INTERACT AT THE CENTER

New Blog Location

2009-05-29T12:29:00.010-04:00

We have been posting on two blogs as we worked through the transition to the relatively new BGSU blogs system. Now that we’re all set and to reduce confusion or redundancy, here is a link to the new blog site for all future postings:

https://blogs.bgsu.edu/ctl/

Wikipedia Final Exam: Passed (Journalists Failed)

2009-05-12T12:02:00.006-04:00

Below is an excerpt from the article about a college student's inquiry into Wikipedia and journalism in the digital age. What he found out might surprise some of you or even cause a reconsideration of using Wikipedia in the classroom. Read the full article here.

Here are some highlights (quoted here, not "lifted") ;-)

Irish student hoaxes world's media with fake quote
DUBLIN -
When Dublin university student Shane Fitzgerald posted a poetic but phony quote onWikipedia, he said he was testing how our globalized, increasingly Internet-dependent media was upholding accuracy and accountability in an age of instant news.
His report card: Wikipedia passed. Journalism flunked.
The sociology major's made-up quote — which he added to the Wikipedia page of Maurice Jarre hoursafter the French composer's death March 28 — flew straight on to dozens of U.S. blogs and newspaper Web sites in Britain, Australia and India.
A full month went by and nobody noticed the editorial fraud. So Fitzgerald told several media outlets in an e-mail and the corrections began.

"The moral of this story is not that journalists should avoid Wikipedia, but that they shouldn't use information they find there if it can't be traced back to a reliable primary source," said the readers' editor at the Guardian, Siobhain Butterworth, in the May 4 column that revealed Fitzgerald as the quote author.

Walsh said this was the first time to his knowledge that an academic researcher had placed false information on a Wikipedia listing specifically to test how the media would handle it.

How do you handle the use of Wikipedia in your courses and/or your own research?

Close the Book. Recall. Write it Down.

2009-05-11T10:54:00.000-04:00

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education discusses the importance of using recall to learn new concepts and ideas. According to the article, two psychology journals just published papers showing that the strategy of recall works.

According to the author David Glenn, recall is when students put down the text or notes that they are studying and recall everything they can. Students can either write down everything they remember or day it out loud. This active recall, such as using flashcards and other self-quizzing, is the most effective may to add something to your long-term memory.

These recall techniques, according to Dr. McDaniel, a researcher in the field of biology and teaching techniques, “If you ask people to free-recall, you can generate a better mental model of a subject area, and in turn that can lead to better problem-solving.”

This idea of free-recall has also generated some critiques from educators. Some professors have voiced concerns that recall is simply teaching students how to memorize instead of increases levels of higher learning and thinking. Dr. McDaniel argues that although these techniques may aid students in the often-required tasks of memorization, the free-recall tasks actually help to give students the skills needed apply their knowledge.

How do you encourage your students to use free-recall techniques or practice retrieval?

The One Stop for Conferences All Over the World

2009-04-28T08:09:00.000-04:00

A faculty member recently asked us if we could work with her in finding a resource for conferences concerning higher education. During our search, we cam across Conferencealerts.com, which we thought could be helpful for many faculty members and TAs.

Conferencealerts.com is a huge website dedicated to marketing higher education conferences across all disciplines and topics. The site also has a database that helps you find a conference, add an event, or promote their event with email. Users can find professional conferences for everything from Islamic Studies to Teaching and Learning. Moreover, the workshops that are advertised on the Conferencealerts.com are from all over the world.

Here's a little more information from their website:

"Conference Alerts brings together two groups of people - conference organizers, and academics who need to stay informed about conferences. We work with both small first-time conference organizers and established professional societies to ensure that notification of their conferences reach specifically interested parties. Both individual academics and a wide range of 'knowledge brokers' - such as journal editors, web site administrators and discussion list moderators - rely on our searchable online database and on Conference Alerts Monthly to remain informed about upcoming academic and professional events."

Take a visit to Conferencealerts.com and see if you can find a conference somewhere in the world that you would like to attend or inquire about.

Sara Kubik: Let's Get Serious About Online Research

2009-04-15T09:47:00.005-04:00

We have written a few postings that mentioned some of the debate behind the academic use (or non-use) of online websites for research or as a teaching resource in higher education. While many academics openly discourage the use of websites like Wikipedia or the process of "Google'ing" a topic for research, there are some scholars who are saying that researchers should take the idea of online research seriously. Sara Kubik is an associate faculty member at University-Purdue University Fort Wayne who thinks that it could be time for Academia to take online research more seriously. According to Kubik, instead of simply forbidding the use of the Internet as a credible research tool it might be time for scholars to participate in improving the validity of online resources.

Read Kubik's article for yourself and learn about her ideas. She makes some interesting points and offers some nice insight that we think are worth reading. Here are just a couple excerpts from the piece:

"Since groundbreaking information may be delivered from a grassroots level, academics should not dismiss this type of content creation."

"While it once made sense to equate print with quality, it’s time to embrace newer forms of communication as valid. If they need academically sound forms of verification and procedures for citation, let’s get to work."

Why All Professors Should Blog

2009-04-13T15:27:00.003-04:00

David Albrecht, associate professor of Accounting and Management Information Systems, presented last week on "Why All Professors Should Blog." He provided examples and led discussion about:

Why you should blog,
What you should blog about, and
How to get started.

A blog post he wrote a few months ago nicely summarizes his main arguments.

Now it's your turn... if you have a blog and are a BGSU faculty member, leave your URL and name in the comments below. If you are thinking about a blog, what are you waiting for? As David mentioned, blogging "is like adding Miracle Grow to your research"!

Latest "Communicating for Learners" Newsletter (Spring 2009, #2)

2009-04-07T10:15:00.006-04:00

The newest CTL “Communicating for Learners” newsletter has just been released. In the latest newsletter you can find the interesting "What If..." article concerning the University Learning Outcomes and how they can apply in classrooms here at BGSU. There is also a thought-provoking article titled, "Brain Rules for Learning" that describes John Medina's twelve famous Brain Rules. In addition, the newsletter features five new websites that we find helpful and beneficial to educators and students. Our Visionary Status in this newsletter is John Tagg, who is a well-known writer and researcher in the education field. Finally, you can also look at the different dates and times of workshops and discussions available here at the CTL.

To read a copy of the latest newsletter click here.

Team-Based Learning

2009-04-03T11:04:00.003-04:00

Instructors can have a less than easy time trying to implement teaching strategies that are outside of certain methods, like lecturing. There are other effective alternatives to lecturing, however. One of these alternatives is group learning, which has its merits. Team-Based Learning is also one of these alternatives that is growing in momentum and offers significant opportunities for student learning. Recenetly, the Center hosted a workshop facilitated by Dr. Karen Sirum (Biological Sciences) to introduce TBL to BGSU faculty.

Team-Based Learning is a systematic method for helping students work in groups and learn together. Its supporters believe that the benefits attached to TBL are well worth the time it takes to learn how to implement the method. Moreover, TBL’s proponents are saying that it is an excellent way of supplementing their other methods for teaching that have been helpful for their students’ learning.

According to its supporters, TBL has been structured to help student learning in group settings and, almost as importantly, has accountability built into it. Before trying this method with students plans need to be made, which include partitioning the course content into macro-units, identifying the instructional goals and objectives, and designing a grading system. Later, in class, there are more methodical instructions on correctly implementing TBL. Please see Introduction to Team-Based Learning and Getting Started with Team-Based Learning to read why and how you can try TBL for yourself.

There is an entire website dedicated to TBL that we invite you to visit. The site has video examples, professional testimonies from people who have tried it and a number of other resources. Please take a look at the site to learn about the “buzz” surrounding Team-Based Learning.

The Ten Commandments of Lecturing

2009-03-24T09:07:00.001-04:00

We found this list of ten "commandments of lecturing" by Rob Weir interesting. Weir generated a list of ten policies for instructors to follow when they lecture. Please read the list and feel free to share your own ideas.

I. Thou shalt connect new lectures to previous ones.

II. Thou shalt move beyond chalk and talk.

III. Thou shalt not lecture like caffeinated hummingbird or a tree sloth.

IV. Thou shalt not assume too much.

V. Thou shalt link known to unknown.

VI. Thou shalt be enthusiastic.

VII. Thou shalt not be a pompous ass.

VIII. Thou shalt not tolerate disruptive or disrespectful students.

IX. Thou shalt not lecture outdoors.

X. Thou shalt seize learning moments.

This is just a list of Weir's commandments. The Inside Higher Education website has more elaborates concerning each of the suggestions that he has for instructors.

Can Wikipedia be Used to Teach Writing?

2009-03-20T08:28:00.000-04:00

The use of Wikipedia for class assignments or as a citation source has been an ongoing debate. Some professors accept the website's use, usually after encouraging their students to caution what they take from the website. Other professors absolutely abhor the use of the website by their students. Robert E. Cummings says that he has found a new way to incorporate the use of Wikipedia into his classrooms and makes a strong case for using it in higher education, particularly as a writing tool.

According to Cummings, detractors of Wikipedia's use in higher education assignments have reasons to be concerned. Wikipedia, indeed, is an open source where essentially anyone can edit or create information concerning almost any subject. With this in mind, people who use the website do expose themselves to getting inaccurate information or are subject to relying on information that is unfounded.

On the other hand, Cummings believes that Wikipedia offers several advantages for students. He believes the major advantage to helping student essay writing with the use of Wikipedia is that students have audiences that are real and can provide plenty of immediate feedback to their writing. In his classes Cummings literally has his students post their work to the website for people all over the Internet to provide them with comments concerning their work. More importantly for the students, Cummings believes that students are writing and having more exposure to having having to write formally. According to Cummings,

"Composition assignments in Wikipedia frame writing as a collaborative practice hosted within a network. This arrangement seems much more predictive of the environment our students will find themselves writing in after they leave the composition classroom, both in later college courses (as they collaborate across networks with fellow students in coursework) or in the workplace (as they collaborate with co-workers to prepare reports, proposals, or Web pages)."

We invite you to read Cummings' article and see if what he has to say can be beneficial in any of your classes.

Choosing Technological Tools

2009-03-13T08:56:00.000-04:00

With all the encouragement to integrate active learning techniques into your teaching, it's easy to get confused about what to use when. Specifically, deciding which technological tools to use can seem overwhelming. Three of the most common tools instructors use in their classes are blogs, wikis, and dicussion boards. To guide you in the process of choosing which tool to use, we have collected information and dveloped a chart.

It is important that you consider the answer to some important questions as you make your choice:

What is the purpose of using the tools?

What features are most important for you?

What level of privacy do you need?

The answers to these questions and others can be found by looking at the chart. Make sure to use the left-most colomn labeled "Topic" to guide your selection.

You can download the document here.

And don't forget that you can always schedule a consultation at the Center for help on how to use your tool in class by calling the Center at 372-6898 or emailing the Center at ctl@bgsu.edu.

Disruptive Technologies or New Pedagogical Possibilities

2009-03-11T11:29:00.003-04:00

This presentation, “Disruptive Technologies or New Pedagogical Possibilities” by Grainne Conole was delivered at the Eduserv Foundation Symposium 2008, in London, England. In this video, Conole discusses how Web 2.0 has changing our learning and teaching paradigms. She discusses how we need to develop new models to understand the relationship between pedagogy and technology.

In order to understand the pedagogical implications of Web 2.0 tools, she explores three case studies: Learning Design, Openlearn and SocialLearn.

To read a related article by Grainne Conole please click here.

After watching this video, do you think we must develop new pedagogies that involve Web 2.0 tools?

10,000 Visitors to Interact at the Center blog

2009-03-08T14:40:00.000-04:00

This past weekend our Interact at the Center blog just passed 10,000 visitors. Our blog started out in 2006 and less than three years later we are proud to say that our "blogging" has been successful. We make efforts to publish interesting and helpful postings and we appreciate everyone who has taken the time to read what we have had to say. Thank you! Please continue to visit, comment on our blog, or leave suggestions for future posts.

The 60-Second Lecture

2009-03-06T09:40:00.000-05:00

The idea that a 60 minute lecture can be condensed into 60 seconds may sound absurd and even impossible, but there are some instructors in higher education who seem to think otherwise. The "Microlecture" is gathering followers across different disciplines in college teaching. Supporters of the one-minute lecture think that condensing a lesson strictly to key terms and ideas with less verbiage into a 60 second to three minute lecture has been beneficial for their students.

Naturally, the "microlecture" technique has its detractors. Critics of the practice think some topics, like literature or graphic design, are impossible to reduce down to three minutes. They also believe "microlectures" can at best provide "impressionistic overview."

Although the microlecture is intended for online courses it could be applied in a traditional classroom setting. Instructions for how to make a microlecture in an online are listed below.

Here are the instructions provided for how to make a microlecture:

Professors spend a lot of time crafting hour-long lectures. The prospect of boiling them down to 60 seconds — or even five minutes — may seem daunting. David Penrose, a course designer for SunGard Higher Education who developed San Juan College's microlectures, suggests that it can be done in five steps:

1. List the key concepts you are trying to convey in the 60-minute lecture. That series of phrases will form the core of your microlecture.

2. Write a 15 to 30-second introduction and conclusion. They will provide context for your key concepts.

3. Record these three elements using a microphone and Web camera. (The college information-technology department can provide advice and facilities.) If you want to produce an audio-only lecture, no Webcam is necessary. The finished product should be 60 seconds to three minutes long.

4. Design an assignment to follow the lecture that will direct students to readings or activities that allow them to explore the key concepts. Combined with a written assignment, that should allow students to learn the material.

5. Upload the video and assignment to your course-management software.

Read "These Lectures Are Gone in 60 Seconds" from the Chronicle of Higher Education website for yourself and learn more about "microlecturing."

Helping Students Understand Verbs Used in Test Questions

2009-03-02T08:59:00.000-05:00

To instructors, who have received an extensive formal education, knowing exactly what a test is asking may come easy. For some students, though, the ability to know exactly what they should do when words like "analyze" or "discuss" on exam can be vague and even foreign. Teachingprofessor.com, one of our favorite websites, recently published a list that all instructors could use a reference to help their students. Here is a list of what they call "test" verbs that you may want to share with students in your syllabus or exam preparation documents:

Analyze—break something down into parts, such as a theory into its components or a process into its stages or an event into its causes.

Assess/Criticize/Evaluate—determine or judge the degree to which something meets or fails to meet certain criteria.

Compare/Contrast—identify important similarities and/or differences between two or more elements in order to reveal something significant about them.

Define/Identify—give the key characteristics by which a concept, thing, or event can be understood.

Describe—give the characteristics by which an object, action, process, person or concept can be recognized and visualized.

Discuss—debate, argue, and evaluate the various sides of an issue

Explain/Justify—give the basic principles or reasons for something; make it intelligible.

Interpret/Explain—say what the author of a quotation or statement means.

Illustrate—Use a concrete example to explain or clarify the essential attributes of a problem or concept.

Reference: Nilson, L. B. Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors. 2nd ed. Bolton, Mass. Anker, 2003. [now available from Jossey-Bass]

Learning Styles

2009-02-26T13:05:00.003-05:00

It’s no secret that people learn in different ways. The key to success in teaching is realizing that people learn differently and finding ways to incorporate different learning styles into our classes. Recently, we held a workshop titled Pragmatic Practices for Teaching Assistants, Learning Styles that addressed how to assess learning styles and how to make our students aware of and responsible for their own learning styles.

In a paper titled Student Learning Styles and Their Implications for Teaching, authors Susan Montgomery and Linda Groat discuss the importance of recognizing learning styles and offered several different ways to assess these styles. Among the learning style models that they covered are the Myers-Briggs Model and the Kolb/McCarthy Learning Cycle. The authors also provide useful tips to engage students with different types of learning styles in your classes. These tips include using both group and independent work, requiring in-class presentations and providing less direction to students.

To read the rest of the article please click here.

How do you engage students in your classes that have different learning styles?

Assessing Assessment

2009-02-23T13:43:00.013-05:00

Inside Higher Ed’s article “Assessing Assessment” launches its discussion by stating that assessment and accountability movements are “alive and well,” and that colleges who think they can ignore them are “misguided.”

In an effort to provide an overview or guide of assessment practices, the National Institute for Learning Outcomes and the Alliance for New Leadership for Student Learning and Accountability are being developed, the former being led by Stanley Ikenberry and George Kuh.

The president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, Judith Eaton, is noted as supporting the work of these institutes, claiming that (from IHE) “better knowledge of assessment would improve the relationship between accreditors and institutions, and that a sustained commitment by higher education to accountability would preserve the principles of self-regulation for higher education.” Eaton hopes that the new effort will “strengthen the academic leadership of our colleges and universities.”

Some detractors of the higher education assessment movement have called it an oversimplified and potentially harmful mission due to concerns over using a single test to demonstrate student learning outcomes. According to one faculty member, what’s lacking is “any evidence of validity” for these single measures. Members of the NILO and ANLSLA, however, state that the intent is not to establish a single standardized test for colleges, but to offer a more comprehensive method for accountability, which Ikenberry states will most likely incorporate multiple measures.

To read the full Assessing Assessment article click here: Inside Higher Ed

Where do you stand on these assessment and accountability movements?

New Newsletter

2009-02-22T13:08:00.000-05:00

The newest CTL “Communicating for Learners” newsletter has just been released. In the latest newsletter you can find interesting pieces about the 2009 BGSU Teaching and Learning Fair, where Dr. Barbara Millis was they keynote speaker. There is also an interesting article about making changes for teaching and learning success. In this issue you can also look at the different dates and times of workshops and discussions available here at the CTL.

Please take a look at the newsletter for yourself by clicking here.

We welcome comments! Join the conversation!

Teaching Assistants and Principles for Good Practice

2009-02-20T08:26:00.002-05:00

Using a framework to provide effective, impactful, and quality education is not a new concept. While grounding pedagogy in theory is important, Teaching Assistants more often are interested in how to implement educational practices that will result in student learning. Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) 7 Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education is a foundational document that offers both a framework and specific methods valuable for any instructor. Chickering and Gamson give seven suggestions, based on a review of literature, to facilitate good practice:

1. Encourage Contact Between Students and Faculty,

2. Develop Reciprocity and Cooperation Among Students,

3. Encourage Active Learning,

4. Give Prompt Feedback,

5. Emphasize Time on Task,

6. Communicate High Expectations,

7. Respect Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning.

As a Teaching Assistant, we can use this framework to plan methods that will result in student learning.

If you want more detail or would like to learn more, consider attending one of our Pragmatic Practices workshop sessions. You can still sign up for the last two: Learning Styles and Teaching Tips! Visit the Center's webpage for full descriptions or to register, or call 419-372-6898 for more information.

Vella's 12 Adult Learning Principles

2009-02-17T09:57:00.002-05:00

In recent years Jane Vella has become a renowned and respected figure in the adult teaching field. Vella's 12 Principles for Adult Learners, spelled out in her known book Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach: The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults, are highly regarded in adult education. Below are Vella's 12 Principles.

* Needs assessment: participation of the learners in naming what is to be learned.

* Safety in the environment and the process. We create a context for learning. That context can be made safe.

* Sound relationships between teacher and learner and among learners.

* Sequence of content and reinforcement.

* Praxis: action with reflection or learning by doing.

* Respect for learners as decision makers.

* Ideas, feelings, and actions: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor aspects of learning.

* Immediacy of the learning.

* Clear roles and role development.

* Teamwork and use of small groups.

* Engagement of the learners in what they are learning.

* Accountability: how do they know they know?

These 12 Principles are actually quite helpful towards working with any learners in higher education.

3rd Annual BGSU Teaching & Learning Fair Slideshow

2009-02-09T10:42:00.005-05:00

Here are just a few pictures from the Third Annual BGSU Teaching and Learning Fair, held on Friday, February 6, 2009 in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union. Barbara Millis, from the University of Texas at San Antonio's Teaching and Learning Center, presented the keynote, Persisting with Passion: A Summary in Break-throughs in Teaching and Learning. For more information on presenters or the keynote, visit the CTL Fair site.

Two Opinions on Higher Education

2009-02-06T14:40:00.003-05:00

Suggestions and opinions for ways to improve the quality of higher education is not a new discussion topic. Different scholars, studies, and projects suggest different strategies for improving higher education. Paul Basken and Kevin Carey are two of known researchers and writers who have ideas of why higher education needs improvement and strategies for bringing about its betterment.

Basken seems to agree with the idea that there is a culture amongst many faculties who simply are resistant to change. Hence, traditional methods and older pedagogical frameworks continue to prevail in institutions of higher education.

Carey, however, has a different take on how to improve higher education. In simple terms Carey is an advocate of holding faculty members responsible for the pedagogical methods they choose to implement in their courses.

Both writers have different, and interesting, opinions on how to deal with improving higher education. You can read the articles that both men wrote on The Chronicle of Higher Education’s website and see how many people are responding to the articles.

Upload and share your work on Scribd.com

2009-02-03T09:22:00.003-05:00

One of the leaders in online publishing is Scribd. Scribd allows people to upload documents - which can be in the form of reports, brochures, books, spreadsheets, puzzles and games, etc. - to the Internet for sharing with millions of readers. The website also allows you to discuss work that belongs to other people. And, Scribd is free for users!

As per Scribd's FAQs:

Scribd lets you publish and discover documents online. It is like a big online library where anyone can upload. We make use of a custom Flash document viewer that lets you display documents right in your Web browser.

Part of the idea behind Scribd is that everyone has a lot of documents sitting around on their computers that only they can read. With Scribd we hope to unlock this information by putting it on the web.

Scribd would a useful website for students, especially, graduate students to get feedback on term papers, thesis or dissertation chapters, and for providing feedback to other users. For professors Scribd could prove helpful in publishing pre-publication documents for feedback or learning about what other college instructors are doing in their field or another field.

Over the past couple years Scribd has steadily grown in its users and readership. Please take a look for yourself and see what you can share or discuss.

A University President Returns to Undergraduate Teaching

2009-01-30T11:45:00.004-05:00

The idea of a college administrator or professor enrolling as an undergraduate student or even living in college dorms is uncommon, but both events have happened. In 2004 Roger Martin, former Harvard University Dean and President of Randolph-Macon College, enrolled himself as a college freshman at St. John's College. Rebekah Nathan, a university professor at a large state university, wrote My Freshman Year, which retold her journey back to being a student and living in a college dorm. Both Martin and Nathan have great stories describing their transitions and findings.

What about a university president going back to teach an undergraduate course and providing updates of her experience? Karen Gross, president of Southern Vermont College, is taking part in this exact idea. Just last week President Gross published her first article that reflects on her return to the classroom. In the article Gross describes some of the inspiration, rationale and obstacles involved with teaching at the university level. Some of the thoughts and experiences that Gross shares are interesting. Here is a short excerpt from the article: "Not surprisingly, the decision to teach was the easy part. The pragmatic needs kicked in immediately — well before the start of the semester. And they had to be balanced with the complex life I lead as a college president."

Go ahead and read the article to keep up with Karen Gross' endeavor back into the classroom.

Funding...Instructional Improvement Grant deadline approaching

2009-01-26T13:48:00.002-05:00

The deadline for the Instructional Improvement Grant is approaching fast. The deadline for proposals is 5pm, March 2nd.

Awards of up to $1000 are provided for proposals that lead to significant and demonstrable improvement in pedagogical skills and/or have a positive effect on student learning.

More information and guidelines concerning proposals are available at:

http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/provost/profDevel/fdcgrants.htm

Or call 419-372-5387.

Learning Students' Names

2009-01-20T08:01:00.003-05:00

A recent string of ideas came across the Lilly Conference on College Teaching listserv recently. Here is a sampling of some ideas you can try in your large lecture class to remember students’ names:
From L. Dee Fink (author of a great book - Creating Significant Learning Experiences):
...(L)earning names is extremely helpful but challenging in large classes. Here are two ideas that have worked for some:

1. This worked for me in classes of nearly 100, N=75. I used small groups extensively in the course. So, after forming the groups on the first day of class, I took a Polaroid picture of each group and as it "came up", they wrote their names by their individual picture. I then posted these pictures by my desk in my office and worked on learning the names within each group. After learning the names in the first group, I would learn a new group and review the names in the previous groups, and so on.. I took a week or two to get them all done, but I eventually did. What seemed to work for me was: it was a lot easier to memorize 12 groups of 6 students, than it was to memorize 72 students. And students really appreciated it.

2. A math professor I knew had a very large class, over 100, and knew it would be valuable to learn their names. So he used assigned seating, made a chart, and then each day of class, worked on memorizing a block of 6 students (3 in front and 3 behind). Then each day when he came to class, he made a point of visiting with students in each new block and in the ones he had already learned -in addition to the class in general.

In took awhile, but again by working continuously at it, he eventually got their names all down so that even if he met them while walking across campus, he would recognize them and be able to address them by name.

The point seems to be: You have to commit to doing this because you know it makes a difference in how students respond. If you commit to doing it, you can do it even if it takes some time. To read more about L. Dee Fink’s book, please click here.

Here are some more ideas from the listserv and other faculty suggestions:

Index card w/ name/contact info and 2-5 questions about them; review these early & often, especially during class discussions (call name and associate w/ their face

Students create/use name tents each class session; some faculty have students take/bring these each class, while others collect them and use this as an attendance check (but this requires space to lay out the cards, usually alphabetical or clustered, and time to collect/organize them at the end of class). If the name tent IS collected, combine with the index card suggestion, having students answer questions on the inside for you to review.

When handing back papers, call their name and personally hand it to each student

Mandatory brief office visits (2-5 min.) are requested by some instructors during the first 1-3 weeks of class (which may be unmanageable for very large classes)

Just “good ol’ memorization” of the roll sheets and then associate with faces during first classes

Take pictures of groups of students and write their names out (be careful of the legalities of this at your school); study these groups with names/faces frequently; helps if they sit near each other in class

Do you have any creative ideas to learn the names of your students?

First Weeks of Class

2009-01-09T15:27:00.005-05:00

As the semester is about to begin, it’s time to think about the most important day of the entire semester… the first day of class. The first day of class sets the tone for the entire semester. While most of us plan to simply go over the syllabus, there are other things that we can do to motivate our students. In "101 Things You Can do the First Three Weeks of Class," the author Joyce T. Povlcs, offers helpful tips to make the first three weeks of class start off on the right foot. Among the tips offered are:

Give an assignment on the first day to be collected at the next meeting
Administer a learning style inventory to help students find out about themselves
Greet students at the door when they enter the classroom
Have students write out their expectations for the course and their own goals for learning

To read more helpful tips that can be utilized during the first three weeks of class, click here.

How do you set the tone for your classes on the first day of the semester?

Eric Mazur: "Farewell, Lecture?"

2009-01-05T12:56:00.010-05:00

Lecture, arguably, is the most common method of teaching in higher education. It is not uncommon to walk into any classroom and find students can be busy trying to keep notes on what their instructor is saying. In the latest issue of Science, Eric Mazur, a physics professor at Harvard University, offers his own perspective on how he made the shift from lecturing as the prime modality for teaching to a more student-centered approach.

Mazur explains how throughout his schooling the lecture method was the way students were taught. The reliance on lecturing continued, Mazur says, until he felt that the method was not the most effective and meaningful approach to teaching. Despite earning high evaluations from courses he taught, Mazur made significant changes in his classes. "The traditional approach to teaching reduces education to a transfer of information," Mazur says. He also describes how using what he calls the "clicker method" has allowed him to explore new pedagogical approaches in his courses.

Here are other quotes from "Farewell, Lecture?":

"My lecturing was ineffective, despite the high evaluations."

"The traditional approach to teaching reduces education to a transfer of information."

"The responsibility for gathering information now rests squarely on the shoulders of the students. They must read material before coming to class, so that class time can be devoted to discussions, peer interactions, and time to assimilate and think. Instead of teaching by telling, I am teaching by questioning."

"However, it is not the technology [clickers] but the pedagogy that matters."

Please read the brief article for yourself and share your thoughts and/or comments below (just click on the COMMENTS link).

Other "Clickers" resources include:
CTL's Clicker Resource page

http://www.bgsu.edu/ctlpage49370.html

Tom Haffie (University of Western Ontario) presents Clickers at Queens University (11/2006)

http://sunsite.queensu.ca/vmp/clickers/index.html

Learning, Libraries & Technology Conference, 2009

2008-12-17T10:27:00.005-05:00

One of Ohio’s more famous conferences involved in higher education is coming soon. The University System of Ohio’s Libraries, Learning & Technology 2009 Conference will be the tenth anniversary of Ohio’s premier higher conference, previously known as the Ohio Digital Commons for Education Conference. This year’s conference will deliver an excellent forum for professional development and networking opportunities, with a focus on:

Teaching and Learning in the 21^stCentury
Student Success
Ohio Is Moving Forward
Transforming Technologies
P-20 Education

The conference will also include keynote speakers, vendor exhibits, technology demonstrations at Innovation Island, and more.

The conference will be held March 1-3, 2009. Fees for the conference have been reduced.

Two-day registration:
$195 ($95 for students)
One-day registration:
$95 ($55 for students)

Registration Includes:

Keynote sessions
Concurrent sessions
Innovation Island (Monday only)
Lunch
Continental breakfast
Reception with hors d’oeuvres (Monday evening)
Conference tote bag and program
Free wireless access in the conference area
Computer access in the Cyber Café
Free parking at the Hilton Columbus

Please see the conference’s website for more information or registration:

http://www.oln.org/conferences/LLT2009/LLT2009.php

Workshop Extension: Science of Learning (Diane Halpern DVSS Keynote & 25 Principles)

2008-12-15T14:43:00.008-05:00

A group of several BGSU instructors, from tenured professors to a graduate teaching assistant, attended the “Science of Learning” discussion session last Friday. The discussion centered on Diane Halpern’s keynote from earlier this spring at the 2nd Annual BGSU Teaching and Learning Fair. She began her keynote with the quizzical, yet rhetorical question:

If I taught something and no one learned it, what happened?
(In other words, can I say that I really TAUGHT it?)

Some of the key points the group discussed during the session were the nature the science of learning and importance of faculty knowing about the implications for their courses and the students they teach. Halpern encourages faculty to think about the big ideas of their course (Ten years after your course, what do you want students to remember or be able to do?); be clear about learning outcomes, and encourage/foster a learning environment that allows for practice at retrieval of knowledge and establishes challenging learning opportunities that addresses and transforms their mental models.

Furthermore, it’s important for students (and faculty) to realize that learning is “effortful,” yet rewarding – often most difficult initially, then easier with more efforts and practice… like most things in life. The diverse group of participants provided and discussed examples from foreign languages, musical performance, and the sciences.

Later, participants reviewed Halpern’s list of 25 principles (full list with citations available here or as MS Word file) and selected individual principles that are essential for student success, such as:
• Perceptual motor grounding
• Testing effect
• Spacing effect
• Stories and Example Cases
• Discovery Learning

One concern brought up in Halpern’s address as well as in this discussion session that is an important question for all teachers – (paraphrased) “So, if these methods lead to better, durable learning, don’t these take up more time in the class? What goes and how do we choose?” A great question for all instructors, department chairs, and deans as well!

Halpern suggests focusing your planning on students’ lives today and in the future – What are or will be their needs? What skills and knowledge will best prepare them for a world that doesn’t exist yet? These questions will continue to be explored and certainly more will be generated as additional findings emerge from the "learning sciences" discipline, as well as from the cognitive and neurological sciences.

For the BGSU community, to view this keynote, visit the DVSS (digital video streaming server), log in, and search for "Halpern" -- the video is approximately 70 minutes.

For those who attended this session or just want to leave a thought), click on the Comments link below this post to share your thoughts on the keynote, this discussion session, or any related issues.

Matrix for Online Sources

2008-12-10T09:56:00.002-05:00

Today’s students conduct most of their research online. More and more students search the web for articles and sources, avoiding libraries at almost all cost. But how do our students know what information on the Internet is reliable?
Professors Susan Miller-Cochran of North Carolina State University and Rochelle Rodrigo of Mesa Community College in Arizona developed a matrix to aid students with this task. This matrix was guided by two questions they encourage students to ask:

How does the information change over time--is it constantly updated and revised, or static?

And, how has the information been reviewed?

Using those questions as guides, the professors developed the matrix below to aid their students in their quest for dependable information.

To read more about this matrix, please click here. To get a better look of the matrix, please click here.

Outstanding TA Award nominations being accepted

2008-12-10T09:12:00.003-05:00

Outstanding TA Award nominations are being accepted.

Nominations are being taken now for the Outstanding TA Award at BGSU.
The award, sponsored by the Graduate Student Enhancement Program
(GradSTEP) and the Graduate College, is designed to encourage and
reward excellence in undergraduate instruction. Winners receive a
plaque commemorating their accomplishment and a cash award of $250.

To be eligible, the Teaching Assistant must have taught a course for
which he/she had major responsibility at any time in 2008. Exam
proctors, graders, and past recipients of this award are not eligible.
Self-nominations will not be considered for this award. Those eligible
will come from one or more of the following categories:
1) TA teaching own section(s)
2) TA leading study/recitation section(s)
3) TA teaching laboratory section(s)

Information and nomination forms can be found at
http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/gradstep/page29564.

Nominations must be received by Feb. 9 and should be sent to 215 South
Hall or gradstep@bgsu.edu.

'Measuring Up' report

2008-12-04T11:26:00.002-05:00

Every two years higher-education in the U.S. actually receives a report card. Since 2000 the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education has released its 'Measuring Up' report, which essentially issues broad and encompassing report of just about every aspect involved with higher education in the U.S. The anticipation for what the report will or will not reveal always is big, and the anticipation for this year's report is no different.

Kevin Carey, a research and policy manager for a major think tank in Washington, describes some of the history and previous experience with reactions to the 'Measuring Up' report. Carey also expresses some thoughts on how serious higher education institutions should consider the report and why it may have so many detractors.

Go ahead and read Carey's article and feel free to tell us what you think.

e-cheating

2008-11-24T10:56:00.003-05:00

While the Internet has opened us to a world of information and sources, it can also cause problems in our classrooms. The Internet has provided our students with a wealth of websites that will sell, barter and even give away research papers, English papers and essays. How do you combat this in our classes?

In a recent article in T.H.E. Journal titled “e-cheating: Combating a 21st Century Challenge,” Kim McMurtry provides us with a list of 8 suggestions to combat this type of plagiarism:

Take time to explain and discuss your academic honesty policy
Design writing assignments with specific goals and instructions
Know what's available online before assigning a paper
Give students enough time to do an assignment
Require oral presentations of student papers or have students submit a letter of transferal to you, explaining briefly their thesis statement, research process, etc
Have students submit essays electronically
When you suspect e-cheating, use a free full-text search engine like AltaVista or Digital Integrity
Consider subscribing to a plagiarism search service, like Plagiarism.org or

Read the entire article by clicking here

How have you dealt with e-cheating in your classes?

Creative Commons session, November 21st

2008-11-19T10:10:00.010-05:00

Copyright, author's rights, and licensing of personal works continue to enter into discussions at all levels of university work. From faculty authorship to students' creative works available on the Internet, each individual can now specify the conditions for the distribution and use of their works using the Creative Commons.

[From the Creative Commons website:]

What You Can Do Here

"Creative Commons helps you publish your work online while letting others know exactly what they can and can't do with your work. When you choose a license, we provide you with tools and tutorials that let you add license information to your own site, or to one of several free hosting services that have incorporated Creative Commons. With a Creative Commons license, you keep your copyright but allow people to copy and distribute your work provided they give you credit — and only on the conditions you specify here."

At the "Owning and Sharing Your Ideas" session on November 21, there was a presentation on Creative Commons and panelists led a discussion.

Garrick Ducat, panelist and Instructional Designer at Mercy College of Northwest Ohio, presented the licensing features of Creative Commons and explained how we can't all be users - we need to produce. We need to create more and apply licenses to our work to build the Creative Commons community. He also sees it as a way to skip legal intermediaries between the content creator and user.

Peter Murray, panelist and Assistant Director of New Service Development for OhioLink, sees Creative Commons as a way to provide open use and reuse of knowledge. He also wishes there were more students and educators licensing their work and joining the community.

Micheal Kudela, panelist and Instructional Designer at COBL, noted how licensing his photography under Creative Commons established more interest in his work. He also recognized Creative Commons licensing for increasing traffic to his images on Flikr.

What do you think? What are the pros and cons of Creative Commons from your perspective or discipline? Click on the comments link to leave your thoughts.

Google Books

2008-11-17T13:35:00.000-05:00

Do you ever have a hard time finding books and sources to help you prepare for lectures and classes? Do you have a list of books that you would love to read, but just don’t have the time or money? Could your students benefit from free book viewing online? Well, Google has launched something that could help: Google Books.

Google Books allows you to search through a wide variety of books and even provides access to the content of those books. This means that you can read whole books online, although some authors and publishers only allow a few pages to be read. Google books categorizes books into subject matter, has a great searching capacity and even allows you to create your own library where you can recommend books and write reviews.

The topics that can be found within the archives of Google Books are vast. A simple search of books on teaching pulled up 131,582 results. This could be a tool that may help in your research and something that may help your students in your classes as well.

What do you think about Google Books?

CTL Fall Newsletter #2

2008-11-14T11:59:00.004-05:00

The newest CTL “Communicating for Learners” newsletter has just been released. In the latest newsletter you can find interesting pieces about the 2009 BGSU Teaching and Learning Fair, where Dr. Barbara Millis will be the keynote speaker. There’s a piece about the interesting presentation concerning contemporary scholarly copyright issues. In this issue you can also look at the different dates and times of workshops and discussions here at the center.

Please take a look at the newsletter for yourself.

Breaking Down the “Pay Wall” to Scholarly Works: Michael Carroll Presentation

2008-11-12T13:07:00.013-05:00

On October 31, 2008, Michael Carroll presented "Copyright and Your Right to Use and Share Your Scholarly Materials" at BGSU’s Olscamp Hall. His presentation was recorded, so be sure to set aside 60 minutes for this thought-provoking view of the coming shift in scholarly communication:

For BGSU community – Click here to view (with description, time, scheduling options, etc)

For other non-BGSU viewers – Click here to view (with no other data or scheduling options)

Dr. Carroll began by comparing the scholarly communication movement of today to recycling 20 years ago – now recycling is commonplace as will scholarly communication (open access/author’s rights, etc.) eventually, due to changing times, needs, and the availability of digital tools.
Copyright laws are the crux of the issue behind the scholarly communication movement and the pressing need for change. The first laws, enacted in the early 18th century, were intended to protect those who wanted to make money from their written works rather than those who wrote for impact, as researchers and scholars do. Currently, when an author signs over their copyright to the publisher, they become limited in their own access to the work as well as limit many others due to what Dr. Carroll calls “the pay wall.”

From the price of individual journals offered through library subscriptions or access costs for individual articles online, the prices have skyrocketed, leaving many institutions to make difficult decisions about what they can or can no longer afford for their faculty and students. (Access to some individual journals can cost over $10,000 per year.) Carroll asks that researchers and authors make responsible decisions regarding the publication of their works – to consider the effects of simply signing the first or “opening offer” a publisher extends.
The issue of open access (OA), where the consumer of the works (reader, researcher) does not have to pay for access to the published works, often leads to misinformation about OA… “Open access does not mean lower quality or less rigor.” In fact, Carroll listed several ways that OA is good for authors/researchers:

increases impact (# of citations) due to easier access by researchers
serendipitous researchers come across works more often, making previously unforeseen connections
researchers need broader access to a myriad of sources/literature
helps international and poorly financed researchers – access/cost
medical researchers – providing out of date treatments due to lack of access to most recent findings
current pay-for journals are not searchable because they are not linked (lots of information could be added to the general pool of accessible resources)

One example Dr. Carroll highlighted was the OA journal, PLOS (Public Library of Science), and its successful growth over the past few years, including a 90% rejection rate, high impact, and the ability to publish peer-reviewed works immediately on the web. Other journals are using a similar model, but many other options are being investigated as viable options. (See Philosophers’ Imprint from the University of Michigan, which has been in service since 2001)

When considering to transfer your copyright to a publisher, Carroll asks authors to take an “Aretha Franklin moment” -- “You better think…” In other words, you may be limiting or hurting yourself and other future researchers by giving away all copyright control to a publisher.

So, what can faculty authors do?

Check current authors’ rights with publishers (these can sometimes be altered after the fact)
Negotiate with the publisher – they are getting used to this process and providing options for authors (it’s your call – they want to keep a good relationship with you too)
Many publishers already allow some form of open access, but most authors still are not asking/requesting; it’s a usually a workflow issue, habit, or simply non-awareness (most faculty are simply not aware of their options nor the benefits of OA)

As Dr. Carroll opined, “we’re reaching the tipping point… (and we) need help to push this forward.” Spread the word and become a part of the soon-to-be-in-crowd of Open Access authors!

For more information:

BGSU's Scholarly Communication page (including BGSU Author's Addendum .doc form)
Michael Carroll’s blog on issues related to copyright, law, technology, and music
SPARC’s Resources for Authors
What you can do to promote Open Access
Peter Suber’s Open Access Overview (Brief version -- Full version/links )

===================================================

What are your thoughts on Open Access and author's rights? How knowledgeable are faculty or graduate students (future scholars) in your department?... Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

Teachers On Teaching: Professional Practice and Authentic Assessment

2008-11-07T09:07:00.004-05:00

The November “Teachers on Teaching” session is on professional practice and authentic assessment. Facilitated by Drs. Vincent Kantorski and Sandra Stegman from the College of Musical Arts, this session aims to provide instructors with practical assessments centered on authentic, professional skills and tasks. For more information, we asked Vincent and Sandra a few questions about their upcoming session:

Q: What exactly is “professional practice”?
A: Professional practices are tasks, activities, reasoning, etc. that are reflective of how real-world practitioners work within their field. Teachers can then assess those authentic activities to determine how well prepared students would be to do similar activities as novice professionals.

For example, in Dr. Stegman’s Choral Methods course, students analyze a piece of music that they then introduce and rehearse in class. The rehearsal is video-taped for self-assessment in addition to the verbal and written feedback that she provides. Students prepare vocal warm-up cards that they use in actual practice with their field site students. Feedback is offered from their cooperating teacher.

In another example, Dr. Kantorski has students in a music education class write a letter to a newspaper editor urging readers to vote against a hypothetical levy that, if passed, would result in drastic cuts to the school district’s music program. Students are required to provide rationales, based upon research and the benefits they derived as music students in the school district, for each point of their argument.

Q: Why is PP&AA helpful/important for faculty and/or their students?
A: Professional practice and authentic assessment provide relevancy to course information, assignments, etc. They connect students to the real world of work and life outside the classroom. They can be helpful and important to students because they actually practice, rather than simply discuss or read about, activities they will be expected to do as professionals. This process can be especially valuable to students because they receive their teachers’ feedback and suggestions for improvement and self-evaluation.

Q: Is PP&AA something instructors can implement right away or is there a fairly steep learning curve?
A: It can be introduced in small doses immediately; however, ideas for how to do so are not always quick to arise. That is the benefit of sharing methods and strategies with colleagues from same and different disciplines, as will be the case at the November 12 session.

This discussion session, “Let’s Get Real: Authentic Practice and Assessment,” will be held on Wednesday, November 12 from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. in 201 University Hall. For the full description or to register, visit http://www.bgsu.edu/ctl/page57568.html or call 372-6898.

Effective Group Projects

2008-11-07T09:04:00.000-05:00

Collaborative skills are essential skills that students must learn in order to succeed in their chosen fields. How can we teach students collaborative skills? Through group projects.
While most students grumble at the announcement of group work, there are ways to make group work more rewarding and effective. In an article titled “Collaborative peer evaluation: Best practices for group member assessments,” Lisa Gueldsenzoph and Gary May provides a useful checklist for effective peer evaluation. This includes:

Make sure students understand the who, what, when, why, and how of the assessment BEFORE the group project begins.

Create a peer evaluation tool that is specific to the purpose, goals, and tasks of the group project.

Be the “guide on the side” as a resource to students and to ensure whole group participation.

Ensure content of the quantitative peer evaluation form is measurable to discourage popularity points.”

Use formative (mid-process) evaluations not as a grading device, but to keep the group on track and to resolve problems as they occur.

Use summative evaluations that allow students to evaluate their own role in the group as well as each of their group members.

At the conclusion of the group project and evaluation process, seek students’ input to assess the overall experience.

Gueldsenzoph and May also include a peer evaluation form that can be adapted and used with your group assignments.

If you would like to learn more about creating effective group projects in you classroom, the Center is hosting a discussion titled, Designing Effective and Meaningful Group Projects on Friday, January 9 from 10-11:30. Register for this workshop here.

Gueldenzoph, L. E. & May, L. G. (2002). Collaborative peer evaluation: Best practices for group member assessments. Business Communication Quarterly, 65(1), 9-20.

How do you design group projects?

Have You Tried DiRT?

2008-11-05T11:11:00.003-05:00

DiRT is the acronym for a new wiki, Digital Research Tools. DiRT offers an array of resources for grad students or instructors in higher education. This wiki is a collection of resources that helps scholars do everything from manage citations, author a multimedia work, or analyze texts. There are over two dozen links to different software resources and websites that can offer help for researchers.

For example, you're writing an article with the intention of getting it published. This wiki can help with the publication process. DiRT offers a platform to share your work with other researchers, compare resources, help contribute to a collection, or help you organize your research tools.

Take a look for yourself and invite other people to visit DiRT.

Here's your link to this wiki: http://digitalresearchtools.pbwiki.com

Promoting the Culture of Teaching

2008-10-31T10:22:00.005-04:00

After dealing with the rigors of graduate school people who want to teach in higher education must deal with the stress of finding a job. Among the several factors that will influence their choices of where to work is deciding the type of institution -- will they teach at a community college, a research-intensive institution or an institution that places an emphasis on teaching? They also must wonder where the skills they learned in graduate school are most compatible with or which type of college they're best trained to teach for.

Professor Sean P. Murphy offers an interesting view on the dilemmas involved in teaching in higher education, specifically about the dilemmas that arise after being trained in certain ways and teaching at different types of colleges or universities. One of the suggestions is that graduate programs could expose their soon-to-be instructors to working at different types of institutions which may be an emphasis on teaching or research.

Please read the article and share any comments. We enjoy hearing what readers think.

Learning Community Updates - SoTL, Publication, & Library eTools

2008-10-30T12:21:00.004-04:00

The Center for Teaching and Learning is sponsoring 13 learning communities (LC) for the 2008-09 academic year. Below are brief updates from four of them, regarding their accomplishments and future plans.

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning LC (Facilitated by Jackie Cuneen and Mark Earley)
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning LC read and discussed anthropologist Rebakah Nathan’s book My Freshman Year, an insider’s observation of modern college students focusing on the current state of academics and campus culture.
In addition, we examined other materials such as a 60 Minutes feature entitled Here Come The Millennials, and interacted with invited guest Professor Michael Coomes from the Department of Higher Education and Student Affairs, an expert on the Millennial student and co-author of Serving the Millennial Generation. SoTL LC member Colleen Boff collected information from the group and created a LibGuide (see http://libguides.bgsu.edu/millennials) containing a comprehensive listing of scholarly sources about working with and teaching Millennials. The LibGuide features a menu of “Classroom Activities,” and LC members will add activities to the menu throughout Spring Semester 2009. The SoTL LC will demonstrate the LibGuide at the CTL’s Teaching and Learning Fair on February 6, 2009 (watch CTL's website for more information on this event).

Publication LC (Facilitated by Allie Terry)
The Publication LC has met 4 times to discuss 6 Learning Community members' research thus far and has already built a "culture of accountability" for the publication process within the group. Each session, at least one LC member pre-circulates a publication in progress for critique and discussion by the group. During our meeting, we dissect the text, move it forward in terms of readers' comments, conceptual frameworks, and issues of style.

The culture of mutual trust and respect in the group provides an ideal environment of "safe critique," one in which the shared goal is to publish the research in the best form possible. Thus, the author understands that the critique is not aimed at intellectual failure, but rather at intellectual achievement in the eventual publication of the research. Our LC's current works-in-progress include: 21 articles, 7 book chapters, at least 4 book manuscripts, 2 grant proposals, and 16 conference papers. (Note: this LC has 10 members this year.)

Library e-Tools LC (Facilitated by Colleen Boff and Linda Rich)
The Library e-Tools LC has been having fun digging into EBSCOhost, a common search interface to dozens of library research databases covering a variety of topics and disciplines. Here’s what we are in the process of exploring:

Basic and advanced searching
Customization of the search screen
Saving searches and organizing research into folders
Sharing research folders with other users (e.g. students, colleagues, etc.)
Setting up automatic searches via email alerts/RSS feeds
Setting up table of contents alerts for favorite journals
Using EBSCOhosts’ Page Composer to easily build web pages

As we explore these different Web 2.0 enhancements, we discuss ways to use these value-added features with students in our teaching and for our own research and work with colleagues.

Pedagogy and Scholarship in Second Life Learning Community (facilitated by Anthony Fontana and Bonnie Mitchell) has been investigating various approaches to integrating SL into the BGSU learning environment and the issues involved. Members continually share their experiences, concerns, opinions, expertise and interests during group discussions and interactive dialog. The community consists of members from a variety of disciplines including Art, Interpersonal Communication, Intervention Services, the Writing Center, Computer Science, Psychology and Pop Culture.

The facilitators have shared the knowledge that they obtained while attending the Second Life Educators Community Conference in Florida and the Internet Research Conference in Denmark. As a group, the Pedagogy and Scholarship in Second Life Learning Community discussed issues related to research ethics and procedures, relevant and popular research topics in SL, and developments in virtual world technologies. Other meetings have focused primarily on teaching using Second Life and teaching experiences on the virtual campus.

For more information about these and other learning communities, visit the CTL's LC page or contact us at ctl@bgsu.edu or 372-6898.

P2P University

2008-10-23T11:00:00.001-04:00

There is a small handful of education professionals who are joining a movement towards creating an online university. The fact that there will be an online university should not serve as too much of a surprise though, because of how common we hear about attaining a college degree online or because online courses are almost as common. However, this online university is quite different.

As Jeffrey Young reports on The Chronicle of Education website, the P2P University (peer-to-peer) will involve instructors from around the world volunteering and helping pay the Web-hosting fees to publish the ‘university’s’ courses. P2P University is seeking to help students take part in “learning from one another through online social tools.” Among other reasons explaining why this school is being founded is because P2P University wants to fill in what they see as gaps in traditional university online classes.

The idea of a peer-to-peer online school is not an entirely new concept, and it has been attempted before. Most tries have been met with failure, but P2P says that it has plans that say should ensure its survival. One of the strategies to attract students is by having internationally renowned instructors, who are retired or working in fields outside of Academia.

There has been no mention of actual official credit for students ‘attending’ P2P and details are still being worked out to establish the school. Please read Young’s article and see what you think about this idea of peer-to-peer higher education.

Ten Easy Ways to Engage Your Students

2008-10-15T09:02:00.000-04:00

Are you trying to find a way to make your classroom environment more engaging? In a College Teaching article, Tara Gray and Laura Madson provide the following 10 tips for engaging students:
Always
1. Maintain sustained eye contact.
2. Ask before you tell.
3. Create a structure for note taking.
4. Let the readings share your lectern.

Sometimes
5. Use the pause procedure.
Pause so that students can compare and discuss notes for 2 minutes.
6. Assign one-minute papers.
7. Try think-pair-share.

Hold Students Accountable Daily
8. Quiz daily.
9. Use clickers
10. Call on a student every 2-3 minutes.

This article provides great tips and give good examples on how to apply these techniques in your classroom.
Find the entire article through BGSU’s Library. Search for:
Gray, Tara and Laura Madson. “Ten Easy Ways to Engage Your Students.” College Teaching 25.2 (2007): 83-87.
How do you engage your students?

Different Way of Grading Papers

2008-10-15T08:37:00.003-04:00

Michael Nelson is a political science professor at Rhodes College. As a "guest blogger" for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Nelson recently wrote a short blog post that shares a different way for instructors to grade papers. Nelson writes that he intends to break a habit that he (and many other instructors) tend to have when they grade student papers.

Nelson wonders what would happen if at the end of student papers he were to rephrase his traditional way of comments about the paper. Instead of praising the positives of a paper followed by a powerful "but" which is usually followed by critiques of the paper, Nelson says he would like to try the opposite. He wonders how students receptions could change if critiques were written first, then the powerful "but" is followed by praising comments about the work.

Nelson offers a small blog posting which could make big differences for students and instructors.

No More Blue Books?

2008-10-08T10:27:00.003-04:00

It was less than a decade ago that students had to actually get in line at the registrars office at a prescribed time and date in order to add or drop a course. It was even less than a decade ago that note-taking usually meant writing by hand in a notebook. Today, as evident here at BGSU, students can enroll for classes completely online and/or type (even digitally record) their notes on their laptop.

The rapid shifts in technology have now reached the point where we could likely see Blue Books become obsolete. Some universities are purchasing certain software programs that students can install onto their laptops which allows writing exams to be typed in class. The programs essentially allow students to open the word processing programs on their laptops, while locking down all other programs. The programs can also do a number of other options, which add to the program's attractiveness.

Securexam is one of the forerunners in this shift in higher education. Please read an article on Insidehighered.com to learn more about the possible obsolescence of the Blue Book tradition at universities.

Working with the Procrastinating Student

2008-10-02T10:32:00.003-04:00

Instructors in any discipline probably have had to deal with the procrastinating student. For one reason or another, these students have a hard time with getting their work done on-time and/or have a habit of underachieving because they rush to complete assignment.

Marty Nemko, a Guest Blogger for The Chronicle of Higher Education, offers some tips for Helping Your Procrastination-Prone Students.

CTL would love to hear from any instructor and how they try and help their procrastinating students.
How do you deal with procrastination-prone students?

Reflections: TA Workshop #1

2008-09-26T10:28:00.005-04:00

CTL would first like to say thank you for the participants who did come to the workshop. Your input, time and effort are more than appreciated. We're really looking forward to our next discussion and are planning on seeing all of you again.

Here are some of the reflections that we took from our discussion:
* Most of you appreciated that there is some kind of forum where you can talk about being a TA here at BGSU. And, you were all more than willing to share some of your experiences and insight that you have had here.

* Many of you would like to be able to hear more from other TAs. You would like to hear what other TAs are doing in their classes, how they deal with certain situations, integrating certain tools and methodologies into your classes, and some of you expressed that you would like to see about making your classes more interactive and lively.

* Some of you appreciated it when instructors are open to getting feedback from students, so some of you discussed how you do the same in your classes. In other words, you appreciate an instructor's willingness to improve and adjust, and many of you are willing to make the same effort.

* Finally, many of like any further input you can get about teaching from any reliable source.

We are adjusting our next workshop to address and capitalize on these promising topics. We are actually thinking about having you all share different unique practices that you implement in your classes, which could only help one another, as TAs. Our next two workshops are October 14th @ 1:30p-2:30p and October 15th @ 10:30a-11:30a. These workshops will be the same format and topics. We just have added another day and time in case more TAs come and having some flexibility to work with your schedules.

Please do not hesitate to register for the Teaching Assistants are Links workshop series by e-mailing or calling us. If these next two workshops go as well as the first one, we will have a wonderful time.

What are some suggestions for TAs? What are some topics we could discuss in our next workshop? We would love to hear from current or former teaching assistants!

Motivating "These Kids Today" (Discussion/Workshop Extension)

2008-09-25T11:24:00.002-04:00

On Tuesday, Dr. Jodi Haney presented a discussion session at the CTL entitled Motivating "These Kids Today" and challenged participants to consider their role in creating an environment that will encourage and foster students' motivation to learn. The bottom line she stressed was that:

"faculty CANNOT motivate students, as motivation is a personal construct and can only come from within… we can only set the scene and create a motivating environment for learning."

Student Motivation is defined as a “student's willingness, need, desire and compulsion to participate in, and be successful in, the learning process" (Bomia et al., 1997, p. 1). This includes extrinsic motivation, where a student engages in learning "purely for the sake of attaining a reward or for avoiding some punishment and intrinsic motivation, when a student is motivated from within, actively engaging in learning out of curiosity, interest, or enjoyment, or in order to achieve their own intellectual and personal goals (Dev, 1997).

One analogy presented was:

To Catch a Cat…
A. Pull the cat out from under the couch
Vs.
B. Entice the cat by dangling a string
(p.s. - our students are the cats!)

STRATEGIES -- Ideas that WORK!! (GENERAL)

Capitalize on students' existing needs
Make students active participants in learning
Ask students to analyze what makes their classes more or less "motivating.”
Instructor's enthusiasm
Relevance of the material
Organization of the course
Appropriate difficulty level of the material
Active involvement of students
Variety
Rapport between teacher and students
Use of appropriate, concrete, and understandable examples

Incorporating Faculty Behaviors:

Hold high but realistic expectations for your learners
Help learners set achievable goals for themselves
Tell learners what they need to do to succeed in your course
Strengthen learners’ sense of power (behavioral choices)
Avoid creating intense competition among learners
Be enthusiastic about your course
Take time to GET TO KNOW learners, talk to them, and express enjoyment in your interactions
Vary your teaching methods

Motivating Students to Do the Reading (some examples):

Assign the reading at least two sessions before it will be discussed
Assign study questions
If your class is small, have learners turn in brief notes on the day's reading that they can use during exam (Jodi’s “C option”)
Ask learners to write a one-word journal or one- sentence journal summarizing the reading
Ask non-threatening questions about the reading (fishbowl)

In summary... Create an environment that provides learners with a SENSE OF:
* POWER - I have control over my learning.
* CONNECTEDNESS - I am a valued member of a learning community.
* MODELS - I can do this because my peers can do it.
* UNIQUENESS - I am an original learner.
(Stevenson, 1992; modified by Haney, 2007)

Dr. Haney encourages all of us (including herself) to focus on incorporating just one or two of these strategies during a semester, reflect on the change throughout, and continue to analyze and build upon them in the future.

What are strategies you use to create an environment where students are motivated to learn? Any other thoughts or comments on this issue?

28th International Lilly Conference on College Teaching

2008-09-19T10:13:00.008-04:00

Now would be the time to start checking your calendars and seeing if you can attend the 28th International Lilly Conference. This is a big conference that will feature prominent speakers in higher education. Three of the featured Plenary speakers will be: Ken Bain, Dee Fink and Bill McKeachie. These three speakers alone make the conference worth visiting. This year's conference is titled, "Millennial Learning: Teaching in the 21st Century."

The conference has a website where dates, times and more details concerning the conference can be read. This conference is definitely worth the drive out to Miami University.

Social Responsibilities in the Classroom

2008-09-15T13:11:00.005-04:00

Instructors have long talked about how classrooms should be havens for teaching and learning, not a forum preaching politics or "saving the world." In teaching a touchy and charged topic like the war in Iraq, Joseph J. Gonzalez reveals how it's the transformations for students that instructors aid in maturing, which is interesting and a sign of good teaching.

In a recent editorial, How Good Scholarship Makes Good Citizens, to The Chronicle of Higher Education Gonzalez describes how he enjoys seeing his students become good citizens, who are "people ready to inquire, to think, and to engage with the world as they find it." These good citizens, according to Gonzalez, are created by an instructor doing a job well done and good scholarship on the instructor's part.

The piece is worth reading and does beg the discussion over what are some of the signs of a quality higher education or what makes a good instructor. We'd love to hear what anyone might add to the article.

A Defense of In-Person Education

2008-09-12T14:54:00.002-04:00

If you look through BGSU's schedule of classes you probably have seen the online classes being offered every semester. Online classes carry the "Distance Education" label. Students have been taking online classes for some time now, and many students enjoy the online course format of the classes.

It was not too long ago that the idea of online courses was being argued over. People thought it was absurd to allow students to earn credit hours for a college course by them participating in a class run over the Internet. The online class format, obviously, has prospered and there are students in colleges all over the country who are enrolled in them.

There are still people who disagree with online education and firmly believe that "in-person education" is so much better. In a recent editorial, Jane Arnold makes a worthy argument in revealing how online classes aren't all that their cracked up to be and have serious downsides to them.

We would enjoy hearing from anyone who has a reaction to Arnold's piece or want to make a comment concerning how they feel about online versus in-person education.

Back To School

2008-09-05T12:26:00.002-04:00

Rodney Dangerfield enrolled himself as an undergraduate in the comedy Back to School. In 2006 Martin Sheen enrolled himself at National University Galway. Roger H. Martin is a former president and professor of history emeritus at Randolph-Macon College, who recently completed his freshman year at St. John's University for the second time in his life.

After years of being an instructor and leader in higher education, Martin went on sabbatical to become a student. His book, Racing Odyssesus: A College President Becomes A Freshman Again, is an account of his second term as a new university student.

Martin reveals interesting details about his unique experience. An excerpt from his experience can be read on The Chronicle of Higher Education's website.

Solitaire in the Classroom?

2008-09-03T11:12:00.006-04:00

It is common in many classes for students to take notes straight onto their laptop while an instructor makes their presentation or lectures. Some students find it easier to type their notes rather than using a notebook and handwriting their notes.

While there are many students who are using their laptop to type their notes there are many students who are doing any number of other activities on their laptop. Some students are surfing the Internet, playing an online game, leaving a message on Facebook, and adjusting the lineup for their fantasy sports team.

Some instructors don't mind a student having a laptop in class. However, there are also instructors who treat laptops in their classes the way they treat a cellphone in class - they simply don't want to see it! Ian Ayres, a professor at Yale Law School, wrote an editorial for The New York Times about some of the frustration some instructors must deal with when students are using their laptops in class. He provides interesting thoughts about the University of Chicago Law School's announcement that there will be no more surfing in classrooms at the law school.

Ayres provides some thoughts on how effective wireless connections in classrooms can be, and how distracting wireless Internet can be for other students. He also presents a question that some students have argued - he has heard some students say that there's a "positive externality" to net surfing students, which is that instructors will be motivated to teach differently if they're forced to compete for the attention of students.

Read what Ayres had to say and what other people in higher education have been blogging.

Ayres editorial:
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/surfing-the-class/

"Why Solitaire (Might) Make Professors Better" (from The Chronicle of Higher Education):
http://chronicle.com/blogs/footnoted/2119/why-solitaire-might-make-professors-better

What do you think? Leave your comments below.

Where Will You Teach?

2008-08-27T09:22:00.005-04:00

Among the difficult decisions graduate students must make is what kind of college or university they will work for once they're done with their graduate studies. The soon-to-be teachers/instructors must decide whether they will teach at an institution that has a premium on research or a place where teaching is highly valued. They may be required to have real strengths in both research and teaching, which can be difficult. This is a common dilemma for graduate students. James Lang recently wrote Facing the Truth concerning the situation and he offers plenty of practical advice and information concerning the issue of graduate students going to teach at a teaching-oriented college. What Lang has to offer will probably seem daunting to some graduate students, but his article is definitely worth reading.

The Center for Teaching & Learning would love to hear what some of BGSU's graduate students or former graduate students may have to say about Lang's advice and commentary. Please leave us a short comment about what you think.

Perfect the Art of Teaching

2008-08-14T12:33:00.002-04:00

Universities every couple of years have to "revamp" and revise their overarching ideas and approaches in order to better prepare their students for their lives after college. BGSU has different programs and goals, like the University Learning Outcomes, which are dedicated to providing a quality education while in college and after.

Kim Mooney's recent article on insidehighered.com asks professors to examine the ways they approach teaching. She asks whether professors are asking the right questions, teaching effectively and willing to adjust to their students' needs. Ultimately, Mooney asks if professors and universities are using approaches and materials with their students that are in-line with the world their students live in now and will inherit in the future. Mooney provides readers with interesting questions, anecdotes, and examples of what some institutions are doing to better accommodate their learners. Please read the article and see what other professionals are saying beneath the article.

http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/08/01/mooney

Less Budgeting for Books This Semester?

2008-08-13T13:36:00.004-04:00

You can probably walk by the University Bookstore right now and see how ecstatic parents and students are about having to purchase books for the upcoming semester. In a little under two weeks the lines of happy students will be even longer and more of the grim faces. The bookstore clerks are no strangers to the complaints from people buying their books. First-year students taking certain introductory classes will probably be a little grumpy when they have to purchase their first course textbook for some course.

Wouldn't it be a novelty if a university told you not to worry about having to budget a handful of money for your books? Actually, there are some community colleges that are buying the rights to popular textbooks and allowing students online access to the textbooks. If you read an article by Andy Guess on Insidehighered.com you can discover how some community colleges have managed to gain access to popular textbooks. There are a handful of other university systems around the country who are also putting books online for students to simply read it on their computer monitors, and not have to spend a chunk of change for a book they will use for a couple months.

BGSU is actually part of this "online books" movement. The Jerome Library here at BGSU has more than one thousand books that students have open access to. Students are invited to go and chat with one of the librarians and learn about how they could possibly save some money. Maybe one of the books that your instructor has you reading is listed in one of the networks of online books that you can read and use for free online.

Google Jockeying

2008-08-07T09:54:00.007-04:00

If you haven't heard of Google Jockeying, you will probably be hearing or reading about it soon. Its popularity is growing quickly in higher education.

Here's a quick example of how Google Jockeying works in the classroom:
An instructor is doing their presentation on the American Revolution or some other topic. At the same time there is a pre-designated member of the class is "Google-ing" (the student doesn't have to use Google either, they can use any search engine they want) the different terms or aspects from the presentation, which students may want to know about. They are doing this with a projector attached to their computer for the entire class to see while they participate in the presentation or listen to the lecture. So, in the American Revolution discussion, the "Jockey" may Google a name like Lord Dunmore or pull up an image of a British soldier or display online links for students to read the Declaration of Independence.

Many instructors are finding Google Jockeying helpful for their students. It's popularity is growing.

Link to more information about "Google Jockeying":
<http://connect.educause.edu/Library/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAbout/39391>

Discussing Higher Education

2008-08-06T16:13:00.006-04:00

Would you like to be discuss over 37 thousand topics concerning higher education with more than 22 thousand people around the world? Do you have a strong opinion about some practice in the classroom that you want to share with someone?

The Chronicle for Higher Education has a discussion forum where you can peruse more than 790 thousand posts that concern just about any imaginable topic of higher education. Faculty can go into forums about everything from taking attendance with an iPhone, on up to reforms that would better prepare students for college. The dozens of articles that the Chronicle posts are always being discussed there.

Please visit the forum and see what kind of discussion you get involved in.

Link to forum:
http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php

Link to Chronicle of Higher Education home page:
http://chronicle.com/

Foster article: "New Systems Keep a Close Eye on Online Students at Online Students at Home"

2008-08-01T11:38:00.004-04:00

Just last week an article by Andrea L. Foster was published in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The article has been generating plenty of traffic and just as much discussion. If you wonder why the article may be attracting so many readers, please read the first two paragraphs of her article (below) and what she writes about the overhauled Higher Education Act that recently was overwhelmingly approved by Congress.

"Tucked away in a 1,200-page bill now in Congress is a small paragraph that could lead distance-education institutions to require spy cameras in their students' homes.

It sounds Orwellian, but the paragraph — part of legislation renewing the Higher Education Act — is all but assured of becoming law by the fall. No one in Congress objects to it."

Many instructors and students may not realize the impact this act may have on them. We would like to hear what some people say. Please read Foster's article or get some more facts on the Higher Education Act and give us a comment on what you read.

Link to Foster's article:

<http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i46/46a00103.htm?utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en>

The Teaching Professor 2009 Conference

2008-08-01T10:20:00.004-04:00

In our most recent Center newsletter we featured a short "Visionary" piece on Maryellen Weimer. Dr. Weimer is the editor of the The Teaching Professor online blog and newsletter, which are dedicated to inspiring "educators committed to creating a better learning environment," as their website indicates.

The staff at The Teaching Professor also have a popular annual conference to further their commitment to higher education. They have recently released details on their 2009 conference. The conference will be held: June 5-7, 2009 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. The themes for next year's conference are: educate, engage and inspire.

For more information on the conference, please refer to The Teaching Professor's website at: <http://www.teachingprofessor.com/conference/index.html>.

You can also peruse The Teaching Professor website and newsletters at: <teachingprofessor.com>.

Tomorrow's Professor

2008-07-25T08:54:00.003-04:00

Would you like to be able to read what people all over the world are saying in the realm of higher education about an array of interesting topics? If this is something you would like, then you should read what a huge network of professionals share almost everyday on Tomorrow's Professor.

This is a collaborative effort by Stanford University and M.I.T., which shares advice, experiences, research and blog postings from all over the world. Tomorrow's Professor has a sharing network of over 25,000 people, at more than 600 institutions, in 108 countries. People can find articles that concern topics ranging from "Avoiding scientific misconduct" to "How to Get the Most Out of Scientific Conferences." In their blog you can find postings concerning a variety of topics, like "Adaptive Learning" and "Academic Advising in the New Global Century."

Please see their Listserv and blog with the links below:

Listserv: <http://ctl.stanford.edu/Tomprof/index.shtml>

Blog: <http://amps-tools.mit.edu/tomprofblog/>

Please leave us a comment about what you think about Tomorrow's Professor.

BG News Article-"New Univ. blogging systems means new route of comminication"

2008-07-23T11:19:00.003-04:00

Today the BG News published an article about different blogs around campus. The article features information and insight about blogs run by the Center, a campus department, and some professors.

Reporter, Angie Burdge describes how blogging systems will have, "a new way for professors and students to communicate."

The link to the article is below and should be accessible to anyone.

Thank You BG News!

Article Link: http://media.www.bgnews.com/media/storage/paper883/news/2008/07/23/Campus/New-Univ.Blogging.System.Means.New.Route.Of.Communication-3393681.shtml

New TA Workshop Series

2008-07-22T12:34:00.005-04:00

Starting this fall the Center will be hosting a new Teaching Assistants workshop series. The series will be discussions for incoming, current and former Teaching Assistants. There are all sorts of components entailed in being a Teaching Assistant and instructing a room full of college students, and the Center would like to work with TA's to discuss the many aspects. We will be talking about everything from taking attendance, to assessments, to writing syllabi. Resources and other suggestions will be offered to aid in every part of being a TA.

The Center is aiming to start this series of workshops in late August, with the next workshop to come around mid-October, and a final workshop towards the end of fall semester. The exact times and dates for the workshops will be forthcoming. Please see the Center's website for further details in the near future.

What are Your Classroom Goals? (Workshop Extension)

2008-07-16T15:10:00.009-04:00

Developed by Thomas Angelo & K. Patricia Cross, the Teaching Goals Inventory (TGI) allows faculty to examine the needs, outcomes, and goals of their course(s) in a quantifiable fashion. The results of your highest ranking goals can then be used to determine the most appropriate formative assessment strategies for your students or as a framework for crafting a course syllabus. Classroom Assessment Techniques includes a paper version of the inventory, but the University of Iowa's Center for Teaching created an online version of the TGI for faster analysis and application.

Here is a sample readout from the TGI:
The cluster areas correspond to goals from the inventory, which can be measured throughout a course using various formative assessments from Classroom Assessment Techniques by Angelo and Cross (1993). With about 50 CATs to choose from, the TGI is a quick way to sort them into a manageable quantity to explore. Additionally, the TGI can be used by individual faculty, departments, or even students to uncover their vision and/or motivation for learning.

The Center's next workshop on using the TGI (Identifying Your Teaching Goals Using the TGI) is Wednesday, August 6, 10:15am-11:00am, immediately followed by the Formative Assessment Using CATs workshop from 11-12. For more information or to register for one or both, click here!

After taking the TGI, share your results (or main cluster/goal area). Was this tool beneficial?

Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

2008-07-14T10:13:00.008-04:00

Nicholas Carr recently wrote an article for the Atlantic Monthly about what he believes the Internet is doing to people's brains. Carr's, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" asks the question over whether people are relying far too much on the Internet for instant access to information, and changing the ways we think and altering "our understanding of the world."

Below are two short reactions to Carr's popular article.

Reaction #1

Nicholas Carr may ask the question, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, but his clear answer is that it certainly isn’t helping us think critically or deeply. Carr draws some comparisons to other technological advances in history, including writing and the printing press, fairly noting that although certain prominent thinkers of the time were certain we would see detrimental results in society’s collective cognition, the opposite is generally true. Carr is obviously skeptical of a positive affect of technology on the brain and learning. He raises good questions that amount to a consideration of how much “concentration and contemplation” actually occurs with an increase in technology and the future outcome of this change in learning. Whether you are concerned or celebratory of the change technology has made in learning, addressing the philosophical issues of “What is important to learn?” and “How can we best learn it?” will remain at the forefront and Carr gives us such an opportunity to reflect.

Reaction #2
"So, yes, you should be skeptical of my skepticism," is what Carr offers as a disclaimer after he essentially writes about the negative affects the Internet has on how people think and read. He proposes anecdotal evidence to support his assertion that the Internet is somehow controlling what people read, how they read, their reading and comprehension habits and, ultimately, how people think. He makes a formidable attempt to show how the giants of the Internet, like Google, have a predetermined plan to alter the web surfers intelligence. His argument is not the greatest defense of his overarching thesis, but he does ask a worthy question. It would be interesting to see what academic studies would say about how the Internet has morphed people's minds.

Please take a look at Carr's article and feel free to post your reaction or thoughts about it. Here is a link to Carr's article: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

What do you think about the article and suppositions?

Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

Questions to Consider for a Multicultural Classroom

2008-06-26T08:21:00.011-04:00

One of the most important and challenging tasks for an instructor or faculty member is to create an inclusive classroom. Shari Saunders and Diana Kardia from the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching from the University of Michigan have made some excellent suggestions for creating such a classroom.

Areas to consider include:

Course content
Your prior assumptions
Your planning of class sessions
Your knowledge about the diverse backgrounds of your students, and
You decisions, comments, and behaviors

In choosing course content, the authors (Saunders & Kardia, 2004) recommend considering “Whose voices, perspectives, and scholarship are being represented?” (¶ 5), including “as much as possible, materials written or created by people of different backgrounds and/or perspectives” (¶5) and recognizing “How are the perspectives and experiences of various groups being represented?” (¶5).

By reflecting on your assumptions, you have an opportunity to consider how these assumptions might become evident in the classroom. You can then respond accordingly. When planning your classes, you might consider accommodations, cultural reference points, instructional strategies, and controversial topics among others (Saunders & Kardia, 2004). Clearly, getting to know your students and their backgrounds allows you to make educated decisions, comments and behaviors in responding to criticism, student identities, conflict, and inequity.

You can review the entire report here: http://www.crlt.umich.edu/gsis/P3_1.html

Other resources include:

Tips for Teachers from the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University

http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/html/icb.topic58474/TFTrace.html

Diversity Web at AACU

http://www.diversityweb.org/

Kaplan, M. & Miller, A. T. (Eds.) (2007). Scholarship of Multicultural Teaching and Learning.. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 111. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Don't forget to check out our library at the Center for other resources

http://www.bgsu.edu/ctlt/page15501.html

New Name for Center

2008-06-25T10:11:00.008-04:00

The Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology now has a new name, the Center for Teaching and Learning. We are still in the same office, and still offer much of the same services to faculty, staff and graduate students. More details about changes at the Center will be forthcoming. Any questions and/or comments are welcome.

Our office still is University Hall 201. Our phone number is: 372-6898. Our e-mail address is: ctlt@bgsu.edu. Drop-in, give us a call or send us a message.

Please take a look at our new logo:

Classroom Assessment Project Cycle

2008-06-19T13:29:00.007-04:00

How do you decide how you will assess your students and their learning? Angelo and Cross (1993), suggest a Classroom Assessment Project Cycle. In Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, they outline a three-phase, three-step process by which you can design such a cycle.

Phase I Planning a Classroom Assessment Project

Choosing the class in which to carry out the Classroom Assessment Project
Focusing on an “assessable question” about student learning
Designing a Classroom Assessment Project to answer that “assessable question”

Phase II Implementing the Classroom Assessment Project

Teaching the “target” lesson related to the question being assessed
Assessing learning by collecting feedback on that assessable question
Analyzing the feedback and turning data into usable information

Phase III Responding to the results of the Classroom Assessment

Interpreting the results and formulating an appropriate response to improve learning
Communicating the results to students and trying out the response
Evaluating the Classroom Assessment Project’s effect(s) on teaching and learning (p. 34)

Such a cycle is a good starting point, but if you are looking for more specific and innovative ways to assess student learning, Angelo and Cross (1993) provide fifty specific ways of assessing everything from prior knowledge and skills, to critical thinking, to learner reactions to teachers and teaching. Their book is philosophically sound, practically applicable, and available at a library near you. If you’ve never read it or haven’t read it in a while, it’s worth skimming.

Angelo, T. A., & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

You can check this book out from the CTL Library:
http://www.bgsu.edu/ctlt/page15501.html

**The Center for Teaching and Learning will conduct two related workshops this Summer**
Identifying Your Teaching Goals Using the TGI
July 15, 1:00pm-1:45pm
August 6, 10:15am-11:00am

Formative Assessment Using CATs
July 16, 1:00pm-2:00pm
August 6, 11:00am-12:00pm

You can visit the website for more information:
http://www.bgsu.edu/ctlt/page11755.html

Call to reserve your location at 372-6898

Resources on the Web:
Angelo and Cross, from their book:
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/assess-1.htm

Classroom Assessment Techniques:
http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/assess.htm

PowerPoint on Classroom Assessment using Angelo and Cross:
www.uwlax.edu/catl/2006%20CoTL%20Materials/COTL%20-%20CATS%20with%20BOON%208-29-06.ppt

Tips for TA's

2008-06-05T10:39:00.005-04:00

All you have to do is ask a second-year Teaching Assistant or Graduate Assistant who has taught, and they could provide plenty to say about how daunting teaching can be. There are issues of how to teach, what to teach, what to assign, how to write a good syllabus, etc. The list could go on.

We are trying to relieve some of the anxiety that many TA's may have with our resources for tips. They can all be useful for incoming and returning TA's.

Below are some online resources, which could be extremely helpful for any new TA.

The Center for Instructional Innovation and Teaching Learning Academy at Western Washington University have posted web pages which help writing a syllabus:

http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/cii/workshop_handouts/syllabus_3-2-06/

The Teaching Center at Washington University in St. Louis provides tips for faculty teaching for the first time:

http://teachingcenter.wustl.edu/tips-faculty-teaching-first-time

The Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have a list of practical tips that any TA could use:

http://www.cte.uiuc.edu/did/resources/TA/preparesemester.htm

What are some of your suggestions? Have any of these resources worked for you?... Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

Rubrics=Student Accountability AND Efficiency

2008-05-27T09:45:00.028-04:00

During this era in education, when standards are being stringently enforced and instructors are being held accountable for what they get done in their courses, the use of rubrics is becoming more common. They are a designed evaluation guide for instructors and students to use as a point of reference, with specific assessment criteria for any assignment, project, requirement, and/or course. Rubrics allow students to have an idea of what is expected of their work, thus putting responsibility into the hands of students. Students can see what the instructor is looking for when their work is assessed. The amount that a teacher has to repeat their expectations, and students feeling misguided, can be significantly reduced.

The traditional rubric with percentages and listed criteria for earning an "A" or "B" in a course have drastically changed. Today rubrics have become creative and versatile. A rubric can be created for essentially any aspect of any course. The website addresses below provide examples of different rubric designs and creations, and their rationale.

Indiana University at Kokomo's Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

http://www.iuk.edu/~koctla/assessment/rubrics.shtml

Kappa Omicron Nu Honors Society website

http://www.rubrics.kon.org

Chicago Public Schools online resource to rubrics

http://intranet.cps.k12.il.us/assessments/ideas_and_rubrics/intro_scoring/intro_scoring.html

OLN - Resource of the Day

2008-05-21T10:30:00.004-04:00

Many people are learning new words everyday by subscribing or going to the Merriam-Webster website or from Dictionary.com to expand their vocabulary or the size of their "word bank." A brilliant resource for any educator can be found any day on the Ohio Learning Network's "Resource of the Day." Daily random tips from how to deal with aspects of everyday classroom teaching, up to tips concerning Distance Learning-it can all be found at:

http://www.oln.org/rss/rotd.php

The Ohio Learning Network even has a Search option where you can determine your search by topic, date, field of dates, and/or keywords. Please take a look at:

http://www.oln.org/rss/rotd_search.php

BGSU Celebrates its Virtual Campus/Earth Day

2008-04-21T09:37:00.006-04:00

The Bowling Green State University virtual campus in Second Life is celebrating its first birthday in conjunction with an Earth Day celebration in the virtual world on Tuesday, April 22 at 6:30 - 8:30pm EST.

The festivities will include poetry readings, art exhibition openings, live music by BGSU student DJs, with the evening culminating with a "Save the Virtual Island" scavenger hunt. The event will take place on the Bowling Green State virtual campus in Second Life and simultaneously presented in the lobby of the Bowen Thompson Student Union.

The Birth/Earth day celebration will begin with an Open Mic poetry reading at the BGSU Writing Center in Second Life. Students, faculty and staff are invited to "step up to the mic" at the Bowen-Thompson Student Union, where their words will be broadcast into Second Life. The BGSU Virtual Campus is also proud to host an amazing art installation by Jeff Lovett from Ohio University.

A special Earth Day scavenger hunt on the BGSU Virtual Campus will also accompany the festivities, beginning promptly at 7:30pm EST. Avatars will compete in a quest to find information on how to help combat global climate change. The first three avatars to find all the clues will be awarded prizes in Linden dollars. Participants will face simulated elements of climate change and environmental disaster that will be both challenging and thought provoking.

To visit BGSU Virtual Campus, click here.

To find out more about how to get a free Second Life avatar, visit Second Life

Writing Effective Questions

2008-04-14T15:19:00.001-04:00

As exam time nears, some pointers on writing good or effective questions might be helpful. Here are some tips to consider:

Twelve Tips for Writing Good Questions (from Questionmark)

"Writing effective questions takes time and practice. Whether your goal is to measure knowledge and skills, survey opinions and attitudes, or enhance a learning experience, poorly worded questions can adversely affect the quality of the results. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you write and review questions:

Keep stems and statements as short as possible and use clear, concise language.
Use questions whenever possible (What, Who, When, Where, Why and How).
Maintain grammatical consistency to avoid cueing
List choices in a logical order.
Avoid negatives, especially double negatives.
Avoid unnecessary modifiers, especially absolutes (e.g. always, never, etc.).
Avoid "All of the above" and use of "None of the above" with caution.
Avoid vague pronouns (e.g. it, they).
Avoid conflicting alternatives.
Avoid syllogistic reasoning choices (e.g. "both a and b are correct") unless absolutely necessary.
Avoid providing cues to correct answer in the stem.
Avoid providing clues to the answer of one question in another question."

Writing Effective Questions to Promote Learning (Penn State)
This detailed website provides "easy-to-follow, quick-to-read guidance for creating questions of varied types: 1-minute essay, short essay, short-answer, check-all-that-apply, matching, along with the traditional multiple-choice and true-false."

Each question type has three sections: an overview (description & samples), construction (how to write them effectively), and check yourself (how to spot faults in your own questions).

What other sites give good suggestions about writing effective questions?... Click on the COMMENTS link below to share your thoughts!

Call for Presenters from the Office of Service-Learning Fall '08 Faculty Focus Workshop Series

2008-04-11T14:11:00.004-04:00

The Office of Service Learning is beginning to plan for the Fall '08 Faculty Focus Workshop series. "If you have taught, are teaching, or are planning on teaching a service-learning course, we would like to have you participate in our series."

Here is a description of the Faculty Focus Workshop series offered each semester:

Faculty Focus Series

These discussion-based workshops feature faculty members talking about their service-learning courses and experiences working with all aspects of service-learning and civic engagement. If you would like to present in a workshop or know of someone who you think would be beneficial to hear from, please let us know!

Please email the Office of Service-Learning to volunteer to be a presenter or to make a recommendation -- Call 419-372-9287, email slbgsu@bgsu.edu or visit them online at http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/service-learning/

10-year Plan for Higher Education in Ohio

2008-04-04T11:53:00.001-04:00

Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut presented a 10-year strategic plan for higher education to Governor Ted Strickland and the Ohio General Assembly that details strategies to meet the governor's goal of enrolling 230,000 more students while keeping more graduates in Ohio and attracting more talent to the state.

Click here to be redirected to Governor Stickland and Chancellor Fingerhut's video presentation.

The plan promises to raise the overall educational attainment of the state of Ohio.

"This report builds upon the principles I put forth last year in creating the University System of Ohio," Strickland said. "This 10-year plan for Ohio's institutions of higher education will ensure not only that we dramatically expand educational opportunities for Ohioans but that we do so in a way that makes our state a world-class economic competitor."

If you are interested in reading the strategic plan, the executive summary can be found here. Or if you are more interested in the full report, follow this link.

Call For Papers: Insight Journal

2008-04-01T11:48:00.009-04:00

This is a final reminder concerning the upcoming submission deadline for Insight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching. Insight focuses each edition on a specific topic or theme relevant to current trends in higher education; the theme of the third issue is scholarship of teaching and learning.

Submission details are as follows:

STYLE - All manuscripts must be formatted in either APA or MLA style.
LENGTH - Manuscript should be no more than 10 pages (not including abstract, references or appendices). Authors are encouraged to include appendices that promote application and integration of materials (i.e., assignments, rubrics, examples, etc.).
ABSTRACT - Each manuscript must be summarized in an abstract of 50 to 100 words.
AUTHOR - Each author should provide his/her full name, title and departmental affiliation, campus address, telephone number, and email address. Each author must also include a brief biography (no more than 50 words per author).
FORMAT - All manuscripts must be submitted via email as attachments in Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format. Do not include personal identifiers within the manuscript. Include contact information only on a separate cover sheet. Each manuscript will be assigned a unique identifier for blind review processes. Send submissions to cetl@park.edu.
DEADLINE - All submissions must be received by 4:00pm on April 7, 2008 (CST).

If you need additional information, please review the Call for Papers and Quick Tips located at http://www.park.edu/cetl/Insight.aspx or contact CETL at cetl@park.edu.

University System of Ohio Website

2008-03-19T08:21:00.001-04:00

The University System of Ohio website is your one-stop location for news and information on institutions of higher education in Ohio. Keep an eye on this site for more details on the strategic plan and future direction for the statewide system.

2008 Lilly Conference on College and University Teaching - Traverse City, MI

2008-03-12T11:21:00.007-04:00

(Forwarded from the Conference Committee:)
Greetings,

The call for proposals for the 8th Annual Lilly - Traverse City Conference on College and University Teaching is now open. The conference will be held Thursday, September 18 through Sunday, September 21, 2008. This conference has sold out each of the past four years and participants comment time and again that this is one of the best teaching conferences in the country.

Keynote speakers this year include Denise Green, Bill McKeachie, Laurie Richlin, Debra Rowe, Norman Vaughn, and Todd Zakrajsek.

The conference theme is Millennial Learning: Teaching in the 21st Century, and includes four major tracks: advancing active learning, teaching well with technology, cultural competency, and adult learning in nontraditional formats.

An integral part of the Lilly Conferences on Teaching and Learning is the number of high-quality presentations on improving student learning. Come share what has been successful in your classes and what you have discovered about facilitating student learning.

Click here to submit a proposal: http://www.facit.cmich.edu/lilly/proposals.shtml The deadline for proposal submissions is Monday, April 14, 2008.

Please visit the Lilly -Traverse City conference website for more information about this conference: http://www.facit.cmich.edu/lilly/

We hope you'll consider joining us in Traverse City!

Todd Zakrajsek - Conference Director

Sarah Scoby - Conference Coordinator

==================================
NOTE: Traverse City, MI is about a 5 hour drive from BGSU!

ODCE Conference: BGSU Faculty/Staff Presentations

2008-03-10T09:29:00.009-04:00

The following BGSU community members presented last week at the 2008 Ohio Digital Commons for Education Conference (ODCE), which is sponsored by the Ohio Learning Network (OLN), Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), and OhioLINK.

Colleen Boff & Gwen Evans (University Libraries)
Hi Tech, High Touch, Low Cost: Library Instructional Tools Across a First Year Experience Program

Terry L. Herman, Melanie Alt, Daniel Lemmerbrock, Christopher Pappas, Todd Pavlack, Christopher Pittman and Mark Stevens (College of Technology)
Virtual Learning Environments: A Look into the Future

Michael Kudela (IDEAL) & Garrick L Ducat (Mercy College of NW Ohio)
Creative Commons: Share Your Work, Keep Your Rights and Learn from Others

Connie Molnar & Carolyn Matzinger (IDEAL)
The Metamorphosis of Biology 101: Face-to-face to Online Course Delivery

Carrie Rathsack (CTLT)
Today's Digital Tools for Enhancing Future Learning

For more information about ODCE or the conference events and resources, including the keynote address by Chancellor, Eric Fingerhut:

Website - http://www.oln.org/conferences/ODCE2008/
Wiki - http://wiki.conference.oln.org/
Blog - http://blog.conference.oln.org/

Looking for Questions & Answers: Conversation Week 2008

2008-02-27T14:58:00.004-05:00

As a follow up from the Questions and Learning: The Dynamic Duo workshop, here is an activity for your students to participate in or create your own list of the Top 10 Questions related to your discipline:

Top 10 Questions from Conversation Week.org (March 24-28, 2008)

For more information on using questioning strategies in the classroom, visit:

Facilitating Discussion: A Brief Guide
by Katherine K. Gottschalk, Director of Freshman Writing Seminars,
John S. Knight Writing Program, Cornell University

Fostering Effective Classroom Discussions
Jennifer Barton, Paul Heilker, and David Rutkowski, English Department, Virginia Tech

Question-Only Session
Stacey Osborn, BGSU

The “Pop Quiz” on Questioning
by Donna Sawyer

What are some critical questions for learning? Are there any "bad questions"?
Click on the COMMENTS link below to leave your thoughts!

Podcasting with Gcast and iTunes U

2008-02-19T12:18:00.016-05:00

We have had many posts about podcasting in the past, however, today we want to introduce you to a couple things you might not have heard of.

Gcast
Have you ever wanted to add an episode to your podcast when you were out and about and not at home with your audio recording equipment? Have you wanted to interview people on the spot and create a audio files on the go? Well, now you can!

Gcast allows you to do mobile podcasting without having to have a laptop and recording equipment. You can do it all with just a phone!

BGSU iTunes U
The University has partnered with Apple to implement a BGSU iTunes U page. Before starting ,ensure that you have iTunes intalled; if not you can download it at http://www.apple.com/itunes/. Simply go to http://www.bgsu.edu/itunes/ or click this link and you will asked to load the BGSU iTunes U page in iTunes. As a faculty member you can post your podcasts here and make your information available for free. Contact The Center at ctlt@bgsu.edu for more information.

Podcating Workshops
New to podcasting? Not sure what it is? Just need some guidance on how to effectively use it and create audio files? Find out how podcasting can be utilized in your course to facilitate or enhance student learning. Basic topics such as what is podcasting, how to subscribe, classroom uses to achieve learning outcomes, and an overview of what is needed to create your own podcast will be discussed. Common uses for podcasts include updating students on current events, providing information to students between classes, and recording lectures or review sessions so students can use them to study.

Wednesday, March 12, 1:00pm–2:00pm
Monday, March 31, 11:00am–12:00pm
Wednesday, April 16, 2:00pm–3:00pm

Visit our workshop page or click here to register...

Have you used Gcast or iTunes U? If so, how? Have you ever attended one of our podcasting workshops? How have you used podcasting in the classroom?
Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

Scholarly Publishing 1.1? (On the way to 2.0)

2008-02-13T14:57:00.001-05:00

According to a PBS blog post by Andy Carvin, a group of Harvard faculty recently:

unanimously adopted a new policy that would allow them to retain the copyright of scholarly research. As a result, students and the public at large could have much greater access to these materials online than ever before.

For more information about the transition (or transformation) in scholarly communication and publishing:

SPARC (Association of Research Libraries - Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) - including information on author's rights (yes, you may have them... if you ask!) and open access
CreateChange.org is "an educational initiative that examines new opportunities in scholarly communication, advocates changes that recognize the potential of the networked digital environment, and encourages active participation by scholars and researchers to guide the course of change."

How will changes in scholarly publishing and communication affect you?

...Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

2nd Annual Teaching & Learning Fair

2008-02-11T09:23:00.003-05:00

The BGSU learning community is invited to present or attend the 2nd Annual Teaching & Learning Fair !

Date: Friday, March 14, 2008

Location: Bowen-Thompson Student Union, Lenhart Grand Ballroom and Rooms 314, 315, and 316

Schedule of Events:

9:00-10:30 a.m. - Fair Presentations (Lenhart Grand Ballroom)

9:30-10:30 a.m. - Discussion Sessions (BTSU 314, 315, and 316)

10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. - Welcome, Introductions, and Keynote
Dr. Shirley Baugher, Provost
Dr. Diane Halpern, keynote speaker
"A pplying the Science of Learning in the Classroom and Beyond"

1:00-2:30 p.m. - Fair Presentations

1:30-2:30 p.m. - Discussion Sessions (BTSU 314, 315, and 316)

3:00-4:00 p.m. - Discussion Sessions (BTSU 314, 315, and 316)

For more information about the BGSU Teaching and Learning Fair

To register to present - contact information only is requested

Academia 2.0: Blog Comments vs. Peer Review

2008-02-06T14:08:00.006-05:00

From The Chronicle of Higher Education - Feb. 1, 2008 (Link to article for BGSU community):
Blog Comments vs. Peer Review: Which Way Makes a Book Better? (by Jefferey R. Young)

"What if scholarly books were peer reviewed by anonymous blog comments rather than by traditional, selected peer reviewers?"

Noah Wardrip-Fruin from the University of California at San Diego is asking this very question for a book he is finishing, Expressive Processing: Digital Fictions, Computer Games, and Software Studies.

"The idea was to tap the wisdom of his crowd. Visitors to the blog might not read the whole manuscript, as traditional reviewers do, but they might weigh on a section in which they have some expertise...

"Ben Vershbow, editorial director at the Institute for the Future of the Book, concedes that comments on blogs are unlikely to fully replace peer review. But he says academic blogging can play a role in the publishing process."

What are your thoughts on this type of peer review? What are the pros/cons/limitations/consequences?

...Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

Ask AL- Organizing Bookmarks

2008-02-06T12:23:00.000-05:00

How can I organize my bookmarks (favorites) in my browser?

AL's answer for Mac using Firefox
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/almovie?key=26667

AL's answer for Mac using Safari
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/almovie?key=4658

AL's answer for PC using Firefox
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/almovie?key=23349

AL's answer for PC using Internet Explorer 7
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/almovie?key=26553

Did these tips help you to organize your bookmarks? Do you have any organizational techniques to share, that may help others?...Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

"I Believe..." (What's Your Pedagogic Creed?)

2008-01-28T12:52:00.000-05:00

"THE isolation of the teacher is a thing of the past. The processes of education have come to be recognized as fundamental and vital in any attempt to improve human conditions and elevate society."

Although this quote may seem to apply to our world today, it was written over 110 years ago by Samuel T. Dutton in the preface of John Dewey's My Pedagogic Creed, (Google book link; PDF of the book) an essay on the role of education in society during the late 1800s. How much has changed?

In this short piece, Dewey states his beliefs on education, schools, subject matter, nature of method, and finally, schools and social progress--starting every paragraph with, "I believe..."

What do you believe about education today? What do you think your students believe about learning?... Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

Academia 2.0 - What Do You Think?

2008-01-24T09:09:00.000-05:00

Below is another YouTube video from Kansas State University on learning in higher education -- today and tomorrow. It is a condensed version of a full documentary, edited to just under 10 minutes to meet YouTube's time limit.

As an educator or student, what do you think? What's most accurate? What's missing or misstated?

Click on the COMMENTS link below the video to get started!

Got Music? If not, check out Omnimusic from WBGU

2008-01-09T14:50:00.000-05:00

WBGU provides BGSU Faculty with a wide variety of music that can be used for education projects. Visit http://music.wbgu.org/ to get started. Music is offered in numerous genres and multiple file types. While this is an extremely powerful resource it should be stated that:

THIS MUSIC IS FOR BGSU EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS ONLY.

This music can be used in iMovies, PowerPoint presentations, background music for live presentations and many other uses. If you wish to use this music for purposes other than BGSU educational projects, contact Denise Kisabeth.

How do you use music in your teaching or presentations? Have you used music in your for presentations at conferences? How else could you use this music?

Click on the COMMENTS link below to post your thoughts!

AAC&U's LEAP Principles & College Learning for the New Global Century

2008-01-08T09:58:00.000-05:00

According to the Association of American Colleges and Universities' website:

Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP): Excellence for Everyone as a Nation Goes to College is a ten-year campaign to champion the value of a liberal education—for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality. The campaign seeks to expand public and student understanding of what really matters in college—the kinds of learning that will truly empower them to succeed and make a difference in the 21st century.

The recently released LEAP Report, College Learning for the New Global Century (pdf), "highlights 16 schools or educational systems whose innovative educational practices and programs embody the report's recommendations and Principles of Excellence," including BGSU's BGeXperience program. A clear recommendation from the report concludes:

The LEAP National Leadership Council recommends, in sum, an education that intentionally fosters, across multiple fields of study,wide-ranging knowledge of science, cultures, and society; high-level intellectual and practical skills; an active commitment to personal and social responsibility; and the demonstrated ability to apply learning to complex problems and challenges.

The council further calls on educators to help students become “intentional learners” who focus, across ascending levels of study and diverse academic programs, on achieving the essential learning outcomes.

The following are the Principles in Practice identified in the LEAP Report (click each link for more details):

Aim High -- and Make Excellence Inclusive
Give Students a Compass
Teach the Arts of Inquiry and Innovation
Engage the Big Questions
Connect Knowledge with Choices and Action
Foster Civic, Intercultural, and Ethical Learning
Assess Students' Ability to Apply Learning to Complex Problems

What types of learning experiences are your students doing that support some of these principles?... Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

Publishing In Transition Discussion: January 29, 2008

2007-12-19T11:04:00.001-05:00

The University Libraries and The Center present:

PUBLISHING IN TRANSITION: A DISCUSSION
New models of publishing can extend the options for disseminating work and preserve the stages of scholarly research. How can we create an improved scholarly communication system that addresses ownership, capture, distribution, and preservation of the intellectual output of BGSU community members? Join this discussion and share your ideas. Lunch will be provided.

Tuesday, January 29, 11:30-1 p.m. in the Jerome Library Pallister Conference Room.

To register, contact the Center at ctlt@bgsu.edu, 372-6898, or complete our online registration form.

Ken Bain (Part 3): Effective Learning Environments

2007-12-12T12:38:00.000-05:00

This is Part 3 of our series on Ken Bain's visit to BGSU. Ken serves as Vice Provost, Professor of History, and Director of the Research Academy for University Learning at Montclair State University and is the author of "What the Best College Teachers Do."

In order to create an effective learning environment, 2-3 very complex conditions need to take place:

1) Create an “expectation failure”
We learn from our mistakes often better than from our successes. Bain suggests that teachers need to put the learner in a situation where their existing paradigm does not work, then rebuild it from there. This is usually created from some sort of intellectual challenge or cognitive dissonance. "It needs to be more than just telling them the truth – that doesn’t work," explains Bain. (i.e. - lecture doesn’t work - for long term, for most students)

2) Make it meaningful or engaging
The learner has to care deeply enough to struggle through the incongruity (and this needs to be timely... if it takes too long, they are onto other things)
Teachers must carefully select mental models or paradigms that can cause this incongruity, but yet attract student interest, leading to student engagement. In other words, "How can you create an expectation failure where students will care enough to struggle through it?"

3) Provide emotional support (if needed)
As students encounter a challenge to their beliefs, some sort of emotional support may be needed, especially when dealing with most religious convictions, which are very difficult for students to question, let alone consider alternatives.

What do you think about these conditions for effective learning environments? Do you agree? What other conditions are needed, if any?

Click on the COMMENTS link below to leave your thoughts!

Need File Storage? Find Where to Get it!!!

2007-12-11T12:28:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wondered where to host your files (Podcasts, PowerPoints, Videos, etc...) on campus?

Well luckily ITS has provided all of us with a nice easily to use grid to determine where we should look to find the proper file storage...

Click here to check out the webpage.

What file storage services do you use? Do you utilize any other file storage service other then the services that ITS provides? If so, which ones?...Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

Images for Learning

2007-12-10T09:26:00.000-05:00

Stock.xchng is a leading, free, stock photo site. This site is great for generic searches, yielding high-resolution images that could be used to enhance student or faculty presentations or applied to any other visual media projects.

Along with browsing over 250,000 quality stock photos by more than 25,000 photographers, you can share your own personal photography as well.
If your search doesn't yield a large number of free results, there is a linked site, stockxpert.com, which produces results at the bottom of the page showing images available for purchase.

All you need is a free account to begin your search!

How do you use images in your teaching or presentations? What other image sites have you or your students used?

Click on the COMMENTS link below to post your thoughts!

Winter Break Reading: eBooks on Teaching & Learning

2007-12-07T10:04:00.000-05:00

In addition to the traditional books offered by the university library, OhioLink has a large section of E-Books available. Here are some of the books currently available.

From Principles of Learning to Strategies for Instruction: Empirically Based Ingredients to Guide Instructional Development 2004
The purpose of this volume is to help educators and training
developers to improve the quality of their instruction. The authors present a four-stage model that includes acquisition, automaticity, near term transfer, and far term transfer.

Learning and Teaching for the Twenty-First Century: Festschrift for Professor Phillip Hughes 2007
This book stresses learning and teaching, rather than teaching
and learning. The focus is therefore on how learning can be
enhanced, through effective teaching; and how individuals can be
best prepared to be excellent teachers.

Engaged Learning with Emerging Technologies 2006
The major purpose of this book is to present and discuss current
thinking, theories, conceptual frameworks, models and promising
examples of engaged learning with emerging technologies.

International Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments Series: Springer International Handbooks of Education , Vol. 14 2006
The International Handbook of Virtual Learning
Environments was developed to explore Virtual Learning
Environments (VLEís), and their relationships with digital, in
real life and virtual worlds.
*Also available in hardcopy

Rethinking University Teaching: A Conversational Framework for the Effective Use of Learning Technologies 2002
This new
edition builds upon the success of the first and contains major
updates to the information on learning technologies and includes
the implications of using technology for the university context -
both campus and electronic - which suggests a new approach to
managing learning at institutional level.
*Also available in hardcopy

What's the Point in Discussion?
2000.
This text presents the skills of discussion and how they can be
taught in the context of developing what the author refers to as
a thinking society.

These and many more E-Books can be found here:
http://ebooks.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ebc/search?subject=Education

What do you think about these E-Books? What are your favorite E-Books?

Click on the COMMENTS link below to post your thoughts!

Tools for Learning In Plain English...Wikis, RSS and Social Bookmarking

2007-11-29T15:09:00.001-05:00

Ever wish you could watch a video that would easily explain these new technology concepts?

Well today your prayers have been answered! Below are three great YouTube videos that help to explain what a the concepts behind wikis, RSS feeds, and social bookmarking

Wikis

RSS

Social Bookmarking

Did these quick videos help with your understanding of these technology concepts? Do you have any other questions regarding Wikis, RSS, or Social Bookmarking? Do you have any other great YouTube videos to share?...Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

Ken Bain (Part 2): People Learn Best and Most Deeply When . . .

2007-11-27T13:09:00.000-05:00

From the Research Academy website at Montclair State University, Ken Bain's research includes a list of a dozen requirements for meaningful student learning . . .

People Learn Best and Most Deeply When:

They try to answer questions or solve problems they find interesting, intriguing, important, or beautiful;
They can try, fail, receive feedback, and try again before anyone makes a judgment of their work;
They can work collaboratively with other learners struggling with the same problems;
They face repeated challenges to their existing fundamental paradigms;
They care that their existing paradigms do not work;
They can get support (emotional, physical, and intellectual) when they need it;
They feel in control of their own learning, not manipulated;
They believe that their work will be considered fairly and honestly;
They believe that their work will matter;
They believe that intelligence and abilities are expandable, that if they work hard, they will get better at it;
They believe other people have faith in their ability to learn;
They believe that they can learn.

What else should be added to this list? As educators, what is our role in helping students to believe they can learn?. . . Click on the COMMENTS link below to leave your thoughts!

Ken Bain: What the Best College Teachers Do

2007-11-19T09:42:00.002-05:00

Ken Bain, Vice Provost, Professor of History, and Director of the Research Academy for University Learning at Montclair State University, visited campus on November 5th to present "Little Things Make a Big Difference" at the College of Arts & Sciences Forum. Author of "What the Best College Teachers Do," Dr. Bain also facilitated two workshops based on his book and the years of research he has conducted.

Over the next couple weeks, we will highlight some of the insights offered during these sessions. Here is the first installment. . .

In the morning session, Bain asked participants to, "Think about the best teacher you’ve ever had; one that had a profound influence on what you feel and think. What were some traits of this teacher?"

Some of the responses. . .

firm, yet caring
in love with subject
moved students into leadership positions
high expectations, especially for college (even in elementary)
generosity
demanding of self & others
passionate
well prepared
good listeners; learned from the students too
authenticity
humility
help students feel comfortable
belief in the student
hands-on learning activities
identify strengths in individuals
personal (yet, professional) relationship with students
role model for them; even outside of the classroom
inspirational
joy of learning exuded to students
techniques and process behind learning/how to learn & preparations for learning
sense of care about topic and self as scholar
understood why did what done and explained why to the students
charisma – makes subject come alive; passionate about helping students learn
encouraging; pushed to do more

What traits, if any, are missing from this list?. . . Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

Ask AL- Web 2.0 and Google Docs

2007-11-15T13:46:00.000-05:00

Question 1

I've been seeing a lot of references to Web 2.0. What is it?

AL's answer
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/almovie?key=32612

Now that we know what Web 2.0 is, here is a Tip on Google Docs...

Question 2

How do you check spelling in a document when using Google Docs & Spreadsheets?

AL's answer
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/almovie?key=32471

Do you currently use any Web 2.0 technologies in the classroom? If so, how? Do you have experience or any other questions relating to Google Docs?...Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!