Have you ever had one of your students ask you why they needed to learn something? Many of our students feel like anything they spend time learning should be relevant. Have you ever been stumped when they asked you the question? Rohit Metha found himself in just that sort of situation while teaching a wireless communication class to senior engineering majors. He writes, "Personally, wrapping my head around the concepts of probability took me several years. As a result, it has had a serious effect on my understanding of the world in general, including my position on some crucial political, medical, and spiritual issues. When my student asked me for why it was relevant, I tried to explain why I cared about it and how it connected to wireless communication. I could tell that he did not care about either of my reasons. This bothered me for weeks, perhaps, months. Well, it still kind of does. But, it led me to wonder what could I have done differently? Last year, now working as a researcher in literacies at MSU, I found my answer." Sometimes it is beneficial to look at what we are teaching and consider why we are teaching it. Maybe like Rohit, it will help you enhance your teaching skills. He didn't stop there. He decided to write down his five ways that we can make learning relevant for our students which you can access here. He closes the post with what could be his teaching philosophy saying, "Our goal is to have them on-board with the things that we have learned to value and care about, so they can be good, literate, and emotional citizens who value each other and the world they live in."

Attending a conference is always a good thing for numerous reasons but one of the best for me is learning about new resources or getting reacquainted with old favorites. While attending the Louisiana Board of Regents annual eLearning conference last week, Dr. Curtis Bonk of Indiana University shared a number of new resources. I spent some time each day this week and last week taking a look at the many ideas he shared with us. I found Flipgrid (which can be embedded in Canvas) to be something I could easily use to encourage more participation in pre-class discussions. Using Vocaroo to give audio feedback to students was also very useful and you can even encourage them to use it for peer critiques. Finally, Polleverywhere came in handy  with the various questions I usually ask during a class session but you are limited to forty free responses. As for getting reacquainted, I spent some time on the Merlot site after being reminded by Dr. Gerry Hanley of all the wonderful (and free) resources there. If you use the Stop-Start-Keep Doing student feedback survey during the semester, you might want to look at FAST (Free Assessment Summary Tool) instead. You know that students like to do things online and the app does a lot of the work for you. Want to teach your students about information literacy? Try the University of Idaho's Merlot contribution. You can spend hours on the Merlot site alone so be careful and set some time limits for yourself. Better yet, share resources you have created that worked best for you.

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.

Economist James D. Miller now thinks online education could increase demand for instructors, not destroy their jobs. He posted an op-ed in 2011 sounding the bell that online education would replace instructors with technology. He writes, "In 2011, I thought that much of online education was boring, but I expected content creators to eventually succeed in making their material interesting enough to hold the enthusiastic attention of most students. I further forgot to take into account that teachers have, for literally thousands of years, tried to make their lectures more interesting and yet, as most of us can attest, we have still not succeeded in consistently producing lectures that most students find more enjoyable." One of the benefits we are seeing at BRCC is that faculty teaching eLearning classes are using the tools and technology from their online classes and applying it to their face-to-face courses. Next week, there are two additional professional development opportunities. Join us on Monday at the N. Acadian Instructional Site to learn about some new active learning methods. On Tuesday, the session on overteaching is at the Frazier Instructional Site. You can learn more about both events and register here.

Have you ever considered teaching an online class? The eLearning Program at BRCC offers online and hybrid class delivery as options for our students. One of the next options could be a synchronous course taught live from wherever your internet, camera, headphones, and mic will allow you to broadcast. Is that something that excites or creates anxiety for you? Dr. Devoney Looser recently posted a very revealing essay on this topic. Initially she was very nervous about teaching online but a family situation challenged her to take another look at online teaching. She writes, "The stereotype that online instruction is less rigorous, or that students cannot be engaged in it with appropriate rigor, isn’t borne out by my experience. Anyone who’s taught an on-the-ground class has looked out into the classroom and seen boredom or disconnection. By comparison, my online students were choosing when to log on to do their work. They seemed very tuned in when they did. It’s possible I’m just not as skilled at recognizing online students merely going through the motions, but I found them, as a group, exceptionally dedicated, motivated, and talented." If you are interested in becoming certified to teach in the BRCC eLearning Program, contact Susan Nealy. You can continue reading Dr. Looser's post here.

Does it seem like every other conversation about higher education begins with the words retention or persistence? Are there differences between students who attend community college versus a four year institution? Do we have definitive results that can be applied in every situation? We know that one of the many problems posed by the questions surrounding retention and persistence are the myriad of factors that are at play. In the latest addition of The Review of Higher Education (Spring 2017, V40, N3), Deryl K. Hatch and Crystal E. Garcia report on their research about these topics. In "Academic Advising and the Persistence Intentions of Community College Students in their First Weeks in College," the authors point out that there has been very little work that connects the factors that lead to dropping out and the student's initial goal. They acknowledge that academic advising centers and training for faculty advisors are two practices that could contribute to improving retention. The main results they report from the research include: 1) the relationship between engagement and persistence intentions heavily depends on individual goals, 2) different kinds of advising may have different effects for different students, and 3) the role of academic and social support networks matter in the near term and likely in the long term. Continue reading here.

In our most recent discussions at the Mid Day Musings sessions last week, a theme emerged about testing and assessment. It is very clear to us as instructors why we have to assess student learning. What we seem to agree on about this subject was that the testing and assessment process is less clear for our students. Sure they get a grade and are either happy, sad, or neutral. But what happens next can lead to either deeper learning or the promotion of surface learning. When students merely regurgitate facts and figures back to us, the learning process has probably not occurred. You can check this by including questions from the most recent test on the next assessment you give. If they are able to use the knowledge again (in a different context perhaps) then they really learned. If they give you a look that says "we already used that information and I purged it from my brain" then we have a problem. So getting students to understand that the assessment process is as much for them as it is for us is a great teachable moment. Jared Cooney Horvath and Jason M Lodge have posted a series of articles on the assessment process. One of the most interesting to me was their exploration of how and why the mind goes blank during testing. Their post is targeted at students and begins, "You prep for an exam and all the information seems coherent and simple. Then you sit for an exam and suddenly all the information you learned is gone. You struggle to pull something up – anything – but the harder you fight, the further away the information feels. The dreaded mind blank." Continue reading here.

Stephanie Kumi is a second year graduate student studying Information Security Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University. She asks a very relevant question, "Who is responsible for teaching students about cyber-security?", in a recent blog post. I think that it is one of a number of topics that we as faculty assume our students know but to be honest, as computer systems become more and more sophisticated, I think even those of us who consider ourselves tech-savvy may not be prepared to help our students. At BRCC, we have adopted an eSkills Orientation that is required of all students before they can register for an eLearning course. The pre-requisite was developed in response to faculty feedback about many of their students enrolling in eLearning courses without understanding just what was required of them. Recently the eSkills Orientation was revised and a much more concise version is now required of students wanting to register for eLearning courses. The new instrument was developed using feedback from faculty teaching eLearning courses (both online and hybrid). In addition, this semester the faculty who teach College Success Skills 1023 adopted the eSkills Orientation as a technology literacy learning experience. The expected outcomes were twofold: first any student taking a CSSK class would then be eligible to register for an eLearning class and second, it was hoped that the experience would improve their technology literacy skills. Preliminary feedback from CSSK faculty has been very positive and our students are expressing that the learning experience really helped them to learn about Canvas and how to use all of the available tools more effectively. So back to the question at hand, who is responsible for teaching our students about cyber-security?

What do employers look for when making a hire? It is something we as faculty should be asking. It actually isn't very difficult to find the answer. There are a number of surveys that provide us with the data.  Here are a few. A poll by USA Today reveals that grades still matter but there are ways to  get an interview despite a lower GPA. NACE's Job Outlook 2016 survey, tells us that employers are looking for leaders who can work as part of a team. More than 80 percent of responding employers said they look for evidence of leadership skills on the candidate's resume, and nearly as many seek out indications that the candidate is able to work in a team. Employers also cited written communication skills, problem-solving skills, verbal communication skills, and a strong work ethic as important candidate attributes. Monster tells us that critical thinking is one of the five things employers are looking for and not finding in college graduates. That may not make sense. We know that in order to be a successful student, students must learn how to learn. Being a critical thinker means that you can solve problems. You know where to go to find the different approaches that will allow you to come up with solutions. But in this complex world, being a critical thinker has to be paired with being able to work on teams. That means our students should be able to work with a diversity of people. They must also be able to have frank and open discussions where differences will be explored. Being able to hold a civil discussion is becoming a lost art. Students are very likely to mimic what is happening on their televisions (or even on the streets now) and resort to attacking the speaker rather than the idea, using a slippery slope argument, or resort to begging (for example). These are all logic fallacies that students need to be exposed to if there are to be productive in the work world. That is why the Center for Teaching+Learning Enhancement is offering three professional development sessions about the active learning method of using debate in your classrooms to help them develop critical thinking skills. Join us to add your voice to this important topic.

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).