Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons^™

Learning About Teaching: Redesigning Teacher Preparation, Barbara Buckner

Perspectives In Learning

Our country has not yet tackled the question, how do we best prepare teachers. Maybe because the question should be; how do we best support our candidates to learn about teaching in order for them to develop into highly qualified and effective teachers? The answer seems to lie in strategic partnerships between universities and school districts, the quality and length of clinical experiences, and state policies for teacher preparation. Reformers call for a shift towards more clinically based programs that integrate academic content and professional knowledge and skills. Some models that show promise are those that have tried to emulate …

About This Issue

Perspectives In Learning

About this Issue

Does Time-Of-Day Of Instruction Impact Class Achievement?, Amanda J. Wile, Gary A. Shouppe

Perspectives In Learning

This article explores literature related to Time-of-Day instruction and possible impact on student achievement for students. The possibility of schools as a contributing factor to the problem of low academic performance by some students due to a conflict between personal chronotype and school schedule may have research significance. In order for learning to take place, student engagement must be paramount and provide optimal opportunities for students to utilize their personal learning, for modalities may hinge on physical readiness as well. Several studies at multiple grade levels related to the investigation of circadian rhythms and biological patterns which indicate an effect …

Facilitating Online Collaboration And The Development Of Digital Communities, S. Wade Bradt, Samantha Tackett

Perspectives In Learning

This discussion focuses on the utility of two unique Web 2.0 tools designed to elicit more interaction among students and to increase learning outcomes while instructing at a distance. While Web 1.0 could be described as that iteration of the World Wide Web that focused simply on making information accessible, the philosophy of Web 2.0 applications is based upon user-centered designs and the proliferation of volunteer collaboration. Fortunately, the explosion of Web 2.0 technologies and social networking platforms have provided a wide array of applications uniquely suited to addressing distance education challenges. We discuss the application of two Web 2.0 …

Exploring Podcasting Of Required Reading In A Graduate Counseling Course, Richard Long, Dee Fabry

Perspectives In Learning

Podcasting is a relatively unexplored technology tool in education (Hew, 2009). This study explored the integration of podcasting in an onsite graduate counseling course to determine how digital students responded to the integration of podcasting and to determine if podcasting impacts student comprehension of required reading materials. The results indicated that, while students came to class better prepared to discuss the material and enjoyed the podcasts, they preferred traditional teacher-led discussions to the podcasting technology.

Key words: podcasting, technology skills

Editorial Board

Perspectives In Learning

Editorial Board

The Impact Of Class Size On Outcomes In Higher Education, James Monks, Robert M. Schmidt

Economics Faculty Publications

Numerous studies have investigated the impact of class size on student outcomes. This analysis contributes to this discussion by isolating the impact of class size on student outcomes in higher education by utilizing a natural experiment at a selective institution which enables the estimation of class size effects conditional on the total number of students taught by a faculty member. We find that class size negatively impacts student assessments of courses and instructors. Large classes appear to prompt faculty to alter their courses in ways deleterious to students.

Developing A College-Level Speed And Accuracy Test, Jordan Gilbert, Marne Isakson, Zach Loud, Austin Miller

Faculty Publications

Dr. Isakson has been studying literacy and reading for decades and has been working on the Speed and Accuracy test for about 11 years. I worked for her for the last year of the project to pull it all together and polish it up. The Speed and Accuracy Assessment is meant to give a brief insight into a college student's ability to read quickly and gain basic level comprehension of what is provided within a text. Dr. Isakson has been working with students for decades and sympathizes for freshmen in college who academically have done very well before but do …

Foundation To Promote Scholarship And Teaching 2010-2011 Awards, Office Of The Provost, Roger Williams University

Foundation to Promote Scholarship & Teaching

Proposal abstracts of 2010-2011 award recipients in a wide range of disciplinary areas.

Using Low-Stakes Repeated Testing Can Improve Student Learning: How (Some) Practice Makes Perfect, Sarah Grison, Steven G. Luke, Aya Shigeto, Patrick D.K. Watson

Psychology Faculty

Two studies in Introductory Psychology classes explored whether repeated low-stakes testing can augment learning. In Experiment 1, answering more in-class questions with student response systems (SRSs) predicted better learning when students had not read the text. In Experiment 2, taking online practice quizzes predicted better learning, especially when questions on a concept were grouped. Repeated low-stakes testing can aid learning, but we must develop evidence-based pedagogical tools to maximize effects.

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 …

Down With The Sgid! Long Live The Qcd!, Barbara J. Millis, Jose Vazquez

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

No one knows better than faculty developers the difficulty of change. Numerous clichés such as “Old habits die hard” or “The more things change, the more they stay the same” express the proverbial wisdom regarding such entrenched rituals. Many faculty developers routinely use an assessment tool called Small Group Instructional Diagnosis (SGID) developed by Joseph Clark (Clark & Redmond, 1982) during his tenure as FIPSE (Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education) project director at the University of Washington, Seattle. The authors challenge our colleagues to re-think these old habits and consider replacing—or at least supplementing—the SGID with a far …

Talking With Faculty About Cognitive Science And Learning, John Girash

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

When it comes to teaching, faculty at a research-intensive institution can be very much like our students in relation to their studies: very smart people whose primary interests lie elsewhere or, at least, whose expertise is not in this area. And we hear over and over again the common wisdom that faculty want research-based ideas on teaching. This implies that we can treat the teaching of teachers about research-supported aspects of learning in ways analogous to teaching students about other academic topics.

In introducing research-based ideas into the pedagogical discussion, it can be tough to find a balance between concepts …

Teaching Assessment By Modeling Different Assessment Techniques, Cynthia E. Tobery

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Getting feedback early and often helps us gauge what students are learning well or less well, what they are taking away from the class, and what changes we may want to make. Assessment techniques can be used before, during, and after a class to get this feedback.

One of the goals of the Future Faculty Teacher Training Series offered through the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning is to model various instructional techniques that the participants may decide to use in their own classes. We include some type of assessment for each part of the series in addition to …

Helping Future Faculty “Come Out” As Teachers, Mark R. Connolly

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

I study graduate education--specifically, the formation of future faculty and the professional development programs that help them learn to teach. Over the past seven years, I have interviewed more than 70 doctoral students and postdocs in science, engineering, and math at leading research universities. When I ask my respondents why they initially chose to pursue a doctorate, they usually tell me how much they enjoyed their undergraduate education, which was characterized by powerful learning experiences driven by strong relationships with smart and passionate instructors. My respondents fondly recall professors who stoked students’ curiosity, demonstrated the thrill of scientific discovery, and …

Selecting The Right Technology Tool: Wikis, Discussion Boards, Journals, And Blogs, Tami J. Eggleston

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Maslow understood the value of knowing when to use the right tool. It is easy in teaching to over-rely on a familiar tool or a teaching technique that we are comfortable with using. In recent years the teacher’s tool box has grown and there are many new technology tools available in course management and learning systems (e.g., Blackboard, Moodle, etc.) and with free websites (e.g., Blogger, Wetpaint, etc.). While many faculty get in a teaching rut and use only lecture, or only small groups, or only discussion boards, it can also be daunting to decide which, of the many new …

The Associates In Teaching Program: Graduate Student Development, Faculty Renewal, And Curricular Innovation, Bill Rando

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Conflicting goals define university life. Luckily, conflicting goals sometimes inspire creative innovation. The Associates in Teaching Program is one such example.

At research universities, administrators must balance the needs of graduate students and those of undergraduate students – graduate students need practice teaching to prepare them for faculty life; undergraduates (and their parents) would prefer instruction by more experienced faculty members. Nearly all universities meet the needs of graduate students through teaching assistant positions in labs and sections. Some go further by allowing graduate students to teach independent courses, which benefits most graduate students, but frustrates others who feel that …

“Google Reigns Triumphant”?: Stemming The Tide Of Googlitis Via Collaborative, Situated Information Literacy Instruction, Carol A. Leibiger

Faculty Publications

Googlitis, the over-reliance on search engines for research and the resulting development of poor searching skills, is a recognized problem among today’s students. Google is not an effective research tool because, in addition to encouraging keyword searching at the expense of more powerful subject searching, it only accesses the Surface Web and is driven by advertising. American higher education unwittingly fosters the use of search engines in research by emphasizing results rather than process. Academic librarians emulate teaching faculty in their reliance on lectures, and their course-related instruction is limited in its effectiveness because it is constrained to one-shot, lecture-driven …

Graduate Student Mentoring, Mary C. Wright, Laura N. Schram

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Many graduate programs are reviewing how they mentor their students, taking note of the time to degree and low completion rates in their programs. Given the enormous time challenges that academics face and the complexities of effective mentoring, it can be difficult to change practice despite good will. We write about graduate student mentoring, drawing from research on graduate student careers and the role of mentorship, to make practical suggestions for cultivating an effective mentoring relationship.

The benefits of effective graduate student mentoring noted in the literature are numerous, with large national studies linking effective mentorship to degree completion, high …

How Faculty Attitudes And Expectations Toward Student Nationality Affect Writing Assessment, Peggy Lindsey, Deborah J. Crusan

English Language and Literatures Faculty Publications

Earlier research on assessment suggests that even when Native English Speaker (NSE) and Non-Native English Speaker (NNES) writers make similar errors, faculty tend to assess the NNES writers more harshly. Studies indicate that evaluators may be particularly severe when grading NNES writers holistically. In an effort to provide more recent data on how faculty perceive student writers based on their nationalities, researchers at two medium-sized Midwestern universities surveyed and conducted interviews with faculty to determine if such discrepancies continue to exist between assessments of international and American writers, to identify what preconceptions faculty may have regarding international writers, and to …

Nsu Master Of Science In Leadership [2011], Nova Southeastern University

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice College Archive

No abstract provided.

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, …

University Of Nebraska- Lincoln: Fact Book 2010-2011

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

Fact Book Table of Contents

General Information

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

The Role of UNL ................................................................................ 5

The Missions of UNL .................................................................................... 5

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

UNL Administrative Organization Chart ........................................................... 11

Student Credit Hours (SCH)

Total SCH: Fall Semester Since 1979 ............................................................. 12

SSH by College and Student Level, Fall & Spring Semester - 5 Year Trend ........ 13

SCH by College and Student Level, Fall Semester - 5 Year Trend.................... 14

SCH by College and Student Level, Spring Semester - 5 Year Trend ................. 15

Summer Sessions and Summer Sessions Student Credit Hours ....................... …

La Producción De Investigación En Las Universidades Privadas: Estudio De Un Caso, Gus Gregorutti

Faculty Publications

This case study describes how Tecnológico de Monterrey, in northern Mexico, has experienced a qualitative and quantitative increase in its intellectual productivity. In less than ten years, this university has moved from generating few ideas to being one of most distinguished Mexican private universities in the production of knowledge, patents and several research-derived businesses. This work explores how the re-elaboration of the institutional mission and the implementation of a model of research classes, among others, were decisive factors to increase the production of ideas. In this way, the university has increased its visibility and international ranking, attracting qualified re-searchers, developing …

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, …

Beyond Friending: Buddypress And The Social, Networked, Open-Source Classroom, Matthew K. Gold

Publications and Research

Classrooms have always been networks, of a sort, with professors and students forming an interlaced series of nodes that take shape over the course of a semester, but tools like BuddyPress and WordPress can make those networks more open, more porous, and more varied. In very useful ways, the classroom-as-social-network can help create engaging spaces for learning in which students are more connected to one another, to their professors, and to the wider world.

Unpacking Faculty Engagement: The Types Of Activities Faculty Members Report As Publicly Engaged Scholarship During Promotion And Tenure, Chris R. Glass, Diane M. Doberneck, John H. Schweitzer

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

While a growing body of scholarship has focused on the personal, professional, and organizational factors that influence faculty members’ involvement in publicly engaged scholarship, the nature and scope of faculty publicly engaged scholarship itself has remained largely unexplored. What types of activities are faculty members involved in as publicly engaged scholarship? How does their involvement vary by demographic, type of faculty appointment, or college grouping? To explore these questions, researchers conducted a quantitative content analysis of 173 promotion and tenure documents from a research-intensive, land-grant, Carnegie Classified Community Engagement university and found statistically significant differences for the variables age, number …

Moving From A Predominantly Teaching Oriented Culture To A Research Productivity Mission: The Case Of Mexico And The United States, Gus Gregorutti

Faculty Publications

This study qualitatively analyzes the culture conflicts professors in the United States and Mexico are experiencing with the increasing pressures to produce more research about higher education. The first dataset was collected from 36 faculty members from 12 small and medium sized private, doctorate-granting universities. These universities are located in 11 states across the United States. The remaining data came from 44 faculty members employed at four small and medium sized private, doctoral granting universities in four states across Mexico. Results showed that universities in the US are transitioning from a predominantly teaching college culture to a more research orientation. …

Using Critical-Thinking Skills To Substantiate Or Challenge Controversial Claims Endorsing A Myriad Of Weight-Loss Products, Teresa F. Degolier

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

This exercise engages students in critically evaluating weight-loss products and programs. Specific objectives are to investigate, analyze, and substantiate claims made by the weight-loss industry and interpret how these claims may be fraudulent, misleading, or perhaps even truthful.

To Lecture Or Not To Lecture: Engaged Teaching And Learning, Wayne Roosa, Jay Rasmussen

Faculty Development Publications

This video and companion paper discusses the lecture as a teaching tool and features Professor Wayne Roosa (Art History) as he reflects on reasons for using lectures, the thoughts and processes involved in lecture design, and techniques that have proven successful. In addition to viewing a lecture in a 300 level course, hear Wayne’s thoughts about dealing with “too much material and too little time,” facilitating learning apart from the lecture, and preventing student boredom and information overload. (video length 51:09)

From the introduction to the paper: The lecture mode is certain to be included in your repertoire as a …