LATEST ADVICE FROM SCHOLARS LIKE US
Faculty Focus has released a number of very useful articles for those of us looking to improve teaching and learning in our courses. Dr. Deborah Bracke explained how she is changing the way she assesses student learning and writes, "I have found that the retrospective pre- and posttest assessment opens the door wide, and for this reason I am motivated to share it." Can you flip an online class? That is the question addressed by Dr. Barbi Honeycutt and Sarah Glova in their recent article. They noted, "The flipped classroom model can help us design more interactive and engaging online learning experiences, and online classes can help us expand on what it means to flip." Jane Gee explains how you can use reading circles to get your students to do assigned reading. She found that, "After a semester of using this technique, overwhelmingly my students reported that the activity “greatly impacted” their learning."
ACADEMIC ADVISING HELP IS ON THE WAY
If you are looking for some direction and clarification to help with your student advising responsibilities, plan on joining us on April 29 for a professional development workshop. We will continue the conversation we began with the webinar earlier this week. In addition, we are now gathering input from you on what you are looking for in the way of assistance. Please forward your ideas as well as your definition of what student advising is all about to me at pourciaut@mybrcc.edu. Look for more information soon about the workshop on the 29th which will be held during the 1:00-2:15 pm open slot.
TESTING CENTER NEEDS YOUR HELP
Please remind all of your students who are testing at Mid City, Acadian, and the various sites that they are not allowed to bring anything with them into the Testing Center. The Testing Center does have a limited number of lockers for use by the various customers. We are also asking that you remind all testers to use the scheduler for making appointments. As the volume continues to increase, we are working hard to make sure our customers receive the level of service they deserve. The policies in place are required by our partners. In addition, we are working to maintain an environment that is conducive to producing the best results for all testers. Should you have any comments, please feel free to contact the Testing Center staff at 216.8038 or via email (testingcenter@mybrcc.edu).
Showing posts with label testing center. Show all posts
Showing posts with label testing center. Show all posts
Friday, March 7, 2014
HAVE YOU HAD YOUR PARADIGM SHIFTED RECENTLY
My head is still reeling from the huge amount of knowledge that Dr. Jim Johnston just exposed us to in the Shifting the Teaching Paradigm faculty development workshop. Special thanks to Dianne Lindsay and Cengage for co-sponsoring this workshop. Since the point of faculty development is to take the new knowledge and integrate it into how and what we are teaching, we will gather for a recap on Monday, March 10 at noon in the Teaching+Learning Center (T+LC). You are welcome to come on Monday even if you were not able to participate in today's event. We want to share this new information with you and to facilitate a discussion among the community of scholars at BRCC. So come and debate the learning styles approach (like VARK). Come and talk about sequential versus global teaching and learning. Find out what ANTs represent (you can cheat by visiting the T+LC twitter page). I always say that we must teach the student we have, not the ones we want. Dr. Johnston concurs and adds "you need to teach the students in your class about how to learn in your class." Bring your lunch and a colleague but please come and participate in this next step of our movement to shifting the teaching paradigm at BRCC.
INFORMATION YOU CAN SHARE WITH YOUR STUDENTS
The Testing Center has implemented a new policy that will ensure a more supportive and quieter testing environment. Check-in for all testers will now occur at the front desk as you enter the lobby for the Testing Center/Library/Advising Center in the Magnolia Building (Mid City Campus). Students can not only check in to test but can also reserve a locker for their personal belongings (backpacks, purses, laptops, etc.). The Testing Center is working hard to provide the proper climate to enhance the performance of all of our students. Please remind your students to schedule there testing times using the online reservation system. If you have questions for the Testing Center staff, you can email (testingcenter@mybrcc.edu) or contact them by phone (216.8038). The Mid City Testing Center is open Monday through Wednesday from 8:00 am until 7:00 pm, on Thursday from 8:00 am until 5:00 pm and on Friday from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm. Saturday testing will occur on March 8 and 22, April 5 and 26, and May 10 from 8:00am until 12:00 pm. The Testing Center will be closed on Thursday, March 13 for the LCTCS professional development annual conference.
DO STUDENTS CALL YOU BY YOUR FIRST NAME
Katrina Gulliver covers the topic of classroom formality in her opinion piece with a lighter side. She writes, "I am not your friend; I am not 'Miss.' Is it just me, or are we witnessing an epidemic of familiarity among undergraduates? They’re all calling me by my first name. Is this happening in your classroom too? I’m not that much older than a lot of my students, generationally (I’m apparently just on the cusp between being an echo-boomer and a millennial, for those who keep track -- but old enough I don’t think they’re mistaking me for a fellow undergrad). However, I feel like their grandmother when I receive their emails, and clutch my pearls when I get a message addressed to “Hi Katrina” (or just “hi”) from students I haven’t even met." What do you think?
My head is still reeling from the huge amount of knowledge that Dr. Jim Johnston just exposed us to in the Shifting the Teaching Paradigm faculty development workshop. Special thanks to Dianne Lindsay and Cengage for co-sponsoring this workshop. Since the point of faculty development is to take the new knowledge and integrate it into how and what we are teaching, we will gather for a recap on Monday, March 10 at noon in the Teaching+Learning Center (T+LC). You are welcome to come on Monday even if you were not able to participate in today's event. We want to share this new information with you and to facilitate a discussion among the community of scholars at BRCC. So come and debate the learning styles approach (like VARK). Come and talk about sequential versus global teaching and learning. Find out what ANTs represent (you can cheat by visiting the T+LC twitter page). I always say that we must teach the student we have, not the ones we want. Dr. Johnston concurs and adds "you need to teach the students in your class about how to learn in your class." Bring your lunch and a colleague but please come and participate in this next step of our movement to shifting the teaching paradigm at BRCC.
INFORMATION YOU CAN SHARE WITH YOUR STUDENTS
The Testing Center has implemented a new policy that will ensure a more supportive and quieter testing environment. Check-in for all testers will now occur at the front desk as you enter the lobby for the Testing Center/Library/Advising Center in the Magnolia Building (Mid City Campus). Students can not only check in to test but can also reserve a locker for their personal belongings (backpacks, purses, laptops, etc.). The Testing Center is working hard to provide the proper climate to enhance the performance of all of our students. Please remind your students to schedule there testing times using the online reservation system. If you have questions for the Testing Center staff, you can email (testingcenter@mybrcc.edu) or contact them by phone (216.8038). The Mid City Testing Center is open Monday through Wednesday from 8:00 am until 7:00 pm, on Thursday from 8:00 am until 5:00 pm and on Friday from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm. Saturday testing will occur on March 8 and 22, April 5 and 26, and May 10 from 8:00am until 12:00 pm. The Testing Center will be closed on Thursday, March 13 for the LCTCS professional development annual conference.
DO STUDENTS CALL YOU BY YOUR FIRST NAME
Katrina Gulliver covers the topic of classroom formality in her opinion piece with a lighter side. She writes, "I am not your friend; I am not 'Miss.' Is it just me, or are we witnessing an epidemic of familiarity among undergraduates? They’re all calling me by my first name. Is this happening in your classroom too? I’m not that much older than a lot of my students, generationally (I’m apparently just on the cusp between being an echo-boomer and a millennial, for those who keep track -- but old enough I don’t think they’re mistaking me for a fellow undergrad). However, I feel like their grandmother when I receive their emails, and clutch my pearls when I get a message addressed to “Hi Katrina” (or just “hi”) from students I haven’t even met." What do you think?
Thursday, December 12, 2013
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT DAY 2014
Plan to join us on Friday, January 17 for Faculty Development Day at BRCC. We will joined by Dr. Mary Clement who serves as Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence and Professor of Teacher Education at Berry College. Dr. Clement teaches graduate courses in curriculum theory, instructional management, and supervision and undergraduate courses in foreign language methods. She earned her doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and served as the director of the Beginning Teacher Program at Eastern Illinois University for six years. Dr. Clement is the author of ten books including First Time in the College Classroom: A Guide for Teaching Assistants, Instructors, and New Professors at All Colleges and Universities which covers critically important aspects of organizing and teaching curriculum. She will be presenting on three topics while in Baton Rouge including: how to engage your students on day one; creating learning experiences in four easy steps; and, how to use student feedback to improve your teaching and their learning. This event is being sponsored by the Teaching+Learning Center.
BERKELEY JOINS TESTING CENTER
We are very excited to announce that Brandi Berkeley is joining the Division of Innovative Learning and Academic Support. She will join the staff of the Testing Center on December 17 filling the vacancy created when Tressa Thomas Landry moved to Lake Charles. Brandi will serve as a Testing Center Specialist providing support to our student testers on the Mid City and Acadian campuses. She was most recently employed in the same capacity at Delgado Community College. Watch this space for new operating hours for the Testing Center for the spring 2014 semester.
CAREER FUNDING PROPOSED FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGES
Inside Higher Ed posted an interesting story about federal funding that could have a big impact on community colleges across the nation. Opportunity Nation, a nonprofit group that produces a national index on economic opportunity, has joined two U.S. senators in a push to encourage closer ties between employers and colleges, particularly two-year institutions. The group has endorsed a bill from Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, and Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican. That legislation seeks a better return on investment for the $15 billion the federal government spends on 46 different job training programs each year, Portman said recently. “We’d like to consolidate some of those programs,” he said, arguing that there is overlap in almost all federal job training efforts. Those funding streams include several that are important to community colleges, including the Workforce Investment Act and the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act. The proposed legislation probably wouldn’t cut funding for higher education, however. That’s because the two senators give two-year colleges and other career-focused institutions “priority access” to dollars for job training in the legislation, which is dubbed the Careers Through Responsive, Efficient and Effective Retraining (CAREER) Act. “We’d like to include community colleges more,” Portman said.
Plan to join us on Friday, January 17 for Faculty Development Day at BRCC. We will joined by Dr. Mary Clement who serves as Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence and Professor of Teacher Education at Berry College. Dr. Clement teaches graduate courses in curriculum theory, instructional management, and supervision and undergraduate courses in foreign language methods. She earned her doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and served as the director of the Beginning Teacher Program at Eastern Illinois University for six years. Dr. Clement is the author of ten books including First Time in the College Classroom: A Guide for Teaching Assistants, Instructors, and New Professors at All Colleges and Universities which covers critically important aspects of organizing and teaching curriculum. She will be presenting on three topics while in Baton Rouge including: how to engage your students on day one; creating learning experiences in four easy steps; and, how to use student feedback to improve your teaching and their learning. This event is being sponsored by the Teaching+Learning Center.
BERKELEY JOINS TESTING CENTER
We are very excited to announce that Brandi Berkeley is joining the Division of Innovative Learning and Academic Support. She will join the staff of the Testing Center on December 17 filling the vacancy created when Tressa Thomas Landry moved to Lake Charles. Brandi will serve as a Testing Center Specialist providing support to our student testers on the Mid City and Acadian campuses. She was most recently employed in the same capacity at Delgado Community College. Watch this space for new operating hours for the Testing Center for the spring 2014 semester.
CAREER FUNDING PROPOSED FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGES
Inside Higher Ed posted an interesting story about federal funding that could have a big impact on community colleges across the nation. Opportunity Nation, a nonprofit group that produces a national index on economic opportunity, has joined two U.S. senators in a push to encourage closer ties between employers and colleges, particularly two-year institutions. The group has endorsed a bill from Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, and Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican. That legislation seeks a better return on investment for the $15 billion the federal government spends on 46 different job training programs each year, Portman said recently. “We’d like to consolidate some of those programs,” he said, arguing that there is overlap in almost all federal job training efforts. Those funding streams include several that are important to community colleges, including the Workforce Investment Act and the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act. The proposed legislation probably wouldn’t cut funding for higher education, however. That’s because the two senators give two-year colleges and other career-focused institutions “priority access” to dollars for job training in the legislation, which is dubbed the Careers Through Responsive, Efficient and Effective Retraining (CAREER) Act. “We’d like to include community colleges more,” Portman said.
Friday, September 13, 2013
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY
Would you like to turn your class into a paperless operation? Have you ever tried to sit down and grade student assignments only to find that you left them at the office? Or perhaps you are ready to return an assignment to students only to find that you left them at home. Utilizing the Assignments function in Blackboard may be a good solution for you. On Thursday, September 26 two training sessions on using the Blackboard Assignment function will be held. You can register now for one of two sessions to be taught by Susan Nealy and Lenora White. The first session is for those faculty who are new to Blackboard. The beginner level session will be held at 3:00 PM and is recommended for faculty who are just learning how to navigate Blackboard and may need a little extra time getting started. The session will be very deliberate through the process from setup to submission and grading. The advanced level session will begin at 4 PM. This is for faculty familiar with using Blackboard but who have not used Assignments before and will cover assignment setup, submission and grading. This workshop is part of the Teaching+Learning Center faculty professional development programming. Both sessions of the workshop will be held in 206 Cypress Building.
TESTING CENTER EXPANDS HOURS AND SERVICE
Would you like to turn your class into a paperless operation? Have you ever tried to sit down and grade student assignments only to find that you left them at the office? Or perhaps you are ready to return an assignment to students only to find that you left them at home. Utilizing the Assignments function in Blackboard may be a good solution for you. On Thursday, September 26 two training sessions on using the Blackboard Assignment function will be held. You can register now for one of two sessions to be taught by Susan Nealy and Lenora White. The first session is for those faculty who are new to Blackboard. The beginner level session will be held at 3:00 PM and is recommended for faculty who are just learning how to navigate Blackboard and may need a little extra time getting started. The session will be very deliberate through the process from setup to submission and grading. The advanced level session will begin at 4 PM. This is for faculty familiar with using Blackboard but who have not used Assignments before and will cover assignment setup, submission and grading. This workshop is part of the Teaching+Learning Center faculty professional development programming. Both sessions of the workshop will be held in 206 Cypress Building.
TESTING CENTER EXPANDS HOURS AND SERVICE
The Testing Center at the Mid City Campus has new hours of operation beginning on September 16. We will now be open on Monday and Tuesday from 8:00 AM until 8:00 PM, Wednesday and Thursday from 8:00 AM until 7:00 PM, Friday from 8:00 AM until 5:00 PM and Saturday from 9:00 AM until 12:00 PM. In addition, the new Testing Center scheduler has been activated. Students can now make appointments for any type of testing via the BRCC website. Students or faculty who have questions should contact one of the Testing Center specialists at testingcenter@mybrcc.edu. The Testing Center at the Acadian Campus offers testing on Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00 AM until 12:00 PM. Questions or scheduling for the Acadian Campus should be directed to yolandabatton@catc.edu.
HOW TO MAKE IDEAS STICK
Have you read the article by Chip Heath and Dan Heath entitled
"Teaching that Sticks"? It is based on their book Made to Stick: Why
Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (HM291.H43). The Heath brothers have identified the six
traits that they feel make an idea sticky and they include: simple, unexpected,
concrete, credible, emotional, and story. The Heath's say, "As a teacher,
you are on the front lines of stickiness. Every single day, you've got to wake
up in the morning and go make ideas stick. And let's face it, this is no easy
mission. Few students burst into the classroom, giddy with anticipation, ready
for the latest lesson on punctuation, polynomials, or pilgrims."
KEEP CALM AND BE ENGAGED
Another outstanding faculty member has been recognized and rewarded with a coveted green shirt. Paul Guidry, who teaches in the Criminal Justice program, is a big proponent of active learning methods and truly believes that engagement is the ultimate weapon in fighting attrition. His student, Raven Groom, says "Mr. Guidry doesn't just hand out papers and ask us to read
them. He actually teaches the material and uses real-life situations to make
sure we comprehend." Another of his students, Daniel Lynch, says "Mr. Guidry genuinely cares about the future of his student's lives and helps us prosper by leading us in the classroom." The Division of Innovative Learning and Academic Support is proud to recognize Paul Guidry for his dedication to his students and his chosen craft.
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