THE DAY THE WORLD STOPPED TURNING
For the past 11 years, we have commemorated of one of the most tragic of days in our nation's history. We join with people around the world who mourn the losses we incurred that horrific day. As educators it is certainly an opportunity to engage with our students about the events of that day. While it easy to imagine tackling this topic in history or political science, there are just as many opportunities to create a discussion in biology, English, or psychology. However you choose to approach it, I hope that you take some time today to honor the memories of all that lost their lives on September 11, 2001.
FREE WEBINAR OPPORTUNITY
There is still time to register for the free webinar How To Help Students Discover Their Ideal Learning Environment that will be held on Thursday, September 13 at 2:00PM. This webinar will focus on a new program being
implemented at Colorado State University, called LifeTraits. This
innovative 20-question assessment is designed to profile both students
and staff to map their individual personalities to their ideal
environments. Unlike other personality profiles, LifeTraits helps
students express the needs and wants they seek in their surroundings and
gives staff a vocabulary to aid in that approach.Some of the specific topics scheduled to be covered include: understanding which students are most likely to drop out and identifying behavior indicators prior to a stressful encounter; identifying the ideal environment/stressors based on student and staff personality; developing strategies for adapting to the environment to promote learning; and, using student personality data to better reach and communicate with students.
ONLINE COURSE REDESIGN TIPS
If you are looking to revise a current or create a new online course, we recommend Dr. Robin M. Smith's book Conquering the Content: A step-by-step guide to online course design (LB 1044.87 S617). Dr. Smith developed and directed the Center for Web-Based Learning at Southern Arkansas University Tech and was the first WebCT trainer in the South Central United States. Not only is her book filled with useful advice, she includes templates and forms that help guide you to create an online course of excellence. Each chapter begins with learning outcomes as she models the behavior she is championing. Levin, Cox, Cerven, and Haberler in their article The Recipe for Promising Practices in Community Colleges identify and examine the key practices of
California community college programs that have demonstrated success in
improving (or that have shown significant potential to improve) the
achievement of underrepresented groups. They note, "Programs in our study were prepared to work with the
students they served while addressing their surrounding social,
geographic, and economic contexts. The college
program with promising practices, often as a result of faculty
behaviors, develops and maintains relationships with local communities,
industries, institutions, and agencies."
Friday, September 7, 2012
NO SUCKERS ALLOWED
As you transform your course using a student-centered approach, you should consider using group work learning experiences. W. Martin Davies has a good research article that outlines the benefits of group work while acknowledging the problems that may arise like free-riding and the sucker effect. The article provides solutions as well as providing a good background for this type of active learning method. Davies notes, "Groupwork is one of the most expedient ways—along with work placements—of ensuring that students develop transferable skills for life-long learning (teamwork, leadership, project management skills, communication skills). This has largely been in response to industry demands for more flexible workers."
DID YOU DO THE READING
Are you assigning reading material but finding that your students never even crack the book open? Using some type of formative assessment will usually solve that problem. One of the more popular methods is to give a reading quiz on the material you assigned. Here is an option suggested by Paulson and Faust at Cal State-L.A. Active learning depends upon students coming to class prepared. The reading quiz can also be used as an effective measure of student comprehension of the readings (so that you may gauge their level of sophistication as readers). Further, by asking the same sorts of questions on several reading quizzes, you will give students guidance as to what to look for when reading assigned text. If you ask questions like "What color were Esmerelda's eyes?" you are telling the student that it is the details that count, whereas questions like "What reason did Esmerelda give, for murdering Sebastian?" highlight issues of justification. If your goal is to instruct (and not merely to coerce), carefully choose questions which will both identify who has read the material (for your sake) and identify what is important in the reading (for their sake).
MODELS OF EXCELENCE
The Aspen Institute holds an annual competition to recognize the best community colleges. In fact, they award $1,000,000 in prizes in addition to the publicity and honor of being chosen. The Institute changed its criteria for evaluating community college performance, and this year's list includes 40 different institutions, meaning one-third of last year's eligible colleges were bumped. The process is based on graduation rates, degrees awarded, student retention rates and equity in student outcomes. Out of the 120 institutions that submitted nomination packets, they have narrowed the competition to ten and that list includes: Brazosport College (TX), Broward College (FL), College of the Ouachitas (AR), Kingborough Community College-CUNY (NY), Lake Area Technical Institute (SD), Santa Barbara City College (CA), Santa Fe College (FL), Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College (KY), Walla Walla Community College (WA), and West Kentucky Community and Technical College (KY). This is definitely a list that BRCC would like to be on next year.
As you transform your course using a student-centered approach, you should consider using group work learning experiences. W. Martin Davies has a good research article that outlines the benefits of group work while acknowledging the problems that may arise like free-riding and the sucker effect. The article provides solutions as well as providing a good background for this type of active learning method. Davies notes, "Groupwork is one of the most expedient ways—along with work placements—of ensuring that students develop transferable skills for life-long learning (teamwork, leadership, project management skills, communication skills). This has largely been in response to industry demands for more flexible workers."
DID YOU DO THE READING
Are you assigning reading material but finding that your students never even crack the book open? Using some type of formative assessment will usually solve that problem. One of the more popular methods is to give a reading quiz on the material you assigned. Here is an option suggested by Paulson and Faust at Cal State-L.A. Active learning depends upon students coming to class prepared. The reading quiz can also be used as an effective measure of student comprehension of the readings (so that you may gauge their level of sophistication as readers). Further, by asking the same sorts of questions on several reading quizzes, you will give students guidance as to what to look for when reading assigned text. If you ask questions like "What color were Esmerelda's eyes?" you are telling the student that it is the details that count, whereas questions like "What reason did Esmerelda give, for murdering Sebastian?" highlight issues of justification. If your goal is to instruct (and not merely to coerce), carefully choose questions which will both identify who has read the material (for your sake) and identify what is important in the reading (for their sake).
MODELS OF EXCELENCE
The Aspen Institute holds an annual competition to recognize the best community colleges. In fact, they award $1,000,000 in prizes in addition to the publicity and honor of being chosen. The Institute changed its criteria for evaluating community college performance, and this year's list includes 40 different institutions, meaning one-third of last year's eligible colleges were bumped. The process is based on graduation rates, degrees awarded, student retention rates and equity in student outcomes. Out of the 120 institutions that submitted nomination packets, they have narrowed the competition to ten and that list includes: Brazosport College (TX), Broward College (FL), College of the Ouachitas (AR), Kingborough Community College-CUNY (NY), Lake Area Technical Institute (SD), Santa Barbara City College (CA), Santa Fe College (FL), Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College (KY), Walla Walla Community College (WA), and West Kentucky Community and Technical College (KY). This is definitely a list that BRCC would like to be on next year.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
HURRICANE ISAAC
The post-Isaac BRCC campus looks amazingly well. We hope that our students, faculty and staff made it through the hurricane unharmed as we make the move back to "normalcy."
GROW YOUR DEPARTMENT
Are you looking to increase the number of majors in your discipline. A panel, Active Learning: Engaging Activities to Create Eager Students, at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association pointed to ways to draw students to your classes. The session featured accounts from faculty members -- at community colleges and four-year institutions who teach both introductory and upper-level courses -- who have moved beyond standard textbook-and-lecture teaching methods to make anthropology more tangible, and make it come alive. What they learned suggests that the best way to save anthropology on college campuses may well be to allow students to actually experience anthropology by using active learning experiences.
BLENDED LEARNING
You may have heard of the term blended learning and wondered what it meant. Blended learning in its simplest form is about having students use online tools to communicate, collaborate, and publish to develop the 21st-century skills they need to succeed. With blended learning, teachers can use online tools and resources as part of their classroom instruction. Using many of the online tools and resources students already are using for social networking, blended teaching helps teachers find an approach that is more engaging for this generation of students. The benefits of blended learning include giving students a variety of ways to demonstrate their knowledge while appealing to diverse learning styles and fostering independent learning and self-directed learning skills in students, a critical capacity for lifelong learners. Liz Pape has more information in her article Blended Teaching and Learning.
WHAT DO YOUR STUDENTS HEAR
Susan M. Brookhart has written a good article on the benefits of formative assessment. She says, "Feedback is effective only if it helps students improve their work. Thus, the most important characteristic of feedback is that students understand it and use it. Whether or not feedback is effective depends on what students need to hear, not what you need to say." She goes on to explain how assessment can help a student improve and gives a number of suggestions for effective feedback.
The post-Isaac BRCC campus looks amazingly well. We hope that our students, faculty and staff made it through the hurricane unharmed as we make the move back to "normalcy."
GROW YOUR DEPARTMENT
Are you looking to increase the number of majors in your discipline. A panel, Active Learning: Engaging Activities to Create Eager Students, at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association pointed to ways to draw students to your classes. The session featured accounts from faculty members -- at community colleges and four-year institutions who teach both introductory and upper-level courses -- who have moved beyond standard textbook-and-lecture teaching methods to make anthropology more tangible, and make it come alive. What they learned suggests that the best way to save anthropology on college campuses may well be to allow students to actually experience anthropology by using active learning experiences.
BLENDED LEARNING
You may have heard of the term blended learning and wondered what it meant. Blended learning in its simplest form is about having students use online tools to communicate, collaborate, and publish to develop the 21st-century skills they need to succeed. With blended learning, teachers can use online tools and resources as part of their classroom instruction. Using many of the online tools and resources students already are using for social networking, blended teaching helps teachers find an approach that is more engaging for this generation of students. The benefits of blended learning include giving students a variety of ways to demonstrate their knowledge while appealing to diverse learning styles and fostering independent learning and self-directed learning skills in students, a critical capacity for lifelong learners. Liz Pape has more information in her article Blended Teaching and Learning.
WHAT DO YOUR STUDENTS HEAR
Susan M. Brookhart has written a good article on the benefits of formative assessment. She says, "Feedback is effective only if it helps students improve their work. Thus, the most important characteristic of feedback is that students understand it and use it. Whether or not feedback is effective depends on what students need to hear, not what you need to say." She goes on to explain how assessment can help a student improve and gives a number of suggestions for effective feedback.
Monday, August 27, 2012
ISAAC GO AWAY
As Tropical Storm Isaac bears down on the Gulf Coast, classes continue at BRCC today but we will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. The "cone of uncertainty" certainly looks like it includes Baton Rouge as a target. Let's hope the whole thing just fizzles out in the Gulf.
READ IT ALOUD FIRST
One of the most common student errors reported by teachers of college writing is construction involving a break in grammatical sequence. Jed Shahar offers us a good intervention that you can try immediately. The best proofreading advice is to tell your students to read their paper aloud before they hand it in. With the prevalence of technology in all forms but especially with smart phones, students now have a new tool at their disposal to help them improve their learning. Suggest that they use the recording feature of their phone to read their paper aloud. Tell them to change their cadence when they notice an error. Once they correct their errors, tell them to read it again. The product is finished when they can read the entire paper without changing their cadence. That should indicate that they have corrected all of their errors. A slight variation is to ask someone else to read it aloud to them. In that way they can make corrections in the moment. Research shows that this intervention can help students notice that their arguments or narratives do not make sense. You can also have them turn in their recordings and use that as part of the grade. If they are using this intervention to improve their writing, you should be willing to give them some sort of credit on the assignment. If you use this intervention, let me know how it works for you and your students.
THIS IS NOT YEAR 13
Some of you have already heard me lament about the use of the terms K-16 or Pre-K-20 to indicate the education process. While I understand the concept in principle, I think it leads many students to assume that the first year of college is just going to be year 13 of high school. You and I both know this is not true. College requires different skills and effort. It is difficult, not unlike high school, but the rewards are lucrative both in terms of potential salary (quality of life issues) and intellectually (developing ideology among other things). College is a time of exploration and discovery. It allows us to explore the things that really interest us. I also think that high school images evoke expectations of social events (prom dances and pep rallies) as well as pedagogy issues (extra credit) which contributes to a "just tell me what is on the test" mentality. My view is not intended to be a slam against high school and many teachers challenge their students in high school. I just think that there is an identifiable difference between high school and college especially when it comes to expectations and college should be different from high school.
LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING
You can always depend on Dr. Maryellen Weimer when it comes to focusing on learner-centered teaching. In fact, her book Learner-Centered Teaching: Five key changes to practice (LB2331 .W39 which is also available in electronic form from the Library) has become an industry standard for faculty development. She recently blogged that she is working on the second edition of the book which caused her to rethink her approach so that she could include new research that others have done using her work. I will give you one of her five characteristics and encourage you to take a look at her book. Weimer says, "Learner-centered teaching motivates students by giving them some control over learning processes. I believe that teachers make too many of the decisions about learning for students. Teachers decide what students should learn, how they learn it, the pace at which they learn, the conditions under which they learn and then teachers determine whether students have learned. Students aren’t in a position to decide what content should be included in the course or which textbook is best, but when teachers make all the decisions, the motivation to learn decreases and learners become dependent. Learner-centered teachers search out ethically responsible ways to share power with students. They might give students some choice about which assignments they complete. They might make classroom policies something students can discuss. They might let students set assignment deadlines within a given time window. They might ask students to help create assessment criteria."
As Tropical Storm Isaac bears down on the Gulf Coast, classes continue at BRCC today but we will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. The "cone of uncertainty" certainly looks like it includes Baton Rouge as a target. Let's hope the whole thing just fizzles out in the Gulf.
READ IT ALOUD FIRST
One of the most common student errors reported by teachers of college writing is construction involving a break in grammatical sequence. Jed Shahar offers us a good intervention that you can try immediately. The best proofreading advice is to tell your students to read their paper aloud before they hand it in. With the prevalence of technology in all forms but especially with smart phones, students now have a new tool at their disposal to help them improve their learning. Suggest that they use the recording feature of their phone to read their paper aloud. Tell them to change their cadence when they notice an error. Once they correct their errors, tell them to read it again. The product is finished when they can read the entire paper without changing their cadence. That should indicate that they have corrected all of their errors. A slight variation is to ask someone else to read it aloud to them. In that way they can make corrections in the moment. Research shows that this intervention can help students notice that their arguments or narratives do not make sense. You can also have them turn in their recordings and use that as part of the grade. If they are using this intervention to improve their writing, you should be willing to give them some sort of credit on the assignment. If you use this intervention, let me know how it works for you and your students.
THIS IS NOT YEAR 13
Some of you have already heard me lament about the use of the terms K-16 or Pre-K-20 to indicate the education process. While I understand the concept in principle, I think it leads many students to assume that the first year of college is just going to be year 13 of high school. You and I both know this is not true. College requires different skills and effort. It is difficult, not unlike high school, but the rewards are lucrative both in terms of potential salary (quality of life issues) and intellectually (developing ideology among other things). College is a time of exploration and discovery. It allows us to explore the things that really interest us. I also think that high school images evoke expectations of social events (prom dances and pep rallies) as well as pedagogy issues (extra credit) which contributes to a "just tell me what is on the test" mentality. My view is not intended to be a slam against high school and many teachers challenge their students in high school. I just think that there is an identifiable difference between high school and college especially when it comes to expectations and college should be different from high school.
LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING
You can always depend on Dr. Maryellen Weimer when it comes to focusing on learner-centered teaching. In fact, her book Learner-Centered Teaching: Five key changes to practice (LB2331 .W39 which is also available in electronic form from the Library) has become an industry standard for faculty development. She recently blogged that she is working on the second edition of the book which caused her to rethink her approach so that she could include new research that others have done using her work. I will give you one of her five characteristics and encourage you to take a look at her book. Weimer says, "Learner-centered teaching motivates students by giving them some control over learning processes. I believe that teachers make too many of the decisions about learning for students. Teachers decide what students should learn, how they learn it, the pace at which they learn, the conditions under which they learn and then teachers determine whether students have learned. Students aren’t in a position to decide what content should be included in the course or which textbook is best, but when teachers make all the decisions, the motivation to learn decreases and learners become dependent. Learner-centered teachers search out ethically responsible ways to share power with students. They might give students some choice about which assignments they complete. They might make classroom policies something students can discuss. They might let students set assignment deadlines within a given time window. They might ask students to help create assessment criteria."
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
WAITING FOR THE CALM
Things seem to be settling in rather nicely for our Fall semester. I am intentionally not bombarding you with emails because I realize the start of any semester is trying. Expect to begin seeing things from me in the next few weeks.
TEACHING NAKED
There is a very interesting story that appeared in the Chronicle a few years ago entitled Teachers Without Technology Strike Back. I usually enjoy the material in the Chronicle but the comments in the discussion section usually validate the use of my time in this way much more. This article certainly created an interesting debate.
GRAPHIC NOVELS ENCOURAGE READING
I also wanted to encourage you to read the piece about Jeremy Short, who is a professor of management at Texas Tech University. He uses a graphic novel in his class instead of a regular textbook. The kicker is he also co-wrote the novel with two co-authors. Having taken a similar management course as an undergrad pursuing a degree in economics, I anxiously took a look at the "new" textbook and found it fascinating and a great example of engaged teaching. Let me know what you think. DEBATE THIS There is also a research article by Ruth Kennedy that reports results from an experiment using in-class debate as a teaching tool. The students in the course believed that participating in and observing in-class debate greatly enhanced their knowledge of the issues surrounding the debate topics covered. Debate is a fantastic active and collaborative learning method and is highly effective for helping students enhance their critical thinking skills.
By the way, if you need to contact me, my office (213 Magnolia) phone number is 216.8534.
Things seem to be settling in rather nicely for our Fall semester. I am intentionally not bombarding you with emails because I realize the start of any semester is trying. Expect to begin seeing things from me in the next few weeks.
TEACHING NAKED
There is a very interesting story that appeared in the Chronicle a few years ago entitled Teachers Without Technology Strike Back. I usually enjoy the material in the Chronicle but the comments in the discussion section usually validate the use of my time in this way much more. This article certainly created an interesting debate.
GRAPHIC NOVELS ENCOURAGE READING
I also wanted to encourage you to read the piece about Jeremy Short, who is a professor of management at Texas Tech University. He uses a graphic novel in his class instead of a regular textbook. The kicker is he also co-wrote the novel with two co-authors. Having taken a similar management course as an undergrad pursuing a degree in economics, I anxiously took a look at the "new" textbook and found it fascinating and a great example of engaged teaching. Let me know what you think. DEBATE THIS There is also a research article by Ruth Kennedy that reports results from an experiment using in-class debate as a teaching tool. The students in the course believed that participating in and observing in-class debate greatly enhanced their knowledge of the issues surrounding the debate topics covered. Debate is a fantastic active and collaborative learning method and is highly effective for helping students enhance their critical thinking skills.
By the way, if you need to contact me, my office (213 Magnolia) phone number is 216.8534.
Monday, August 20, 2012
COMMENCE TEACHING
This has certainly been an eventful day. As our beautiful campus has come alive with bright and eager students, we have begun what promises to be a terrific semester. The Teaching+Learning Center is moving forward and I wanted to let you know that I am now in a temporary office (213 Magnolia). If you come there and do not see me, I may be in the T+LC (311 Magnolia) or out visiting one of your colleagues. If you would like to set an appointment, emailing me at pourciaut@mybrcc.edu is still the best way to reach me.
ACTIVE LEARNING WORKS
Since we are all focused on achieving excellence in our goal of student learning, I want to encourage you to implement proven strategies that will help you become a better teacher while providing your students with an enriching and engaging atmosphere. That requires, according to the research on the scholarship of teaching and learning, that you implement active learning strategies in your courses. Chet Meyers and Thomas Jones offer a solid definition of active learning that is useful as we move forward. They note that active learning consists of three interrelated factors: basic elements, learning strategies, and teaching resources. They state that four elements (talking and listening, writing, reading, and reflecting) singly or in combination are the building blocks common to all active learning strategies. Finally, they conclude that learning is by its very nature an active process that has been reversed by a lecture-first mentality and that different people learn in different ways. You can discover more ideas including active learning interventions in their excellent book Promoting Active Learning: Strategies for the College Classroom (LB 1027.23 .M49) which will be placed on the T+LC bookshelves adjacent to the Center's space in the Magnolia Building.
BEING THE BEST
Ken Bain (What the Best College Teachers Do) says that the best educators think of teaching as anything they might do to help and encourage students to learn. He says it is best to start with four fundamental questions as you begin to decide how to prepare to teach. First, what should your students be able to do intellectually, physically, or emotionally as a result of their learning? Second, how can you best help and encourage them to develop these abilities and the habits of the heart and mind to use them? Third, how can your students and you best understand the nature, quality, and progress of their learning? Fourth, how can you evaluate your efforts to foster that learning? He urges you to remember that everything you do should stem from your strong concern for and understanding of the development of your students.
WE ARE COMMUNITY
The Chronicle of Higher Education recently ran a great story on how community colleges are using real-time data to respond to the needs of their local communities. It is what we do best as institutions of higher learning by fostering open lines of communication between our partners and us.
This has certainly been an eventful day. As our beautiful campus has come alive with bright and eager students, we have begun what promises to be a terrific semester. The Teaching+Learning Center is moving forward and I wanted to let you know that I am now in a temporary office (213 Magnolia). If you come there and do not see me, I may be in the T+LC (311 Magnolia) or out visiting one of your colleagues. If you would like to set an appointment, emailing me at pourciaut@mybrcc.edu is still the best way to reach me.
ACTIVE LEARNING WORKS
Since we are all focused on achieving excellence in our goal of student learning, I want to encourage you to implement proven strategies that will help you become a better teacher while providing your students with an enriching and engaging atmosphere. That requires, according to the research on the scholarship of teaching and learning, that you implement active learning strategies in your courses. Chet Meyers and Thomas Jones offer a solid definition of active learning that is useful as we move forward. They note that active learning consists of three interrelated factors: basic elements, learning strategies, and teaching resources. They state that four elements (talking and listening, writing, reading, and reflecting) singly or in combination are the building blocks common to all active learning strategies. Finally, they conclude that learning is by its very nature an active process that has been reversed by a lecture-first mentality and that different people learn in different ways. You can discover more ideas including active learning interventions in their excellent book Promoting Active Learning: Strategies for the College Classroom (LB 1027.23 .M49) which will be placed on the T+LC bookshelves adjacent to the Center's space in the Magnolia Building.
BEING THE BEST
Ken Bain (What the Best College Teachers Do) says that the best educators think of teaching as anything they might do to help and encourage students to learn. He says it is best to start with four fundamental questions as you begin to decide how to prepare to teach. First, what should your students be able to do intellectually, physically, or emotionally as a result of their learning? Second, how can you best help and encourage them to develop these abilities and the habits of the heart and mind to use them? Third, how can your students and you best understand the nature, quality, and progress of their learning? Fourth, how can you evaluate your efforts to foster that learning? He urges you to remember that everything you do should stem from your strong concern for and understanding of the development of your students.
WE ARE COMMUNITY
The Chronicle of Higher Education recently ran a great story on how community colleges are using real-time data to respond to the needs of their local communities. It is what we do best as institutions of higher learning by fostering open lines of communication between our partners and us.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
CAPTURE THE MOMENT
After we discussed the use of Wordle to create word clouds at the faculty meeting last week, a number of you contacted us to get some more information. Studies suggest that the current generation of traditional college students, often referred to as Millennials, can be engaged through visual stimulation and creative, active learning strategies. The importance of using Wordles in your course is not necessarily about the words used but more about capturing the opinions and emotions of that moment. The thought-provoking images also afford openings to start conversations between and among students and teachers. George Williams offers some alternative uses for Wordle in a piece he wrote for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
DEVELOPMENTALLY SUCCESSFUL
Dr. Peter Bahr's article Does Mathematics Remediation Work?: A Comparative Analysis of Academic Attainment among Community College Students offers evidence that indicates that remedial math programs are highly effective at resolving skill deficiencies. Bahr says that at least three important implications for educational policy may be drawn from this work. First, when mathematics remediation works, it works extremely well. Second, remediation is not simply one of many functions of the community college but is fundamental to the activities of the community college. Third, his analysis suggests that, all else being equal, assisting all remedial math students to remediate successfully may reduce the number of students who enroll in nonvocational math, but do not complete a credential and do not transfer, by as much as two-thirds (65%).
70805 RISES
Baton Rouge Community College is partnering with local entities to provide educational training for the folks living in the 70805 zip code.The training initiative was born out of a partnership among the Capital Area Technical College, Baton Rouge Community College and area companies including Exxon Mobil and Turner Industries. CATC Chief Development Officer Tammy Brown said the initiative calls for 60 people to be selected out of about 150 people who have applied so far to earn free classes in welding, pipe fitting and electrical work. Those students will earn national certification through the program and assistance finding a job with one of the participating sponsors. Baton Rouge Community College Chancellor Andrea Miller added that “it’s always good when businesses are able to connect their needs with the training of the people living in close physical proximity.
After we discussed the use of Wordle to create word clouds at the faculty meeting last week, a number of you contacted us to get some more information. Studies suggest that the current generation of traditional college students, often referred to as Millennials, can be engaged through visual stimulation and creative, active learning strategies. The importance of using Wordles in your course is not necessarily about the words used but more about capturing the opinions and emotions of that moment. The thought-provoking images also afford openings to start conversations between and among students and teachers. George Williams offers some alternative uses for Wordle in a piece he wrote for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
DEVELOPMENTALLY SUCCESSFUL
Dr. Peter Bahr's article Does Mathematics Remediation Work?: A Comparative Analysis of Academic Attainment among Community College Students offers evidence that indicates that remedial math programs are highly effective at resolving skill deficiencies. Bahr says that at least three important implications for educational policy may be drawn from this work. First, when mathematics remediation works, it works extremely well. Second, remediation is not simply one of many functions of the community college but is fundamental to the activities of the community college. Third, his analysis suggests that, all else being equal, assisting all remedial math students to remediate successfully may reduce the number of students who enroll in nonvocational math, but do not complete a credential and do not transfer, by as much as two-thirds (65%).
70805 RISES
Baton Rouge Community College is partnering with local entities to provide educational training for the folks living in the 70805 zip code.The training initiative was born out of a partnership among the Capital Area Technical College, Baton Rouge Community College and area companies including Exxon Mobil and Turner Industries. CATC Chief Development Officer Tammy Brown said the initiative calls for 60 people to be selected out of about 150 people who have applied so far to earn free classes in welding, pipe fitting and electrical work. Those students will earn national certification through the program and assistance finding a job with one of the participating sponsors. Baton Rouge Community College Chancellor Andrea Miller added that “it’s always good when businesses are able to connect their needs with the training of the people living in close physical proximity.
Friday, August 10, 2012
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT KICKOFF
Enjoyed seeing many of you at Vice Chancellor Cross's gathering on Thursday. The feedback I received at the meeting and via email over the last two days has been very positive and validating. Please know that the Teaching+Learning Center is a resource for you so let us know how we can help.
INCREASING STUDENT PARTICIPATION
Dr. Kelly Rocca discovered why students do and do not participate in class by reviewing articles on the topic from 1958 until 2009. Based on the literature review, Rocca names five factors that influence whether or not a student chooses to participate in class including: logistics (mainly class size-smaller is better); confidence and classroom apprehension (intimidation from classroom extraverts); personality traits (low self-esteem and non-assertiveness); instructor and classroom climate (not paying attention to students, making fun of their answers, being overly critical, sarcasm, moodiness and aloofness); and, gender differences (this is subsiding as the population of colleges shifts to majority female, a statistic that matches the faculty more). Some of these factors may be out of your control but it is clear that your attitude and approach is very influential in setting the right classroom environment that promotes learning.
TAKING YOUR CLASS TEMPERATURE
A terrific article in College Teaching gives us some valuable insight into how formative assessment can reveal the level of student learning in our courses. The group of researchers list a number of great interventions that can be used to gauge the temperature of your class. For instance, assignment blogs are designed to encourage communication, collaboration, and dissemination of feedback but are great way to gather questions from your students and provide feedback about certain aspects of an assignment. Blogs are open-access, so if a student asks a good question, all of the other students will benefit from that exchange. Teachers can also use the assignment blog to identify general areas of concern based on previous student work or to offer feedback to the class as a whole thereby allowing students the opportunity to self-assess. It also creates a great engagement opportunity between faculty and students and peer to peer. This activity will also help to improve your student's ability to think critically.
PREPPING FOR CLASS
August 20 is rapidly approaching but there is still time to review your syllabus. Make sure you are listing all of the course requirements and be very specific about due dates and your policy on accepting late work.
ART MATTERS
Finally, we want to post one of the new pieces that have recently gone on display in the Magnolia Building. The work shown is called Something Borrowed, Something Blue by BRCC faculty member Steve Schmitt.
Enjoyed seeing many of you at Vice Chancellor Cross's gathering on Thursday. The feedback I received at the meeting and via email over the last two days has been very positive and validating. Please know that the Teaching+Learning Center is a resource for you so let us know how we can help.
INCREASING STUDENT PARTICIPATION
Dr. Kelly Rocca discovered why students do and do not participate in class by reviewing articles on the topic from 1958 until 2009. Based on the literature review, Rocca names five factors that influence whether or not a student chooses to participate in class including: logistics (mainly class size-smaller is better); confidence and classroom apprehension (intimidation from classroom extraverts); personality traits (low self-esteem and non-assertiveness); instructor and classroom climate (not paying attention to students, making fun of their answers, being overly critical, sarcasm, moodiness and aloofness); and, gender differences (this is subsiding as the population of colleges shifts to majority female, a statistic that matches the faculty more). Some of these factors may be out of your control but it is clear that your attitude and approach is very influential in setting the right classroom environment that promotes learning.
TAKING YOUR CLASS TEMPERATURE
A terrific article in College Teaching gives us some valuable insight into how formative assessment can reveal the level of student learning in our courses. The group of researchers list a number of great interventions that can be used to gauge the temperature of your class. For instance, assignment blogs are designed to encourage communication, collaboration, and dissemination of feedback but are great way to gather questions from your students and provide feedback about certain aspects of an assignment. Blogs are open-access, so if a student asks a good question, all of the other students will benefit from that exchange. Teachers can also use the assignment blog to identify general areas of concern based on previous student work or to offer feedback to the class as a whole thereby allowing students the opportunity to self-assess. It also creates a great engagement opportunity between faculty and students and peer to peer. This activity will also help to improve your student's ability to think critically.
PREPPING FOR CLASS
August 20 is rapidly approaching but there is still time to review your syllabus. Make sure you are listing all of the course requirements and be very specific about due dates and your policy on accepting late work.
ART MATTERS
Finally, we want to post one of the new pieces that have recently gone on display in the Magnolia Building. The work shown is called Something Borrowed, Something Blue by BRCC faculty member Steve Schmitt.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
SHOULD I WEAR SHORTS AND FLIP FLOPS
James Lang's book On Course: A Week-by-week Guide to Your First Semester of College Teaching is filled with wonderful tips for new and veteran teachers. The BRCC Libary has it available as an ebook which is terrific since access is unlimited. Lang says, "the teaching process starts with the construction of the syllabus, the document that will guide you and your students throughout the course. The process of drafting the syllabus forces you to think about the learning objectives you want to establish for the students in the course, and those objectives should be formulated by answering a simple question: What should students know or be able to do as a result of taking this course? Put more broadly, when students walk out of the final exam, or hand you that final paper, in what ways will you have changed them?" One of the best pieces of advice, in a book filled with nuggets of gold, is to spend the first day of class demonstrating what will happen for the rest of the term. Do not let them go early, or if you do, let it be 10 minutes at the most. Engage them in an active learning experience to set the tone and by all means, have them read and share the class syllabus. Research proves that one of the best ways to learn about something is to teach it. Lang has a great icebreaker in his book that asks the students to "teach" the syllabus. It is really a think-pair-share learning experience.
WHEN STUDENTS CARE, THEY LEARN
Stanford Erickson, in his book The Essence of Good Teaching, writes that a student's engagement with a subject matter becomes ignited when it is linked to their lives in some way. He says, "students learn what they care about and remember what they understand." This is a great reminder as you approach each learning experience you plan to implement in your course.
TEACHER EDUCATION
The New York Times reports that up to 25 states are moving toward changing the way they grant licenses to teachers, de-emphasizing tests and written essays in favor of a more demanding approach that requires aspiring teachers to prove themselves through lesson plans, homework assignments and videotaped instruction sessions. The change is an attempt to ensure that those who become teachers not only know education theories, but also can show the ability to lead classrooms and handle students of differing abilities and needs, often amid limited resources.
SHINING EYES
If you haven't heard of Benjamin Zander yet, you are in for a real treat. There are a number of videos on YouTube featuring this inspirational speaker who also happens to be a world-renowned conductor. One of my favorite quotes of his about what teaching is all about comes from his Shining Eyes clip. He says that our job as teachers is "to awaken possibility in other people."
James Lang's book On Course: A Week-by-week Guide to Your First Semester of College Teaching is filled with wonderful tips for new and veteran teachers. The BRCC Libary has it available as an ebook which is terrific since access is unlimited. Lang says, "the teaching process starts with the construction of the syllabus, the document that will guide you and your students throughout the course. The process of drafting the syllabus forces you to think about the learning objectives you want to establish for the students in the course, and those objectives should be formulated by answering a simple question: What should students know or be able to do as a result of taking this course? Put more broadly, when students walk out of the final exam, or hand you that final paper, in what ways will you have changed them?" One of the best pieces of advice, in a book filled with nuggets of gold, is to spend the first day of class demonstrating what will happen for the rest of the term. Do not let them go early, or if you do, let it be 10 minutes at the most. Engage them in an active learning experience to set the tone and by all means, have them read and share the class syllabus. Research proves that one of the best ways to learn about something is to teach it. Lang has a great icebreaker in his book that asks the students to "teach" the syllabus. It is really a think-pair-share learning experience.
WHEN STUDENTS CARE, THEY LEARN
Stanford Erickson, in his book The Essence of Good Teaching, writes that a student's engagement with a subject matter becomes ignited when it is linked to their lives in some way. He says, "students learn what they care about and remember what they understand." This is a great reminder as you approach each learning experience you plan to implement in your course.
TEACHER EDUCATION
The New York Times reports that up to 25 states are moving toward changing the way they grant licenses to teachers, de-emphasizing tests and written essays in favor of a more demanding approach that requires aspiring teachers to prove themselves through lesson plans, homework assignments and videotaped instruction sessions. The change is an attempt to ensure that those who become teachers not only know education theories, but also can show the ability to lead classrooms and handle students of differing abilities and needs, often amid limited resources.
SHINING EYES
If you haven't heard of Benjamin Zander yet, you are in for a real treat. There are a number of videos on YouTube featuring this inspirational speaker who also happens to be a world-renowned conductor. One of my favorite quotes of his about what teaching is all about comes from his Shining Eyes clip. He says that our job as teachers is "to awaken possibility in other people."
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
GETTING STARTED
Welcome to the blog for the Teaching+Learning Center at Baton Rouge Community College. The Teaching+Learning Center, located in room 311 of the Magnolia Building, is coming together nicely. The goal is to build a center of excellence for all of the faculty, staff, and students at Baton Rouge Community College. We will use this blog to let you know of the progress. We also want to ignite a conversation on campus about the scholarship of teaching and learning, specific to BRCC but also in broader terms when it is appropriate. We are working on a website that will be your one-stop shop for everything about teaching and learning at BRCC. We encourage you to become a follower of this blog. In that way, you will be notified anytime we post updates. Feel free to send us comments as well. This is meant to be an interactive way to discuss the issues important to you. As we move closer to the start of the Fall semester, look for posts about the first day of class, how to engage with students, and implementing active learning in your classes. T+LC is your resource so let us know what you need. You can reach us by phone at 216-8629 or by email at pourciaut@mybrcc.edu. We are planning to begin to create a special resource for you based on the current collection of the Library. Outside of the T+LC are bookshelves that the Library has reserved for our use. We will be placing recommended books there for your use. You will have access to them just as you do anything else that circulates. We will begin to highlight that material here and once our website is up, it will include a PDF link with the recommended reading list. For now, let us recommend two books to get you started. In the brief time remaining before classes begin we suggest you read Ken Bain's masterpiece What the Best College Teachers Do (LB 2331 .B34 2004). In addition, if you are looking for some very effective classroom assessment techniques, you should check out Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross's excellent Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers (LB 2822.75 .A54 1993). We close with a quote from Bain, "The best educators think of teaching as anything they might do to help and encourage students to learn."
Welcome to the blog for the Teaching+Learning Center at Baton Rouge Community College. The Teaching+Learning Center, located in room 311 of the Magnolia Building, is coming together nicely. The goal is to build a center of excellence for all of the faculty, staff, and students at Baton Rouge Community College. We will use this blog to let you know of the progress. We also want to ignite a conversation on campus about the scholarship of teaching and learning, specific to BRCC but also in broader terms when it is appropriate. We are working on a website that will be your one-stop shop for everything about teaching and learning at BRCC. We encourage you to become a follower of this blog. In that way, you will be notified anytime we post updates. Feel free to send us comments as well. This is meant to be an interactive way to discuss the issues important to you. As we move closer to the start of the Fall semester, look for posts about the first day of class, how to engage with students, and implementing active learning in your classes. T+LC is your resource so let us know what you need. You can reach us by phone at 216-8629 or by email at pourciaut@mybrcc.edu. We are planning to begin to create a special resource for you based on the current collection of the Library. Outside of the T+LC are bookshelves that the Library has reserved for our use. We will be placing recommended books there for your use. You will have access to them just as you do anything else that circulates. We will begin to highlight that material here and once our website is up, it will include a PDF link with the recommended reading list. For now, let us recommend two books to get you started. In the brief time remaining before classes begin we suggest you read Ken Bain's masterpiece What the Best College Teachers Do (LB 2331 .B34 2004). In addition, if you are looking for some very effective classroom assessment techniques, you should check out Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross's excellent Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers (LB 2822.75 .A54 1993). We close with a quote from Bain, "The best educators think of teaching as anything they might do to help and encourage students to learn."
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