Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons^™

In Transit Vol 3 Fall 2008, 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.

Response To The 2007-8 Presidential Seminar On The Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Thomas D. Curran Ph.D.

Presidential Seminar on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

The goal of Professor Thomas Curran from the History Department at Sacred Heart University in applying for the Presidential Seminar was essentially to learn more about the Catholic intellectual tradition (CIT) so that he could help design and teach the core-curriculum-course and organize the training of adjunct instructors who carry a substantial share of the teaching burden.

Touchstone Volume 1.1 (Spring 2008), Hostos Community

Touchstone

No abstract provided.

Celebration Of The Committee On Beautiful Ideas, Judith Summerfield

Touchstone

I take this project seriously, this COBI. It is, for me, the most unconventional, sound, and forceful project at CUNY. The project is unconventional: it flies in the face of prevailing winds that make us to attend to depersonalized gerunds and reified nouns: teaching, learning assessment; to outcomes, summations, totals that signal failures, deficiencies; to inabilities that signal impossibilities. Failure rates, killer courses, remediation, that can level the faint at heart.

After Ten Years: Tracing The 1997 Vatican Statements Regarding Ethics In Advertising In Today's Advertising Textbooks, Anca C. Micu

Presidential Seminar on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

One responsibility of all educators, especially those in marketing and advertising, is to provide students with a proper perspective regarding professional ethics. In other words, it is to guide future managers in developing an ethical conscience as they perfect their decision-making competence. Today, the 1997 Pontifical Council’s statements on ethics in advertising are the top result of a Google search for “ethics and advertising.” The amount of scriptural reference contained in the statements is considerably less than that found in most Papal social encyclicals (i.e., social writings of the Catholic Church). This approach made the document more accessible to thoughtful …

Improving Metacognitive Skills, Jim Stewart, Mike Greiner, Cassandra Cook

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: Can a short, weekly email reflection from students in introductory physics courses be structured to improve students’ thinking about their own thinking?

Method: By analyzing student responses we will refine the writing prompt and scoring guidelines so that, starting fall 2008, we can begin a longitudinal study in which we follow individual students through at least two quarters of the introductory physics course.

People, Places And Ideas: A Year-Long Conversation With Rural Alaskan Students, Lauren Mcclanahan, Andrea Gabler

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: How can developing strong writing prompts elicit strong student responses concerning the evidence of climate change in a rural Alaskan fishing village?

Method: For this case study, my pre-service secondary teacher education students were paired (via e-mail) with middle school students in rural southwestern Alaska. The Alaskan students were from the small fishing village of Eek, which has a population of approximately 280. Through a process of continual refinement, my secondary education students drafted and revised writing prompts that encouraged the Alaskan students to think in terms of how climate change is changing their way of life.

Blogging As A Way Of Thinking, Julia Sapin, Robyn Rossmeisl

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: How can technology help to establish more open classrooms through writing, thereby affecting who is involved in discussion and how involvement takes place?

Method: Developed questionnaire for blog participants in a variety of Julia’s classes. We based our findings on the responses in those questionnaires, supplemented by secondary materials that helped us define terms and technology.

Making It Through: From Start To Finish… Faculty And Student Co-Authorship Process, Tara Perry, Brian Launius, Hayley Peterson

Writing Research Fellows

Research Questions: RQ1: What is the process of co-authoring a writing project between professors and students? RQ2: What are professor’s perceptions of co-authoring a writing project with college students? RQ3: What are student’s perceptions of co-authoring a writing project with a professor? RQ4: What communication processes are involved in student faculty co-authorship?

Method: The qualitative method of data collection was utilized for this study. The researchers conducted two focus groups and seven face to face interviews with different subjects, professors and students. This study was conducted at a university in the Pacific Northwest.

Integration Of Technical And Scientific Writing Into Surface-Water Hydrology (Geol 472/572), Robert J. Mitchell, Niki Thane

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: Do my practices improve students’ writing skills and their understanding of science?

Method: My primary goal is to help students develop their scientific thinking through writing. My hope is that as students advance from project-to-project, they will discover that learning the science is highly correlated to their ability to express their thinking in writing. Naturally, I also want students to learn the mechanical and style elements that define good scientific writing, such as writing concisely, using appropriate grammar, and developing proper figures and tables; conventions which are easier to learn and teach.

Journal Writing In The Classroom: Chore Or Delight?, Jennifer Karchmer, Anya Nakrokhina

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 Fall 2007 quarter at WWU to COMM318 Professional Communication students. Also, this study included student journals (about 10-pages each) with qualitative comments.

Student Literacy And The Effect Of Digital Writing, Catherine Mcdonald, Amanda Hill

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question:

Our research question had three components:

• What is the effect of teaching the production of online texts?
• What is the effect of teaching the analysis of digital literacies?
• How do students assess the effect of studying self-sponsored digital literacies?

Method: Our methodology was a qualitative study using ethnographic techniques, or more specifically, ethnographic writing research. Wendy Bishop explains this research methodology (Bishop, 1999).While ethnography is a phenomenological method of participating in a culture and giving an account of it as experienced by native members, ethnographic writing research is a less intensive study of the literacy practices …

Using A Field Journal To Enhance Conceptual Understanding, Shelby L. Sheppard, Jennifer Baldwin, Gretchen Anderson

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: Is individual experience a significant factor in deepening conceptual understanding?

Method: A Field Journal Assignment was given to two classes (1 grad and 1 undergrad) each of three terms over the course of the academic year. Students in each course were provided with a seminal reading which articulated the merits of deepening conceptual understanding by means of analyzing one’s beliefs about a particular concept and one’s reasons for holding those beliefs. (Wilson, J. 1998, “Seriousness and the Foundations of Education”, Educational Theory Vol 48: #2)

"How Do We Meet Students Where They Are, While Challenging Them Further?" : Teaching Developmentally., Mary E. Hess

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Listening And Learning To Teach In Theological Contexts: An Appreciative Inquiry Model, Mary E. Hess

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Is Mathematics Created By Humans Or Is It Discovered By Humans? A Catholic Intellectual Perspective, Jason J. Molitierno

Presidential Seminar on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

In this essay, Dr. Molitierno intends to show that not only is it appropriate to discuss the Catholic Intellectual Tradition in light of mathematics, the CIT can actually be exemplified in mathematics!

What Helps Law Professors Develop As Teachers? -- An Empirical Study, Gerald F. Hess, Sophie M. Sparrow

Law Faculty Scholarship

The overall goal of this article is to provide concrete suggestions for how law schools can improve teaching and enrich law student learning. In doing so, it reviews and analyzes the data collected from two national surveys about the kinds of faculty development activities that are most effective in improving law professors’ teaching. One survey was designed to quantify how many law teachers engaged in twenty-two types of teaching development activities over the previous five years and to assess the effectiveness of each of those activities. The other survey focused on the effectiveness of a national conference on teaching and …

Collaboration Or Plagiarism? Explaining Collaborative-Based Assignments Clearly, Tuesday Cooper

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Much has been written about the use of collaborative learning as a pedagogical tool to enhance student learning. Collaborative learning, or group work as it is commonly known, can be defined as a structured process where students are required to work in groups to complete a common task or assignment for a particular course. It has been identified as one of the most effective ways for students to become actively engaged in classroom activities (Davis, 1993; McKeachie, 1999; Nilson, 1998).

Although there are many positive aspects of group work, there are negatives as well. One particular problem occurs when students …

Developing The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning Using Faculty Learning Communities, Milton D. Cox

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) have proven successful in producing teaching projects, as evidenced by a survey of institutions with FLCs. It follows that these groups should provide ideal conditions for a subsequent development of those projects into peerreviewed publications and presentations, or the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). This essay offers faculty practical advice for producing such SoTL products based on what started as a teaching project in an FLC. My advice is based on work with FLCs for 28 years on my campus and others (Cox, 2003).

The Right Start: Reflections On A Departmentally Based Graduate Course On Teaching, Craig E. Nelson

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Full credit courses on teaching offered by academic departments for their own graduate students and postdocs have many advantages. Many students come to graduate school because they want teaching to be an important part of their future professional life. Most who are hired in academia will go to jobs where teaching is important. Indiana University’s Graduate School noted that 95% of its PhDs who landed tenure-track positions found those positions at liberal arts colleges, smaller comprehensive universities, and urban institutions. They noted that their teaching experience at Bloomington did not necessarily prepare them fully for these jobs.

I offered a …

University Of Nebraska- Lincoln: Fact Book 2007-2008

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

UNL Student Credit Hours Total Fall & Spring Semester, by College, 5 Year Trend ................... 11

UNL Student Credit Hours Total Fall, by College, 5 Year Trend .................................................. 12

UNL Student Credit Hours Total Spring, By College, 5 Year Trend ............................................. 13

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

Retention, Degrees and Majors

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

Total Degrees Conferred by UNL Fiscal …

Building Assignments That Teach, Mary-Ann Winkelmes

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

We have come to take assignments for granted as a necessary part of undergraduate education, largely because they provide the basis for a student's grade. But assignments can accomplish much more. In addition to helping students learn course content, assignments can enable students to practice the most essential skills of a discipline. Further, assignments can offer an opportunity for students to become better evaluators of their own academic work.

Thoughtfully structured assignments offer teachers an opportunity to build students’ mastery of essential disciplinary skills alongside their content knowledge; to improve students’ ability to evaluate their own academic work; and even …

Beyond Writing: Integrative Learning And Teaching In First-Year Seminars, David H. Krause, Robert C. Lageaux

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Campuses across the country continue to establish first-year seminars that promise students integrative and transformative learning experiences necessary for the twenty-first century. This trend inevitably challenges faculty members to teach in ways that transcend or subvert both their disciplinary expertise and their familiar, comfortable ways of teaching. These challenges become especially visible in the design and evaluation of assignments. At Columbia College Chicago, for example, where the majority of students aspire to careers in the arts, media, and communication, teachers have been negotiating the place of writing in a required firstyear seminar in liberal learning. These negotiations play out differently …

Role-Play: An Often Misused Active Learning Strategy, Stephanie Nickerson

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Role-play is a special kind of case study, in which there is an explicit situation established with students playing specific roles, spontaneously saying and doing what they understand their “character” would, in that situation. Role-plays differ from other case studies in the immediacy of the experience. Students find themselves in the role-play. In a case study, they read about situations and characters. One of the reasons role-play can work so well is because of the power of placing oneself in another’s shoes. This provides opportunities for learning in both the affective domain, where emotions and values are involved, as well …

Teaching, Learning, And Spirituality In The College Classroom, Allison Pingree

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

landscape is provoking a heightened focus on spirituality and religion in the academy. For example, UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute (HERI), best known as the administrators of the CIRP Freshman Survey for over 40 years, is conducting a major research project, Spirituality in Higher Education (https://www.spirituality.ucla.edu), drawing data from over 112,000 students and 40,000 faculty at over 420 institutions. Defining spirituality in broad strokes (as the “interior” and “subjective” aspects of our lives, that which reflects the “values and ideals that we hold most dear,” gives us “meaning and purpose,” and invokes “inspiration, creativity, the mysterious, the sacred, …

The Useful, Sensible, No-Frills Departmental Assessment Plan, Barbara E. Walvoord

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Academic departments from physics to philosophy to physical therapy face new demands for “assessment of student learning.” It’s hard to argue against the basic idea of assessment: when a department invests time and resources trying to nurture student learning, it should ask itself: Are they learning? Yet departments may also fear that assessment will require them to dumb-down their teaching; use standardized tests; teach alike; or compromise academic freedom. Every department wonders how it will find the time and resources for one more thing.

This essay suggests a simple, sustainable, and useful departmental assessment plan that capitalizes on what departments …

Writing To Learn Law And Writing In Law: An Intellectual Property Illustration, Michael J. Madison

Articles

This essay, prepared as part of a Symposium on teaching intellectual property law, describes a method of combining substantive law teaching with a species of what is commonly called "skills" training. The method involves assessing students not via traditional final exams but instead via research memos patterned after assignments that junior lawyers might encounter in actual legal practice. The essay grounds the method in the theoretical disposition known generally as "writing to learn." It argues that students are likely to learn intellectual property law effectively if they learn to practice as intellectual property lawyers, and specifically to write as intellectual …