When I begin writing anything I simply do what I love and what I think I do best: I tell a story. I do it less for the reader and more for myself. You see, I like to be able to close my eyes and have a piece of literature read to me. I like to watch what is being said come to life beneath my eyelids and feel whatever is being felt in the piece [as though] it was happening to me personally. I have always thought that reading should be [an] experience that way, very vivid and almost tangible. So, in prewriting, I usually go through a few hand-written drafts of different images or points I try to make. Usually, I will write these down sitting having a coffee, doing homework, [or] in the middle of class when an idea suddenly hits me. Then I will take these hand-written drafts and paste and kind of glue them together into a paper and from there it will only take some tweaks and polishing steps to have a completed final draft.

[W]hen I wrote this particular paper I noticed that I had two stories to tell about two completely different parts of my life but they were drawn together by one simple element. My point in this paper was my passions and how they gave me the peace of mind to do what I needed to in high-pressure situations. My teacher, Amy Rybak, suggested, after looking at my rough draft, [that] I needed a relating topic between my horseback riding and speech and debate experiences–two clearly different things. When she mentioned that I learned something about myself. I learned that my experiences with my horse in childhood prepared me for the “spotlight” of sorts [which] I assumed later in my high school years. My structure was almost completely reworked, as it needed to be, with the helpful suggestion by Mrs. Rybak. She helped me realize something about myself and, in turn, helped better structure the direction of my paper.

[A]fter I…paste together a draft, it usually needs some adjustments and polishing. In this case, even though I loved my vivid introduction paragraph, mostly because I enjoyed writing it, I had to go back and rewrite the entire paragraph to sway the reader into seeing things from the right perspective. That it say, get them to understand my thesis better.

In the end I think it gave me confidence that: a) I can do this college stuff (haha) and b) that there are people who will to help and guide you into doing well. You don’t know how good it feels…to not feel like I’m doing this alone. Plus I’m always excited to go class because Mrs. Rybak is always in a good mood and has a very open mind to anything you want to talk about, discuss, write about, etc.

I’m enjoying this class so far as, honestly, my favorite class at Bowling Green.

***

Given Lindsay’s process, those who teach using the Common Reading might consider the following question: how visible or tangible are our beliefs? What can be done to help students see, touch and clearly identify their beliefs (in a manner similar to what Lindsay did with her pre-writing collage)?

Comments are welcome in the message board below.

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 some highlights (quoted here, not “lifted”)

Irish student hoaxes world’s media with fake quote

DUBLIN -

When Dublin university student Shane Fitzgerald posted a poetic but phony quote onWikipedia, he said he was testing how our globalized, increasingly Internet-dependent media was upholding accuracy and accountability in an age of instant news.

His report card: Wikipedia passed. Journalism flunked.

The sociology major’s made-up quote — which he added to the Wikipedia page of Maurice Jarre hoursafter the French composer’s death March 28 — flew straight on to dozens of U.S. blogs and newspaper Web sites in Britain, Australia and India.

A full month went by and nobody noticed the editorial fraud. So Fitzgerald told several media outlets in an e-mail and the corrections began.

“The moral of this story is not that journalists should avoid Wikipedia, but that they shouldn’t use information they find there if it can’t be traced back to a reliable primary source,” said the readers’ editor at the Guardian, Siobhain Butterworth, in the May 4 column that revealed Fitzgerald as the quote author.

Walsh said this was the first time to his knowledge that an academic researcher had placed false information on a Wikipedia listing specifically to test how the media would handle it.

According to the author David Glenn, recall is when students put down the text or notes that they are studying and recall everything they can. Students can either write down everything they remember or day it out loud.  This active recall, such as using flashcards and other self-quizzing, is the most effective may to add something to your long-term memory.

These recall techniques, according to Dr. McDaniel, a researcher in the field of biology and teaching techniques,  “If you ask people to free-recall, you can generate a better mental model of a subject area, and in turn that can lead to better problem-solving.”

This idea of free-recall has also generated some critiques from educators.  Some professors have voiced concerns that recall is simply teaching students how to memorize instead of increases levels of higher learning and thinking.  Dr. McDaniel argues that although these techniques may aid students in the often- required tasks of memorization, the free-recall tasks actually help to give students the skills needed apply their knowledge.

Read more about this article by clicking here.

More strategies for effective learning can be found at the University of Memphis Department of Psychology’sPrinciples of Learning page. Topics include

• Prior Knowledge
• Experience Alone
• Practice at Retrieval (similar concepts as presented in Glenn’s article)
• Learning Epistemologies
• Variable Learning I
• Variable Learning II
• Avoid Passive Learning
• Process of Remembering
• Less is More

All of these topics provide concrete strategies for faculty and students to use to increase learning. Give them a try!

How do you encourage your students to use free-recall techniques or practice retrieval?

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.

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.

In order to understand the pedagogical implications of Web 2.0 tools, she explores three case studies: Learning Design, Openlearn and SocialLearn.

To read a related article by Grainne Conole please click here.

After watching this video, do you think we must develop new pedagogies that involve Web 2.0 tools?

Naturally, the “microlecture” technique has its detractors.  Critics of the practice think some topics, like literature or graphic design, are impossible to reduce down to three minutes.  They also believe “microlectures” can at best provide “impressionistic overview.”

Although the microlecture is intended for online courses it could be applied in a traditional classroom setting.  Instructions for how to make a microlecture in an online are listed below.

Here are the instructions provided for how to make a microlecture:

Professors spend a lot of time crafting hour-long lectures. The prospect of boiling them down to 60 seconds — or even five minutes — may seem daunting. David Penrose, a course designer for SunGard Higher Education who developed San Juan College’s microlectures, suggests that it can be done in five steps:

1. List the key concepts you are trying to convey in the 60-minute lecture. That series of phrases will form the core of your microlecture.

2. Write a 15 to 30-second introduction and conclusion. They will provide context for your key concepts.

3. Record these three elements using a microphone and Web camera. (The college information-technology department can provide advice and facilities.) If you want to produce an audio-only lecture, no Webcam is necessary. The finished product should be 60 seconds to three minutes long.

4. Design an assignment to follow the lecture that will direct students to readings or activities that allow them to explore the key concepts. Combined with a written assignment, that should allow students to learn the material.

5. Upload the video and assignment to your course-management software.

Read “These Lectures Are Gone in 60 Seconds” from the Chronicle of Higher Education website for yourself and learn more about “microlecturing.”

To instructors, who have received an extensive formal education, knowing exactly what a test is asking may come easy.  For some students, though, the ability to know exactly what they should do when words like “analyze” or “discuss” on exam can be vague and even foreign.  Teachingprofessor.com, one of our favorite websites, recently published a list that all instructors could use a reference to help their students.  Here is a list of what they call “test” verbs that you may want to share with students in your syllabus or exam preparation documents:

Analyze—break something down into parts, such as a theory into its components or a process into its stages or an event into its causes.

Assess/Criticize/Evaluate—determine or judge the degree to which something meets or fails to meet certain criteria.

Compare/Contrast—identify important similarities and/or differences between two or more elements in order to reveal something significant about them.

Define/Identify—give the key characteristics by which a concept, thing, or event can be understood.

Describe—give the characteristics by which an object, action, process, person or concept can be recognized and visualized.

Discuss—debate, argue, and evaluate the various sides of an issue

Explain/Justify—give the basic principles or reasons for something; make it intelligible.

Interpret/Explain—say what the author of a quotation or statement means.

Illustrate—Use a concrete example to explain or clarify the essential attributes of a problem or concept.

Reference: Nilson, L. B. Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors. 2nd ed. Bolton, Mass. Anker, 2003. [now available from Jossey-Bass]

In a paper titled Student Learning Styles and Their Implications for Teaching, authors Susan Montgomery and Linda Groat discuss the importance of recognizing learning styles and offered several different ways to assess these styles.  Among the learning style models that they covered are the Myers-Briggs Model and the Kolb/McCarthy Learning Cycle. The authors also provide useful tips to engage students with different types of learning styles in your classes. These tips include using both group and independent work, requiring in-class presentations and providing less direction to students.

To read the rest of the article please click here.

How do you engage students in your classes that have different learning styles?

In an effort to provide an overview or guide of assessment practices, the National Institute for Learning Outcomes and the Alliance for New Leadership for Student Learning and Accountability are being developed, the former being led by Stanley Ikenberry and George Kuh.

The president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, Judith Eaton, is noted as supporting the work of these institutes, claiming that (from IHE) “better knowledge of assessment would improve the relationship between accreditors and institutions, and that a sustained commitment by higher education to accountability would preserve the principles of self-regulation for higher education.” Eaton hopes that the new effort will “strengthen the academic leadership of our colleges and universities.”

Some detractors of the higher education assessment movement have called it an oversimplified and potentially harmful mission due to concerns over using a single test to demonstrate student learning outcomes. According to one faculty member, what’s lacking is “any evidence of validity” for these single measures. Members of the NILO and ANLSLA, however, state that the intent is not to establish a single standardized test for colleges, but to offer a more comprehensive method for accountability, which Ikenberry states will most likely incorporate multiple measures.

To read the full Assessing Assessment article click here: Inside Higher Ed

Where do you stand on these assessment and accountability movements?

* Needs assessment: participation of the learners in naming what is to be learned.

* Safety in the environment and the process.  We create a context for learning.  That context can be made safe.

* Sound relationships between teacher and learner and among learners.

* Sequence of content and reinforcement.

* Praxis: action with reflection or learning by doing.

* Respect for learners as decision makers.

* Ideas, feelings, and actions: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor aspects of learning.

* Immediacy of the learning.

* Clear roles and role development.

* Teamwork and use of small groups.

* Engagement of the learners in what they are learning.

* Accountability: how do they know they know?

These 12 Principles are actually quite helpful towards working with any learners in higher education.

1. This worked for me in classes of nearly 100, N=75.  I used small groups extensively in the course. So, after forming the groups on the first day of class, I took a Polaroid picture of each group and as it “came up”, they wrote their names by their individual picture. I then posted these pictures by my desk in my office and worked on learning the names within each group.  After learning the names in the first group, I would learn a new group and review the names in the previous groups, and so on.. I took a week or two to get them all done, but I eventually did.  What seemed to work for me was: it was a lot easier to memorize 12 groups of 6 students, than it was to memorize 72 students. And students really appreciated it.

2. A math professor I knew had a very large class, over 100, and knew it would be valuable to learn their names.  So he used assigned seating, made a chart, and then each day of class, worked on memorizing a block of 6 students (3 in front and 3 behind).  Then each day when he came to class, he made a point of visiting with students in each new block and in the ones he had already learned -in addition to the class in general.

In took awhile, but again by working continuously at it, he eventually got their names all down so that even if he met them while walking across campus, he would recognize them and be able to address them by name.

The point seems to be:  You have to commit to doing this because you know it makes a difference in how students respond.  If you commit to doing it, you can do it even if it takes some time. To read more about L. Dee Fink’s book, please click here.

Here are some more ideas from the listserv and other faculty suggestions:

• Index card w/ name/contact info and 2-5 questions about them; review these early & often, especially during class discussions (call name and associate w/ their face
• Students create/use name tents each class session; some faculty have students take/bring these each class, while others collect them and use this as an attendance check (but this requires space to lay out the cards, usually alphabetical or clustered, and time to collect/organize them at the end of class). If the name tent IS collected, combine with the index card suggestion, having students answer questions on the inside for you to review.
• When handing back papers, call their name and personally hand it to each student
• Mandatory brief office visits (2-5 min.) are requested by some instructors during the first 1-3 weeks of class (which may be unmanageable for very large classes)
• Just “good ol’ memorization” of the roll sheets and then associate with faces during first classes
• Take pictures of groups of students and write their names out (be careful of the legalities of this at your school); study these groups with names/faces frequently; helps if they sit near each other in class

Do you have any creative ideas to learn the names of your students?

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

• Make sure students understand the who, what, when, why, and how of the assessment BEFORE the group project begins.
• Create a peer evaluation tool that is specific to the purpose, goals, and tasks of the group project.
• Be the “guide on the side” as a resource to students and to ensure whole group participation.
• Ensure content of the quantitative peer evaluation form is measurable to discourage popularity points.”
• Use formative (mid-process) evaluations not as a grading device, but to keep the group on track and to resolve problems as they occur.
• Use summative evaluations that allow students to evaluate their own role in the group as well as each of their group members.
• At the conclusion of the group project and evaluation process, seek students’ input to assess the overall experience.

Gueldsenzoph and May also include a peer evaluation form that can be adapted and used with your group assignments.

If you would like to learn more about creating effective group projects in you classroom, the Center is hosting a discussion titled, Designing Effective and Meaningful Group Projects on Friday, January 9 from 10-11:30.  Register for this workshop here.

Gueldenzoph, L. E. & May, L. G. (2002). Collaborative peer evaluation: Best practices for group member assessments. Business Communication Quarterly, 65(1), 9-20.

How do you design group projects?

Nelson wonders what would happen if at the end of student papers he were to rephrase his traditional way of comments about the paper. Instead of praising the positives of a paper followed by a powerful “but” which is usually followed by critiques of the paper, Nelson says he would like to try the opposite. He wonders how students receptions could change if critiques were written first, then the powerful “but” is followed by praising comments about the work.

Nelson offers a small blog posting which could make big differences for students and instructors.

Here are some of the reflections that we took from our discussion:
* Most of you appreciated that there is some kind of forum where you can talk about being a TA here at BGSU. And, you were all more than willing to share some of your experiences and insight that you have had here.

* Many of you would like to be able to hear more from other TAs. You would like to hear what other TAs are doing in their classes, how they deal with certain situations, integrating certain tools and methodologies into your classes, and some of you expressed that you would like to see about making your classes more interactive and lively.

* Some of you appreciated it when instructors are open to getting feedback from students, so some of you discussed how you do the same in your classes. In other words, you appreciate an instructor’s willingness to improve and adjust, and many of you are willing to make the same effort.

* Finally, many of like any further input you can get about teaching from any reliable source.

We are adjusting our next workshop to address and capitalize on these promising topics. We are actually thinking about having you all share different unique practices that you implement in your classes, which could only help one another, as TAs. Our next two workshops are October 14th @ 1:30p-2:30p and October 15th @ 10:30a-11:30a. These workshops will be the same format and topics. We just have added another day and time in case more TAs come and having some flexibility to work with your schedules.

Please do not hesitate to register for the Teaching Assistants are Links workshop series by e-mailing or calling us. If these next two workshops go as well as the first one, we will have a wonderful time.

What are some suggestions for TAs? What are some topics we could discuss in our next workshop? We would love to hear from current or former teaching assistants!

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

“Tucked away in a 1,200-page bill now in Congress is a small paragraph that could lead distance-education institutions to require spy cameras in their students’ homes.

It sounds Orwellian, but the paragraph — part of legislation renewing the Higher Education Act — is all but assured of becoming law by the fall. No one in Congress objects to it.“

Many instructors and students may not realize the impact this act may have on them. We would like to hear what some people say. Please read Foster’s article or get some more facts on the Higher Education Act and give us a comment on what you read.

Link to Foster’s article:

<http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i46/46a00103.htm?utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en>

The staff at The Teaching Professor also have a popular annual conference to further their commitment to higher education. They have recently released details on their 2009 conference. The conference will be held: June 5-7, 2009 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. The themes for next year’s conference are: educate, engage and inspire.

For more information on the conference, please refer to The Teaching Professor’s website at: <http://www.teachingprofessor.com/conference/index.html>.

You can also peruse The Teaching Professor website and newsletters at: <teachingprofessor.com>.

Here is a sample readout from the TGI:
The cluster areas correspond to goals from the inventory, which can be measured throughout a course using various formative assessments from Classroom Assessment Techniques by Angelo and Cross (1993). With about 50 CATs to choose from, the TGI is a quick way to sort them into a manageable quantity to explore. Additionally, the TGI can be used by individual faculty, departments, or even students to uncover their vision and/or motivation for learning.

The Center’s next workshop on using the TGI (Identifying Your Teaching Goals Using the TGI) is Wednesday, August 6, 10:15am-11:00am, immediately followed by the Formative Assessment Using CATs workshop from 11-12. For more information or to register for one or both, click here!

After taking the TGI, share your results (or main cluster/goal area). Was this tool beneficial?

Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

Gcast
Have you ever wanted to add an episode to your podcast when you were out and about and not at home with your audio recording equipment? Have you wanted to interview people on the spot and create a audio files on the go? Well, now you can!

Gcast allows you to do mobile podcasting without having to have a laptop and recording equipment. You can do it all with just a phone!

BGSU iTunes U
The University has partnered with Apple to implement a BGSU iTunes U page. Before starting ,ensure that you have iTunes intalled; if not you can download it at http://www.apple.com/itunes/. Simply go to http://www.bgsu.edu/itunes/ or click this link and you will asked to load the BGSU iTunes U page in iTunes. As a faculty member you can post your podcasts here and make your information available for free. Contact The Center at ctlt@bgsu.edu for more information.

Podcating Workshops
New to podcasting? Not sure what it is? Just need some guidance on how to effectively use it and create audio files? Find out how podcasting can be utilized in your course to facilitate or enhance student learning. Basic topics such as what is podcasting, how to subscribe, classroom uses to achieve learning outcomes, and an overview of what is needed to create your own podcast will be discussed. Common uses for podcasts include updating students on current events, providing information to students between classes, and recording lectures or review sessions so students can use them to study.

• Wednesday, March 12, 1:00pm–2:00pm
• Monday, March 31, 11:00am–12:00pm
• Wednesday, April 16, 2:00pm–3:00pm

Visit our workshop page or click here to register…

Have you used Gcast or iTunes U? If so, how? Have you ever attended one of our podcasting workshops? How have you used podcasting in the classroom?
Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!