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?
Posted in Assessment ,Discussion-Join In ,Higher Education ,Learning Outcomes ,Resources ,Scholarly Communication ,Student Success ,Uncategorized February 19, 2009
Using a framework to provide effective, impactful, and quality education is not a new concept. While grounding pedagogy in theory is important, Teaching Assistants more often are interested in how to implement educational practices that will result in student learning. Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) 7 Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education is a foundational document that offers both a framework and specific methods valuable for any instructor. Chickering and Gamson give seven suggestions, based on a review of literature, to facilitate good practice:
1. Encourage Contact Between Students and Faculty,
2. Develop Reciprocity and Cooperation Among Students,
3. Encourage Active Learning,
4. Give Prompt Feedback,
5. Emphasize Time on Task,
6. Communicate High Expectations,
7. Respect Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning.
As a Teaching Assistant, we can use this framework to plan methods that will result in student learning.
If you want more detail or would like to learn more, consider attending one of our Pragmatic Practices workshop sessions. You can still sign up for the last two: Learning Styles and Teaching Tips! Visit the Center’s webpage for full descriptions or to register, or call 419-372-6898 for more information.
Posted in Active Learning ,Resources ,TA-Teaching Assistants ,Teaching Tips ,Workshop Extension Tagged: TA-Teaching Assistants, Workshop Extension February 18, 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.
Posted in Active Learning ,Higher Education ,Resources ,Scholarly Communication ,Student Success February 17, 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.
Posted in Conferences ,Higher Education ,On Campus Learning Events ,Student Success ,Teaching Tips ,Tech Tips February 9, 2009
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.
Posted in Active Learning ,Higher Education ,Reflections on Teaching February 7, 2009
One of the leaders in online publishing is Scribd. Scribd allows people to upload documents – which can be in the form of reports, brochures, books, spreadsheets, puzzles and games, etc. – to the Internet for sharing with millions of readers. The website also allows you to discuss work that belongs to other people. And, Scribd is free for users!
As per Scribd’s FAQs:
Scribd lets you publish and discover documents online. It is like a big online library where anyone can upload. We make use of a custom Flash document viewer that lets you display documents right in your Web browser.
Part of the idea behind Scribd is that everyone has a lot of documents sitting around on their computers that only they can read. With Scribd we hope to unlock this information by putting it on the web.
Scribd would a useful website for students, especially, graduate students to get feedback on term papers, thesis or dissertation chapters, and for providing feedback to other users. For professors Scribd could prove helpful in publishing pre-publication documents for feedback or learning about what other college instructors are doing in their field or another field.
Over the past couple years Scribd has steadily grown in its users and readership. Please take a look for yourself and see what you can share or discuss.
Posted in Academic Freedom ,Copyright/Creative Commons ,Resources ,Scholarly Communication ,Tech Tips ,Web 2.0 Tools ,Writing February 3, 2009
The idea of a college administrator or professor enrolling as an undergraduate student or even living in college dorms is uncommon, but both events have happened. In 2004 Roger Martin, former Harvard University Dean and President of Randolph-Macon College, enrolled himself as a college freshman at St. John’s College. Rebekah Nathan, a university professor at a large state university, wrote My Freshman Year, which retold her journey back to being a student and living in a college dorm. Both Martin and Nathan have great stories describing their transitions and findings.
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.
Posted in Active Learning ,Higher Education ,Reflections on Teaching January 30, 2009
The deadline for the Instructional Improvement Grant is approaching fast. The deadline for proposals is 5pm, March 2nd.
Awards of up to $1000 are provided for proposals that lead to significant and demonstrable improvement in pedagogical skills and/or have a positive effect on student learning.
More information and guidelines concerning proposals are available at:
http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/provost/profDevel/fdcgrants.htm
Or call 419-372-5387.
Posted in Higher Education ,On Campus Learning Events ,Scholarly Communication January 26, 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?
Posted in Active Learning ,Conferences ,Discussion-Join In ,Higher Education ,Large Lecture ,Resources ,Student Success ,Teaching Tips ,Uncategorized January 20, 2009
As the semester is about to begin, it’s time to think about the most important day of the entire semester… the first day of class. The first day of class sets the tone for the entire semester. While most of us plan to simply go over the syllabus, there are other things that we can do to motivate our students. In “101 Things You Can do the First Three Weeks of Class,” the author Joyce T. Povlcs, offers helpful tips to make the first three weeks of class start off on the right foot. Among the tips offered are:
- Give an assignment on the first day to be collected at the next meeting
- Administer a learning style inventory to help students find out about themselves
- Greet students at the door when they enter the classroom
- Have students write out their expectations for the course and their own goals for learning
To read more helpful tips that can be utilized during the first three weeks of class, click here.
How do you set the tone for your classes on the first day of the semester?
Posted in Active Learning ,Assessment ,Discussion-Join In ,Higher Education ,Large Lecture ,Motivation ,Resources ,Teaching Tips January 9, 2009
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