'Reflections on Teaching'
Outstanding TA Award nominations are being accepted
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.
December 10th, 2008
While the Internet has opened us to a world of information and sources, it can also cause problems in our classrooms. The Internet has provided our students with a wealth of websites that will sell, barter and even give away research papers, English papers and essays. How do you combat this in our classes?
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?
November 24th, 2008
The November “Teachers on Teaching” session is on professional practice and authentic assessment. Facilitated by Drs. Vincent Kantorski and Sandra Stegman from the College of Musical Arts, this session aims to provide instructors with practical assessments centered on authentic, professional skills and tasks. For more information, we asked Vincent and Sandra a few questions about their upcoming session:
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.
November 7th, 2008
After dealing with the rigors of graduate school people who want to teach in higher education must deal with the stress of finding a job. Among the several factors that will influence their choices of where to work is deciding the type of institution — will they teach at a community college, a research-intensive institution or an institution that places an emphasis on teaching? They also must wonder where the skills they learned in graduate school are most compatible with or which type of college they’re best trained to teach for.
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.
October 31st, 2008
The Center for Teaching and Learning is sponsoring 13 learning communities (LC) for the 2008-09 academic year. Below are brief updates from four of them, regarding their accomplishments and future plans.
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.
October 30th, 2008
Rodney Dangerfield enrolled himself as an undergraduate in the comedy Back to School. In 2006 Martin Sheen enrolled himself at National University Galway. Roger H. Martin is a former president and professor of history emeritus at Randolph-Macon College, who recently completed his freshman year at St. John’s University for the second time in his life.
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.
September 5th, 2008
It is common in many classes for students to take notes straight onto their laptop while an instructor makes their presentation or lectures. Some students find it easier to type their notes rather than using a notebook and handwriting their notes.
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.
September 3rd, 2008
Universities every couple of years have to “revamp” and revise their overarching ideas and approaches in order to better prepare their students for their lives after college. BGSU has different programs and goals, like the University Learning Outcomes, which are dedicated to providing a quality education while in college and after.
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
August 14th, 2008
Would you like to be discuss over 37 thousand topics concerning higher education with more than 22 thousand people around the world? Do you have a strong opinion about some practice in the classroom that you want to share with someone?
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/
August 7th, 2008
Starting this fall the Center will be hosting a new Teaching Assistants workshop series. The series will be discussions for incoming, current and former Teaching Assistants. There are all sorts of components entailed in being a Teaching Assistant and instructing a room full of college students, and the Center would like to work with TA’s to discuss the many aspects. We will be talking about everything from taking attendance, to assessments, to writing syllabi. Resources and other suggestions will be offered to aid in every part of being a TA.
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.
July 22nd, 2008
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