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.