the idea. Typically, students do not write enough in their notes. At the end of a lesson or content area, give students two minutes to look over their notes. Encourage them to add more or to ask you questions. Ask them, "What is the most important thing that you just got from your notes on this topic?" Correct any misguided remarks. Finally, facilitate a short discussion of what students can do with their notes as they prepare for an exam. If they say they will go over their notes, strongly suggest that they get into the notes. Suggest that they rewrite their notes, highlight the key points, compare them with another student, and compare the notes to the text. You can read more in the volume 27, number 6 issue in the periodical section of the BRCC Library.

BLACKBOARD COMMUNITY UNDER CONSTRUCTION
One of the great features of Blackboard is the ability to create a community that allows us to discuss, share and communicate virtually. I am currently working on creating the Teaching and Learning Faculty Development Blackboard site. It will include a discussion board and online resource library among other things. As soon as it is ready to go live, all of the faculty will be added so that you can access the resources and interact with your colleagues. Hopefully it will be useful to you and become the place for online discussion about the scholarship of teaching and learning at BRCC.

NEW FACULTY ORIENTATION
The Office of Teaching and Learning will be coordinating an orientation session for all new faculty. It will be held from 9:00 AM until 12 noon on Wednesday, August 21 in room 311 Magnolia Building. The focus will be on providing our newest faculty colleagues with a good foundation as they begin their teaching career at BRCC. The topics will include faculty development, using Blackboard effectively, closing the loop with the Academic Learning Center, utilizing the Testing Center, exploring the Library, explaining what our CSSK course is all about and the eLearning certification process. While the event will be open to our new hires, we are also extending an invitation to our colleagues from the former Capital Area Technical College.

TEACHING AND LEARNING FROM BOTH SIDES
The recent announcement by Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs that the Academic Learning Center had joined the Teaching and Learning team means that the loop is now closed. The combined forces will allow us to provide unique solutions for some of our more pressing problems related to retention and student learning. The combined expertise of Jeanne Stacy, Yvette Ferguson, and Donna Newman brings the student experience into play. The Teaching and Learning team, which also includes the eLearning Program, Evening+Weekend, and the Testing Center, is here to work with all academic units and faculty to design and implement strategies and interventions based on the latest empirical research. We are excited about the possibilities created by this new collaborative and look forward to meeting the needs of our various constituencies.

ENGAGEMENT PROVIDES VALUABLE INFORMATION
Instead of doing one of the standard ice-breaker activities, why not give a pre-test? This type of learner-based assessment allows you to find out as much as possible about your students. Not only is it a great engagement tool but it will help you to modify your class to meet the needs of each of your students. You want to ask them questions about their ambitions, their approaches to and conceptions of learning, the way they reason, their temperaments, habits, and the things that attract their attention on a daily basis. Ken Bain, in his book What The Best College Teachers Do, notes that this type of activity is endorsed by the best teachers. Once you have the information, you should use it to build a class profile and compare it to the learning experiences, projects, and assessment instruments you plan to use in the course. You can then use this information throughout the semester to generate conversations and to make specific points to motivate your students. The pre-test also allows you to understand the complexities of your students.