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The Messy Teaching Conversation: Toward A Model Of Collegial Reflection, Exchange, And Scholarship On Classroom Problems, Heidi L. Johnsen, Michelle Pacht, Phyllis E. Vanslyck, Ting Man Tsao

Publications and Research

Whether we teach in junior or senior colleges, we often represent our teaching in the best possible light, leaving little room for acknowledgment or discussion of uncertainty or errors. It seems that the only way to discuss a set back is as part of a larger narrative, one where a failure is simply a precursor to success, a way of highlighting a challenge overcome.This wall of silence about our "messes" prevents us from honestly discussing our day-to-day work in the classroom. This article models just such a "messy teaching conversation."

In Transit Vol 4 Fall 2009, Laguardia Community College

LaGuardia Community College Publications

In Transit is the LaGuardia Journal on Teaching and Learning. It is published by the Center for Teaching and Learning at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY.

Nefdc Exchange, Volume 21, Number 1, Fall 2009, New England Faculty Development Consortium

NEFDC Exchange

Contents

Message from the President: A Reflection of a Different Light - Tom Thibodeau, New England Institute of Technology

From the editors - Jeanne Albert, Donna Qualters, and Naomi Migliacci

New England Faculty Development Consortium Fall 2009 Conference, November 13, 2009, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States; theme: When Questioning is the Answer: Reflective Practice for College Faculty; keynote presentation by Stephen Brookfield, University of St. Thomas

Excerpt from Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, Jossey-Bass, 1995 by Stephen Brookfield

NEFDC Fall 2009 Conference Agenda

Connecting with others

Contemplative and Transformative Pedagogy - Arthur Zajonc, Amherst College

SAVE the date! NEFDC 2010 Spring …

The Catholic Educational Tradition Between The Pinchers Of The Classical And Political Liberal Educational Ideals, Edward Papa

Presidential Seminar on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

In this paper Edward Papa propose a brief investigation of the main questions which arise when one places the Catholic Intellectual Tradition in battle with its most important opponents. There are two main opponents of the Catholic educational tradition. Pressing from the one side is the classical educational ideal of the ancient Greeks. Bearing in from the other is the contemporary liberal educational ideal.

Market Simulation Programming As A Culminating Experience For Students Interested In Entrepreneurship And Pursuing An M.S. In Engineering Technology, W. Andrew Clark, Craig A. Turner

ETSU Faculty Works

Many of our students enrolled in our Master of Science in Technology program have expressed an interest in learning about entrepreneurship and the development and management of a technology driven company. Students interested in entrepreneurship can pursue a 12 credit concentration that includes classes in developing a cohesive marketing and technology strategy, comparing and contrasting technology strategies for companies within the same market niche, developing an entrepreneurial business plan and coursework in either small business management or entrepreneurial finance. One critical component of this concentration is the utilization of the Marketplace™ Venture Capital simulation game to provide students with real …

Faculty Achievements, 2008-2009, Otterbein University

Faculty Achievement Reports

No abstract provided.

General Education Inquiry Groups: The Story Of A Pedagogical Conversation, Gina Cicco

Touchstone

In September of 2007, I was asked to serve as leader of the Education Department’s Inquiry Group at Hostos Community College. At the time, the General Education initiative to form inquiry groups across all academic departments was fairly new. The first goal for our department was to define “inquiry group” and to establish a precise purpose for our group.

Nefdc Exchange, Volume 20, Number 1, Spring 2009, New England Faculty Development Consortium

NEFDC Exchange

Contents

Message from the President: Where We've Been, Where We're Going - Judy Miller, Clark University

From the editors - Jeanne Albert, Donna Qualters, and Naomi Magliacci

NEFDC 2009 Spring Conference, Friday, May 29, 2009; theme: Connecting the .edus: Using Technology to Connect with Our Students; keynote speaker: Peter Doolittle, Virginia Tech

Online Teaching: Field-Tested Principles of Pedagogy and Practice - Peter Doolittle, Virginia Tech; Krista Terry, Radford University, and Stephanie Scheer, University of Virginia

Spring 2009 Conference Agenda, Friday, May 29, 2009, Middlebury College, Dartmouth College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, New England Institute of Technology, and University of Connecticut

Connecting …

Proctored Versus Unproctored Online Exams: Studying The Impact Of Exam Environment On Student Performance, Kimberly Hollister, Mark L. Berenson

Department of Information Management and Business Analytics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Increasing numbers of universities are offering courses in online and hybrid formats. One challenge in online assessment is the maintenance of academic integrity. We present a thorough statistical analysis to uncover differences in student performance when online exams are administered in a proctored environment (i.e., in class) versus an unproctored environment (i.e., offsite). Controlling for student grade point average (GPA), no significant differences in mean overall course performance or exam performance between the two groups were found, nor were there any differences in the mean vectors of individual exam scores. The study reveals that the group taking online exams in …

Assessment Practices: Student’S And Teachers’ Perceptions Of Classroom Assessment, Sayed Ahmad Javid Mussawy

Master's Capstone Projects

The primary aim of this study is to explore pre-service teachers’ perceptions of classroom assessment. A secondary purpose is to explore the faculty members’ perceptions of classroom assessment and their expectations of students’ learning. This study examines what assessment approaches are being used in Baghlan Higher Education Institution, School of Education. In addition, the investigator was interested in learning the extent to which assessment results were used to improve students’ learning and classroom instruction.

La Producción Intelectual En Las Universidades Privadas Venezolanas, Gus Gregorutti

Faculty Publications

Over the last 30 years, throughout the Latin America region, there has been an increasingnumber of private higher education institutions. This trend has brought both sometensions with the existing and dominant models of tertiary education and, from the otherside, the new governmental demands to allow these new players to be fully recognizedin society. One of these requirements is research productivity as a defining feature forhigher education. Venezuela is not an exception. Governments are asking privateuniversities to produce knowledge in order to be accredited and recognized within thenational system of universities. However, many of these private institutions are notready and don’t …

Facing The Challenge Of Quality In Mexican Private Higher Education: A Study Of Three Cases, Gus Gregorutti

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Working Toward A Third Space In The Teaching Of Elementary Mathematics, Ryan Flessner

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Building on work in the area of third space theory, this study documents one teacher’s efforts to create third spaces in an elementary mathematics classroom. In an attempt to link the worlds of theory and practice, I examine how the work of other theorists and researchers – inside and outside the field of education – can create new lenses for classroom practitioners. In addition, the article provides evidence that third spaces may be more difficult to realize than others have described. Rather than forcing a third space to emerge, what this study finds more important is creating an environment that …

Microblogging On Twitter: Social Networking In Intermediate Italian Classes, Enza Antenos

Department of World Languages and Cultures Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Second language acquisition (SLA) research has explored the significance of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in educational models for second language (L2) pedagogy. Recently, the proliferation of Web 2.0 technologies has become the focus of many teachers and researchers who study the impact of Web 2.0 innovations on L2 teaching and learning. The majority of students enrolled in language courses in postsecondary institutions, too, are “digital natives”—a generation of “‘native speakers’ of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet”(Prensky, 2001, p. 1)—who desire obtaining information in new ways. Web 2.0 provides the core for an internet experience that is …

Teaching General Education Writing: Is There A Place For Literature?, Emily Isaacs

Department of Writing Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

While there is strong support within the field of composition studies for requiring two writing-intensive general education courses, there is, as others have noted (Lindemann 1993; Richardson 2004; Steinberg 1995), little agreement as to what the second course ought to focus on. Scholars have argued for a research-intensive course in students' major area of study (see McLeod et al. 2001), or a focus on digital media (Yancey 2004). These options share the perspective that writing, though often housed in English (literature) departments, is not the exclusive province of English departments and literature faculty. As the discipline of composition and rhetoric …

Best Practices In Using Student Response Systems (Srs), Sarah Grison, Robert Bartsch

Psychology Faculty

These slides are from a workshop describing the various types of student response systems, the benefits of using SRS over other response methods, and the best practices for SRS to improve student learning. Guidance on implementing SRS and supporting resources for improving pedagogy are also included.

The Effectiveness Of Revision Activities On Improving Writing, Paul Chen, Steve Walker

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: How effective are the activities, both individually and relative to each other, on improving students’ writing skills and knowledge?

Method & Data Studied: We conducted this research in a political science senior seminar in Fall 2008. The course was for 5 credits, worth 3 Writing Proficiency points, with 11 students.

Project Title: Challenging What We Think We Know: Moving Beyond The Obstacles Of Prior Knowledge, Bidisha Biswas, Rosa Jimenez, Jessica Pemble

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: In what ways does prior knowledge affect students’ writing?

Method & Data Studied: During the final weeks of the fall 2008 quarter a survey was made available to the students in the American Foreign Policy course on Blackboard Academic Suite. The survey contained seven open-ended questions that prompted students to reflect on the assignments and evaluate, in particular, the way in which they chose to engage biases in assigned materials and their own preconceived ideas about foreign policy topics when completing writing assignments.

Student Writing And Non-Traditional Writing Media And Environments, Suzanne Paola, Lori Brock

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: What happens in students’ descriptions of their generative writing when the physical materials of or the environment for writing are de-familiarized?

Method & Data Studied: Writing exercises in English 460: Multi-Genre Creative Writing and English 101: Writing and Critical Inquiry asked students to participate in two material/environmental disruptions. The first exercise consisted of writing with non-dominant hands (brain hemisphere switch) through typing (English 460) or handwriting (English 101). In English 460, the environment was altered from the classroom norm of silence by playing atonal music during the writing exercise. The second exercise offered non-standard paper with the option …

Impact Of Written Comments On Student Writing, Margi Fox, Jeanne Killgore

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: What is the usability of written comments on graded writing in the Introduction to Professional and Technical Writing course? What impacts the usability of the comments for readers, students in Margi Fox’s English 302 course? The framework for the project—and for the curriculum in English 302—revolved around three main rhetorical principles:

Purpose: Clarify and prioritize purposes for written comments on student work

Readers: Understand and address the needs of student readers

Context: Focus on the dynamics of different situations over the course of the quarter

Exploring Reflective Journal Writing In The Classroom, Jennifer Karchmer, Kate Bauer

Writing Research Fellows

Research Questions:

1. What are some attitudes and behavioral trends of students toward a journal writing assignment?
2. How effective is a journal writing assignment in the classroom?
3. How can a journal writing assignment be improved for both students and instructor?

Method:

Quantitative data based on 39 surveys administered during 2007 and 38 surveys administered in 2008 at WWU to COMM318 Professional Communication Fall Quarter 2008 students. Also, this study included student journals (about 10 pages each) with qualitative comments. The data reduction for quantitative portion was broken down into a year over year comparison.

Changing The Latitudes And Attitudes About Content Analysis Research, Eve M. Brank, Kathleen A. Fox, Tasha J. Youstin, Lee C. Boeppler

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The current research employs the use of content analysis to teach research methods concepts among students enrolled in an upper-division research methods course. Students coded and analyzed Jimmy Buffett song lyrics rather than using a downloadable database or collecting survey data. Students’ knowledge of content analysis concepts increased after a lecture on the topic of content analysis, but it further improved after participating in the song coding, data cleaning, and writing of results. Additionally, students reported high satisfaction with the project and believed it was an interesting and enjoyable technique for learning about research methods. We provide suggestions for incorporating …

Beyond Student Ratings: “A Whole New World, A New Fantastic Point Of View”, Ronald A. Berk

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Unfortunately, student ratings have dominated as the primary and, frequently, only measure of teaching performance at colleges and universities for the past four decades (Seldin, 2006). In fact, the evaluation of teaching has been in a metaphorical cul-de-sac with student ratings as the universal barometer. Only recently has there been a trend toward augmenting those ratings with other data sources to broaden and deepen the evidence base (Arreola, 2007; Berk, 2006b; Braskamp and Ory, 1994; Centra, 1993; Knapper and Cranton, 2001; Seldin, 2006).

Although much has been learned over the 60-year history of faculty evaluation and the 50-year his- tory …

Using Rubrics To Teach Science Writing, Paul E. Bennett Jr.

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

An often-stated goal of education in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields is to teach students to communicate like professionals. In the STEM fields, the single most important thing we can do to teach our students better communication skills is to teach them how to write a lab report. The reason a lab report is so important is not just because it is the end product of a research project, but because each section of a lab report has a particular function that often correlates with different types of communication that a STEM professional needs to use. For …

It Takes Discipline: Learning In A World Without Boundaries, Stephen Healey

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

As Plato suggested, pedagogy is inextricably related to the polis. The learner and teacher are constituted by social, political, and economic bounds, and yet the twenty-first century polis is increasingly a world without boundaries. This is a perilous and exciting time to teach and learn. As agents of terror have shown, political boundaries are uncomfortably permeable. Economically, culturally, and religiously, globalization has reduced the power of nation-states and threatened erasure of their boundaries. Isolated identities—nationalistic, religious, linguistic, sexual— are under siege. Nothing is immune from alteration by these large-scale forces. Plato’s insight is that the pressures and possibilities, which determine …

That Ain’T Workin’: That’S The Way You Do It: Teaching Greek Through Popular Music, Georgia Irby

Arts & Sciences Articles

No abstract provided.

University Of Nebraska- Lincoln: Fact Book 2008-2009

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Administration: Papers, Publications, and Presentations

Fact Book Table of Contents

General Information

UNL Core Values ................................. 4

Role and Mission Statement ................................................................. 5

Institutional & Professional Accreditations ............................................................. 8

UNL Organizational Chart .................................................................. 10

Student Credit Hours

SCH by College and Student Level, Fall & Spring Semesters, 5 Year Trend ....................... 11

SCH by College and Student Level, Fall Semester, 5 Year Trend ......................................... 12

SCH by College and Student Level, Spring Semester, 5 Year Trend .................................... 13

Summer Sessions Student Credit Hours .................................................. 14

Retention, Degrees and Majors

Student Retention & Graduation Rate Analysis ............................................. 15

Total Degrees Conferred by UNL Fiscal Year, 10 …

Anatomy Of A Scientific Explanation, Cassandra Volpe Horii

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

“If I’m going to explain this theory, the question is, are you going to understand it? Will you understand the theory?” - -Richard Feynman, 1979 Douglas Robb Memorial Lectures

In this way, Richard Feynman, recipient of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics and renowned teacher, author, and bongo player, introduced scientific explanation as an interesting problem with understanding as its testable outcome. Making quantum mechanics understandable to an audience of non-specialists is no easy task. Feynman had his audience in stitches, on this occasion, after noting that advanced graduate students in physics often “do not understand it either, and that’s …

Non-Science For Majors: Reforming Courses, Programs, And Pedagogy, Jennifer Frederick

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Scientific advances fill news headlines and find audiences in popular movies, legislative bodies, and courtrooms, suggesting that society is broadly engaged by scientific issues. Science students typically learn concepts and methods that ignore the social and cultural foreground as well as religious and ethical implications of science practice. These excluded factors often reappear in scientific developments such as genetic engineering of herbicide-resistant plants, environmental effects of chemical and biological waste management strategies, and medical and health implications of sequencing the human genome. Though today’s science professors are already burdened by expanded content from introductory to advanced courses, now more than …

Making Sure That Peer Review Of Teaching Works For You, Nancy Van Note Chism

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Peer review of teaching: A hastily arranged visit to the classroom of a faculty member in desperate need of quick testimony on teaching effectiveness, resulting in a bland letter stating that the class is interesting and students seem engaged.

Given this prevailing practice in peer review of teaching, no wonder most faculty members fail to see its inherent usefulness. To many, this limited view and practice have rendered it a necessary evil, only to be used under duress. This essay seeks to expand both definition and practice. Let’s begin with another definition:

Peer review of teaching: Collegial efforts to understand …