'Student Success'
Inside Higher Ed’s article “Assessing Assessment” launches its discussion by stating that assessment and accountability movements are “alive and well,” and that colleges who think they can ignore them are “misguided.”
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?
February 19th, 2009
In recent years Jane Vella has become a renowned and respected figure in the adult teaching field. Vella’s 12 Principles for Adult Learners, spelled out in her known book Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach: The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults, are highly regarded in adult education. Below are Vella’s 12 Principles.
* 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.
February 17th, 2009
Here are just a few pictures from the Third Annual BGSU Teaching and Learning Fair, held on Friday, February 6, 2009 in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union. Barbara Millis, from the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Teaching and Learning Center, presented the keynote, Persisting with Passion: A Summary in Break-throughs in Teaching and Learning. For more information on presenters or the keynote, visit the CTL Fair site.
February 9th, 2009
A recent string of ideas came across the Lilly Conference on College Teaching listserv recently. Here is a sampling of some ideas you can try in your large lecture class to remember students’ names:
From L. Dee Fink (author of a great book – Creating Significant Learning Experiences):
…(L)earning names is extremely helpful but challenging in large classes. Here are two ideas that have worked for some:
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?
January 20th, 2009
Lecture, arguably, is the most common method of teaching in higher education. It is not uncommon to walk into any classroom and find students can be busy trying to keep notes on what their instructor is saying. In the latest issue of Science, Eric Mazur, a physics professor at Harvard University, offers his own perspective on how he made the shift from lecturing as the prime modality for teaching to a more student-centered approach.
Mazur explains how throughout his schooling the lecture method was the way students were taught. The reliance on lecturing continued, Mazur says, until he felt that the method was not the most effective and meaningful approach to teaching. Despite earning high evaluations from courses he taught, Mazur made significant changes in his classes. “The traditional approach to teaching reduces education to a transfer of information,” Mazur says. He also describes how using what he calls the “clicker method” has allowed him to explore new pedagogical approaches in his courses.
Here are other quotes from “Farewell, Lecture?”:
“My lecturing was ineffective, despite the high evaluations.”
“The traditional approach to teaching reduces education to a transfer of information.”
“The responsibility for gathering information now rests squarely on the shoulders of the students. They must read material before coming to class, so that class time can be devoted to discussions, peer interactions, and time to assimilate and think. Instead of teaching by telling, I am teaching by questioning.”
“However, it is not the technology [clickers] but the pedagogy that matters.”
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
January 6th, 2009
Collaborative skills are essential skills that students must learn in order to succeed in their chosen fields. How can we teach students collaborative skills? Through group projects.
While most students grumble at the announcement of group work, there are ways to make group work more rewarding and effective. In an article titled “Collaborative peer evaluation: Best practices for group member assessments,” Lisa Gueldsenzoph and Gary May provides a useful checklist for effective peer evaluation. This includes:
- 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?
November 7th, 2008
Michael Nelson is a political science professor at Rhodes College. As a “guest blogger” for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Nelson recently wrote a short blog post that shares a different way for instructors to grade papers. Nelson writes that he intends to break a habit that he (and many other instructors) tend to have when they grade student papers.
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.
October 15th, 2008
CTL would first like to say thank you for the participants who did come to the workshop. Your input, time and effort are more than appreciated. We’re really looking forward to our next discussion and are planning on seeing all of you again.
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!
September 26th, 2008
On Tuesday,
Dr. Jodi Haney presented a discussion session at the
CTL entitled
Motivating “These Kids Today” and challenged participants to consider their role in creating an environment that will encourage and foster students’ motivation to learn. The bottom line she stressed was that:
“faculty CANNOT motivate students, as motivation is a personal construct and can only come from within… we can only set the scene and create a motivating environment for learning.”
Student Motivation is defined as a “student’s willingness, need, desire and compulsion to participate in, and be successful in, the learning process” (Bomia et al., 1997, p. 1). This includes extrinsic motivation, where a student engages in learning “purely for the sake of attaining a reward or for avoiding some punishment and intrinsic motivation, when a student is motivated from within, actively engaging in learning out of curiosity, interest, or enjoyment, or in order to achieve their own intellectual and personal goals (Dev, 1997).
One analogy presented was:
To Catch a Cat…
A. Pull the cat out from under the couch
Vs.
B. Entice the cat by dangling a string
(p.s. – our students are the cats!)
STRATEGIES — Ideas that WORK!! (GENERAL)
- Capitalize on students’ existing needs
- Make students active participants in learning
- Ask students to analyze what makes their classes more or less “motivating.”
- Instructor’s enthusiasm
- Relevance of the material
- Organization of the course
- Appropriate difficulty level of the material
- Active involvement of students
- Variety
- Rapport between teacher and students
- Use of appropriate, concrete, and understandable examples
Incorporating Faculty Behaviors:
- Hold high but realistic expectations for your learners
- Help learners set achievable goals for themselves
- Tell learners what they need to do to succeed in your course
- Strengthen learners’ sense of power (behavioral choices)
- Avoid creating intense competition among learners
- Be enthusiastic about your course
- Take time to GET TO KNOW learners, talk to them, and express enjoyment in your interactions
- Vary your teaching methods
Motivating Students to Do the Reading (some examples):
- Assign the reading at least two sessions before it will be discussed
- Assign study questions
- If your class is small, have learners turn in brief notes on the day’s reading that they can use during exam (Jodi’s “C option”)
- Ask learners to write a one-word journal or one- sentence journal summarizing the reading
- Ask non-threatening questions about the reading (fishbowl)
In summary… Create an environment that provides learners with a SENSE OF:
* POWER – I have control over my learning.
* CONNECTEDNESS – I am a valued member of a learning community.
* MODELS – I can do this because my peers can do it.
* UNIQUENESS – I am an original learner.
(Stevenson, 1992; modified by Haney, 2007)
Dr. Haney encourages all of us (including herself) to focus on incorporating just one or two of these strategies during a semester, reflect on the change throughout, and continue to analyze and build upon them in the future.
What are strategies you use to create an environment where students are motivated to learn? Any other thoughts or comments on this issue?
September 25th, 2008
Instructors have long talked about how classrooms should be havens for teaching and learning, not a forum preaching politics or “saving the world.” In teaching a touchy and charged topic like the war in Iraq, Joseph J. Gonzalez reveals how it’s the transformations for students that instructors aid in maturing, which is interesting and a sign of good teaching.
In a recent editorial,
How Good Scholarship Makes Good Citizens, to
The Chronicle of Higher Education Gonzalez describes how he enjoys seeing his students become good citizens, who are “people ready to inquire, to think, and to engage with the world as they find it.” These good citizens, according to Gonzalez, are created by an instructor doing a job well done and good scholarship on the instructor’s part.
The piece is worth reading and does beg the discussion over what are some of the signs of a quality higher education or what makes a good instructor. We’d love to hear what anyone might add to the article.
September 15th, 2008
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