JOIN US ON MARCH 7
Shifting the Teaching Paradigm is the title of the upcoming workshop to be held on March 7 in the Dumas Room of the Magnolia Building. Dr. Jim Johnston will be facilitating the sessions which begin at 12:25 and run through 3:30 pm. This interactive workshop is being sponsored by the Teaching+Learning Center (T+LC) and Cengage Learning's TeamUp. In response to several inquiries, I wanted to offer some suggestions. If you are interested in altering your approach to teaching in search of improving learning in your classes, this workshop is for you. BRCC's traditional student is a millennial who is typically under-prepared for the rigors and expectations of college. This presents special challenges for us but also opens up opportunities for rapid change and results that we can see almost immediately. But what does it take to inspire that change in their brains? That is what we hope to discover and discuss at this workshop. So register now and bring your ideas and concerns as we return from the Mardi Gras break.
INQUIRY-GUIDED TEACHING PRODUCES RESULTS
The importance of the student/teacher relationship has been acknowledged for centuries. Greek philosopher, Plato suggested that the relationship between teacher and student is essential to teaching and must be firmly established before learning can occur (Hoffman, 2014). We know from more recent research that the paradigm has changed and rather than regarding the teacher as someone who does something to someone, as in pouring knowledge into an empty vessel, the teacher is someone who does something with someone, as in equal participation in the acquisition of knowledge (McEwan, 2011). Virginia Lee, is her book Teaching and Learning Through Inquiry (LB1027.44.T43), tell us that inquiry-guided learning in terms of what happens in the classroom (or online) refers to a range of interventions or strategies used to promote learning through students active, and increasingly independent, investigation of questions, problems and issues, often for which there is no single answer. A range of teaching strategies is consistent with inquiry-guided learning including interactive lecture, discussion, problem-based learning, case studies, simulations, and independent study. In fact, she notes the only strategy not consistent with inquiry-guides learning is the traditional (and outdated) straight lecture.
TEXTBOOK READING MADE SIMPLE
Are you having trouble getting your students to read the textbook prior to your teaching the material? Here is something I have tried that has shown good results in both participation in class and is reflected in the assessment I used to measure learning. Give them a few short answer-type questions that helps to guide them through the reading material when you make the assignment. For instance, on a chapter about critical thinking I provided the following questions. 1)What are the three aspects of critical thinking? 2)Why should some assumptions be carefully examined? 3)Why is it important to examine evidence of an argument? 4)Why is it important to recognize bias? In class, we talked about each of these question but in different forms because I was using the repetition method for learning. For example, I had my students evaluate opinion pieces from major media outlets looking for bias and logic fallacies. They responded well to the reading and in-class assignments because I stressed the importance of critical thinking as a life skill and I used a topic from the opinion pieces (raising the minimum wage) that they could personally relate to. When I gave them the chapter test to measure the teaching and learning that had occurred, I used those same questions (some were worded slightly different). My assessment results from the chapter test showed marked improvement from the previous test. Let me know if you try this method or if you use a similar strategy in your classes.
Friday, February 21, 2014
SHIFTING THE TEACHING PARADIGM
March is coming in like a bear with the powerful professional development workshop Shifting the Teaching Paradigm to be facilitated by Dr. Jim Johnston on Friday, March 7 in the Dumas Room. This workshop is being co-sponsored by the Teaching+Learning Center and Cengage Learning TeamUp Faculty programs. The half day workshop begins with registration at 12:00 noon, followed by the first session at 12:25 and concludes with a question and answer dialogue that ends at 3:30 PM. In between, you can sign up to attend such dynamic sessions as What You See is What You Get: the Power of First Impressions (the most powerful three minutes of your class), Motivation Matters: Control the ANT Population and Improve Retention/Academic Success, and Reaching Higher Levels of Thinking and Application of Knowledge through Group Learning Activities. Dr. Johnston is Director of TRIO Student Support Services at Harding University in Arkansas.There will be breaks and snacks provided throughout the half day. Participants can register for individual sessions or opt to attend the entire workshop. If you are committed to improving student success at BRCC, you do not want to miss this workshop.
ANNUAL GIVING PITCH By now I am sure you have heard that BRCC has kicked off the internal portion of our Annual Giving campaign. I want to urge you to participate in this worthy endeavor aimed at helping to change lives. If you would like to direct your donation to an area that will directly benefit the teaching faculty at BRCC, I encourage you to indicate that your contribution be placed in the Teaching+Learning Center's Foundation account. This fund is targeted towards faculty development by providing travel funding to those of us who have proposals accepted for presentation at professional organizations focused on the scholarship of teaching and learning. One of the best ways to enhance your teaching toolkit it to try new active learning methods and use your classroom as a living laboratory. Your findings as an active researcher are important to the study of the scholarship of teaching and learning in the various disciplines. In addition, interacting with colleagues from around the world allows you to bring that expertise back to our campus. Please give to the Annual Giving campaign and if you are inclined, I strongly encourage you to direct your funds to the Teaching+Learning Center.
WHAT DOES AN ONLINE STUDENT LOOK LIKE Matt Reed raises an interesting question in his article What's An Online Student? He admits that he is "not entirely sure what an online student is" because of the multiple ways that students can engage with learning at college. He writes, "The sheer heterogeneity of ways that students engage with online learning is making it harder to generalize. We have far students who mix and match than we have students who go entirely online. That makes it hard to answer a question like 'how many online students do you have?' It also makes it difficult to know just how much to scale certain online student services; many of the students who mix and match transact certain kinds of business on the days they’re on campus. And some students who do most of their coursework on campus would greatly prefer to address the bureaucratic stuff online."
ANNUAL GIVING PITCH By now I am sure you have heard that BRCC has kicked off the internal portion of our Annual Giving campaign. I want to urge you to participate in this worthy endeavor aimed at helping to change lives. If you would like to direct your donation to an area that will directly benefit the teaching faculty at BRCC, I encourage you to indicate that your contribution be placed in the Teaching+Learning Center's Foundation account. This fund is targeted towards faculty development by providing travel funding to those of us who have proposals accepted for presentation at professional organizations focused on the scholarship of teaching and learning. One of the best ways to enhance your teaching toolkit it to try new active learning methods and use your classroom as a living laboratory. Your findings as an active researcher are important to the study of the scholarship of teaching and learning in the various disciplines. In addition, interacting with colleagues from around the world allows you to bring that expertise back to our campus. Please give to the Annual Giving campaign and if you are inclined, I strongly encourage you to direct your funds to the Teaching+Learning Center.
WHAT DOES AN ONLINE STUDENT LOOK LIKE Matt Reed raises an interesting question in his article What's An Online Student? He admits that he is "not entirely sure what an online student is" because of the multiple ways that students can engage with learning at college. He writes, "The sheer heterogeneity of ways that students engage with online learning is making it harder to generalize. We have far students who mix and match than we have students who go entirely online. That makes it hard to answer a question like 'how many online students do you have?' It also makes it difficult to know just how much to scale certain online student services; many of the students who mix and match transact certain kinds of business on the days they’re on campus. And some students who do most of their coursework on campus would greatly prefer to address the bureaucratic stuff online."
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
THE BIOLOGY OF LEARNING
I have been reading Dr. James Zull's book The Art of Changing the Brain and actually using findings from the research he cites as "brain tips" for my CSSK class. The students have enjoyed the information and have become so accustomed to it that one night I forgot to post the tip and they reminded me that I owed them one. Since it was so important to them, I rewarded them by posting four to the Blackboard site of our class. Back to the Zull book. He explains that he wrote the book because there was a gap between the biology of learning and turning that discovery into useable information. Educational scientists are a grow group as more people are excited about how science can help us understand teaching and learning. Zull defines learning as being about change. He says that learning is a living, growing thing that comes through different routes and leads to different ends as out lives evolve. He then concludes that his definition of learning is also evolving. There is a copy of his book in the BRCC Library (LB1057 .Z85 2002). I encourage you to check it out if you are interested in learning more about the brain and learning.
BRAINSTORMING HELPS MEMORIZATION
There are times when memorization cannot be avoided and is the most appropriate way to learn something. If you are looking for an active teaching method to help in this area, you might want to try this one from the BRCC Active Learning Manual. Brainstorming Recall has been proven to help when students are required to recall a list of items. Take a set amount of time during class and ask your students to call out each item, while you, or perhaps a fellow student, notes them down on the board, flipchart or into a projected electronic document. Depending on the size of your class, you might break the class into groups and have simultaneous brainstorming recall going on, returning to the whole group afterwards to compare lists. It helps learning through repetition as well as aural and visual representations.
MOTIVATING YOUR STUDENTS TO LEARN
Dr. Ronald C. Jones has written a fascinating article about a thorny issue that many of us have expressed on the faculty development evaluation surveys. In addition, many of you have asked how to resolve this problem when I have met with you about classroom observations. Jones writes, "When it comes to student motivation, does the axiom, 'You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink' apply? Although I believe that, as instructors, we cannot force motivation and learning upon students, we do play a vital role regarding student motivation and a student’s ability to gain knowledge and proficiency in the subject matter." He concludes his article writing, "Can we motivate every student to succeed? Certainly not, but we must never stop trying."
I have been reading Dr. James Zull's book The Art of Changing the Brain and actually using findings from the research he cites as "brain tips" for my CSSK class. The students have enjoyed the information and have become so accustomed to it that one night I forgot to post the tip and they reminded me that I owed them one. Since it was so important to them, I rewarded them by posting four to the Blackboard site of our class. Back to the Zull book. He explains that he wrote the book because there was a gap between the biology of learning and turning that discovery into useable information. Educational scientists are a grow group as more people are excited about how science can help us understand teaching and learning. Zull defines learning as being about change. He says that learning is a living, growing thing that comes through different routes and leads to different ends as out lives evolve. He then concludes that his definition of learning is also evolving. There is a copy of his book in the BRCC Library (LB1057 .Z85 2002). I encourage you to check it out if you are interested in learning more about the brain and learning.
BRAINSTORMING HELPS MEMORIZATION
There are times when memorization cannot be avoided and is the most appropriate way to learn something. If you are looking for an active teaching method to help in this area, you might want to try this one from the BRCC Active Learning Manual. Brainstorming Recall has been proven to help when students are required to recall a list of items. Take a set amount of time during class and ask your students to call out each item, while you, or perhaps a fellow student, notes them down on the board, flipchart or into a projected electronic document. Depending on the size of your class, you might break the class into groups and have simultaneous brainstorming recall going on, returning to the whole group afterwards to compare lists. It helps learning through repetition as well as aural and visual representations.
MOTIVATING YOUR STUDENTS TO LEARN
Dr. Ronald C. Jones has written a fascinating article about a thorny issue that many of us have expressed on the faculty development evaluation surveys. In addition, many of you have asked how to resolve this problem when I have met with you about classroom observations. Jones writes, "When it comes to student motivation, does the axiom, 'You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink' apply? Although I believe that, as instructors, we cannot force motivation and learning upon students, we do play a vital role regarding student motivation and a student’s ability to gain knowledge and proficiency in the subject matter." He concludes his article writing, "Can we motivate every student to succeed? Certainly not, but we must never stop trying."
Friday, February 14, 2014
ACTIVE LEARNING IN ACTION
During class last night, I used a collaborative team activity to illustrate the benefits of working with others. Often our students groan when we ask them to work in groups. We explored the benefits and their perceived drawbacks in a class discussion to start the lesson. I asked those who disliked group work to offer their arguments first. I then asked the students who liked working in groups, which was most of the millennial-aged class, to respond to the criticisms. We then used the "What's In the Box" activity that we have added to the upcoming 2014 version of the Active Learning Manual. This activity requires that you fill a box with 20-25 items. They can be anything but I usually try to lean towards items familiar to educational settings. Before the class session, I divided the students into four groups of 5-6 members. Once we began class, I had each group come and take a look in the box for about one minute. They are not allowed to bring anything with them or take pictures with their cellphones. They were then to return to their places and make a list of what they saw in the box. I encouraged them to keep their list private and not share. Once everyone had a shot to look at the box and create their lists, I asked how many items they had on their lists. Most students had between 9-12 items. One student indicated she had close to 20. There were 23 items in the box. I then instructed the teams to compile one list from their individual lists. I again warned them not to talk too loudly as other teams may hear them. We then identified each item, taking them out of the box, while one student made a master list on the whiteboard. Here is what I noticed while they were doing this learning activity. Different students used different techniques to try to remember the items. Where they were standing around the box did impact their list and they did not move around the box even though I gave them that option. This created a teachable moment about perspective. Once they began to compile their group list, the dynamics of team building quickly emerged. I had built the teams using various factors like gender, race, and assessment results. I noticed them using various techniques to help each other remember more items. They definitely were building their communication, leadership, and negotiation skills. I also observed them trying to make connection between the items and then discussing what some other logical items might be in the box. This helped them with critical thinking skills. I have been stressing the joy of learning in the class sessions each week. I can honestly say that the students enjoyed the learning activity. I will be assessing their abilities and learning related to this lesson shortly and I will share the results of that with you as well. By the way, the winning compilation list had almost all of the items. Most of the teams listed between 16-19 items indicating the effectiveness of group work.
COMMUNICATING USING THE RIGHT TOOL
Rob Kelly has an interesting article about selecting the appropriate communication tools for your online course. I think that many of the suggestions can be applied to hybrid and face-to-face classes as well. He writes, "When designing an online course it’s important to carefully consider which tools align with the course’s learning objectives and the types of communication that will occur. There are three types of communication that can occur in an online course—one to one, one to many, and many to many. Learning outcomes should be the overriding consideration when selecting and using communication tools," Reese says. "It doesn’t matter how flashy the tool is or how excited you are to use it if it’s not the right tool for the job. It’s important to design with your learning outcomes in mind, figure out what you want your end result to be, and then choose the tool that will help you get there versus picking the tool that you really want to use and then trying to model your course or learning outcomes around that.”
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT EVENT ON WEDNESDAY
The second part of the "high potential" students webinar occurs on Wednesday, February 19 from noon until 1:30pm. We will meet in the Teaching+Learning Center (311 Magnolia Bldg./Mid City Campus). It is not important if you missed the first session on this topic held earlier this week. The second session will focus on under-prepared and first-generation students and their unique problems. The webinar will be live which means we can actively participate by asking questions and responding to the various polls and requests for what is working at BRCC. You can register now. We will be tweeting throughout the event, so remember to create a Twitter account and follow the Teaching+Learning Center's Twitter.
During class last night, I used a collaborative team activity to illustrate the benefits of working with others. Often our students groan when we ask them to work in groups. We explored the benefits and their perceived drawbacks in a class discussion to start the lesson. I asked those who disliked group work to offer their arguments first. I then asked the students who liked working in groups, which was most of the millennial-aged class, to respond to the criticisms. We then used the "What's In the Box" activity that we have added to the upcoming 2014 version of the Active Learning Manual. This activity requires that you fill a box with 20-25 items. They can be anything but I usually try to lean towards items familiar to educational settings. Before the class session, I divided the students into four groups of 5-6 members. Once we began class, I had each group come and take a look in the box for about one minute. They are not allowed to bring anything with them or take pictures with their cellphones. They were then to return to their places and make a list of what they saw in the box. I encouraged them to keep their list private and not share. Once everyone had a shot to look at the box and create their lists, I asked how many items they had on their lists. Most students had between 9-12 items. One student indicated she had close to 20. There were 23 items in the box. I then instructed the teams to compile one list from their individual lists. I again warned them not to talk too loudly as other teams may hear them. We then identified each item, taking them out of the box, while one student made a master list on the whiteboard. Here is what I noticed while they were doing this learning activity. Different students used different techniques to try to remember the items. Where they were standing around the box did impact their list and they did not move around the box even though I gave them that option. This created a teachable moment about perspective. Once they began to compile their group list, the dynamics of team building quickly emerged. I had built the teams using various factors like gender, race, and assessment results. I noticed them using various techniques to help each other remember more items. They definitely were building their communication, leadership, and negotiation skills. I also observed them trying to make connection between the items and then discussing what some other logical items might be in the box. This helped them with critical thinking skills. I have been stressing the joy of learning in the class sessions each week. I can honestly say that the students enjoyed the learning activity. I will be assessing their abilities and learning related to this lesson shortly and I will share the results of that with you as well. By the way, the winning compilation list had almost all of the items. Most of the teams listed between 16-19 items indicating the effectiveness of group work.
COMMUNICATING USING THE RIGHT TOOL
Rob Kelly has an interesting article about selecting the appropriate communication tools for your online course. I think that many of the suggestions can be applied to hybrid and face-to-face classes as well. He writes, "When designing an online course it’s important to carefully consider which tools align with the course’s learning objectives and the types of communication that will occur. There are three types of communication that can occur in an online course—one to one, one to many, and many to many. Learning outcomes should be the overriding consideration when selecting and using communication tools," Reese says. "It doesn’t matter how flashy the tool is or how excited you are to use it if it’s not the right tool for the job. It’s important to design with your learning outcomes in mind, figure out what you want your end result to be, and then choose the tool that will help you get there versus picking the tool that you really want to use and then trying to model your course or learning outcomes around that.”
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT EVENT ON WEDNESDAY
The second part of the "high potential" students webinar occurs on Wednesday, February 19 from noon until 1:30pm. We will meet in the Teaching+Learning Center (311 Magnolia Bldg./Mid City Campus). It is not important if you missed the first session on this topic held earlier this week. The second session will focus on under-prepared and first-generation students and their unique problems. The webinar will be live which means we can actively participate by asking questions and responding to the various polls and requests for what is working at BRCC. You can register now. We will be tweeting throughout the event, so remember to create a Twitter account and follow the Teaching+Learning Center's Twitter.
Friday, February 7, 2014
SOLUTIONS FOR OUR AT-RISK STUDENTS
The next faculty development opportunity comes your way in two power-packed sessions on February 11 and 19. Supporting the Engagement, Learning, and Success of Students At-Risk is the topic of the two webinars to be held in the Teaching+Learning Center (311 Magnolia Bldg./Mid City Campus). Learn how individual faculty members, academic advisors, counselors, and other educators can support at-risk students. Review effective skills, attitudes, and strategies that can enhance student success. Examine what existing departments need to collaborate effectively in order to increase the achievement and success of at-risk students. The webinar will be led by Thomas Brown, a former dean of advising services who also served on the Board of Directors of the National Academic Advising Association. He has consulted with more than 350 colleges and universities in the US and abroad on this important topic. Each session will last for 1.5 hours and the information in the second session will build on the first. It is recommended that you attend both sessions but you should make your decision based on your availability and other engagements. Registration is now open.
TECHNOLOGY YOU CAN USE
Dr. Tiffany Reiss has written an interesting article about the availability of information from an endless supply of providers and how that can be confusing for our students. She writes, "The issue is not with the information itself, but with the quality and sheer quantity of the information. The abundance of freely available information also has changed the role of educators. It’s no longer about us standing in front of class and providing information. It’s about helping these learners contextualize that information. Helping them connect it to what is out there in the real world and give it foundation and meaning." Her remarks follow closely on the faculty development webinar session we sponsored on Thursday. Dr. Shawn Orr, who presented the session, gave the workshop participants a number of great suggestions for engagement techniques that could be used in an online environment as well as face-to-face classes. Orr shared various online resources that we could use to create active learning opportunities for our students including Eyejot, Screencast-o-matic, and Delicious. I want to encourage you to become a follower on the blog and the Twitter sites so that you can keep abreast of what is happening the in the BRCC faculty development world. We did tweet throughout the webinar on Thursday and included resources to enhance your teaching toolkit.
IT'S IN THE SYLLABUS
One of the useful suggestions we heard on Thursday is something I have implemented in my CSSK class. We know how important the class syllabus can be in terms of being an agreement between you and your students. It is, in the fact, the road map for your course. The suggestion was to emphasize to your students just how important that syllabus is throughout the semester. You should try to reference it during every class. You should continuously point to it as the source of information. In that way, you are indicating that it is not something to put in your binder and never reference again. It needs to be discussed repeatedly in order for our students to understand its importance.
The next faculty development opportunity comes your way in two power-packed sessions on February 11 and 19. Supporting the Engagement, Learning, and Success of Students At-Risk is the topic of the two webinars to be held in the Teaching+Learning Center (311 Magnolia Bldg./Mid City Campus). Learn how individual faculty members, academic advisors, counselors, and other educators can support at-risk students. Review effective skills, attitudes, and strategies that can enhance student success. Examine what existing departments need to collaborate effectively in order to increase the achievement and success of at-risk students. The webinar will be led by Thomas Brown, a former dean of advising services who also served on the Board of Directors of the National Academic Advising Association. He has consulted with more than 350 colleges and universities in the US and abroad on this important topic. Each session will last for 1.5 hours and the information in the second session will build on the first. It is recommended that you attend both sessions but you should make your decision based on your availability and other engagements. Registration is now open.
TECHNOLOGY YOU CAN USE
Dr. Tiffany Reiss has written an interesting article about the availability of information from an endless supply of providers and how that can be confusing for our students. She writes, "The issue is not with the information itself, but with the quality and sheer quantity of the information. The abundance of freely available information also has changed the role of educators. It’s no longer about us standing in front of class and providing information. It’s about helping these learners contextualize that information. Helping them connect it to what is out there in the real world and give it foundation and meaning." Her remarks follow closely on the faculty development webinar session we sponsored on Thursday. Dr. Shawn Orr, who presented the session, gave the workshop participants a number of great suggestions for engagement techniques that could be used in an online environment as well as face-to-face classes. Orr shared various online resources that we could use to create active learning opportunities for our students including Eyejot, Screencast-o-matic, and Delicious. I want to encourage you to become a follower on the blog and the Twitter sites so that you can keep abreast of what is happening the in the BRCC faculty development world. We did tweet throughout the webinar on Thursday and included resources to enhance your teaching toolkit.
IT'S IN THE SYLLABUS
One of the useful suggestions we heard on Thursday is something I have implemented in my CSSK class. We know how important the class syllabus can be in terms of being an agreement between you and your students. It is, in the fact, the road map for your course. The suggestion was to emphasize to your students just how important that syllabus is throughout the semester. You should try to reference it during every class. You should continuously point to it as the source of information. In that way, you are indicating that it is not something to put in your binder and never reference again. It needs to be discussed repeatedly in order for our students to understand its importance.
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