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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Early-Bird Deadline Extended to Friday, December 3 2010 | POD-AAC&U Organizational Development Institute

Dear Colleagues,

We've extended the early-bird deadline to Friday, December 3 for the POD-AAC&U Organizational Development Institute.
See details below.

Leading from the Middle: Faculty Development and Organizational Change
Third Annual POD-AAC&U Organizational Development Institute
January 25-26, 2011, San Francisco, CA

To register, go to www.podnetwork.org/conferences/2011-AACU/index.htm

As a faculty developer, would you like to play a larger role in strategic planning, campus-wide educational reform efforts, or other institutional change initiatives at your college or university, but are a little unsure how?

Then this year’s POD-AAC&U OD Institute is for you! Make the transition from traditional faculty development programs such as workshops, consultations and brown-bag lunches to strategies that enhance traditional programs and promote widespread organizational change.

Catherine Frerichs and Virginia Lee, longstanding POD members with years of faculty development experience, are planning a series of hands-on activities including self-assessment questionnaires and exercises, two case studies based on organizational change efforts at their own institutions, and a planning model you will use to develop a concrete organizational change strategy for a faculty development issue of your choice at your institution.

You’ll also benefit from feedback from Catherine and Virginia as well as other Institute participants.

We look forward to seeing you there!

--Catherine Frerichs and Virginia Lee

Co-Facilitators, 2011 POD-AAC&U OD Institute
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Tomorrow's Teaching and Learning: Strategies to Improve Student Writing

http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/postings.php
Sponsored by Stanford Center for Teaching and Learning @: http://ctl.stanford.edu


IDEA PAPER #48

Language is acquired only by absorption and contact with an environment in which language is in perpetual use.? ? Samuel Thurber (1898, paraphrased in Judy & Judy, 1981, p. 18)

The Crisis in Writing

Of course we want our students to write well. And we know from our own classes, as well as from newspaper articles and television specials, that our students do not write as well as we think they should. The latest report of The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) ? which conducts the most careful test of the writing abilities of students in grades four, eight, and 12 ? reports that only 16 percent of eighth-graders can write informatively at the level of ?skillful? or better, and that only 26 percent of 12th-graders can write persuasively at that level. However, between 60 percent and 70 percent of both groups can produce writing that the NAEP labels ?sufficient? (National Center for Education Statistics, 2007, pp. 30, 44). These results may confirm our worst fears.

Reasons to Question the ?Crisis?

However, there are many reasons to think that the ?crisis? in writing is more a function of our attitudes and expectations than it is a result of how our students actually write.

For one thing, we need to remember that the NAEP does not use a normed test. Indeed, there are no national norms or standards to help us determine what students at various ages should be able to accomplish in writing, with or without schooling. As a result, we have little basis other than our own expectations for deciding how well our students write.

In addition, writing is extremely complex, so we have no common standard for what we mean when we say that our students do not write well. Depending on circumstances, we may mean 1) that our students? writing is not well thought out, 2) that it is not clearly organized, 3) that it is not well documented or that it needs more detail or evidence, 4) that it needs to be better edited, 5) that it needs a more appropriate tone, 6) that it needs to be better adapted to the situation for which it was written, or simply 7) that it needs to be ?clearer,? whatever that may mean.

As a result, we often disagree about what constitutes good writing. In a major study of 300 essays read by 53 readers in six different fields ? English, social science, and natural science teachers; editors; lawyers; and business executives ? Paul Diederich (1974, p. 6) found that 101 essays ?received every grade from 1 to 9 [the entire range possible]; 94 percent received either seven, eight, or nine different grades.?

A final reason for thinking that the crisis in writing is a function of our attitudes is that the crisis has remained remarkably stable for over 100 years. Indeed, the crisis began with the rise of mass education at the end of the 19th century. For example, in 1898, the Subject A Examination at the University of California, a precursor of today?s writing tests, indicated that 30 percent to 40 percent of those taking the test were not proficient in written English, a number very similar to the number of those who do not do well on today?s tests. Yet ?in 1890 3.5 percent of all seventeen-year-olds graduated from high school; by 1970 the number was 75.6 percent? (Rose, 1989, p. 6). It seems that the percentage of students ?deficient? in English has remained about the same, while we have been educating a much higher percentage of the population at the high school level.

The Most Obvious Reason Why Our Students Do Not Write Well Enough

The reasons for our students? inability to write well enough to meet our expectations are many and varied. Many of us blame television, or the Internet, or the lack of homework in school, or the breakup of the nuclear family. However, the most obvious reason that our students do not write well is that they receive a limited amount of instruction in writing and they do not write very much. Arthur Applebee and Judith Langer (2006, p. 2) report that ?two-thirds of students in Grade 8, for example, are expected to spend an hour or less on writing for homework each week, and 40% of twelfth graders report never or hardly ever being asked to write a paper of 3 pages or more.? When students do write, they tend to write a limited range of genres: mostly reports, summaries, or analyses. In English classes, they may write a few stories or poems. They do little persuasive writing at all.

There are few studies of the writing students do in college. In one survey (Thaiss & Porter, 2010), 568 colleges and universities in the United States had some form of writing- across-the-curriculum that required at least one upper- level writing course after the first year, but it is not clear how much students wrote in these courses, the kinds of writing they did, or how they were taught. The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) (2009, p. 34) reports that in its participating institutions, as many as 53 percent of first-year students and 44 percent of seniors write between one and four papers from five to 19 pages each in an academic year. However, the great majority of students write papers of five pages or less. The NSSE report provides no information about the nature of these papers or how students are taught.

My general impression from talking to colleagues in writing studies from around the country is that in most colleges and universities, students write very little, and when they do write, they write short analytic or evaluative reports, for which they receive little instruction. They are simply told to produce a paper that meets a list of requirements by a certain date, and are graded on how well they meet the instructor?s expectations.

If we are going to improve the writing of our students, we will need to require our students to write more often so that they can get sufficient practice; we will need to actually teach our students how to write the papers we require of them; and we will need to ensure that they get a range of experience writing a variety of genres so that they can see how complex writing is and how writing varies depending on the context, the genre, and the audience. Perhaps most importantly, we will need to design our writing instruction in ways that will help our students transfer what they have learned in school to the writing they do in the world outside of school.

Writing to Learn

One way that instructors can promote fluency in writing is by requiring students to use what Stephen Tchudi (1986, p. 20) calls workaday writing, or writing to learn. There is some evidence that particular kinds of workaday writing may also reinforce certain kinds of learning and help students learn the content of their courses (Langer & Applebee, 1987). Note-taking, for example, may help students focus on the main ideas of the course, and journals and mini-essays may help students reflect on the content of the course and integrate that knowledge into larger conceptual schemes (Smit, 2004, pp. 108- 110).

The advantages of incorporating workaday writing into content courses are that:
1. It is generally short and impromptu, not requiring large amounts of student or class time.
2. It is written primarily for the benefit of the writer as an aide to clarifying experience; thus, 3. It does not require extensive instructor commentary and response (theme correcting)? (Tchudi, 1986, p. 20).

Workaday writing includes the following activities:

Note-taking, which requires students to not only take careful notes, but to reflect critically on what they have heard or read. For example, students might be asked to respond to lectures or reading by answering these kinds of questions:

? What did you already know about this material?
? What is new to you?
? Does anything contradict what you already knew?
? Does anything expand or provide more evidence for what you already knew?
? What don?t you understand?
? What support does the speaker or writer give for his or her facts?
? What patterns of reasoning does the speaker or writer offer as evidence?
? Have you encountered reasoning like this before? If so, where? Are these patterns typical of the discipline as a whole?

Journals, which require students to write extensively several times a week, summarizing what they have learned, and raising issues and problems. Teachers may use the same sort of guide questions for journals as they use for note-taking.

Microthemes mini-essays on five-inch by eight-inch cards ? which require students to write summaries, support theses, pose questions, work with data, and provide support for generalizations (Tchudi, 1986, pp. 24-25). Here is a sample microtheme assignment for an introductory physics class (Bean et al., 1982, p. 35):

Suppose that you are Dr. Science, the question-and- answer person for a popular magazine called Practical Science. Readers of your magazine are invited to submit letters to Dr. Science, who answers them in ?Dear Abby? style in a special section of the magazine. One day you receive the following letter:

Dear Dr. Science, You?ve got to help me settle this argument I am having with my girlfriend. We were watching a baseball game several weeks ago when this guy hit a pop-up straight up over the catcher?s head. When it finally came down, the catcher caught it standing on home plate. Well, my girlfriend told me that when the ball stopped in midair just before it started back down, its velocity was zero, but acceleration was not zero. I said she was stupid. If something isn?t moving at all, how could it have any acceleration? Ever since then she has been making a big deal out of this and won?t let me kiss her.... You?ve got to explain it so we both understand, because my girlfriend is really dogmatic. She said she wouldn?t even trust Einstein unless he could explain himself clearly.

Sincerely, Baseball Blues

Can This Relationship Be Saved? Your task is to write an answer to Baseball Blues. Because space in your magazine is limited, restrict your answer to what can be put on a single 5? X 8? card. Don?t confuse Baseball and his girlfriend by using any special physics terms unless you explain clearly what those terms mean. If you think some diagrams would help, include them on a separate sheet.

Workaday writing gives students the opportunity to write in order to clarify for themselves what they are learning and why. It also gives teachers a chance to quickly determine how well the students can use the terms and concepts being taught in their courses. Because workaday writing is short and informal, it does not need to be graded, and teachers can read many responses in relatively little time. And if teachers think it helpful, they can use workaday writing to conduct a dialogue with individual students.

Students may also do workaday writing for each other, either for small study groups or for the class as a whole. Such a pedagogy, called distributed cognition (Brown et al., 1993), requires students to share information with each other so that they have access to and learn more than they could on their own or by simply listening to lectures. Writing for study groups or the entire class might include reports, abstracts, and summaries that students could share as study guides for tests. Or students could write letters, interviews, class newsletters, annotated bibliographies, and evaluations that provide the class with information they could not research on their own.

Writing Rhetorically

Workaday writing can be very useful for students while in school. However, when we talk about how well our students write, we generally are not referring to how well they write genres that may help their classroom learning. When we say that we want our students to write well, we usually mean that we want them to write well not just in school, but also on the job and in their lives after they graduate. This means that our instruction must help students to think rhetorically; that is, we must teach our students how to adapt their writing in different genres to different audiences and social contexts.

Overwhelmingly, the academic pedagogies that seem to best prepare students to think about these and other aspects of writing are called structured learning or strategy instruction, both of which involve goal-setting, teaching students specific strategies to help them accomplish some aspect of planning or composing, and organizing a ?pleasant, supportive, and collaborative? learning environment (Graham, 2006, p. 188). One specific example of structured learning is what George Hillocks (1986, p. 122) calls the environmental mode, which has the following characteristics:

1. Clear and specific objectives. For a laboratory in chemistry, a specific objective might be the accurate reporting of data in a certain format.

2. Materials and problems to engage students with each other in specifiable processes important to writing. To give students practice in reporting data, they might be given sets of data and asked to interpret the data and write up the results in a specified format.

3. Activities with a great deal of peer interaction, in order to give students practice in working on problems cooperatively, and to make the work engaging.

In a massive meta-statistical study of the effectiveness of various strategies for teaching writing, Hillocks (1986) found that the environmental mode and a companion strategy called focus on inquiry were by far the most beneficial pedagogies for improving writing. Hillocks? results have been confirmed 20 years later in a similar meta-analysis by Steven Graham (2006, pp. 204-205).

Unfortunately, there is also considerable evidence that the writing students do in school does not necessarily prepare them adequately to write outside of school. Writing on the job or for other rhetorical situations in public life demands that writers confront a host of contextual difficulties they did not face in school when they only had to write a standard ?school genre? for the teacher. Outside of school, writers must write new genres with conventions they are not familiar with; they must deal with multiple audiences that are difficult to conceptualize; and they must confront the ways documents circulate among various organizations and constituencies, and the ways members of these groups contribute to the composing of documents (Beaufort, 2006, pp. 229-230).

Whether we can help students transfer their learning from our classes to other contexts is still a matter of debate, but there is some evidence that the following strategies can enhance transfer and efficiency of learning in new social contexts (Beaufort, 2007, pp. 151-152):

1. Teachers can help students ?structure specific problems and learnings into more abstract principles that can be applied in new situations.?
2. Teachers can provide opportunities for students ?to apply abstract concepts in different social contexts.?
3. Teachers can promote ?the practice of mindfulness, or meta-cognition.?

In order to incorporate structured learning and to promote the transfer of learning into our teaching of rhetorical writing, we might consider using the following sequence of steps (adapted from Tchudi, 1986, pp. 30-37):

1. Decide on how teaching a specific set of writing skills can fit into and reinforce the larger objectives for the content course.

2. Decide on a rhetorical situation and an identifiable genre used outside the classroom that will give students practice using these skills. Such rhetorical situations give students a potential audience, real or imagined; a genre, such as a business letter or a report, with a set of conventions that must be modified in each new context; and a role to play so that they can think about matters of style, tone, and evidence when addressing a specific audience.

3. Give students opportunities to reflect on audience, genre, and context during the writing process. Direct their attention to how their style, organization, and evidence should be based on the knowledge and expectations of their audience and the conventions of the chosen genre.

4. Create one or more focused activities that require students to demonstrate the course objectives. Put the requirements for the activity on an evaluation form or checklist so that students can see what they must accomplish.

5. Help students through the writing process as necessary. This might involve something as simple as checking an early plan to make sure that students are on the right track. It might mean devoting a class period to small-group workshops in which students read and respond to each other?s work. It might involve individual conferences with students to go over early drafts.

6. Grade, evaluate, or respond to the writing by commenting on what the writer did well and by concentrating on two or three ways that the writer could most improve the paper. Avoid long lists of errors. There is considerable evidence that teacher comments are not effective in and of themselves. To be effective, teacher comments need to reinforce the main focus of the instruction, providing feedback on matters that have been previously taught or skills that have been previously practiced (Hillocks, 1986, pp. 167-168).

Here is how such a pedagogical strategy might work for a course in American history. To begin, the teacher might set as the content objective: The students will be able to list the possible causes of the Revolutionary War and discuss in detail the arguments for and against the various causes. The real-world genres in which this objective is made concrete might be a journal of popular history, a feature story in the Sunday supplement of a newspaper celebrating the Fourth of July, or an editorial in a newspaper celebrating a facet of contemporary life that has resulted from the way the revolution changed the country. Here is a possible assignment for our hypothetical American history teacher:

Choose one possible cause, or series of causes, for the Revolutionary War. For a magazine devoted to making history available to general readers, such as American Heritage, explain and provide the evidence to support one major cause of the American Revolution. Clearly document the sources of your evidence, using a form of documentation appropriate to the magazine. Be sure to meet any objections to your evidence. Here is the evaluation form that we will use when we read your paper:

Name: Reader:

At the beginning of your article, the claim about a possible cause of the Revolutionary War is clearly stated or implied.
yes no sort of
Your evidence is clear and convincing.
yes no sort of
You cite possible objections to your claims and adequately refute them.
yes no sort of
You use an appropriate form of documentation consistently.
yes no sort of

Comments:

In order to prepare students to do this assignment, the American history teacher should also give students practice in how to accomplish the major objectives of the assignment. In this case, the teacher might give the class a list of facts and figures about the ownership of property among the delegates at the Constitutional Convention; divide the class into groups of three or four; and ask each group to prepare a brief position paper, arguing for or against the claim that the Revolutionary War was fought in order to protect the property of the landed gentry. The point of such activities is to involve students in thinking about the objectives of the course and to give them practice in using the kinds of evidence and reasoning they will need to use in their writing for the course.

In order to help students through the writing process, the American history teacher might do any combination of the following:
? Have the students brainstorm possible ideas for their papers in class and share their ideas aloud so that the teacher can comment on them and clarify what an acceptable paper might look like.

? Ask students to submit plans for the paper ahead of time so that the teacher can see whether the students are on track and give them some brief suggestions on how to improve their basic ideas and the organization of those ideas.

? Once the students have a first draft, divide the class into groups of three or four, and have each group read and comment on each other?s papers using an evaluation form or checklist based on the specific goals of the assignment. Such peer review not only gives students a number of varied responses to their writing; it also gives them the opportunity to critically analyze the writing of others and practice the kinds of analysis they need to use with their own papers.

? At every stage, have students reflect aloud or in writing about who they are writing to, the conventions of the genre they are writing, and the contextual factors that might influence how their papers could be understood or misunderstood. Also have them discuss how the elements of the writing process might be different in different situations. If they can, teachers might also draw the students? attention to how the rhetorical situation and the genre of the assignment are similar to and different from other writing the students have done. Such meta-cognitive thinking may be the primary skill necessary for the student to transfer what they learn about writing in American history class to writing outside of school.

Lastly, the American history teacher needs to respond to the writing she has assigned by praising what the student has done well, and, if necessary, by requiring that the student revise the paper to make it better. In suggesting how the student should revise, the teacher should use what Cy Knoblauch and Lil Brannon (1984, p. 129) call facilitative commentary: 1) she should allow the writer to control the discourse, 2) she should use negotiation and dialogue on the assumption that the writer knows his own purposes better than any reader, and 3) she should play the part of a reader who knows the effect the writer had on her ? even better than the writer does. This negotiation should promote a richer meaning of the text.

Instead of saying, ?Don?t do it your way; do it this way,? the teacher should say or imply, ?Here?s what your choices have caused me to think you?re saying ? if my response differs from your intent, how can you help me to see what you mean?? Instead of writing in the margin, ?You have no evidence for this assertion. Cut it out,? the teacher should ask, ?On what basis are you making this assertion?? The point is to give students practice in the kinds of thinking that writing requires. If in her comments a teacher simply tells her students what to do, all her students will get is practice in following directions.

The Bottom Line

We have known for some time why our students do not write well. And we have known for some time how to correct the problem. We must give our students many more opportunities to write, using a pedagogy with the following characteristics:

1. Assignments that provide a rhetorical situation for the writing task: a purpose, a genre, an audience, and a discussion of the contextual factors that may produce effective communication in this particular situation.

2. An emphasis on the process of writing: providing instruction in (and sufficient time for) getting ideas, planning, writing drafts, analyzing their drafts, revising, and editing.

3. Opportunities for students to practice the skills necessary to fulfill the major purpose of the writing task.

4. Focused responses to students? drafts that include comments on how well the draft meets the demands of the assignment, and one or two ways to improve other matters, such as organization or editing.

5. Meta-cognitive reflection on the genre conventions, the audience, and the contextual factors of the rhetorical situation, especially ways in which these factors are similar to and different from other writing that students have done.

Just as important, we must recognize that students cannot get sufficient practice in writing if they only write in English classes. Writing needs to be the responsibility of colleges and universities as a whole. But for us to teach writing effectively across the curriculum, we need smaller classes and teachers who are trained to teach writing effectively in academic disciplines outside of English. Thus, the solution to the ?crisis? in writing is not only educational. It is also social and political. We must insist in our departments ? and in other departments across our colleges and universities ? that writing is important enough to be taught throughout the curriculum. And we must constantly remind the public media, funding agencies, college governing boards, and university boards of trustees that we need smaller classes so that, first, we can require our students to write more often and, second, we can give their writing the attention it deserves. With appropriate financial support and curricular reforms, we can indeed begin to deal with the crisis in writing.

--------------------
David Smit is a professor of English at Kansas State University, where he directed the Expository Writing Program for 10 years and where he now teaches an upper-level writing course for non-English majors and a writing course for secondary-education majors. He has published numerous articles on style, portfolio assessment, and rhetorical theory. In his book The End of Composition Studies (2004), Smit argues that in colleges and universities, writing should be taught in academic disciplines across the curriculum by people trained to write the genres related to those disciplines.


References and Suggested Readings

The references below, preceded by an asterisk, are suggested readings for those interested in a general introduction to teaching writing.

Applebee, A.N. & Langer, J.A. (2006). The state of writing instruction in America?s schools: What existing data tell us. Albany, NY: Center on English Learning & Achievement. http://www.albany. edu/cela/.
Bean, J.C., Drenk, D., & Lee, F.D. (1982). Microtheme strategies for developing cognitive skills. In C.W. Griffin (Ed.), Teaching writing in all disciplines: New directions for teaching and learning, No. 12 (pp. 27-38). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Beaufort, A. (2006). Writing in the professions. In P. Smagorinsky (Ed.), Research on composition: Multiple perspectives on two decades of change (pp. 217-242). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Beaufort, A. (2007). College writing and beyond. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press.

Brown, A.L., Ash, D., Rutherford, M., Nakagawa, K., Gordon, A., & Campione, J.C. (1993). Distributed expertise in the classroom. In G. Salomon (Ed.), Distributed cognitions: Psychological and educational considerations (pp. 188-228). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Diederich, P.B. (1974). Measuring growth in English. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Graham, S. (2006). Strategy instruction and the teaching of writing. In C. MacArthur, S. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.). Handbook of writing research (pp. 187-207). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Hillocks, G., Jr. (1986). Research on written composition. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Judy, S.N. & Judy, S.J. (1981). An introduction to the teaching of writing. New York, NY: John Wiley.

Knoblauch, C.H. & Brannon, L. (1984). Rhetorical traditions and the teaching of writing. Montclair, NJ: Boynton/Cook.
Langer, J.A., & Applebee, A.N. (1987). How writing shapes thinking: A study of teaching and learning. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

*Lindemann, E. (2001). A rhetoric for writing teachers. (4th ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2007). The nation?s report card: Writing. Washington, DC.

National Survey of Student Engagement. (2009). Assessment for Improvement: Tracking student engagement over time. Annual results. Washington, DC.

Rose, M. (1989). Lives on the boundary. New York, NY: Penguin.

Smit, D.W. (2004). The end of composition studies. Carbondale, IL:
Southern Illinois University Press.

Tchudi, S.N. (1986). Teaching writing in the content areas: College level. New York, NY: National Education Association.

Thaiss, C. & Porter, T. (2010). The state of WAC/WID in 2010: Methods and results of the U.S. Survey of the International WAC/ WID Mapping Project. College Composition and Communication, 61 (3), 534-570.

Thurber, S. (1898). An address to English teachers. Education, 18, 516-526.
*Williams, J.D. (2003). Preparing to teach writing: Research, theory, and practice. (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
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Monday, November 29, 2010

CUR Institute Deadline Approaching: Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research

http://www.cur.org/institutes/instugr.html

Deadline Quickly approaching: Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research

February 4- 6, 2011, Stetson University, DeLand, FL
Application Deadline: December 15, 2010

This workshop will bring together teams of three to five faculty members and administrators from institutions that are interested either in initiating an undergraduate research program or in institutionalizing existing research activities. The three days will consist of plenary lectures presented by facilitators associated with CUR interspersed with individual team meetings with CUR mentors. The teams will begin the workshop by meeting with their facilitator and reflecting on the current status of undergraduate research on their campuses. This inventory will include the examination of institutional strengths, as well as the obstacles currently preventing achievement of desired results. After this assessment, the teams will begin formulating mission statements, goals, and action plans for their own institutions. The event will conclude with the teams discussing their plans with the entire community. Throughout this process, the facilitators will be engaged with the teams in order to assist them in discussions and deliberations.

For more information, and to apply to attend, please visit: http://www.cur.org/institutes/instugr.html
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Inside Higher Education: Should Profs Leave Unruly Classes?

November 29, 2010
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/11/29/walkout

Professors routinely complain about students who spend class time on Facebook or texting their friends or otherwise making it clear that their attention is elsewhere. But is it acceptable for a faculty member to deal with these disruptions by walking out of class?

Two years ago, a Syracuse University professor set off a debate with his simple policy: If he spots a student texting, he will walk out of class for the day.

Now two faculty members at Ryerson University, in Toronto, sparked discussion at their institution with a similar (if somewhat more lenient) policy -- and their university's administrators and faculty union have both urged them to back down, which they apparently have.

The Ryerson professors' policy was first reported last week in The Eyeopener (the student newspaper) and then was picked up by other Canadian publications. Two professors who teach an introductory engineering course in chemistry jointly adopted a policy by posting it on the courses' Blackboard sites. The professors vowed to make tests more difficult, to encourage students to pay attention. And the professors said that after three warnings about disruptions such as cell phone discussions and movies playing on laptops, the professors would walk out of class -- and students would have to learn the rest of that day's material themselves. (Sources could not say whether the faculty members followed through on their treats.)

The student newspaper described a chaotic environment in the class where the faculty members made the threat to walk out, with loud chatting among students and even paper airplanes being shot around the room. A Ryerson spokeswoman said she couldn't confirm that those conditions existed, but others at the university said that student behavior has deteriorated in introductory courses (even if only a minority of students misbehave). Comments posted on the student newspaper article from people who said that they were in the classes -- including comments from those critical of the professors' response -- confirmed the rude behavior. One student wrote about "a whole row of kids" chatting and reading Facebook throughout a recent lecture.

But this student added these questions: "Was it really fair to leave the class based on the actions of these few students? Why were we all reprimanded for their bad mistakes?"

The two professors -- Robert Gossage and Andrew McWilliams -- did not respond to requests for comment (and have not responded to inquiries from reporters in Canada, either).

Janet Mowat, a spokeswoman for Ryerson, issued a statement on behalf of the university that rejected the approach used by the professors. "Ryerson University does not endorse faculty members threatening to abandon their class if the class is unruly nor does the university endorse arbitrarily raising the bar for tests in the middle of the semester." The statement went on to note that the university has a "guide to civility" and a student code of conduct, both of which say that both students and professors are responsible for jointly assuring a good learning environment. Students are specifically barred from "disruption of learning and teaching."

The engineering college at Ryerson is also starting several initiatives to help faculty members teach large classes, the statement noted, including a special online seminar on managing large, first-year classes; inviting a student conduct officer to participate in orientation to discuss these issues; and adding teaching assistant support to large classes.

Mowat said that the professors had been contacted and that she believed they would be trying other tactics in the future to deal with the issues.

Anver Saloojee, a professor of politics and public administration at Ryerson who is president of the union that represents tenure-track faculty members, said that the faculty contract would not permit faculty members to leave their classes unless there was an issue of health or safety. "One of the most important things we have to do is teaching," he said. And while Saloojee said he sympathized with faculty members struggling with inappropriate student behavior, he is not a fan of collective punishment. "You might have a minority of students who are disruptive, but you are doing a disservice to the students not engaging in that activity" by leaving, he said.

The university does need to do more to educate students -- especially first-year students -- on acceptable behavior, he said. And inappropriate behavior is clearly on the rise, he said, "when students have multiple devices at their disposal" in class. Saloojee said that he has had success from outlining expectations about behavior in the first session of each course.

While Ryerson appears committed to dealing with these issues without professorial walkouts, Laurence Thomas, a professor of philosophy at Syracuse University, said that he's sticking with his ultimatum about students who text, although he sometimes gives a warning for the first offense he spots. He said that since Inside Higher Ed covered his policy, he shows students that article on the first day of class.

Thomas said that the reason for the policy is straightforward: "I have the power to walk out whereas asking a student to leave the class could result in a very awkward confrontation."

In explaining his policy to students, Thomas said that he stresses that he himself uses text messaging (when doing so would not be rude), as he wants students to know that his objection to texting in class does not arise from being "clueless" about technology. "I talk about the climate of the classroom and how each of us makes a difference in that regard."

Sometimes, he leaves class. "I actually walked out two weeks ago and I was stunned by the extent to which the student apologized for the behavior," he said.

— Scott Jaschik
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Text and Academic Authors Association (TAA) LISTEN LIVE: "How to Be a Successful Freelance Writer for College Textbook Publishers"

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/textacademicpodcast/2010/12/01/how-to-be-a-successful-freelance-writer-for-colleg

LISTEN LIVE Wednesday, Dec. 1 @ 12-12:30 p.m. ET:

"How to Be a Successful Freelance Writer for College Textbook Publishers"

Presented by John Soares, a freelance writer of college textbook supplements, and the author of Writing College Textbook Supplements The Definitive Guide to Winning High-Paying Assignments in the College Textbook Publishing Market

Join us for us for an interview with John Soares, a freelance writer of college textbook supplements, on
TAA's blogtalkradio show, Wednesday, December 1 @ 12-12:30 p.m. ET.

Learn how to succeed as a freelance writer of college textbook test questions, lecture outlines, instructor's manuals, study guides, and other materials that help students learn better and instructors teach better.

Soares, author of Writing College Textbook Supplements: The Definitive Guide to Winning High-Paying Assignments in the College Textbook Publishing Market, will share how to:

Get the attention of higher-education textbook editors and convince them to hire you
Get your projects done well and quickly
Get paid well
No need to register. You can listen right from your computer, or you can call in and ask questions on TAA's toll-free line: 1-800-572-4281.

Kim Pawlak
Associate Executive Director
Text and Academic Authors Association (TAA)
kim.pawlak@taaonline.net
http://www.Twitter.com/TextandAcademic
(608) 687-3106

Text and Academic Authors Association
PO Box 56359
St. Petersburg, Florida 33732-6359
(727) 563-0020
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Faculty Focus: Curriculum Development, Alignment and Coordination: A Data-Driven Approach

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/curriculum-development/curriculum-development-alignment-and-coordination-a-data-driven-approach/?c=FF&t=F101129a

By Mary Bart

Most faculty work hard to make each individual course they teach the best learning experience it can be. They learn with each semester, and make revisions based on what worked and where the course stumbled. If done correctly, it’s a continuous improvement process that runs like a well-oiled machine. But no matter how good their individual courses are, it’s easy for faculty to end up in a silo—unsure of what’s happening in other courses throughout their discipline or department.

Curriculum mapping, a process that helps faculty align curriculum to ensure that the program addresses all learning outcomes effectively, can help break down those silos.

“It is through cross-curriculum development that learning and skills development can be enhanced and reinforced,” says Peter Wolf, director of Teaching Support Services at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

In the recent online seminar Connect Learning Across Courses with Curriculum Mapping, Wolf explained how Guelph uses curriculum mapping to ensure that individual learning experiences are connected across courses and relate to the larger context of the student experience.

Although curriculum mapping can be accomplished with a low-tech approach such as Excel, Guelph uses two different software applications to accomplish its goals. Using the Visual Understanding Environment (VUE), an open source project based at Tufts University, Guelph’s curriculum committees can develop course progression maps to help make informed decisions about program structure. For example, by viewing the four-year course progression map of a particular major, the committee discovered that the most difficult required courses were all in semesters four and five. In an earlier survey, students reported feeling burned out during these same two semesters. The department was able to make a few adjustments to even out the workload, without sacrificing program quality, Wolf says.

To accomplish the second dimension of curriculum mapping—breadth program outcomes mapping—Guelph developed its own software called CurricKit, a curriculum mapping toolkit that helps match program outcomes with individual courses by collecting data from faculty, course outlines, and curriculum committees. The software helps map courses across three components: knowledge, skills and values; instructional methods; and assessment methods.

“The processes are faculty driven, that’s the only way to have a sustainable model,” says Wolf. “The goal is not to evaluate courses or evaluate faculty, but to use data to have meaningful discussions that drive curriculum decisions so that our graduates have the knowledge, skills, and values we want to foster in our students.”
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Friday, November 19, 2010

iLibrarian: 8 Awesome Websites to Take Free College Courses Online

http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2010/8-awesome-websites-to-take-free-college-courses-online/
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The Bivings Report: What’s this HTML 5 Thing?

Posted by Todd Zeigler in Design,Usability,Web 2.0

http://www.bivingsreport.com/2010/whats-this-html-5-thing/
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10 Steps to Mobile Supremacy for Libraries

http://www.slideshare.net/librarianinblack/10-steps-to-mobile-supremacy-for-libraries
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Hongkiat.com: Online Tips for Designers and Bloggers: 25 Tools to Improve Your Website’s Usability

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/tools-to-improve-your-websites-usability/
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ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2010

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERS1006/RS/ERS1006W.pdf
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School Library Journal: Best Video Creation Tools for the Classroom

http://www.slj.com/slj/articlesatechnology/887287-464/best_video_creation_tools_for.html.csp
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All Facebook: 10 Facebook Pages Every Techie Should Follow

http://www.allfacebook.com/10-facebook-pages-every-techie-should-follow-2010-10
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Mashable / Social Media: 38 New Social Media Resources You May Have Missed

http://mashable.com/2010/11/07/new-social-media-resources-6/

Social Media
Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week

Wondering what was hot in the Twitterverse this past week? Check out our comprehensive chart of the top trends.
10 Fun Doodling Apps to Unleash Your Creativity
The pen and paper may be on a fast track to obsolescence, but the doodle will live on forever. These 10 sites are some of our favorites.
The Future of Social Media and Politics
With the midterm elections in their final throes, we spoke to some key players for their views on what the rise of mainstream social media has in store for the next generation of political campaigns.
HOW TO: Gain Twitter Influence
Twitter Influencers Guy Kawasaki and Robert Scoble share their tips for earning Twitter cred.
4 People Who Let the Crowd Control Their Destiny
We’ve taken a look at four instances of crowd sourcing one’s life — all of which launched around the same time, but include their own set of hardships and rewards.
A Glimpse at the Future of Foursquare
CEO and co-founder Dennis Crowley discussed the future of Foursquare Wednesday, touching on customized recommendations, the instant checkin, and brand discovery.
HOW TO: Organize a Mashable Meetup
Many of our readers have been taking the reins in getting to know each other by organizing Mashable Meetups. Here’s how to get started setting up your own.
5 Must-Follow Non-Profits Making a Difference With Social Media [Mashable Awards]
From raising money to spreading awareness to connecting with people, social media is a boon for non-profit organizations. Here are five must-follow groups that stood out in 2010.
Social Media Weddings: 4 Tips From the Pros
Social media can help you research vendors, communicate with guests and share your big day with your friends and family. Here’s how.
An Inside “Look” at Showtime’s New Voyeuristic Series
Based on director Adam Rifkin’s 2007 film of the same name, “Look” was shot via security cameras and integrates social media.
__________________________________________________
Tech & Mobile
10 Essential Websites for iPhone Photographers

We’ve bookmarked 10 brilliant online resources that offer great galleries, talent showcases, app reviews, exhibition news and more, all for the iPhone photography enthusiast.
5 Website Designs That Blew Us Away [Mashable Awards]
A beautiful website can blow you away: Here are a few of the websites we think showcased excellent design work this year, both in terms of form and function.
5 Stylish iPhone Alarm Clock Apps to Wake You Up On Time
We’ve tried and tested five great alarm clock apps for the iPhone that can’t make getting out of bed any easier, but at least you can customize your morning.
“Def Jam Rapstar” Raises the Roof Just Short of Greatness [REVIEW]
The game’s creators can go on and brush their shoulders off because the limited options won’t hold those living room MCs back from personal stardom.
The Social Future of Xbox Live and “Halo” [INTERVIEW]
We spoke with “Halo” Franchise Development Director Frank O’Connor to learn more about Bungie and Microsoft’s strategy for promoting social gaming with “Halo: Reach.”
9 iPhone Apps for Managing the Recruiting Process
Instead of creating new processes or downloading a bunch of new apps, here are some iPhone apps you might already have that can help you manage the recruiting process.
5 Media Format Flops Destined To Be Forgotten [VIDEOS]
For every VHS, there’s a BetaMax. As consumer electronics companies do battle, the tech landscape is littered with losers. Check out the interesting stories behind 5 famous flops.
Hands-on With Logitech’s Wireless Solar Keyboard [REVIEW]
The K750 won’t change your life. It won’t even even help you type faster. It will, however, allow you to buy a few less batteries.
10 Intermediate and Advanced Tips from PHP Masters
We asked PHP() experts about their top suggestions for developers on their way to becoming true masters of the art and science of PHP.
Online Behavior Tracking and Privacy: 7 Worst Case Scenarios
If advertisers continue to self-regulate online tracking or if the government steps in, what’s the worst that could happen? We spoke to experts on both sides of the issue to find out what’s at stake.
Two Ways Developers Will Interact With Google TV Viewers
Connected() devices like the Google TV promise to bring the web to your living room in one of two ways: optimized websites and native applications.
12 Tech Toys for a Geeked-Out Wedding
A wedding is no time to hide your inner geek. These 12 gadgets will spice up any lo-fi nuptial celebration.
7 A/B Testing Resources for Startups and Solo Developers
If you need a simple, inexpensive way to figure out what’s going to make your website’s users click on that big, red button, check out these tools.
HOW TO: Start Your Own Internet Talk Show
Do you fancy yourself a budding talk show personality? With a few inexpensive tools and a bit of planning, you can launch your own web show. Here’s how to do it.
Why Location Apps of the Future Will Do Much More Than Checkins
Sparkle() is a new location platform launching today from Location Labs.
5 MP3 Players for Pumping Up Your Workouts
Whether you’re looking for a new MP3 player or an alternative to taking your expensive phone into the danger zone, we’ve got five options that are ideal for sporty types.
The Evolution of Mobile [COMIC]
We’ve certainly come a long way.
__________________________________
Business

HOW TO: Score a Job Through Facebook
While Facebook is known as a casual network of friends, with 500 million users, it has the potential to be one of the largest job hunting resources available – if used correctly.
How Online Private Sales Work and How Businesses Can Get Involved
A look at the ins and outs of online private sales and how businesses can benefit from getting involved.
4 Things Small Businesses Should Know About Facebook’s New Groups
Can Facebook’s new Groups feature be used for business? Here’s a rundown of what you should include in your Facebook biz strategy.
5 Tips for Marketing Online to an International Audience
Expanding your marketing efforts to an international audience widens your brand’s reach, but it entails understanding regional cultures, laws and online behaviors.
Drupal Founder on Why Open Source is Good for Business [INTERVIEW]
Fresh off of an $8.5 million round of funding, Acquia and Drupal() founder Dries Buytaert spoke with Mashable about the role of commercial interests in the success of open source software.
What to Consider When Building an In-House Social Media Team
We talked to professionals who have built a social media team – from big global businesses to small companies – in order to pin down some best practices.
Essential Startup Funding Tips From 8 Seasoned Investors
Mashable reached out to angels, seed stage investors and VC firm partners and asked them to share their best advice on how to get your big idea in front of the right people.
5 Tips for Improving Your Social Customer Service
Companies that provide support through public channels keep customers happy and gain a reputation as consumer-focused businesses. Check out these tips for streamlining your social support model.
5 Proven Strategies for B2B Social Media Marketing
B2B marketers can use social media to generate leads, create specialized communities, improve SEO, become knowledge sources, and strengthen marketing campaigns.
HOW TO: Calculate the ROI of Your Social Media Campaign
If you’re not measuring your social media campaigns on an ROI basis, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Here are some tips to get you on a results-driven path.
10 Reasons Every TV Exec Needs to Start Tweeting
Twitter offers a lot for TV execs looking for a real-time understanding of what fans want. Here’s why everyone in the TV biz should start tweeting.
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Walking Paper: Content Strategy & Writing for the Web

http://www.walkingpaper.org/2933
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The Blue Skunk Blog: Seven qualities of highly effective technology trainers

http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2010/4/12/seven-qualities-of-highly-effective-technology-trainers.html
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iLibrarian: 2010 State Of The Blogosphere

http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2010/2010-state-of-the-blogosphere/

Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra presented the annual State of The Blogosphere presentation at the ad:tech conference last week. The findings of the report are based on a survey of 7,200 bloggers.

Some key takeaways:
•Self-employed bloggers now account for 21% of those surveyed, compared to 9% last year.
•But only 11% say their primary income comes from blogging.
•Hobbyists still make up the bulk of bloggers at 65%, but that is down from 72% last year
•Corporate bloggers now make up 4% of the total, up from 1% last year.
•Two thirds are male
•They use many types of social media (LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, StumbleUpon, Digg), but when it comes to driving traffic back to their blogs only two social media services really count: Facebook and Twitter
•Tablets and smartphones are impacting impacting blogging styles for 39% of bloggers
•Of those, 70% are writing shorter posts, 50% are posting photos from their smartphones, and 15% are using less Flash
•When writing about brands or products, 71% will only write about brands they approve of.
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iLibrarian: Truth Be Told: How College Students Evaluate and Use Information in the Digital Age

http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2010/truth-be-told-how-college-students-evaluate-and-use-information-in-the-digital-age/
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iLibrarian: A Digital Key for Unlocking the Humanities’ Riches

http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2010/a-digital-key-for-unlocking-the-humanities%e2%80%99-riches/
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IDEA Paper #48: Strategies to Improve Student Writing

http://www.theideacenter.org/sites/default/files/IDEA_Paper_48.pdf
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Tomorrow's Teaching and Learning: Awake, Accountable, and Engaged

http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/postings.php

As a new college professor, one of the things that surprised me most was the lack of student engagement and accountability in the classroom. Striving to be a professor that utilized a lecture format sparingly, I structured my class sessions to encourage participation and to be highly interactive, collaborative, and student-centered. Mini-lectures were designed to foster discourse. Since I am preparing many of my students to be educators, I feel responsible to model ?best practice? instructional strategies and procedures.

My belief has always been never to work harder than my students, but I found myself not living up to that principle. Students? classroom participation was minimal, and question/answer ?wait time? had become extreme. Silence was the norm, and the same volunteers would eventually contribute only when they could no longer bear the stillness. Clearly, a new strategy was required.

I recalled two techniques for increasing student accountability that I had found very effective when implementing the Collins Writing Program in the K-12 classroom two decades ago. (The Collins Writing Program is used in K-12 classrooms, across the country with tremendous success.)

As a former classroom teacher and Curriculum and Instruction Director, I have implemented and supervised many programs throughout the years, but none with such success as Collins Writing. In my twenty years of experience using Collins, I observed that once teachers are trained in Collins techniques, they often become ?lifetime users.? I realized the same research-based strategies and techniques I had used two decades ago could be just as effective in the college classroom.

Herewith are two teaching strategies I have used to engage students in the classroom and hold them accountable for their own learning by systematically gauging their comprehension of presented material.1

Strategy 1: Using ?Intentional Closure? to Help Students Determine and Retain Primary Information

During classroom discussions, students frequently have asked what information they would be tested on. I realized many students had become accustomed to receiving a study guide and were conditioned to rely on the instructor to provide them with a synopsis of essential coursework. I purposely did not provide them with a study guide; my belief is the student should be responsible for determining the most relevant information. Yet I witnessed many students struggling to prioritize what was essential material. A strategy was needed to promote student accountability and to help students synthesize the most important information.

One technique for helping students to clarify the most relevant lecture material relies on intentional closure of the class session. I ask students to compose two questions about the day?s lesson at the end of each class. Students present their questions at the beginning of the following class to initiate discussion and confirm the previous lecture?s essential information.

Composing the questions compels students to review and summarize what was provided during class. It is also an effective closure activity, with all students focused on reviewing the day?s information rather than simply packing their bags and chatting.

This technique has been identified by Marzano as one of nine instructional strategies most likely to improve student achievement. Marzano (2001) states that students should learn to eliminate unnecessary information, substitute some information, keep important information, write/rewrite and analyze information, and put some information into their own words.

As a result of this activity, I found that students began taking diligent notes since they would use them to formulate their questions a the end of each class period. As students compose their questions, I circulate around the classroom, scan the questions quickly and provide a check or minus for completing the assignment. Note that I am not collecting students? questions; I?ve learned to be selective regarding papers I take home to grade. A check or minus can be given quickly and is one way that I can objectively grant a grade for class participation.

Before dismissing class, I ask a few students to read their questions. Hopefully, their responses give other students an explicit indicator of the essential information presented during class. I then select a few of the oral questions and write them in my plan book. The students quickly learn that I will begin the next class meeting by asking one or two of these questions and that they will be expected to formulate a brief written response.

Indeed, when the next class meets, I write one of the questions students came up with in the previous meeting on the board and ask students to write a response. I again circulate through the classroom while they write, scanning their papers for misconceptions about the prior material. Sometimes I collect all students? papers; however, I?m more apt to ?roll the dice? when determining which student papers to collect and grade. This may be based on the seating arrangement or other student grouping.

I rarely grade every collected paper but make sure that by the end of the semester, I have collected an equal amount from each student. No one knows whose paper will be collected during a class session, since it?s always random, and I can usually grade these papers in about fifteen minutes.

Strategy 2: Promoting Student Engagement and Participation Through Writing Responses

When students come to class, I want them to be mentally engaged as well as physically present. I expect everyone to be an active participant.

Often, however, when I asked a question, the same three to five hands were raised while the remainder of the class sat idle (most likely giving thanks that they were spared from answering the question). In this scenario, it was impossible to determine who had prepared for class or completed required reading and who was having difficulty synthesizing the material.

Now, to encourage active participation, and in lieu of asking questions to individual students, all students must provide a written response to a posed, content-based question.

When using this technique, I often stop class midway and ask a question. Based on the number of hands up, I will often say, ?Why don?t you all just respond in writing?you have five minutes.? I always give a definitive time limit and expected quota of lines when using this technique. This provides students with well-needed practice in putting their thoughts into words. Having the ability to formulate written responses that are succinct and to the point is a required skill in virtually all professions.

The questions that I ask are purposeful, have a definite answer, and can span the full range of Bloom?s Taxonomy. Each question constitutes a brief quiz but one that requires that students formulate an answer clearly, succinctly, and correctly in a limited amount of time. This does not mean that the answer should be a verbatim response from the text or class notes. The best questions help students make their own meaning by translating concepts into their own words.

Evaluation of student responses varies, depending upon the importance of the questions and the time available. I tend to keep evaluations simple so that I can skim each paper looking for appropriate responses. I prefer a point system because it is quick and easy to use. Students who previously relied on their classmates to field my questions are now alert and engaged.

Listed below are five of my most effective questions:
1. Give a five-to-ten-line summary of last night?s reading. Include two or three main ideas.
2. What were three of the most important points from yesterday?s discussion?
3. If you were summarizing today?s discussion for a friend who was absent, what two ideas do you think are the most essential?
4. Define in your own words the term ________________.
5. Tell me three things wrong with this statement: ____________.

I have found that frequent use of this technique makes students more comfortable and skilled in explaining their thinking, generates better writing, and, most important, promotes learning, retention, and participation.

Professors from multiple disciplines will find that incorporating the two strategies described here requires minimal effort and results in more participatory, engaged students.

References

? Collins, J. 2007. The Collins Writing Program: Improving Student Performance through Writing and Thinking across the Curriculum. West Newbury, Mass.: Collins Education Associates.

? Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & Pollock, J. E. 2001. Classroom Instruction That Works: Research Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Contact:
Dr. Lisa J. Lucas Recitation Hall, Suite 210C West Chester University 700 South High Stree, West Chester, PA 19383
Telephone: (484) 571-6803 E-mail: llucas@wcup
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Higher Ed Impact: Weekly Scan: News & Key Takeaways

November 12 - 18, 2010
http://www.academicimpressions.com/impact.php
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Thursday, November 18, 2010

Learn the Net News: HTML5: Future of the Web

http://learnthenet.org/2010/11/01/html5-future-of-the-web/

Michael Lerner Monday - Nov 1, 2010

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the computer language that made the World Wide Web possible. HTML uses a set of tags that instructs your web browser how to display content on a web page. If you’re really curious, here’s where to learn more about it. HTML4, the current standard in use since 1997, is showing its age. Now under development is the next evolution, HTML5.

You may be wondering why you should care about this. Here’s why:

Let’s say you want to play an online animation. You need a plug-in for your browser, typically Flash. You also need plug-ins if you want to watch a movie or listen to music. HTML5 eliminates this. For instance, by using an

Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) Center for Teaching and Learning Website

http://www.pointloma.edu/experience/academics/centers-institutes/center-teaching-learning
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WorldWideLearn: The World's Premier Online Directory of Education

http://www.worldwidelearn.com/about-worldwidelearn/index.html

About WorldWideLearn.com

Our History
A simple query on a search engine for "online courses" was the starting point for WorldWideLearn.com. At that time, there really wasn't a centralized directory of quality e-learning providers. That was in 1998, when there were almost no directories or portals specializing in just online education. Searching for and finding relevant online learning resources proved to be time-consuming and frustrating. WorldWideLearn.com wanted to change that.

The site's founders began to develop a directory of e-learning courses and education resources to provide results for that first, simple query. The WorldWideLearn.com directory site was formally launched in May of 1999. Since then, the site has been honored with numerous prestigious awards. Most recently, the Better Business Bureau has recognized WorldWideLearn.com as meeting their standards of good business. We are members of the American Library Association and are proud to support organizations dedicated to encouraging education.

Who We Serve
WorldWideLearn.com is big on choice and includes a wide variety of courses and programs to satisfy the needs of every learner:

•Online degree programs
•Campus degree programs
•High school diploma & GED
•Vocational training
•Professional development
•Personal development

Our Visitors
WorldWideLearn.com receives millions of annual visitors, with traffic increasing at a steady pace. Education, whether online or via more traditional classroom methods, continues to grow in scale and in importance. An estimated 3.9 million students took at least one online course during the Fall 2007 term, according to the Sloan Consortium, a foundation that tracks and supports online education. That's a million and a half more students than in 2004, and a 12 percent increase over the previous year's number. Similarly, accredited colleges and schools providing career-oriented certificate and degree programs are proliferating in response to growing demand from millions of professionals eager to move up in their careers. WorldWideLearn.com offers listings of schools for all students in an easy-to-navigate format, and additional resources and advice to those considering investing in their own education.

Our Future
Today, WorldWideLearn.com is a compelling directory of hundreds of online, campus, and training courses and degree programs in over 350 subject categories. With offices in both the United States and Canada, we continue to grow and increase the types of education program choices and resources we offer to our visitors. Our future plans include enhancing the site for an even better user experience and developing online tools for members of the education community. We invite you to join our loyal customers and education partners who have helped build WorldWideLearn.com into the world's premier online directory of education.

Contact Us
WorldWideLearn.com
950 Tower Lane, 6th Floor
Foster City CA 94404

WorldWideLearn.com
#700 550 11th Avenue SW
Calgary, AB, T2R1M7
Phone:800-538-9402
info@worldwidelearn.com
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Connect Ed: Can Learning Centers Help College Students?

http://connected.waldenu.edu/curriculum-resources/learning-centers/item/788-can-learning-centers-help-college-students
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Teaching for Critical Thinking: Helping College Students Develop the Skills and Dispositions of a Critical Thinker by Diane F. Halpern

http://education.gsu.edu/ctl/FLC/Foundations/criticalthinking-Halpern.pdf
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Microsoft at Work: 4 tips for safely conducting research on the web

http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/security/research.aspx
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Learning Online Info: mobile 2011: Mobile Learning Experience

E-Learning and Educational Technologies News and Resources

http://learningonlineinfo.org/2010/11/17/mobile-2011-mobile-learning-experience/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LearningOnlineInfo+%28Learning+Online+Info%29
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Magna Online Seminar: Strategies for Teaching What You Just Learned

http://www.magnapubs.com/catalog/strategies-for-teaching-what-you-just-learned/?track=email

An audience favorite returns–and with a BONUS! Magna Online Seminars is bringing this popular program back for our audience members who missed it the first time around. To help you take advantage of this fact-filled seminar and get valuable recommendations for maintaining your confidence and remaining an effective instructor, we're offering it with expanded connection options. You can log on to the seminar anytime, all day long, on Tuesday, February 8–whenever it's most convenient for you!

There is a dirty little secret that more and more faculty across the country share. Many of them are going to get up in front of their classes tomorrow and teach something they just learned last week, two days ago, or (painful but true) tomorrow morning over a very hurried breakfast.

These aren’t disorganized teachers, but instructors who, for one reason or another, must teach outside their area of expertise.

Budget cuts, changing curricula and an increasing focus on interdisciplinary courses are just some of the pressures forcing instructors out of accustomed subject areas and into unfamiliar teaching territory.

Our 75-minute seminar will examine this growing phenomenon and outline helpful strategies for surviving “teaching on the fly.” You’ll gain valuable recommendations for maintaining your confidence and remaining an effective instructor, even when teaching outside your comfort zone.

Viewers teaching outside of their expertise will leave this seminar knowing:
•Three factors that can protect you from becoming overly strained and anxious.
• How important it is to talk with someone about the fact that you’re teaching outside your expertise. (And you’ll address the big question, of course, of whether to tell your students.)
•Seven faculty behaviors that reduce student perceptions of your credibility.
•New ways to respond to questions when you don’t know the correct answer.
•How to prioritize what to teach about unfamiliar topics.
•Why you must learn to view your role in class as something other than “the knowledge dispenser.”

Idea: A highly affordable faculty event!
Our affordable registration fee makes a faculty learning event affordable. The price for this seminar is just $209, regardless of how many attendees you invite to watch the presentation. Simply sign on in a facility large enough to accomodate your group.

Who will benefit from this seminar?
You’ll find the common theme and core elements of this seminar apply to a broad field of instruction. In investigating this subject, our presenter worked with faculty from a wide range of disciplines at institutions large and small, public and private.

Truly, anyone in a teaching role or involved in faculty development will find this discussion timely, and the recommendations invaluable. Highly recommended for:
•Lecturers
•Instructors
•Visiting professors
•Assistant/associate professors
•Professors
•Adjunct instructors
•Directors
•Assistant/associate directors
•Teaching fellows
•Program directors
•Associate provosts

Now includes a Discussion Guide for Facilitators
Participating in a Magna Online Seminar as a team can help leverage unique insights, foster collaboration, and build momentum for change. Each seminar now includes a Discussion Guide for Facilitators which provides step-by-step instructions for generating productive discussions and thoughtful reflection. You’ll also get guidelines for continuing the conversation after the event, implementing the strategies discussed, and creating a feedback loop for sharing best practices and challenges.
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Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Faculty Focus: Dealing with Problem Faculty in Seven Not-So-Easy Steps

By Mary Bart
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/academic-leadership/dealing-with-problem-faculty-in-seven-not-so-easy-steps/?c=FF&t=F101117a

Much attention has been given to the “difficult” or “disruptive” student, and rightly so. However, colleges and universities aren’t just institutions of learning, they’re workplaces as well. And like any workplace, there are colleagues who are a joy to work with, and there are colleagues who can poison an entire department.

You know the types. They’re the bullies, jerks, passive-aggressives, poor performers, prima donnas, gossips, saboteurs, etc. They can drain your enthusiasm and can cause serious morale issues.

It’s no wonder then that in a 2009 survey of nearly 3,000 academic chairs, the number one concern had nothing to do with funding, accreditation or strategic planning, it was “dealing with problem faculty.” The survey conducted by Dr. Kent Crookston of Brigham Young University revealed a universal challenge that many new chairs, often thrust into their new positions with little if any leadership training, aren’t prepared to address.

Based on his experience as a department head and dean, and through insight gained from literature on leadership, Crookston offered guidance for restoring civility in an online seminar titled Seven Steps for Dealing with Problem Faculty.

While noting that it’s not “seven easy steps,” Crookston shared his approach as follows:
1. Evaluate yourself and your perceptions
2. Listen
3. Operate from mission and values
4. Rely on policy
5. Build trust with colleagues
6. Clarify expectations and consequences
7. Take appropriate action

“Problem behavior and civility have emerged as a focus area that has been too-long neglected,” says Crookston, who advocates a unit-wide approach. “Problem faculty can be terminated, and U.S. courts generally support schools that let people go for incivility even if they are otherwise performing well. But, unless there is a systemic change in the culture that produced the problem, their departure only creates a vacancy.”
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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Learning Communities Journal and Journal on Excellence in College Teaching

DU Colleagues:

Here are the two URLs that will link you to the Websites for these two journals:

http://celt.muohio.edu/lcj/

And

http://celt.muohio.edu/ject/

Please consider your presentation for publication in either journal. If you have questions, please contact Dr. Milton D. Cox at the address below.

Milton D. Cox, PhD
Center for the Enhancement of Learning, Teaching, and University Assessment
Director, Lilly Conference on College Teaching
Editor-in-Chief, Journal on Excellence in College Teaching and Learning Communities Journal
Director, 2001-05 FIPSE Project on Faculty Learning Communities
Langstroth Cottage, Miami University, Oxford OH 45056
513 529 9266 513 529 9264(fax) coxmd@muohio.edu
http://www.muohio.edu/lillyconference/
http://www.muohio.edu/CELT/ http://www.muohio.edu/flc/
http://celt.muohio.edu/ject/ http://celt.muohio.edu/lcj/
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Congratulations to Professor Kemberly Washington of Dillard University for her Profile in "This Way to CPA"!

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) visited Dillard during this past summer to obtain video and information to use on their newly launched website, “This Way to CPA.” The purpose of the website is to provide students with an opportunity to obtain resourceful information in their accounting journey.

Dillard University and Kemberly Washington, MPA, CPA are featured in a short video on the site. Kemberly is among a dozen other CPAs selected for the website. Please take a moment to review the link below and congratulate our colleague.


http://www.thiswaytocpa.com/profession/profiles/
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FeedBlitz: Learning Online Info - Facebook for Online Courses - How Good (or Bad) is It?

http://learningonlineinfo.org/
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Diverse Issues in Higher Education: University of Hawaii Among Two Universities Eyeing Obama Library

November 16, 2010
By Herbert A. Sample

HONOLULU — Barack Obama hasn’t even finished the second year of his first term in the White House, but officials with two universities that are interested in building his presidential library are already positioning themselves to win the Hawaii-born president’s favor.
The University of Hawaii is well into early preparations — including preliminary searches for potential sites, talks with National Archives officials and deliberations on what if any new academic center might accompany an Obama library and museum.

The University of Chicago, located in the city where Obama’s political career began, signaled an interest a year ago but is saying little now.
And Obama is saying even less. Asked to discuss Obama’s views about a presidential library, a White House spokesman simply said, “No comment.’’
Nonetheless, Hawaii is unabashed in wanting to be ready when the time comes to bid.

“This is something that presidents typically think about toward the end of their presidency, and Obama hopefully is still toward the beginning of his presidency,’’ said Dr. Robert Perkinson, an American Studies professor helping lead UH’s effort.

“So it’s not surprising that (Obama) doesn’t want to think about it. But those of us who are interested in bidding, we have to think about it a lot earlier than he does,’’ Perkinson said.

There currently are 13 presidential libraries, spanning from Herbert Hoover through George W. Bush. The groundbreaking for Bush’s facility at Southern Methodist University in Dallas is scheduled for Tuesday.
Presidents aren’t required to establish libraries to house their records. But if they do, there are several rules on how that’s accomplished.
For one, presidential libraries have to be privately financed — typically by a nonprofit foundation. Once built, they are turned over to the National Archives. Some libraries have received financial aid from state and local governments.

A law that took effect with Bush’s library also requires the foundations to establish an endowment to help with operating expenses.
The hosting institution may develop educational and cultural programs to be conducted at the library. It also can build an accompanying academic center akin to the John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Lyndon Johnson schools that were created in conjunction with their respective presidential libraries.

Curt Smith, a senior lecturer at the University of Rochester who wrote a book on presidential libraries, said presidents typically want an academic component attached.

An Obama presidential library and museum would be a unique resource for UH students, scholars and tourists, said Dr. Reed Dasenbrock, vice chancellor for academic affairs at UH Manoa.

It also would be an economic driver, he said, citing the $1.5 billion in activity and 300,000 annual visitors that ex-President Bill Clinton’s library has brought to Little Rock, Ark., since 2005.
“If I’ve been to Honolulu many times, why will I come back the eighth or ninth time? We do believe that (an Obama library) would be an additional attraction here that would bring repeat visitors as well as many first-time visitors,’’ Dasenbrock added.

Also in UH’s favor is the fact that Obama’s parents and sister are graduates, although the president graduated from Columbia and received his law degree from Harvard.

Perkinson said Clinton’s library was built in a warehouse district that has since revitalized, and offers not only research opportunities but cultural programs as well.

“It’s a very beloved institution, as far as we can tell, within Little Rock, as I think it would be in Honolulu,’’ he said.
Perkinson, Dasenbrock and other UH officials in September visited the Clinton library after talks with Archives administrators in Washington.
It’s unclear whether the University of Chicago has taken similar steps. Its president, Dr. Robert Zimmer, told Bloomberg last year he was studying the benefits of having a presidential library on campus.
But last week, spokesman Jeremy Manier would say only that the university was fortunate to have once had Obama on its law school faculty and Michelle Obama in several senior administrative roles.
“It is premature to discuss a presidential library,’’ Manier added.
A bid from the University of Chicago would be a potent rival to UH, Smith said.

“I would think just as a layman that the University of Chicago might be very attractive. It’s home for Obama. It’s urban,’’ said Smith.
As for Obama’s interest in a library, it’s not unexpected the White House would say almost nothing, said Smith, a speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush. To do otherwise, he said, would be seen as presumptuous.
But like previous presidents, Obama has the luxury of waiting for proposals to roll in from rival suitors, he said. “Cutthroat might be too strong a word but certainly competitive is not.”
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Monday, November 15, 2010

Tomorrow's Graduate Students and Postdocs: Preparing Professors to Teach

Graduate education's supporters and critics alike have long called for doctoral students who are better trained to teach, as tenure-track positions become increasingly scarce and the competition for those jobs intensifies. Efforts by universities to focus on the teaching skills of the would-be professors they turn out have developed in fits and starts over the last 15 years.

But in recent years a flurry of new programs at leading universities -- in some cases overflowing with grad students -- suggests that institutions and doctoral candidates are recognizing a need for future faculty who can not only conduct research at top-tier universities, but also be effective in the classroom at a liberal arts or community college.

Teaching certificate programs are filling that need at dozens of public and private institutions across the country, and the programs continue to expand. Administrators say the certificates not only give students an edge in the job market, but also teach the skills Ph.D. candidates need to be effective teachers ? and faculty need to be lifelong learners.

The trend is visible across the country: Year-to-year, more graduate students are opting to seek the voluntary teaching certificates, says Linda von Hoene, director of the Graduate Student Instructor Teaching and Resource Center at the University of California at Berkeley. As Berkeley plans its own program, von Hoene is in the midst of conducting a survey of the 70 or so institutions that already offer one. She also plans to present her research in November at the annual conference of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education.

Von Hoene says a preliminary analysis of the 30 programs that had responded to her survey as of last week indicated that, at those colleges alone, the number of students poised to obtain teaching certificates will increase by about 10 percent this year, from 946 to 1,044.

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the most recent institutions to move in this direction, the Teaching and Learning Laboratory offers graduate students teaching certificates. The lab's director, Lori Breslow, says she was ?totally floored? to see 90 doctoral students register for the program when it began in 2008, and enrollment jumped to 140 this year.

?We were getting vibes that the graduate students did want some sort of training, at least an introduction to higher education,? Breslow says. ?We did it just to give it a try and see what would happen. We had no idea whether we would have two people or 200 people. We thought it would be a good way to provide information to potential teachers.?

Some certificate programs began in the late 1980s and 1990s, von Hoene says, but the majority were created over the past decade. ?These programs are not static in the sense that they continually are assessed and also revised and then informed by a lot of the research on teaching and learning,? she says.

?While I think, in general, the emergence of these certificate programs shows an increased commitment to preparing graduate students for teaching, that commitment actually predates in most cases the formal adoption of a certificate program,? von Hoene says. Training processes may have been in place in the 1980s, but in the 1990s, the focus shifted from preparing graduate students exclusively to their work as TAs to the responsibilities they would bear as future faculty members. ?We need to keep in mind that some of the schools that have very rigorous programs and long traditions in this area may not necessarily have a formal certificate program, e.g., Ohio State, Indiana, Berkeley. The bottom line is that a tremendous amount of progress has been made in graduate student professional development over the past three decades, something which is not always as visible to the public as it should be.?

But certificates are particularly beneficial because they are often formally recognized or denoted on a student?s transcript, providing a better documentation of the steps a student has gone through to become a better instructor.

MIT students who have obtained the certificate say it was enormously helpful. Mark Zachary Taylor, an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology international affairs school who earned a political science Ph.D. from MIT in 2006, was less concerned with securing a job than he was with being able to teach effectively once he got one.

?We don?t learn how to teach.... Our stereotype is that a teacher gets up there and hands you a lot of knowledge. You?re the empty glass, they?re the pitcher of water and they pour their knowledge into you. But that?s not how it works,? Taylor says. He strives to engage students in classes, pose interesting questions and draw them in, maybe by connecting the issue at hand to politics or their personal lives. ?All those techniques I learned through the teaching certificate,? he says. ?I really believe in this form of education, these programs.?

MIT is a relative late-comer to the teaching certificate movement, and as such its program continues to evolve. Depending on the institution, training requirements for the certificate vary. At MIT, students participate in eight workshops that include readings and assignments. They formulate teaching philosophy statements (a staple among such programs), learn how to design courses, plan lectures and create syllabuses, among other things. Students have two years to complete the program.

Meanwhile, institutions such as Brown University, which began its program in 1989, have far more elaborate tracks. At Brown, students can earn four certificates. Each program takes a year to complete, and comprises four to seven workshops. The programs are modeled around different themes that build the components of a ?reflective teaching practice?: an understanding that effective teaching requires careful planning; knowledge of one?s audience and the ability to engage different learning styles; a recognition of the importance of establishing learning goals (and means to determine if such goals have been achieved); and a willingness to be innovative.

Brown requires some of the same tasks as MIT, such as the philosophy statement and syllabus construction, but it also stresses heavily the importance of student-faculty collaboration, and creating a community that emphasizes reflection on and scholarship of teaching. This year, the program expects to award 196 certificates, about 50 more than last year. ?We?ve actually seen a significant increase in participation, particularly this year,? says Kathy M. Takayama, director of Brown?s Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning.

Takayama points to the job market and the program's recent revisions and improvement as reasons for the consistently higher enrollment from year to year. She also noted that about 13 of the participants this year are faculty and postdocs looking to continue their professional development; they, along with the graduate students, seem to recognize that the program has long-term impact, she says.

Takayama says the program unites participants into a community of peers, regardless of discipline or stature. It trains them to think about learning contextually, beyond the course materials. What exactly is learning? How do you assess students? How do you make teaching accessible and effective? Certificate programs ?really are important not just for students, but also for faculty members and postdocs,? Takayama says. ?The faculty are looking for thinking about their teaching in a scholarly way. They became faculty because they got degrees in their discipline, but they never thought about their process of teaching in a formal way.? And, of course, the programs teach graduate students these skills before they have the chance to realize they never learned them.

Although she doesn?t necessarily see a faculty appointment in her future, Nicole DiLello got her teaching certificate from MIT and is in her sixth year of working on her Ph.D. in electrical engineering. She says the program helped her develop presentation skills and target her work, be it a lecture or a lesson, toward a specific audience. ?I?m still not sure if I actually want to go into teaching, but I thought it would be good background if I did,? she said. ?I just think that people often don?t think about the sorts of things the program teaches.?

For the most part, students who obtained certificates from the University of Michigan ? whose program is also on the younger end of the spectrum ? reported satisfaction with their training. They generally said they feel more prepared to teach and, to a lesser extent, demonstrate that when looking for a job.

?It is a difficult job market for Ph.D.s right now, and candidates with evidence of good preparation for teaching and interest in teaching are more attractive to search committees,? Constance E. Cook, executive director for Michigan?s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, wrote in an e-mail. She said Michigan started its teacher certificate program because ?we thought it would not only improve grad student teaching, but also help them on the job market.?

Since Michigan?s program began in October 2007, 386 students have enrolled and 98 have received certificates. In a survey of recipients (with a 98 percent response rate), 93 percent of students said they gained the skills and knowledge to enhance their teaching practice, 94 percent said they felt more confident to teach at the college level, and 85 percent reported an increased confidence in their ability to discuss teaching and learning during job interviews.

And even though students contacted by Inside Higher Ed said the job market was either a small factor or did not play at all into their decision to pursue a certificate, Robert Sowell, vice president for programs and operations at the Council of Graduate Schools, says the programs are indeed helpful. ?I think it is definitely making them more competitive,? Sowell said. ?They can go in with a teaching portfolio, with a formal certification or a notation on their transcript that they have participated in this sort of training.? It?s a ?win-win-win situation? for the student, the institution where the student is a TA, and the institution where the student will go on to work, he said.
http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/postings.php

Von Hoene says certificate programs are bringing the discussion of teaching and learning to "a whole new level."

"Most important," she says, "it's to show there's a false dichotomy between teaching and research."

?A lot of research universities care most about the quality and quantity of your research, but I do think there?s a growing trend in some places that teaching matters,? Taylor, the 2006 MIT graduate, says. ?I?m really happy at Georgia Tech because teaching matters. A lot of universities say that, but when it comes to promotion and tenure, it?s not always the case."
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Tomorrow's Teaching and Learning: Introduction: Bridging Learning Research and Teaching Practice

http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/postings.php

WHAT IS LEARNING?

Any set of learning principles is predicated on a definition of learning. In this book, we define learning as a process that leads to change, which occurs as a result of experience and increases the potential for improved performance and future learning (adapted from Mayer, 2002). There are three critical components to this definition:

1. Learning is a process, not a product. However, because this process takes place in the mind, we can only infer that it has occurred from students' products or performances.

2. Learning involves change in knowledge, beliefs, behaviors, or attitudes. This change unfolds over time; it is not fleeting but rather has a lasting impact on how students think and act.

3. Learning is not something done to students, but rather something students themselves do. It is the direct result of how students interpret and respond to their experiences -- conscious and unconscious, past and present.

OUR PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING

Our seven principles of learning come from a perspective that is developmental and holistic. In other words, we begin with the recognition that (a) learning is a developmental process that intersects with other developmental processes in a student's life, and (b) students enter our classrooms not only with skills, knowledge, and abilities, but also with social and emotional experiences that influence what they value, how they perceive themselves and others, and how they will engage in the learning process. Consistent with this holistic perspective, readers should understand that, although we address each principle individually to highlight particular issues pertaining to student learning, they are all at work in real learning situations, and are functionally inseparable.

In the paragraphs below, we briefly summarize each of the principles in the order in which they are discussed in the book.

(1) Student's prior knowledge can help or hinder learning.

Students come into our courses with knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes gained in other courses and through daily life. As students bring this knowledge to bear in our classrooms, it influences how they filter and interpret what they are learning. If students' prior knowledge is robust and accurate and activated at the appropriate time, it provides a strong foundation for building new knowledge.

However, when knowledge is inert, insufficient for the task, activated inappropriately, or inaccurate, it can interfere with or impede new learning.

(2) How students organize knowledge influences how they learn and apply what they know.

Students naturally make connections between pieces of knowledge. When those connections form knowledge structures that are accurately and meaningfully organized, students are better able to retrieve and apply their knowledge effectively and efficiently. In contrast, when knowledge is connected in inaccurate or random ways, students can fail to retrieve or apply it appropriately.

(3) Students' motivation determines, directs, and sustains what they do to learn.

As students enter college and gain greater autonomy over what, when, and how they study and learn, motivation plays a critical role in guiding the direction, intensity, persistence, and quality of the learning behaviors in which they engage. When students find positive value in a learning goal or activity, expect to successfully achieve a desired learning outcome, and perceive support from their environment, they are likely to be strongly motivated to learn.


(4) To develop mastery, students must acquire component skills, practice integrating them, and know when to apply what they have learned.

Students must develop not only the component skills and knowledge necessary to perform complex tasks, they must also practice combining and integrating them to develop greater fluency and automaticity. Finally, students must learn when and how to apply the skills and knowledge they learn. As instructors, it is important that we develop conscious awareness of these elements of mastery so as to help our students learn more effectively.

(5) Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted feedback enhances the quality of students' learning.

Learning and performance are best fostered when students engage in practice that focuses on a specific goal or criterion, target an appropriate level of challenge, and is of sufficient quantity and frequency to meet the performance criteria. Practice must be coupled with feedback that explicitly communicates about some aspect(s) of students' performance relative to specific target criteria, provides information to help students progress in meeting those criteria, and is given at a time and frequency that allows it to be useful.

(6) Students' current level of development interacts with the social, emotional, and intellectual climate of the course to impact learning.

Students are not only intellectual but also social and emotional beings, and they are still developing the full range of intellectual, social, and emotional skills. While we cannot control the developmental process, we can shape the intellectual, social, emotional, and physical aspects of the classroom climate in developmentally appropriate ways. In fact, many studies have shown that the climate we create has implications for our students. A negative climate may impede learning and performance, but a positive climate can energize students' learning.

(7) To become self-directed learners, students must learn to monitor and adjust their approaches to learning.

Learners may engage in a variety of metacognitive processes to monitor and control their learning--assessing the task at hand, evaluating their own strengths and weaknesses, planning their approach, applying and monitoring various strategies, and reflecting on the degree to which their current approach is working. Unfortunately, students tend not to engage in these processes naturally. When students tend not to engage in these processes naturally. When students develop the skills to engage these processes, they gain intellectual habits that not only improve their performance but also their effectiveness as learners.

WHAT MAKES THESE PRINCIPLES POWERFUL?

The principle strength of these seven principles is that they are based directly on research, drawing on literature from cognitive, developmental, and social psychology, anthropology, education, and diversity studies, and research targeting not only higher education but also K-12 education. Although, of course, this is not an exhaustive review and any summary of research necessarily simplifies a host of complexities for the sake of accessibility, we believe that our discussions of the research underlying each principle are faithful to the scholarship and describe features of learning about which there is widespread agreement. Indeed, several of our principles converge with those that others have delineated (Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center, 2009; American Psychological Society, 2008), a convergence that we believe attests to their salience.

Not only are these principles research-based, but as we have shared them with colleagues over the years, we have found that they are Domain-independent: They apply equally well across all subject areas, from biology to design to history to robotics; the fundamental factors that impact the way students learn transcend disciplinary differences.
Experience-independent: The principles apply to all educational levels and pedagogical situations. In other words, although the pedagogical implications of a principle will be somewhat different for first-year undergraduate students in a lab environment as opposed to graduate students in a studio environment, the principle still applies.

Cross-culturally relevant: Although the research we identified has been conducted primarily in the Western world, faculty colleagues in other countries have resonated with the principles, finding them relevant to their own classes and students. However, it is important to bear in mind that culture can and dose influence how the principles should be applied as instructors design and teach their courses.
?

INTENDED AUDIENCES

This book is intended for anyone interested in understanding more about how students learn and in applying that information to improve instruction. This includes--but is not limited to--faculty members, graduate students, faculty developers, instructional designers, and librarians. It also includes K-12 educators. In addition, the principles outlined here are valuable for instructors at all experience levels. They can help new and inexperienced instructors understand the components of effective course design and classroom pedagogy. They can help experienced instructors troubleshoot problems or adapt effective strategies to suit new courses or student populations. They can also help highly successful and experienced instructors reflect on what makes their approaches and methods effective. Finally, the principles can enable faculty members to better support student learning without having to rely on outside experts (a benefit that is particularly valuable for faculty at campus without teaching and learning centers).
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