Essentially, the Common Reading Experience brings together the BGSU community by providing a common discussion source. Prior to the beginning of classes, faculty, staff, and incoming first-year students read the same book. A committee chooses the book each year with input from different groups on campus, including the college deans. When classes begin in the fall, students across different disciplines and backgrounds will share in the “BGSU community” discussion. Some instructors and departments also integrate the Common Reading into their curriculum. While maintaining an academic tone, the Common Reading allows first-year BGSU students to become part of a communal, discussion environment.

During the fall semester the CTL’s Interact at the Center blog will have weekly posts dedicated to this year’s Common Reading, This I Believe. Faculty, administrators and students will be “guest bloggers.” They will present their reactions to the book, along with sharing their own “This I Believe” statements. Our blog will also have postings titled “Classroom Highlights” and “On Campus,” which will offer insight into how different classes and departments incorporate This I Believe. Each week we will provide audio samples of essays from the book, as well as resources to help you integrate the Common Reading into your course discussions.

For more information concerning BGSU’s Common Reading Experience, including books selected in the past and other background questions, please visit: http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/infosrv/cre/. You are also invited to visit NPR’s “This I Believe” website http://www.thisibelieve.org, which includes podcasts and curriculum guides.

Here are the lessons that Wax feels people can learn:

1) Never do anything that would embarrass you if anyone knew about it.

2) Never underestimate the intelligence or resourcefulness of others.

3) Own your actions.

4) It’s never too late to seek a second chance.

5) Sometimes, the most important lesson you can learn is failure.

Matt Hill, a respondent to the article, offers some insightful thought, saying “Much education is about imparting knowledge; it often fails to teach people how to think.  If your educational establishment is rife with student plagiarism, I’d wager that the students haven’t been taught how to think for themselves.” In the web page you can read other interesting comments that many people have made in response to Wax’s ideas.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

IntegriGuard

Read the entire article by clicking here

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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/

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.

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

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!

–>Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!