We have spent the spring 2017 semester pushing the idea of students forming and/or joining study groups. It is a proven student success strategy that is supported by lots of research. If you are looking to finish the semester strong, why not try a team-based learning approach. Not only will it help students who may be struggling to put it all together but it builds on the idea that study groups are useful. Jim Sibly and Pete Ostafichuk have a newly released book on the concept of team-based learning that was reviewed by Deborah Davis. She writes, "this  book  not  only  provides all  of  the  “how-to”  steps  but  also  the  intellectual  reasoning for making a change to TBL, as many faculty were taught to teach via lecture. As a form of problem-based learning, it fits into many different classroom structures and topics by adding a structured, collaborative  element.  This book  is  especially  beneficial  for those who are interested in exploring an active-learning format for the first time because it is structured in such a way that  emphasizes  direct  applicability.  From  an overview  of  the methodology to research to specific examples and tools, the book includes basic information for implementing TBL in virtually any discipline." You can read the full review here. If you are looking for assistance with implementing TBL, please contact the Center for Teaching+Learning Enhancement. If you or your students need help with anything related to study groups, please contact Academic Support Specialist Barbara Linder.

ENCOURAGING STUDY GROUPS AND EXAM PREP
Do you spend class time on exam reviews? Dr. Maryellen Weimer provides a concise list of ways you can handle this efficiently during class. She writes, "Here are two frequently asked questions about exam review sessions: (1) Is it worth devoting class time to review, and (2) How do you get students, rather than the teacher, doing the reviewing? Instead of answering those questions directly, I decided a more helpful response might be a set of activities that can make exam review sessions more effective." If you don't have the extra time in your classes, you should suggest that your students form study groups. They can book a study room in the Academic Learning Center or the Library. If they let you know when and where they are meeting, you can even stop by for a 15-minute check-in to see if they have any questions.

DIGITAL DISTRACTIONS ON THE RISE
Have you noticed an increase in the amount of time students spend on their electronic devices, even during class time? A recent study showed that on average, students use their devices 11.43 times in a typical class.  The digital distractions research also tried to determine student's motivation for using their devices during class when it obviously can cause them to miss important material. The study even asks them about what they think the consequences should be for students caught using their devices despite being warned or banned. You can find an overview of the study here.

IS A BLENDED CLASS IN YOUR FUTURE
As our online program continues to grow both in numbers of students and in the courses we are offering, the progression to hybrid or blended classes is a natural progression. We are already offering some hybrid classes but would certainly like to grow the number. The great thing about hybrid class (identified by classes that meet mostly online but have a few face-to-face sessions) is the student success rate is usually higher than either fully online or traditional face-to-face classes. Here is an interesting story about the growth of this type of delivery method. If you are interested in learning more about offering a hybrid class, please contact Susan Nealy.

Academic Success Strategies For All Students

The ability to help students improve their academic performance is enhanced by their participation in study groups. This fact is revealed by research like Kalaian, Kasim, and Nims report that appeared in the Journal of Technology Education (Spring 2018). The meta-analytic results showed that cooperative learning, collaborative learning, problem-based learning, and peer-led team learning pedagogies were effective. The Academic Learning Center (ALC) has been providing assistance to students looking to create and manage study groups for several years now. They have a suite of resources about how to create a study group that works for all participants including organization and leadership instructions. As the classroom (onsite or virtually) is one of the best conduits for forming these types of academic success groups, I encourage you to reach out to Ms. Nina Joshi at the ALC. Working in unison, our faculty and ALC can help our students be more successful and we owe it to our students to make them aware of this academic support resource.

Our summer session starts on June 5 and as veterans will tell you, it moves quickly. Students accustomed to the (somewhat) more leisurely pace of fall and spring, usually underestimate the time they now have to stay current and fully prepare for assessments. This is an area where you as an instructor can really help. Spend some time in the first class session allowing your students to create a semester calendar. Remind them to mark off all of the dates when the big projects, tests, and presentations are due. Their calendar should also include the other events that require a lot of their time like jobs, possibly travel time, etc. In this way, they can begin to see the times when they are free to read, study, consolidate notes, or meet with a study group. Getting off to a quick start is paramount in semesters that have limited sessions. Please remind your students that there will be a sign-up table to join Study Groups for the summer in the Magnolia Building during the June 5-8 week from 9 am until 3 pm each day. If you need more information, please contact Academic Support Specialist Barbara Linder ( linderb@mybrcc.edu or 216.8228). Study groups can really provide that needed support during abbreviated semesters. Good luck on the upcoming semester.

RETENTION, PROGRESSION AND THE TAKING OF ONLINE COURSES
As the amount of students taking an eLearning course at BRCC continues to grow, our focus on student success in courses offered online also grows. Scott James, Karen Swan and Cassandra Daston conducted some interesting research in the area of student success in face-to-face (f2f) and online classes. What they found was there really is no difference. Just as students experience success barriers in f2f classes, the same can happen in online classes. One of the more interesting findings is that older students typically have higher retention rates than younger students in the online environment. They conclude the article with the validation that online courses offer the best access to the widest number of students. You can read the entire article here.

MORE SUPPORT FOR STUDY GROUPS
By now we are used to hearing about issues related to student success and persistence. We also know that it is rarely one issue that causes a student to fail. Elizabeth J. Krumrei, Fred B. Newton, Eunhee Kim, and Dan Wilcox took a look at the various factors that can assist student success. Their findings are useful because they specifically sought to identify real solutions that could be implemented to help students succeed. They write, "An initial strategy is to help students increase opportunities for successful performance. Professionals can aid students in selecting courses in which success is probable. Second, finding role models in the domain where the student lacks efficacy is a helpful strategy for increasing self-efficacy. Students can be encouraged to observe peers who are performing successfully (this is where our Spring 2017 Student Success Initiative: Study Groups can play a big part). You can find more solutions in the full article here.

ARE YOUR READY FOR YOUR STUDENTS AND ARE THEY READY FOR YOU
I find it fascinating to look at lists and I can say with confidence that most of us do. If not, why would so many of the websites we browse provide lists of things like most viewed article, top story of the day, or other articles you might be interested in? The most read article from the Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice is "Are College Faculty and First-Generation, Low-Income Students Ready for Each Other?" Now I think we can all understand why it would be popular. Doesn't the title just draw you in wanting for more? So I did take a look at the article and found it to be useful. Three major findings that emerged from the study are: (a) faculty beliefs about student readiness impact the degree to which faculty serve as cultural agents for First-Generation Low-Income (FGLI) students, (b) faculty who serve as cultural agents enact particular practices and dispositions that enable students to become more academically prepared, and (c) FGLI students arrive at college with diverse forms of readiness that require varying forms of nurturing and support. Read the entire article here.

STUDY GROUPS AIMED AT BUILDING STUDENT SUCCESS
Happy New Year to all of the BRCC family. This morning we unveiled the Student Success Initiative for the spring 2017 semester. The idea was developed by a Faculty Learning Community that included Dr. Amy Atchley, Alexandra Cavazos, Pearce Cinman, Dr. Sandra Guzman, Steven Keeton, Richard Long, Mollye Russell, and Kathleen Schexnayder. Faculty attending this morning's session also heard from current BRCC students Jennifer Burgess (who also serves as the SGA President and on the LCTCS Board of Supervisors), Taylor Cranford, and Matthew Joslyn. Both faculty and students pointed out numerous reasons that study groups improve student success. As I mentioned at the session, the support material to be shared with your students is now posted on the Teaching and Learning Faculty Development Canvas site under the Study Group Module (including the syllabus blurb). Should you have any questions, please contact me or one of the FLC members.

FIRST DAY OF CLASS ACTIVITY
Looking for an opening day activity to start the semester off in a positive direction? Here is something I have used in the past that not only allowed my students to think more deeply about how they learn but also gave me a real-time snapshot of who they are as learners. Ask students to divide a sheet of paper in half. Then tell them to list the best class they had on the left side and the worst class they had on the right. Suggest that they describe why each class was good and bad. Ask them to list the things the instructor did in each class (while reminding them that names of courses and instructors are not important for this exercise). If they slow down while answering, feel free to add some of your own thoughts to the lists. You should have a pretty clear portrait of both classes in about 10 minutes. At that point, tell your students that you want this class to be the best class they have ever had. Point to the items they shared from the best side and let them know that you will be using some of the same approaches. Finish by telling them that the best class experience requires that they be totally engaged as well. You can also use the information you gather to enhance your class throughout the semester.

STARTING OFF RIGHT
Have you ever used a syllabus quiz to begin your semester? If not, I would strongly encourage you to do so. It is very easy to develop a quiz using Canvas. In that way, once the student completes the quiz, they receive their score immediately. In addition I would encourage you to allow the students to take the quiz until they receive all of the available points. This is a great indicator of what kind of persistence each of your students is bringing to the class. Students who don't earn all of the points are already indicating that they may have some persistence issues and that should be a red flag for you. It is easy to take the next step and talk with those students reminding them of the academic support provided in the Academic Learning Center. The syllabus quiz is also a great indicator for students that this document is very important and should be consulted throughout the semester and not just during the first class.

HOW AM I DOING
It is about that time when we begin to give some sort of assessment, whether it is tests on the first 3-4 chapters, a writing essay, or some other formative assessment that is usually medium to high stakes. So I thought I would spend some time on this topic. First, I would like to urge you to strongly encourage your students to partner with a study-buddy or to create a study group for each of their classes. Research proves over and over again that these types of collaboration are significant. If they are looking for study space, send them to the Academic Learning Center first. They can also access tutors to help them in their review. You might even ask them what day and time they are meeting so that you can stop in and answer any questions they may have.

LET'S START A STUDY GROUP
Dr. Maryellen Weimer has written a nice synopsis about ways we can help students improve their study sessions. She writes, "How should I be studying for the exam? Students tend to be pretty generic in their thinking about study strategies. “I’ll go over my notes” and “I’ll reread what I’ve highlighted in the text.” If your students don’t have stellar study skills, a list of possible study strategies might be helpful in guiding this discussion in small groups or with the whole class. Recommend what research in cognitive psychology has shown promotes learning and test performance: studying for shorter periods across several days, testing knowledge with questions (those in the book, provided by the teacher, or made up on their own), working on different types of problems, reviewing with a study buddy, and reworking (not recopying) class notes." Continue reading her article here.

POST-ASSESSMENT IS CRUCIAL
We know why we are giving assessment tests, papers and the like but are you sure your students truly understand the purpose? Any type of graded material that provides good feedback will allow the student to understand just what they have or have not learned. It can be an indication that they have learned the material well enough to move on or they may need to return to some of the resources to better understand the material. Pointing that out to them is vitally important. Lolita Paff has a good post on her blog about other types of assessment follow-up that can be beneficial for your students.

We are deep into mid-terms week at BRCC. The signs are everywhere. Like the number of eLearning students cheeking into the Testing Center and the increase of students visiting with a tutor in the Academic Learning Center. You will also notice study groups meeting in the library. This is an important week for teaching and learning but what happens when the tests are returned to the students? That is a great teachable moment to help students understand what assessment is all about. Yes, they receive a grade but it is also very important for students to realize what the assessment results can tell them. Remind them that the questions they missed indicate a gap in their learning. Encourage them to use the results to revise or repeat their preparation habits. Ask them to jot down how they prepared for the assessment and to use that to make adjustments for the future. Share with them that testing and assessment should not be a one-and-done type of activity. It is a useful tool that helps them connect their new knowledge to the past and sets a firm foundation for the future. If you have students who are unhappy with their mid-term grades, now is a great time to encourage them to join a study group. There is a simple sign-up process using Canvas here. If they need additional help related to creating or joining a study group, ask them to contact Academic Support Specialist Barbara Linder by email or phone (216.8228). 

USING BLACKBOARD TOOLS TO LIGHTEN YOUR TEACHING LOAD
For many of us, using Blackboard for the basics (posting grades, attendance, syllabus) is about all we do. But there are so many other ways to exploit the great tools on Blackboard to make our teaching less stressful. The Blackboard Professional Development Series continues with a workshop on October 23. We will gather at 1:00 pm in the Teaching+Learning Center (311 Magnolia Building/Mid City Campus) to learn from eLearning Program Manager Susan Nealy about the wonders of Blackboard. Reserve your spot now before you leave for your fall holidays. Then bring your questions to the workshop next Thursday and get ready to be amazed.

INSPIRATION FOR A MATH COLLEAGUE
Sometimes we need some inspiration to keep our energy levels high for our students. This story by Jessica Lahey in the Atlantic does just that for me. She has written about Dr. Steven Strogatz, Professor of Mathematics at Cornell, and his quest to right the wrongs of bad math teachers in your past. She asked him why a veteran professor of higher math choose to spend a semester in the company of undergraduates, many of whom would rather visit the dentist than spend two hours a week exploring mathematical concepts. The short answer is that Strogatz has discovered a certain thrill in rectifying the crimes and misdemeanors of math education. Strogatz asks his students, more than half of them seniors, to provide a “mathematical biography.” Their stories reveal unpleasant experiences with math along the way. Rather than question the quality of the teaching they received, they blamed math itself—or worse, their own intelligence or lack of innate talent. Strogatz loves the challenge, “There's something remarkable about working with a group of students who think they hate math or find it boring, and then turning them around, even just a little bit.”

ACTIVE METHOD THAT IMPROVES LEARNING
An article by Drs. J. Nestojko, D. Bui, N. Kornell, and E. Bjork that recently appeared in the journal Memory and Cognition, declares that students learn things better when they think they are going to have to teach the material. The research paper reports that fifty-six undergrads were split into two groups. One group were told that they had 10 minutes to study a 1500-word passage about fictional depictions of The Charge of The Light Brigade, and that they would be tested on it afterwards. The other group were similarly given 10 minutes to study the text, but they were told that afterwards they would have to teach the content to another student. Neither group was allowed to take notes. In fact, 25 minutes after the study period was over, both groups were tested on the passage. Specifically they had to recall as much information as possible from the article, and then they faced specific questions about the content. The students who thought they were going to teach the material recalled more facts from the text, and they did so more quickly. They showed a specific advantage for the main points in the text, and their recall was also better organized, tending to reflect the structure of the original text. This active learning method could be adapted to almost any course at BRCC. Let me know if you try it.

This is the time of year when we can smell the fear in the air. It is the end of the semester and that means that finals are just around the corner. Our students anxiety levels are raised and some of them begin to panic. But it doesn't have to be this way. Maryellen Weimer posted a letter to students about finals back in December 2016. It is still a great piece and the relevance echoes throughout higher education. I also found it very useful in teaching College Success Skills (CSSK 1023) as we spend a good amount of time on helping students figure out how they learn best. Weimer begins where we also begin in CSSK--start with a plan. Very often students jump into finals prep with no game plan and that is surely a recipe for disaster. One of my favorite parts of the post is this gem: "Believe in yourself. Your brain is plenty big enough to handle any question I might toss at you. You’ve just got to get the information stored in a place where you can retrieve it. Build connections between the new material and what you already know. Short-term memory is like a sponge—once it gets full, it drips. If you truly understand something, it’s much less likely to leak out." I strongly encourage you to share this letter with your students. We have sent it to the student who are participating in study groups and have received some positive feedback from them as well (letting your students know it is peer-endorsed may get them to read it). You might also remind them that the Academic Learning Center provides assistance for all students and the Long Night Against Procrastination is occurring on May 2 from 4:00 until 10:00 pm in the Magnolia Building on the Mid City Campus.

BECOMING A POWERFUL TEACHER
Rob Jenkins, who writes for The Chronicle of Higher Education, wrote a provocative article recently focusing on what he feels are the four properties powerful teachers need to have or develop. He begins the article noting that we are in a teaching renaissance period where a "renewed interest and commitment to the subject [has occurred] across academe. He writes, "As a faculty member for almost 30 years, I have been inspired and motivated by all of the online chatter. Those experiences have led me to conclude that, when we boil down all the metrics, we’re left with four qualities that all powerful teachers possess. I’m not just talking about adequate, effective, or even good teachers. I’m talking about the ones who most move us, who have made the most difference in our lives, and whom we most wish to emulate. Perhaps we can’t all be that kind of teacher, but I suspect many of us at least aspire to be. So what makes those teachers so great?" Read more here.

THE VIDEO EXPLOSION
Casey Fabris posted a blog article focused on the prevalence of the use of videos in our classrooms. Fabris quotes a new study that found that 68 percent of students watch videos in class, and 79 percent watch them on their own time, outside of class, to assist in their learning. Perhaps not surprisingly, the study found that students do not like videos with speakers who are monotonous, appear nervous, or do not make eye contact with the camera. Videos with animations, real-world examples, and new material were well received. The ideal length of a video ranged from five to 20 minutes. Most students, according to the study, go to YouTube to look for educational videos. They also use Google and frequent course websites. Very few students rely on the library for such materials, with only 32 percent of respondents saying they had searched for videos on their library’s website.

PROJECT CANVAS STARTS
As you know, we will begin using the Canvas LMS during the summer term at the College. Several of you are participating in the eLearning faculty certification spring institute which is being delivered using Canvas. We will be offering several informational sessions about Canvas at our campuses and sites in the coming weeks. Those will be followed by more hands-on sessions designed to help you build your courses. You can start acclimating yourself with the new LMS in a few ways. The first is by using Canvas to build your course content. The second is to join Canvas Community 2.0 which is being offered as a sneak peek now. The Canvas Community is home to all the resources that Instructure provides to help Canvas users succeed (the Canvas Guides, Video Tutorials, Sample Courses, etc.) Users can find answers to questions about Canvas through these resources and from one another in the community forums.The Canvas Community 2.0 will also be a place where Canvas users can connect and interact with Instructure and with each other to discuss and share best practices, ideas for new Canvas features, and even coalesce into community groups of practice and interest including institutions, geographies, roles (e.g. teachers, instructional designers) and other common interests (e.g. all business schools, schools with unique needs).

If an instructor delivers a lecture and no one learns anything, did teaching really take place? Is this one of your recurring nightmares? I know I spend a lot of time assessing the effectiveness of my teaching and this question really resonates with me. I just finished a good article by Alla Kushniryk and Kenneth J. Levine about multitasking (or switch-tasking as some of the literature describes it). It validates what others have discovered as well; basically that it is very difficult for anyone to listen well and write good notes that will allow them to learn. They write, "It was found that multitasking significantly decreased performances on both the listening and writing tasks. The experiment also uncovered that the degree of social presence did not affect students’ performances on the listening or writing tasks in the learning environment. The perceived degree of social presence was the same in the virtual- and live-presenter groups." The social presence portion of their findings is crucial information for our eLearning colleagues. Teaching in an online or hybrid environment presents its own challenges but this research notes that learning can be done well even when the mode of delivery isn't in the traditional face-to-face version. The scientists did add, "In the virtual-presenter condition, the participants of the study might consider the listening task as being secondary and the writing task as being the most important." Understanding how learners perform in different settings is crucial if we are to deepen our understanding of effective teaching. This study certainly helps but more should be done to discover what works best in 21st century learning environments.

STEM LEARNING CYCLE
Most of you are familiar with the active learning paradigm that encourages students to listen, write, read, discuss, and apply new knowledge so that it becomes part of their long-term memories. Dr. Rodger Bybee and his colleagues have come up with a similar pedagogy based on teaching in the sciences. It is called the 5E Learning Cycle and is based on the constructivist view of learning. The five E's are engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. Using this process allows the instructor to identify and challenge students' misconceptions and provide students time to explore, investigate, and reconstruct their knowledge. You can learn more about this process in the article Which Comes First-Language or Content? in the Science Teacher magazine (April/May 2016).

HELPING STUDENTS LEARN ONLINE
When teaching in a traditional classroom, we are often able to assess how our students learning best through observation, low-stakes feedback, or by using active learning methods. So how does that work in an online environment? Adrienne Erin has an interesting post about just that. "Different Learning Styles: How to balance your eLearning program" describes the way different learners might be motivated to learn. She notes, "Learners work alone, in groups or with instructors. Interactions with others are either synchronous or asynchronous. Because of its open-ended nature, eLearning has exceptional advantages. Learners can be located anywhere in the world, as long as an ISP is available." Read more here. To learn more about the dual coding theory, click here.

IT'S JUST A TEST
With the final exam period beginning on Monday, you may notice that your students are more tense and anxious. This is certainly understandable as they struggle to indicate to you what they have learned and how they can apply it. Dr. Maryellen Weimer has posted an informational piece about how you can help your students lower their anxiety and produce their best work. She writes, " Teachers can’t cure test anxiety. But they can offer remedies that students should be encouraged to try. Information about good study strategies should be included in every course. Sometimes that information is more persuasive if it comes from fellow classmates. Discussion of the study strategies used for the test ought to be part of the debrief session." Read more here.

FORGET THE REPETITIVE DRILLING METHOD
Drs. Bob Bjork, Tim Lee, and Dick Schmidt partnered together to see if they could use their repetitive drill research results culled from the sports world to good use in their classrooms. Schmidt explains that repetitive drilling on the same task is called “block practice.” You do the same thing, over and over, in one block of activity. He argues that a better way to learn is to practice several new things in succession, a technique called “variable practice” or “interleaving.” So a golfer would interleave her exercises at the range by aiming at different targets each time, by mixing up the kinds of shots she takes or switching the clubs she uses. Researchers say that the problem with “drill and kill” and other kinds of blocked study isn’t just that they’re boring. They also stunt student learning. “There are always two steps to solving a problem: identify the solving strategy, and then execute it,” Dr. Doug Rohrer said. “In blocked study, [students] know that this is a unit on, say, the Pythagorean theorem, so they don’t need to choose a strategy. All they have to do is execute, over and over.” When instructors give homework sets made up of only one kind of problem, they deny their students the chance to practice choosing a solving strategy. Later, when students are faced with a mix of types of problems on an exam, they’re unprepared. Read more here. You can listen to a vlog post about some of the big ideas coming out of brain science here.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR PBL
That is the question being asked by Suzie Boss in her blog post about Project-based learning. She writes, we don't have a crystal ball, but there's ample evidence to suggest that we're at a PBL inflection point. Increasing numbers of schools and entire districts are adopting project-based learning for at least part of their students' learning experience. Some districts that have had success with PBL at the high school level are starting to introduce this instructional strategy earlier, creating a pipeline that starts in the elementary years. These systemic shifts are happening in public schools, charters, and independent schools. We expect the phrase "deeper learning" will continue to gain traction to describe the multifaceted outcomes of project-based learning. Deeper learning gets at the increased academic rigor called for in the Common Core State Standards, but it doesn't stop there. It's also about preparing young people to be good citizens, developing their sense of agency. What's more, deeper learning involves the habits of mind, dispositions, and skills like collaboration that are reinforced through PBL.

FLIPPING CREATES NEW TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES
Flipped learning is more than just an efficient way to teach. It is also an opportunity to take students to deeper levels of comprehension and engagement. One of the most important benefits of flipped learning is that it takes the instructor away from the front of the room. No longer is class focused on information dissemination, but instead, time can be spent helping students with difficult concepts and extending the learning to deeper levels. Perhaps the greatest benefit of flipped learning is that it gives instructors more time to interact with students one-to-one and in small groups. Instructors are using the time that was once used for direct instruction in a variety of ways to deepen student learning. Jon Bergmann offers three tips on how you can use the extra time you create in classrooms by using a flipped active learning method to enhance deeper learning.

LEARNING LIKE A VIKING
EDUCAUSE has an interesting article on the future of higher education. Here is an excerpt: The basic model of higher education that exists today was created in the 11th century, operates on a 19th-century calendar, yet is supposed to prepare students for life in the 21st century. Far too often, students are the passive recipients of content delivered by experts who lecture, a practice used since the 11th century but increasingly inappropriate today. School calendars, created two centuries ago, apparently remain resistant to change. And schools that are supposed to prepare a generation to confront today's challenges far too often fail at that task: only 63.2 percent of students who began college in 2003 earned a bachelor's degree by 2009.

DO IT YOURSELF CHEMISTRY
A study in Colorado has found little difference in the learning of students in online or in-person introductory science courses. The study tracked community college students who took science courses online and in traditional classes, and who then went on to four-year universities in the state. Upon transferring, the students in the two groups performed equally well. Some science faculty members have expressed skepticism about the ability of online students in science, due to the lack of group laboratory opportunities, but the programs in Colorado work with companies to provide home kits so that online students can have a lab experience.

WHAT ARE YOU TESTING
Testing your students is an essential part of the process to determine if they are indeed learning anything. Constructing a test is a learned behavior that needs practice and can usually benefit from assistance. In fact, creating good tests has become such a valuable skill that it has grown into a career for some folks. The test researchers note that true/false tests are the least effective for assessing learning and determining if you are indeed teaching your students. True/false tests are typically easy and you need a large number of items for high reliability. In addition, your students have a 50-50 chance of guessing the right answer and it is difficult to discriminate between students that know the material and students who don't. If you are looking for some assistance with test construction, contact the Teaching+Learning Center at 8534.

HIDDEN PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE
Samuel Arbesman, author of The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date, writes that "since scientific knowledge is still growing by a factor of ten every 50 years, it should not be surprising that lots of facts people learned in school and universities have been overturned and are now out of date." Arbesman, a senior scholar at the Kaufmann Foundation and an expert in scientometrics, looks at how facts are made and remade in the modern world. And since fact-making is speeding up, he worries that most of us don’t keep up to date and base our decisions on facts we dimly remember from school and university classes that turn out to be wrong.

REMEMBERING OUR PAST IMPROVES OUR FUTURE

Today marks the 50^th anniversary of one of the most terrible days in our history as a nation. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding through the downtown area of Dallas, Texas. Some say it changed America forever. It certainly provides a teachable moment for you in your courses. Kennedy was the youngest person elected to be President of the U.S. His education agenda was part of his New Frontier program. He was also active on the Civil Rights front which had broad impact for education as well. One example includes his intervention when Alabama Governor George Wallace blocked the doorway to the University of Alabama to stop two African American students from attending. Wallace moved aside only after being confronted by Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach and the Alabama National Guard, which had just been federalized by order of the President. That evening Kennedy gave his famous civil rights address on national television and radio, launching his initiative for civil rights legislation—to provide equal access to public schools and other facilities, and greater protection of voting rights.

WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS SHARE BEST PRACTICES

The faculty development workshop, Teaching and Learning Interventions for Student Success, held yesterday is still generating conversation. The comments started during the workshop, increased at the end of the session, and have continued to come via email. As a community of scholars, we are learning to depend on each other to solve our problems and it is encouraging. Facilitated by Dr. Todd Pourciau and Jeanne Stacy, every participant was actively engaged throughout the workshop and idea generation was at an all-time high. Tommy Domangue, psychology, said he will begin to model his thought processes “out loud” to help his students learn about learning. Paul Guidry, criminal justice (and a Keep Calm and Be Engaged professor) plans to use the stuff happens cards to reduce student excuses and the parking lot active learning strategy to prevent his classes from being hijacked. Raven Dora, computer science, plans to use the roundtable review to help her students scaffold information from previous classes, create study guides, and center her students to begin class. April Witting, practical nursing, wants to implement the question and answer match intervention to allow her student to learn from each other and build classroom community. Lee Buckner, economics, plans to use the Stop-Start-Keep Doing intervention to increase his awareness of his students needs and more closely gauge the “temperature” of his courses. All of these intervention and more can be found in the Active Learning Manual, which is currently being updated. Look for an electronic copy in your email in early December.

COURSE REDESIGN OPPORTUNITY

The upcoming holiday break during December and January is a great time to take on a course re-design project. Building meaningful learning experiences that are student-centered can greatly enhance student success. Dr. Gary Smith, University of New Mexico, has a terrific article in the National Teaching and Learning Forum about how he went from a lecture-based presenter to an active learning teacher. His story includes the level of critical self-reflection he was willing to do in order to improve student achievement and his student ratings. In fact, his article was the pre-reading assignment for the most recent faculty development workshop sponsored by the Teaching+Learning Center. 

FOCUS ON COMMUNITY COLLEGES

While attending the Association for the Study of Higher Education conference last week, I heard so many presentations about the community college experience. What was surprising (and a little alarming) is that none of the expert presenters worked at community colleges themselves.  That tells me that the missing link in the international conversation about community colleges is us. I also learned that recent research shows that students prefer teachers who are organized and clear. That sounds simple yet how often are we challenged by multiple deadlines, responsibilities, and life in general? The Chronicle of Higher Education actually published an article about the conference presentations in today’s online issue.  One of the presentations highlighted by the article is by Dr. Chad Loes, a professor of criminal justice at Mount Mercy University, who studied how students' perceptions of organized teaching correlated with gains in critical-thinking skills measured at the beginning and end of their first year. After controlling for students' background characteristics, Dr. Loes and the other author, Dr. Mark H. Salisbury of Augustana College, in Illinois, found that well-organized teaching had only a small effect on the critical-thinking skills of students in general. But the perception of such teaching had a pronounced effect on students in minority groups, whose gains in critical-thinking skills were nearly five times as large as those of white students.

SHINY AND NEW
The promise of a new semester is always exciting. Our old ideas are new again. We will have a new roster of motivated students. All of our teaching will be met with enthusiasm. All of our carefully thought out learning outcomes will be achieved. Of course reality can be anything but the scenario just described but the possibilities keep us motivated. It is, after all, the reason you became a teacher. Your great desire to share the excitement of discovery and inquiry along with a sense that the world's problems are just one student away from being solved. The person that finds a cure for cancer could be in your class. The person that determines how to pull our economy back from the fiscal cliff might be sitting in the back row this semester. The person that writes the next great novel could be enrolled in your elearning course for the spring. Even more likely, the nurse that helps during your hospital stay or the vet tech that saves your cat or the police officer that provides the first line of defense between you and a criminal is very likely to be here at BRCC ready to start the path to their new career. It is an exciting time for all of us and I hope that I can be a resource for you this semester. As you continue to plan for your upcoming semester, feel free to contact me with any requests for help that you may have. I am ready to assist you so that each and every course you teach will have maximum impact. You are the key to improved student learning at BRCC and I am ready to help.

WHAT IS THIS TEST FOR AGAIN?
A new study by Liu, Bridgeman and Adler reveals that motivation plays a big part in the performance of students on standardized tests used to measure general student learning. Many colleges are using tests of learning outcomes, such as the Collegiate Learning Assessment to prove to their stake holders and accreditors that higher education matters. They note that the CLA, and popular alternatives from ACT and the Educational Testing Service, tests the critical thinking of small groups of entering and graduating students. In theory, comparing the scores of new and graduating students yields evidence either that students are or are not learning. Many call the difference between the entering and graduating students' performance the "value added" by a college degree. The researchers note that when students were told that the test (which typically are not graded and therefore hold little value to the students) were being used by potential employers, the scores improved.

GETTING STUDENT FEEDBACK YOU CAN USE
Gary Cooper has written an excellent blog post about the merits of student ratings. He suggests that you survey your students throughout the semester so that you can circumvent any big problems that may crop up during the term. I have suggested, in faculty development seminars, the use of the Stop-Start-Keep Doing student survey to improve student learning. He gives a number of other suggestions that could be put to use in your course.

THE ALT-AC TRACK
One of the highly attended sessions at the recent Modern Language Association's annual meeting had to do with life as an adjunct professor. Brian Croxall, a steadily employed digital-humanities strategist and lecturer in English at Emory University, extolled the virtues of life as an adjunct. Others on the panel added emphasized the need to be flexible and to acquire potentially useful talents along the way. Learning administrative skills, for instance, comes in handy whether you work in faculty development or as a digital-humanities project manager or any number of other jobs in and around academe.

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."