A Great Success – Spring Speaker Series – Rethinking Learning in an Information Age

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On 29 March 2013 the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) hosted Dr. Ike Shibley as part of the Spring Speaker Series. Dr. Shibley serves as an Associate Professor of Chemistry and Science Program Coordinator at Penn State Berks College, Pennsylvania State University System. A video of the workshop will be available on the CETL Blog.

Rethinking Learning in an Information Age, the theme of the workshop addressed how technology changes and improves (or not) student learning. Forty-four of your fellow faculty participated in this three-hour workshop. Participants in this active workshop reflected on their own teaching practices and identified better methods for helping students learn. One key discussion focused on major types of design (or redesign) for college courses (i.e., the flipped classroom). Another discussion examined multiple types of technology currently used in higher education and how participants could use/do use these technologies.

The next workshop of the 2013 Spring Speaker Series is titled S.C.A.L.E U.P. The Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies and takes place on 19 April 2013 from 9:00AM – NOON at the Manassas Innovation Center. You can register here: http://www.nvcc.edu/cetl/training/.

Our guest speaker, Dr. Robert Beichner, Director of North Carolina State STEM Initiative, North Carolina State University, will discuss how changes in student backgrounds impact what happens in the classroom. Educational research indicates that students should collaborate on interesting tasks and be deeply involved with the material they are studying. Dr.Beichner’s SCALE-UP Project has the potential to radically change the way … classes are taught at colleges and universities. Social interaction is the active ingredient that makes the SCALE-UP approach work.

Participants will review the history of traditional lecture-hall classrooms are migrating to state-of-the-art technology-based alternatives. No technology experience required. Through hands-on activities, workshop attendees can see how to transition their current lessons to more active, technology-based instruction.

Understanding Grade Inflation

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Understanding Grade Inflation (By Stephen Clarke)

According to the New York Times article “Want a Higher GPA? Go to a Private School” by Catherine Rampell, “Over the last 50 years, college grade-point averages have risen about 0.1 points per decade, with private schools fueling the most grade inflation . . . The study, by [former geophysics professor at Duke University] Stuart Rojstaczer and [computer science professor at Furman University] Christopher Healy . . . finds that G.P.A.’s have risen from a national average of 2.52 in the 1950s to about 3.11 by the middle of the last decade.”

The issue of grade inflation affects students in at least three ways: (1) as some departments within an institution inflate grades, inconsistencies appear; (2) as other schools inflate their grades, students at schools that resist grade inflation are seemingly left behind; (3) as all schools inflate their grades, students’ expectations change.

The study conducted by Rojstaczer and Healey found “science departments today grade on average 0.4 points lower than humanities departments, and 0.2 points lower than social science departments.”  This difference has existed for approximately 40 years and speaks to the lack of engagement or communication within and between colleges when it comes to grades. 

According to Rojstaczer and Healey, some American students feel discouraged from studying the sciences due to these relatively lower grades.  However, “so long as schools believe that granting higher grades gives alumni an advantage, there will be little or no incentive to impose stricter grading standards unilaterally.”

If we cannot resist glacial grade inflation, we can try to understand it.  According to Rampell’s “A History of College Grade Inflation” from the New York Times, we are seeing more A’s, about the same amount of B’s, and fewer C’s, D’s and F’s.  In addition, what these seemingly kind hearted instructors do not realize is, “When college students perceive that the average grade in a class will be an A, they do not try to excel.”

If we cannot resist grade inflation, we can strive for consistency, fairness, and transparency.  We can discuss with colleagues what standards we emphasize, how we evaluate students, and how we communicate standards and grading policies to students.  Most importantly, we can communicate our appreciation and respect for the effort students put forth, recognizing their patience and persistence, creativity and insights, attention to detail and ambitions. 

 

The Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies

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S.C.A.L.E    U.P.

The Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies

April 19th: 9 AM to NOON

Manassas Innovations Center

Dr. Robert Beichner

Director of North Carolina State STEM Initiative

North Carolina State University

Raleigh, North Carolina

Register:  http://www.nvcc.edu/cetl/training/ 

   

From Dr. Beichner’s web site:

Educational research indicates that students should collaborate on interesting tasks and be deeply involved with the material they are studying. We promote active learning in a redesigned classroom … [We] believe the SCALE-UP Project has the potential to radically change the way … classes are taught at colleges and universities. The social interaction between students and with their teachers appears to be the “active ingredient” that make the approach work. As more and more instruction is handled virtually via technology, the relationship-building capability of brick and mortar institutions becomes even more important. The pedagogical methods and classroom management techniques we design and disseminate are general enough to be used in a wide variety of classes at many different types of colleges.

Attendees will learn about how changes in students backgrounds should impact what happens in the classroom. They will see some of the history of lecture halls and see state-of-the-art alternatives. They will gain experience with hands-on activities and see how they can develop similar tasks for their own instruction.

Rethinking Learning in the Information Age

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Rethinking Learning in an Information Age

March 29th at 9 AM to Noon

Annandale Campus, CE Forum Seminar Rooms A through D

Dr. Ike Shibley

Associate Professor of Chemistry and Science Program Coordinator

Penn State Berks College

Pennsylvania State University System

Register:  http://www.nvcc.edu/cetl/training/ 

For more information:  http://blogs.nvcc.edu/cetl/2013/02/15/leading-voices-come-to-nova-3/

   

Knowledge may have once been housed primarily in universities but the advent of technology (starting with the printing press and advancing through the Khan Academy and MOOCs) has made knowledge widely available. Learning in the 21st Century means more than being exposed to content: learning involves changing the way a person thinks. And learning can be facilitated effective deployment of technology.

Technology can be used during all three times a student can learn: before class, during class, and after class. Whether ‘class’ means face-to-face or an online lesson the concept of ‘before, during, and after’ can help educators rethink their role in the learning process.

Screencasts and other instructor-created multimedia presentations can introduce students to information before they arrive in a face-to-face classroom. The prepared learner arrives at in class (or at an interactive online session) armed with enough knowledge to work at higher cognitive levels such as application, analysis, and synthesis. The cognitive F2F activities should actively engage students so they can construct meaning about the content. The time when a student most needs the teacher is when he or she begins using knowledge to help address questions related to the course content. Technology can be employed to help students spend more time on task after class by encouraging them to complete online activities.

The pedagogical notion that students construct knowledge aligns with what is currently known about the neurobiology of learning. In this workshop we will examine some of the technology that facilitates learning outside of class such as screencasting, online quizzes, collaborative online tools, multimedia activities, and technology for students to create new learning. We will also explore the types of active learning possible in the newly liberated face-to-face time such as clickers and white boards. If you are interested in exploring ways to help students learn more using technology then this workshop is for you!

After the workshop, participants will be able to:
–reflect on their own teaching practices to identify better methods for helping students to learn
–explain the major types of design for college courses
– explain multiple types of technology being used in higher education

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Want to give your courses a boost?  CETL presents:
A Faculty Focus Series on Course Design
for New and Seasoned Faculty

Register at:   http://goo.gl/2qNBg

The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning is very proud to announce the Spring 2013 Faculty Focus Series: Course Design for New and Seasoned Faculty.

Current research on undergraduate education asks us to diminish our dependence on lecture and to make our courses learning-centered. This is easier said than done, of course, and ultimately relies on the way we design our courses. The Faculty Focus series looks at how to think about course design and how to approach it, how to be sure that we really do test what we teach, and teach what we really want to test. There are many ways to assess our students’ learning, but we will focus on the construction of a valid multiple choice exam. We will also look at some ideas about how to design learning-centered activities and some strategies that allow you to move from a traditional lecture format to a student-centered environment.

You are welcome to attend one, some, or all of the sessions. We will have an additional session at the end of the series so we can get together and talk about what you learned and how you incorporated new ideas into our courses.

All sessions take place Monday from 2:30 – 4:30 PM. We will meet in the CETL Center, Annandale, CG 218. Here is the series:

Register at: http://goo.gl/2qNBg

Beginning at the End – 4 March - Cindy Miller ask whether your goals, assessments, and activities align?

Designing Valid Multiple Choice Exams – 25 March – Join Patty Ottavio and learn how to test along a cognitive process dimension from lower order to higher order thinking skills.

Creating Significant Learning Experiences – 8 April – Barbara Crain discusses how a significant learning experience helps learners learn, provides knowledge, stimulates new interests, provides thinking skills, and connects people.

Strategies for Engaging Students in the Learning Process – 22 April - Samantha Whalen helps you learn how to move from traditional lecture to a student-centered environment.

Roundtable Discussion of All Sessions – 29 April

 

 

 

Identifying & Engaging Unprepared Students: Practical Strategies & Techniques For Today’s College Classroom

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On Wednesday, 13 February 2013, The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and Pathways to the Baccalaureate hosted a webinar titled Identifying & Engaging Unprepared Students: Practical Strategies & Techniques For Today’s College Classroom. The webinar was provided by Innovative Educators and facilitated by Debra Runshe, from Indiana University. An overview of the webinar includes: Many students enter college unaware of the expectations and are unprepared for the academic rigors of college. Their initial enthusiasm and excitement is often replaced in a matter of weeks by varying degrees of discouragement. For many students, this first year of college is the “make or break” year. A national research study found that almost half of first-time students who leave their initial institutions by the end of the first year do not return to higher education. Identifying and engaging with these students is crucial to their persistence.

Major reasons for academic difficulties include 1) poor management of time, 2) continue to organization and study like still in high school, 3) poor selection/sequence of courses, and 4) always studying alone.

As you develop your courses and align activities and assessments to course outcomes ask yourself the following questions:

  • What should my students know?
  • What should they be able to do?
  • What types of activities can help students achieve the learning outcomes?
  • How will I know that they have achieved the outcomes?

Debra utilized Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education to address ways to identify and engage unprepared students. The seven principles are:

  1. encourage contact between students and faculty – use communication and collaboration tools to increase and strengthen contact › do not just rely on class time or expect students to utilize office hours; create and build classroom communities
  2. develop reciprocity and cooperation among students – create collaborative rather than competitive or indepedent environments › leverage group and team activities and use peer assessments
  3. encourage active learning – in the classroom students do things and think about the things they are doing › increase retention of information to 75% by practicing and to 90% by teaching others
  4. give prompt feedback – feedback should be timely, direct, specific, and appropriate › use peer review where appropriate
  5. emphasize time on task – teach for long-term retention and life-long learning › time management skills are imperative; use a calendar
  6. communicate high expectations – boost student confidence levels by holding yourself to the same standard › share models of outstanding work; offer alternative assignments
  7. respect diverse talents and ways of learning – teach to different learning preferences that accommodate diversity › use the Felder-Silverman Model to help students discover their learning preferences

You can access Debra’s presentation here. Debra also shared an implementation guide to get you started. The link to the recorded webinar is here. Click on Debra’s picture to send her an email.

 

Best Practices for Identifying, Serving, and Engaging Underprepared Students

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Are Your Students Prepared for Your Class?

On Wednesday, 13 February 2013, The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and Pathways to the Baccalaureate sponsored a half-day workshop and webinar on “Best Practices for Identifying, Serving, and Engaging Underprepared Students.”

Kerin Hilker-Balkisson, Director, Pathways to the Baccalaureate, discussed strategies to effectively serve students who are not prepared for the demands of your classroom. Kerin’s workshop examined keys to college access, success, and excellence for at-risk students. Just who are our underserved students? First, we have students who are not familiar with college jargon such as credit hour or semester. Second, cultural difference sometimes inhibit or prevent faculty/student or student/student engagement. Third, many of our students do not drive and rely on publich transportation. Fourth, NVCC students with disabilities are not receiving accommodations.

To blur NVCC’s approach to engaging underserved students further, both VCCS and the US Dept of Education have different definitions of underprepared and at-risk students. Then, add students working 25+ hours/week, students with children, or students with out-of-date academic preparation and you have a daunting population of students to affect.

Kerin recommends the following:

  • Serving Students with Disabilities – train the faculty and staff
  • Assessment and Evaluation – identify program/service gaps impacting student success
  • Navigational Interventions – early engagement and prevention
  • Student Life Intervention – incentives to participate in student programs
  • Interventions via Technology – use tools our students use (i.e., social media)

Kerin closed by stressing the importance of engagement in the classroom as a key success factor for underprepared students.

You can find more information about Kerin’s content by viewing her Prezi. You can learn more about the Pathways to the Baccalaureate program on their blog. Please feel free to comment and ask questions by posting a reply to this blog post.

Leading Voices Come to NOVA

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CETL’s Spring Speaker Series:  Leading Voices Come to NOVA.  The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) is very proud to present interactive workshops that will allow you to explore alternatives to the isolated, lecture-based classroom! Mark your calendars for one or more of the events.

Register at  http://www.nvcc.edu/cetl/training/

February  22 – Dr. Ken Bain, University of the District of Columbia
9:00 AM — What the Best College Teachers (And Students) Do|
12:30 PM – Fostering Deep Learning Workshop, limited to 30 participants
Waddell Theater on the Loudoun Campus, sponsored by the office of the Loudoun Provost

March 29th  – Dr. Ike Shibley, Penn State Berks
Rethinking Learning in an Information Age.
9 AM to Noon – talk and hands-on workshop in the CE Forum at Annandale

Knowledge may have once been housed primarily in universities but the advent of technology (starting with the printing press and advancing through the Khan Academy and MOOCs) has made knowledge widely available. Learning in the 21stCentury means more than being exposed to content: learning involves changing the way a person thinks. And learning can be facilitated effective deployment of technology…

The pedagogical notion that students construct knowledge aligns with what is currently known about the neurobiology of learning. In this workshop we will examine some of the technology that facilitates learning outside of class such as screencasting, online quizzes, collaborative online tools, multimedia activities, and technology for students to create new learning. We will also explore the types of active learning possible in the newly liberated face-to-face time such as clickers and white boards. If you are interested in exploring ways to help students learn more using technology then this workshop is for you!

After the workshop, participants will be able to:

  • – explain multiple types of technology being used in higher education
  • –reflect on their own teaching practices to identify better methods for helping students to learn
  • –explain the major types of design for college courses

April 19 – Dr. Robert Beichner, North Carolina State University

Learn about flipped classrooms — what do you actually do in these classrooms?
SCALE-UP: The Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies
9 AM to Noon – talk and hands-on workshop. Manassas Innovations Center

From Dr. Beichner’s web site:

Educational research indicates that students should collaborate on interesting tasks and be deeply involved with the material they are studying. We promote active learning in a redesigned classroom of 100 students or more. (Of course, smaller classes can also benefit.) We believe the SCALE-UP Project has the potential to radically change the way large classes are taught at colleges and universities. The social interactions between students and with their teachers appears to be the “active ingredient” that make the approach work. As more and more instruction is handled virtually via technology, the relationship-building capability of brick and mortar institutions becomes even more important. The pedagogical methods and classroom management techniques we design and disseminate are general enough to be used in a wide variety of classes at many different types of colleges.

Professional Development Events for Spring 2013

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There is something happening at CETL this Spring that is just for YOU!  Read through all of these events and you’ll find many things to do that will advance your professional development and hone your teaching expertise. 

Read through everything!  The very last thing on this list is something new for NOVA and for CETL – We have a series of speakers from outside of NOVA, who will complement the expertise that is here!  The first one, arranged for us by Dr. Julie Leidig, Provost, Loudoun Campus, brings Dr. Ken Bain, author of “What the Best College Teachers Do” to NOVA. Watch for the email with the registration link, coming soon.  You’ll definitely want to hear Dr. Bain on February 22nd.   Dr. Ike Shibley will come in March and Dr. Bob Beichner in April.  This series will be great!

Ongoing Events

CETL’s Teaching Squares Program will begin in the fifth week of the semester. This program is a low investment, high return reciprocal observation program. You will work in a facilitated group of four of your colleagues to gain insight into your own teaching practices. All teaching faculty (full-time and adjunct)!  Enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis on each campus.  Please register by February 11th!

CETL’s Teaching Consultations.  CETL and your faculty associates offer many kinds of teaching consultations. The consultations are meant to allow you to discuss your teaching as you wish to do so. Feedback from any consultation is invaluable for your teaching and to your development as a classroom teacher. All consultations are confidential.

 Series, Seminars and Workshops
Ccome to one, some or all of them!  Registration links will be sent via email as the date approaches

CETL’s Faculty Focus Seminar Series:  Course Development for New and Seasoned Faculty. This series, also offered in the fall, returns this spring to accommodate those who asked that it be available on a different schedule. Five related topics that you might consider as you develop your courses, including information about the framework of the course (Feb 11) , aligning objectives, assessments and activities (March 4), designing exams (March 25) and significant learning experiences (April 8)  as well as how to engage students in the classroom (April 22) are discussed.   A roundtable discussion of all topics will culminate the series on April 29th.  Each will be held from 2:30 to 4:30 on the Annandale Campus. Register here.

CETL and Pathways to the Baccalaureate Sponsor a half-day workshop:   Best Practices for Identifying, Serving and Engaging Underprepared Students.  This will discuss strategies to help the students you have who just aren’t really prepared for the demands of your classrooms.  It will be followed by a webinar led by Debra Runshe, from Indiana University, entitled “Identifying & Engaging Unprepared Students:  Practical Strategies & Techniques for Today’s College Classroom”.   February 13th from 2:00 to 4:30 pm, on the Annandale Campus in the CE Forum Seminar Rooms A through D. Register here.

The Office of Student Services and Enrollment Management:  The Autism Spectum:   Does it affect NOVA Students?  Practical Strategies for helping! Two sessions featuring expert speakers and discussion sessions. —  March 1 and March 22nd mornings.  Time and Location, to be announced.

CETL’s Spring Speaker Series:  Leading Voices Come to NOVA.  The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) is very proud to present interactive workshops that will allow you to explore alternatives to the isolated, lecture-based classroom! Mark your calendars for one or more of the events.

February  22 – Dr. Ken Bain, University of the District of Columbia
9:00 AM — What the Best College Teachers (And Students) Do|
1:00 PM – Fostering Deep Learning Workshop, limited to 30 participants
Waddell Theater on the Loudoun Campus, sponsored by the office of the Loudoun Provost

March 29th  – Dr. Ike Shibley, Penn State Berks
Blended Design: Rethinking Learning in an Information Age?
9 AM to Noon – talk and hands-on workshop in the CE Forum at Annandale

April 19 – Dr. Robert Beichner, North Carolina State University
SCALE-UP: The Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies
9 AM to Noon – talk and hands-on workshop. Location TBA

Rescheduled from January 18th; Date/Time TBD – Dr. Ashley Gess, Virginia Western Community College
Creating Trans-disciplinary Units for Immediate Use in the Classroom