We can all agree that many of our students struggle with how to best prepare for assessment. Many of them seem to "trust their gut" and go with the tried and true rereading of the entire chapter or pulling an all-nighter. Science proves that neither of those methods work very well. So I was interested to read an article that explains how Colorado State is using science and technology in a new course that helps students become better learners. My curiosity was piqued because of the College Success Skills course we offer (and I teach) but also because I am fascinated by how our brain really works. The article notes that, "Learning is not intuitive. Research shows a disconnect between what people think are the best ways to learn and the habits that actually lead to true understanding and retention." In my experience, that is true but how can we make learning more intuitive or is that even possible? The article goes on to say, "To that end, students study the research behind different learning strategies. Take cramming, for example. Students learn that, while people estimate they learn better studying all at once versus spacing out their learning, studies show the opposite. Similarly, people perform better when they test themselves on what they know while they are studying, as opposed to reading the same material over and over." That is reassuring as we based our Study Group Program administered by the Academic Learning Center on those very notions (garnered from research in the near past). You can read the entire article here and I encourage you (as you continue to prep for spring 2019) to apply the lessons learned by CSU to your own teaching.

HELP IS ON THE WAY

The Title III Program and Teaching+Learning Center are co-sponsoring a faculty development webinar on Thursday, November 14. Promoting the Development, Achievement and Persistence of Students from Diverse Backgrounds webinar will occur from noon until 1:30 PM in the T+LC (311 Magnolia Bldg.).  This intensive workshop will share effective theory-based programmatic and individual interventions that have resulted in campus environments of support that increase persistence for students of color. In addition to being provided with a wide range of information regarding demographic, educational attainments and other issues related to multicultural/students of color, participants will be provided with strategies that will allow them to improve student success. Upon completion, participants will be able to assist students employing the 0-100% Teaching and Advising Method as a means for promoting greater student responsibility for learning. Registration is now open.

RESEARCH WE CAN USE NOW
A new report on first-generation students could provide us with some valuable information as we continue to implement interventions to improve student retention at BRCC. The report notes that about a quarter of high-school graduates who took the ACT in 2013 met all four of its college-readiness benchmarks, in English, reading, mathematics, and science. But students whose parents did not go to college fared quite a bit worse: Only 9 percent of them met all four benchmarks. We know that many of our students are the first in their family to attempt to earn a college degree. One of the highlights from the report says, “Recent research demonstrates that academically prepared students, as measured by the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks, have greater chances for success in their future educational endeavors. However, academic readiness is just one of several factors that contribute to educational success. The academic behaviors of students and the interest levels in their specific major or career are other key factors. Together, these elements define a clear picture of student readiness for post-secondary education. To encourage progress, the educational system needs to monitor and sustain all key factors of success.”

TESTING IS A LEARNING OPPORTUNITY
Dr. Maryellen Weimer offers us an interesting reminder about testing in a post on The Teaching Professor blog. Her thoughts are consistent with what we discussed in our testing workshop on October 17 but bear repeating. She writes, “We give exams to assess mastery of material—are students learning the course content? With so much emphasis on scores and grades, it’s easy to forget that the process of preparing for, taking, and getting feedback about an exam can also be a learning experience. The learning that results from these processes can be tacit, or teachers can design activities associated with exam events that can result in better content learning and heightened student awareness of the learning skills associated with demonstrating knowledge.” Read more…

WE GOT FLIPPED

The Teaching+Learning Center was filled to overflowing today for Dr. Bill Wischusen's Flipping the Classroom seminar. Dr. Wischusen, the tall gentleman at the front of the T+LC in the pictures above, is associate chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at LSU. He has a number of papers about the scholarship of teaching and learning. The main discussion at today's seminar focused on teaching students skills versus content. Most of the faculty attending agreed that skills were the more important of the two and that content is used to develop the necessary skills. Several of the faculty described how they planned to use what they learned at the interactive seminar today in their classes tomorrow. Sandra Guzman, biology, plans to use video power-points in her courses. Idell Adams, liberal arts, plans to use paired argumentative essays. DeWayne Logan, chemistry (who also picked up the door prize for being the first registrant), wants to implement the use of pre-quizzes. Becky Adcock, veterinary technology, plans to allow her students to make mistakes in the class and then challenge them to discover the correct solution. Wes Harris, English, plans to develop creative and engaging activities to teach skills in-class. Dr. Wischusen led the group through several activities designed to help them determine how they could flip their own classes. The discussion was lively as many of the participants shared their own versions of a flipped classroom using content from their own discipline.

GRANT WORKSHOPS PLANNED FOR APRIL

The Grant Resource Center and Teaching+Learning Center are teaming up to bring you two exciting grant proposal writing workshops. The first is set for April 4 at 3:00 PM and will focus on project construction and approval, researching funding sources, and an explanation of the needs assessment process. The second workshop set for April 11 at 3:00 PM will help you gain insight about the BRCC internal grant process, approval of projects, and proposal writing. Both of the interactive sessions will be held in the Teaching+Learning Center (311 Magnolia). To reserve your spot now, send an email to Ann Zanders at zandersa@mybrcc.edu. Space is limited for both events.

HELPING YOUR STUDENTS LEARN TO LEARN

Dr. Elizabeth Barkley encourages us to help our students to develop learning strategies. She says that we need to help learners become better able to direct and manage their learning by showing them how to use learning strategies. Learning strategies are devices or behaviors that help us retrieve stored information as well as acquire and integrate new information with existing knowledge. They include, for example, previewing, summarizing, paraphrasing, imaging, creating analogies, note taking, and outlining. You can read more about this in Dr. Barkley's outstanding book Student Engagement Techniques: A handbook for college faculty (LB2342.92.B34).