Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Nefdc Exchnage, Volume 22, Number 2, Spring 2011, New England Faculty Development Consortium

New England Faculty Development Consortium Exchange

Contents

President's message: Who is your mentor? - Tom Thibodeau, New England Institute of Technology

Sparks, insights, and affirmations: reflections of a mentor - Denise Marchionda, Middlesex Community College

Engaging students through social media to promote learning - Suzanne Markham, Mount Ida College

Vampires, and zombies, and ghosts, oh my… run! The undead in the college classroom - Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University

Service learning as a way to engage students and serve the community - William Stargard, Pine Manor College

Save the date! NEFDC 2011 Fall Conference, Friday, November 11, 2011, College of the Holy Cross

Models for …

Using Learning Goals To Promote Self-Directedness: How Problems In Research Led To Solutions In Teaching, Jaya Kannan, Larry Lutsky, Lisa Bauer, Yasmine Alwan

CTL Publications

In promoting self-directedness, our process at MCNY’s Learning Enhancement Center begins by having the student construct learning goals. A qualitative analysis of these student learning goals was conducted based on the premise that a student’s ability to articulate a goal in a clear, specific, complex, and measurable manner will improve over time. Although our findings did not support our hypothesis, the complex exercise of creating a customized rubric to measure the goals helped us arrive at a standardized evaluation method and build a transparent self-assessment tool to foster independent learning. This attempt to quantify student learning goals created successful iterative …

Nefdc Exchange, Volume 23, Fall 2011, New England Faculty Development Consortium

New England Faculty Development Consortium Exchange

Contents

Message from the NEFDC President - Tom Thibodeau, New England Institute of Technology

Creating student engagement in the university classroom - Frank Bellizzi, Quinnipiac University

Ensuring access and essential learning for diverse students - Gouri Banerjee, Emmanuel College

Without a pen: reflections on an experiment in typed assessment - Reva Kasman, Salem State University

Bringing a dialogue into the classroom - Dorothy A. Osterholt and Katherine Barratt, Landmark College

Suffolk University Course Design Institute - Kathryn Linder, Suffolk University

Colleges of Worcester Consortium Offers Certificate in College Teaching

Save the date: NEFDC 2012 Spring Conference, Fraiday, June 8, 2012, …

The C.R.E.A.T.E. Approach To Primary Literature Shifts Undergraduates’ Self-Assessed Ability To Read And Analyze Journal Articles, Attitudes About Science, And Epistemological Beliefs, Sally G. Hoskins, David Lopatto, Leslie M. Stevens

Publications and Research

The C.R.E.A.T.E. (Consider,Read, Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze and interpret data, Think of the next Experiment)method uses intensive analysis of primary literature in the undergraduate classroom to demystify and humanize science. We have reported previously that the method improves students’ critical thinking and content integration abilities, while at the same time enhancing their self-reported understanding of “who does science, and why.” We report here the results of an assessment that addressed C.R.E.A.T.E. students’ attitudes about the nature of science, beliefs about learning, and confidence in their ability to read, analyze, and explain research articles. Using a Likert-style survey administered pre- and postcourse, …

From Walls To Steps: Using Online Automatic Homework Checking Tools To Improve Learning In Introductory Programming Courses, Dwayne Towell, Brent Reeves

School of Information Technology and Computing

We describe the motivation, design, and implementation of a web-based automatic homework checker for Programming I and Programming II courses. Motivated by a problem-based-learning approach, we redesigned our first course to have over 70 short programming assignments. The goal was to change conceptual "walls" into "steps", so that students would not feel overwhelmed at any point in time. At each step along the way, it must be clear where the student is and the next step must feel attainable. Over the last 3 years, we have learned much about proper "step-size" and sequencing of problems. We describe how current computer …

Nefdc Exchange, Volume 21, Number 1, Fall 2010, New England Faculty Development Consortium

New England Faculty Development Consortium Exchange

Contents

Message from the President - Tom Thibodeau, New England Institute of Technology

From the editors - Jeanne Albert, Donna Qualters, Naomi Migliacci, Gouri Banerjee, and Deborah Hirsch

Fall 2010 Conference; Friday, November 19, 2010, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States; theme: Better Teaching – Better Learning: Reflective Practices for Faculty and Students; keynote speaker: Dan Willingham, University of Virginia

An excerpt from, Why Don’t Students Like School? - Dan Willingham, University of Virginia

NEFDC Fall 2010 Conference Agenda

Connecting with others

The Benefits of Formal and Informal Reflective Practices - Art McGovern, Nichols College

Seven Ways …

Nefdc Exchange, Volume 22, Number 1, Spring 2010, New England Faculty Development Consortium

New England Faculty Development Consortium Exchange

Contents

Message from the President: Where would you be - Tom Thibodeau, New England Institute of Technology

From the editors -

Spring 2010 Conference, Friday, May 21, 2010, Westford, Massachusetts, United States; theme: Teaching for Learning; keynotes speaker: D. Christian Jernstedt, Dartmouth College, "How Learning Changes Brains"

A Book and Readings List for Thinking about the Human Mind - G. Christian Jernstedt, Dartmouth College

Embracing the Intimidating: Assessing Student Learning in a Non-major Online Science Course - Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University

Save the date! 2010 Fall Conference, November 19, 2010, Westford, Massachusetts, United States; theme: Better Teaching, Better …

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

New England Faculty Development Consortium 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 …

Faculty Achievements, 2008-2009, Otterbein University

Faculty Achievement Reports

No abstract provided.

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

New England Faculty Development Consortium 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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

Orienting Students To An “Inside-Out Course”: Establishing A Classroom Culture Of Interactive, Cooperative Learning, Karlene Ferrante

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

I have developed a course in communication theories that foregrounds active learning, with structured opportunities for support. The result is an “Inside-Out Course” in which students are required to turn in a “ticket” for entry to class— usually a concept map of the reading. Since the first exposure to material is through homework, class time is used for quick overviews and learning activities designed by student teaching teams. Students are motivated to create good concept maps for tickets, since they are allowed to use those maps for the case study exams, taken with open notes. Assessments require students to select …

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 …

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 …

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).

Assessment Of Informal Learning: Critical Review Of Current Methodologies And Research Into Appropriate Instrument(S), Deirdre Goggin

Theses

This thesis seeks to examine the recognition and formal assessment of informal and non- formal learning, paying particular attention to the methodologies that are currently being used and identifying the possibility of more appropriate instruments. This examination is conducted within the context of the national emphasis on the creation of a learning and knowledge intense society, the requirements necessary for this to become a reality and the increasing discussion on the recognition of informal and non formal education and training.

In order to discuss the above comprehensively, this research will examine the Irish education framework which supports the recognition of …

Evaluation Of An Adult Education Technology Program, Iwasan D. Kejawa

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the adult education technology program at a chartered alternative adult education center in Florida. The adult education center had a low rate of students passing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). This study examined the impact of the use of computer technology in an effort to improve student learning in mathematics, reading, and science. Computers at the institution were used by all students for tutorials to prepare them for the FCAT and to obtain a high school diploma. The research questions for this study were as follows: 1. Is the education technology …

Nefdc Exchange, Volume 18, Number 2, Fall 2007, New England Faculty Development Consortium

New England Faculty Development Consortium Exchange

Contents

Message from the President - Judy Miller, Clark University

From the editors - Tom Thibodeau, New England Institute of Technology, and Jeanne Albert, Castleton State College

NEFDC Fall Conference, Friday, November 9, 2007, Worcester, Massachusetts; theme: Engaged Learning: Fostering Student Success; keynote speaker: George Kuh, Indiana University

Engaged Learning: The Foundation for Student Success, Note from our Fall Conference Keynote Speaker - George Kuh, Indiana University

Fall Conference Agenda

Learning Through Community Engagement - Kevin R. Kearney, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

Reciprocal Mentoring - Mathew L. Ouellett and Susan E. McKenna, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Helpful …

Nefdc Exchange, Volume 18, Number 1, Spring 2007, New England Faculty Development Consortium

New England Faculty Development Consortium Exchange

Contents

Message from the President - Judith Kamber, Northern Essex Community College

From the editors -

Encounters With George: Information Literacy and Mathematics at Berkshire Community College - Karen Carreras-Hubbard and Annette Guertin, Berkshire Community College

Achieving Information Literacy Goals Through Collaboration - Pamela Bedore, University of Connecticut, Avery Point

Teaming Up! The Sociology/English Composition I /Librarian Embed Experience at Northern Essex Community College - Linda A. Desjardins, Northern Essex Community College

Common Learning Outcomes for First-Year Information Literacy - Mary Adams, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth; Gabriela Adler, Bristol Community College; Susan Berteaux, Massachusetts Maritime Academy; Marcia Dinneen, Bridgewater State …

The Social Construction Of Authorship: An Investigation Of Subjectivity And Rhetorical Authority In The College Writing Classroom, Johannah Rodgers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although we use the term author on a daily basis to refer to certain individuals, bodies of work, and systems of ideas, as Michel Foucault and other critics have pointed out, attempting to answer the question “What is an Author?” is by no means a simple proposition. And, starting from the position that there is no single, or definitive answer to this complex question, this dissertation seeks to contribute to the ongoing discussion of the genealogy of authorship by investigating the ways in which conceptions of the author have informed models of the writing subject in the field of rhetoric …

When Motivating Generation Y In The Classroom, Jim Westerman

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Generation Y students have matured and developed in an artificial, technologically-centered environment significantly different from what prior generations have experienced. This essay examines the impact of this environment on student classroom expectations and provides suggestions for how faculty can adapt their pedagogy to be successful.

Student Plagiarism: How To Maintain Academic Integrity, Ludy Goodson

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Plagiarism detection tools undermine academic integrity when they ignore student copyright protections, contribute to a vendor’s unauthorized commercial gains, fail to detect many forms of plagiarism, and require instructors to do the real detection. By becoming aware of these realities and possibilities, instructors can develop more effective strategies to reduce plagiarism while simultaneously enhancing students’ academic performance.

Opening The Door: Faculty Leadership In Institutional Change, Rick Holmgren

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

As faculty, we too often feel overwhelmed by an excessive workload, an unfriendly administration, and an unforgiving evaluation system. In this essay, we explore initiatives we can reasonably expect to implement to create an institutional environment in which we can develop and flourish as teachers.

From The Co-Editors

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

Volume 18, Number 01, G. William Hill Editor, Linda M. Noble Editor, Tom Pusateri Editor

Reaching Through Teaching

Full text of Volume 18, Number 01 of Reaching Through Teaching.

Student Teams, Teaching, And Technology, Ruth Federman Stein, Sandra N. Hurd

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Using student teams in the classroom actively involves students in the learning process. This essay describes the planning necessary for effective use of teams and the impact of technology on the team learning environment.

Using Student-Centered Assessment To Enhance Learning, Joseph "Mick" Lalopa

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Student-centered assessment allows students to participate in their growth as learners and helps build valuable self-assessment skills.