PAYING ATTENTION TO THE INTROVERTS IN YOUR CLASS

Nicki Monahan, Faculty Facilitator in the Staff and Organizational Development Department at George Brown College, Toronto, Canada, has written an interesting article about introverts in the classroom. She writes, “Who are they and how do we ensure they thrive in active learning classrooms? If you have ever come to the midterm point of the semester and graded a stellar paper of a student whose name you don’t recognize and who has never raised her hand in class, you may have just identified an introvert in your classroom. In many learning situations, introverts may need to stretch beyond their comfort zones, and they should be encouraged to do so, as should extroverts. Our goal is not to turn introverts into extroverts, or vice-versa, but to maximize learning for all students and to help them develop the skills often identified by potential employers — teamwork, problem solving, and interpersonal communication. When designing learning activities for your classroom, consider the key elements of balance and choice in order to create a comfortable learning environment which also encourages all students to stretch and take risks.” Read more…

FACULTY LEARNING COMMUNITY DECONSTRUCTS ASSESSMENT

The Common Reader Faculty Learning Community recently completed a learning experience about the type of assessment we use to determine if our students are learning. The discussion centered on performance-based versus learning-based approaches. Traditionalists who use performance-based methods tend to base their evaluation and assessment on their student’s ability to comply with the dictates of the course. The requirements may very well be tied to learning considerations but those are often forgotten as the requirements and worry about covering the material begin to take over. Learning-centered approaches tend to emphasize assessment and evaluative tools that focus on helping students understand their progress in learning and help us evaluate our teaching. It assumes that learning is a developmental process that entails helping students to undergo intellectual and personal changes as they develop new understandings and reasoning abilities. Grading is more about communicating with our students rather than a way to rank them. This exercise in critical self-reflection proved to be beneficial to the FLC members but it does not need to be limited to group situations. You can study and reflect on your approaches to determine if you are using the right assessment tools to determine your effectiveness as a teacher. Contact the Teaching+Learning Center if you would like some resources to help you with this self-evaluation.

GETTING YOU READY FOR THE SEMESTER'S END

The Blackboard Series continues with an upcoming professional development session that could help you be more efficient when completing the end-of-semester tasks we are required to handle. Susan Nealy and Lenora White will deliver an interactive workshop on how to use the Blackboard Gradebook feature to help you with end-of-semester reporting responsibilities on Tuesday, November 5. Upon completion of this session, you will be able to: enter all grades into Blackboard including the manual entry of a final grade; organize grades separate from attendance (if taken in Blackboard); “drop" grades while still maintaining the grade in Blackboard (based on faculty syllabus); download the Gradebook into an Excel spreadsheet for submission to your Academic Division. This workshop is part of the Teaching+Learning Center's ongoing faculty professional development programming. The session from 3:00-4:00 PM is for beginner users of Blackboard while the 4:00-5:00 PM session is better suited for advanced users. Registration is now open.

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT ON CRITICAL THINKING

The conversation about the idea of teaching students to think critically has gone from a whisper to a roar. Many states have adopted learning outcomes that designate critical thinking as one of the required standards for their institutions of higher education. Many of the questions I am often asked focus on critical thinking. In fact, the Common Reader Faculty Learning Community spent some time discussing the concept as well. In response to the curiosity, The Teaching+Learning Center is offering the webinar Teaching for Critical Thinking on October 31 at 3:00 PM. Dr. Stephen Brookfield, University Distinguished Professor at the University of St. Thomas, will be making the presentation. At the end of this webinar, you will be able to: Design and implement an Assumptions Audit; Implement the Critical Incident Questionnaire-a tool to model critical thinking; Design and conduct a Scenario Analysis exercise; Design and conduct a “Chalk Talk” exercise; and, Incorporate two or more techniques for modeling critical thinking into your practice as a teacher. You can register now for this faculty professional development workshop.

RELEVANCE AND AUTONOMY ARE KEY TO STUDENT SUCCESS

Underachievement in college students is linked to lack of motivation (Balduf, 2009 and references therein). Two major factors that contribute to poor motivation are inability of students to see the relevance of classroom activities to their chosen careers (Glynn et al., 2009) and lack of a sense of autonomy (Reeve and Jang, 2006; Reeve, 2009). Dr. Katherine Robertson has written an article addressing both of these issues. She suggest that experiential learning be used and describes it as "a process through which students develop skills through direct experience. While most people think of experiential learning as something that happens outside the classroom, it is possible to give students real-life experiences in the classroom, too," says Dr. Robertson. She also suggests that to enhance student autonomy, have your students write their own rubrics and guidelines under your guidance. 

FACULTY LEARNING COMMUNITIES ROLL ON 

The Common Reader Faculty Learning Community is wrapping up their faculty development project and will have some interesting outcomes based on the lively discussion in and out of the formal sessions. In addition, the Building a Hybrid Course Faculty Learning Community had their initial session yesterday. This FLC is looking to create a best-practices model or template that all faculty can use as they build their hybrid classes. The FLC membership includes: Becky Adcock, Joanie Chavis, Janet Daniel, Raven Dora, Jessie Hornbrook, Mary Miller, Susan Nealy, and Todd Pourciau. They are using the Jay Caulfield book How to Design and Teach a Hybrid Course as the text for the FLC. Look for updates as they move through their sessions.

TESTING WORKSHOP PROVES BENEFICIAL

The faculty professional development session Testing 101: Assessing Student Learning held on October 17 received high marks from the faculty who spent part of their fall break participating. Dr. Amy Atchly, speech communication, was able to learn new ways to help her students overcome test anxiety. Paul Guidry, criminal justice, decided to “stop being concerned with coverage and to be more concerned with actual learning.” Belvin Givens, CSSK, is planning to use the post-test assessment methods explained in the seminar. Leroy Waguespack, STEM, was happy to receive his own Bloom’s Taxonomy flipbook to help him develop higher level-thinking questions for his tests.  Almost all of the participants said that they planned to use a test blueprint to design their assessment instruments. Watch this blog and your email-box for information on a repeat of this session.

LIMITING CHOICES MAY HELP COMPLETION
Have you heard of Kay McClenney? You may know her as part of the team that developed the nine principles of good practice for assessing student learning published by the American Association for Higher Education. She is a well known community college researcher who believes that the work she has done reveals that "options do not work for first-generation students." Dr. McClenney argues that limiting the structured pathways to graduation can produce positive results for students who choose to attend a community college.

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT FOR YOU
The popular faculty development Blackboard Series continues this Thursday, October 24 as presenters Susan Nealy and Lenora White focus on rubrics. Upon completion of the workshop, participants will be able to apply a rubric to a new or existing Grade Center column, generate a Rubric Evaluation Report, grade using a rubric, and efficiently navigate between Grade Details pages. Providing your students with great feedback is all part of helping them to make informed choices about their academic career. You can register now for the beginner (3PM) or advanced class (4PM).

STUDENT SUCCESS ON DISPLAY
Criminal justice instructor Paul Guidry has been recognized previously for his excellent student engagement skills and is a current holder of one of the coveted Keep Calm and Be Engaged green shirts.  He recently took the time to contact us about the success his students are experienced in a number of his classes. As part of our ongoing celebrating learning initiative, we wanted to share his good news. The students pictured with Mr. Guidry all earned an A on their most recent test. If you have a student success story that you would like to share, please contact me. 

Denzel Williams

Crawford Wheeler & Clay George

Melanie Hogan, Hannah Keowen, Joshua Williams, Stuart Wells, & Jonathan Howard

Lisa Marino

CELEBRATING STUDENT SUCCESS

The coveted Keep Calm and Be Engaged green shirt has been awarded once again to a faculty member who is relentless in her pursuit of student success. Dr. Mary Miller, who teaches science classes, was recently surprised with her recognition when we popped in on one of her classes. One of her outstanding students, Robin Chautin, said, "From day one of microbiology, Dr. Miller greeted our class with an enthusiastic, positive attitude. She is very clear when she teaches and breaks down the material in a manner that is easily understood. Her examples in class are of such a wide variety and she will go to great lengths to make sure that everyone is clear on the topic. The thing I like the most about Dr. Miller's class is that our labs are very organized and the objective is always clear. Dr. Miller is extremely knowledgeable in microbiology and her passion for it is contagious! This is by far the most fun learning experience I have ever had!" While we were there, it was also an opportunity to "celebrate learning." She had recently given a test and a number of her students scored a B or better. So we combined the two celebrations and took the picture shown on the left (front row left to right, Crystal Armand, Elizabeth Ford, Erica Zumo, and Amanda Yan; back row, Dr. Miller, Alyssa Perry, Ashley Dyer, Robin Chautin, Brenda Odom, Victoria Danagogo, and Patrick Stewart) to share with you. If you would like to share your student success story, please let me know and we will arrange to visit your class as well.

FALL BREAK OPPORTUNITY

There are still a few spots available for the faculty professional development workshop on Thursday, October 17. Testing 101: Assessing Student Learning will be held in the Teaching+Learning Center (311 Magnolia Building/Mid City Campus) at 3:00 PM. Upon completion of the session, participants will be able to evaluate current assessment instruments and determine their effectiveness towards indicating student learning; build a better testing and assessment instrument using a test blueprint; determine if their learning experiences and their testing is aligned; and, identify the advantages of different types of testing. You can register for your spot now.

ZOMBIES INVADE BRCC
Week six of the Common Reader Faculty Learning Community focused on what Ken Bain defines as a natural critical learning environment. It is what emerged in his research study as the perfect setting for student learning to occur. His research results suggest that this learning environment allows students to "confront important problems in ways that force them to rethink assumptions and examine their mental models of reality." The discussion between your colleagues produced an "aha" moment. Bain says, "In order to maximize the engagement factor, you need to focus on what students care about, know, or think they know, the things that excite them." It needs to be combined with your disciplinary knowledge but if we are to capture and keep their attention, it needs to be "important" to them in some way. The aha moment occurred when we began to discuss what is currently important to them and one topic emerged: zombies. As we began to talk about ways to uncover what is important to them, like using personal response systems or using a Doodle poll, we came to the conclusion that popular culture could help. Because advertising firms have endless pots of money to spend on uncovering our likes and tendencies, that is the obvious place to turn for this answer. So returning to the zombies theme we were quickly able to reference that there are a number of TV shows (The Walking Dead) and movies (World War Z and Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies) and in fact a couple of commercials running incessantly right now about this topic (Toyota and Sprint). So your challenge is, how do you integrate the topic of zombies into your learning experiences for your classes? The FLC members also encourage us to pay close attention to the media in order to help stay current with what topics are trending with our students.