Faculty Focus: ‘Here We Are Now, Entertain Us’ — Student Motivation and Technology

By John Orlando, PhD

George Stanton, a professor emeritus of biology, recently expressed his disappointment with student response to social media elements in classes. He pointed out that students were less than active in using the tools, meanwhile a recent survey of first-year students at his institution found that the number one expectation for class was “to be entertained.”

This reminded me of Michael Wesch’s comment that the young people’s anthem in the 90’s, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” contains the line “I feel stupid, and contagious, here we are now, entertain us.” Later the song has the line “Oh well, whatever, never mind.”
Wesch, an associate professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State, was lamenting the student apathy he finds today, which is especially disconcerting from a leader in educational innovation. If Wesch can feel discouraged by student apathy, where does that leave the rest of us?

I’ve found that social media projects do not always generate the kind of enthusiasm that I had hoped for in my classes. This might be partly due to the passive mentality ingrained into the educational experience. Students have been conditioned by years of schooling to be quiet and attentive in a classroom, and are scolded if they talk to one another. We would like to think that social media will immediately overcome this conditioning, but that’s not always the case. It can take time and effort to turn around this expectation.

Social media needs to be introduced within a context that will invite participation. While I don’t have a magic formula for generating participation, I do have some observations on what can help:
•Motivate the participation: In our zeal to maximize the amount of content delivered, we tend not to spend enough time explaining the purpose of a class activity. Spending more time explaining the why of an activity will more than pay off in engagement and learning outcomes.
•Remember, students have boundaries, even online: Activities that use Facebook tend to fail because students see it as their own thing outside of the classroom. In fact, students tend to view faculty who even look at their Facebook page as invading their privacy. It’s thus best to avoid Facebook and set up a social network on a system like Ning that students are not already using for their own purposes.
•Find a student leader: Many students are hesitant to be the first to put themselves out there in an activity, but are happy to follow others. Try to get one or two students to participate first in order to set an example.

Social media can be a wonderful way to generate student engagement in learning, but still must be introduced in a way that will excite students to participate.

As usual, I welcome your comments, criticisms, and cries of outrage, but I am especially interested in hearing your ideas on how to generate student engagement in social media activities.

Resources:
Michael Wesch’s great discussion of today’s students and how they collaborate in social media settings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09gR6VPVrpw
Dan Pink’s famous TED talk on motivation:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/dan_pink_on_motivation.html
Derek Silvers’ fun video on how to create a movement:
http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement.html
John Orlando, PhD, is the program director for the online Master of Science in Business Continuity Management and Master of Science in Information Assurance programs at Norwich University. John develops faculty training in online education and is available for consulting at jorlando@norwich.edu.

Faculty Focus: ‘Here We Are Now, Entertain Us’ — Student Motivation and Technology

The Chronicle of Higher Education: Census Data Show Rise in College Degrees, but Also in Racial Gaps in Education

January 23, 2011

By Alex Richards

The share of Americans with a college education has been increasing steadily for generations, but it doesn't look like the rising tide that lifts all boats. If anything, the country has become increasingly stratified over time.

Back in 1940, less than 5 percent of Americans 25 and older had bachelor's degrees. Now, according to data released by the Census Bureau in December, nearly 28 percent do. For the first time since 2000, it is possible to get a comprehensive view of those numbers for every county. The Chronicle examined this recent release—a sample of information collected from residents of the United States between 2005 and 2009, as part of the American Community Survey—alongside decennial census data released since 1940 to see how those numbers have changed.

For example, in Maury County, Tenn., the proportion of residents with bachelor's degrees has not kept pace with that rate in the rest of the country, rising from 2 percent to 16 percent since 1940, a figure that also puts it behind the rest of Tennessee. La Plata County, Colo., had a similar attainment rate in 1940—4 percent. But by 1990, the population had doubled, and the rate was 28 percent. The most recent numbers put the share at 42 percent. An interactive map athttp://chronicle.com/census lets readers explore these data.

One thing that jumps out of the data is the large educational gap experienced by blacks and Hispanics. That can be difficult to examine fairly over time because of changes in how the census has handled race and ethnicity, but a clear contrast exists with college degrees in the population as a whole.

For instance, the census estimates that in 2009, 28 percent of Americans 25 and older had at least four-year degrees. But the rate for black Americans was just 17 percent, and for Hispanic Americans only 13 percent.

The situation varies substantially depending on where one looks. When race and ethnicity are factors, no two counties tell the same story. Consider two examples, Miami-Dade County, in Florida, and Milwaukee County, in Wisconsin. Powerful economic and demographic forces have transformed those counties in recent decades. In one, the gap between Hispanics and the rest of the population is smaller than nearly anywhere else, bucking a national trendt. The other exemplifies a growing chasm, where a backdrop of poverty and economic strife has left the black population behind.

In Miami-Dade, the share of Hispanic college graduates may lag by a few percentage points—an estimated 23 percent versus 26 percent over all, according to sampling done by the census between 2005 and 2009—but that's a much smaller gap than in Los Angeles, Phoenix (Maricopa County) or Houston (Harris County), where the Hispanic college-degree rate doesn't even crack 10 percent.

In Miami, the composition of the Hispanic population may account for some of the difference in degree attainment.

Recent census estimates show that nearly two-thirds of Hispanics in the United States identified themselves as originating from Mexico. Concentrations are particularly high in border states like California, Arizona, and Texas, where educational attainment among Hispanics is lower than the national average.

William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution, said that its unusual immigrant mix makes Miami stand out compared with other American cities with growing Hispanic populations. "Miami is an immigrant hub, but it has a much higher mix of Hispanics," he said.

Cuba remains the dominant source in that mix, even though Cubans comprise a waning share. About half of all Cubans in the United States live in Miami-Dade County, and they make up more than half of the county's Hispanic population. A review of census data from 2000 shows Cubans there as relatively prosperous, with fewer residents below the poverty level than in other Hispanic groups.

The influx of Cubans began in earnest during the 1960s, after Fidel Castro came to power. John Logan, a professor of sociology at Brown University, noted that this first wave of immigrants was widely regarded as a highly educated entrepreneurial class.

The character of those immigrants changed in subsequent waves, Mr. Logan said, later coming from the lower end of Cuban society, thus lowering the average level of education.

A growing contingent of Miami's Hispanic population comes from South America, especially Colombia. Mr. Logan characterized those immigrants as having very different backgrounds from people from Mexico.

"They have higher rates of literacy and high-school completion, and that shows up in the immigration stream," he said.

In a previous study, Mr. Logan analyzed the average years of education for different Hispanic groups. The census data from 1998 and 2000 essentially showed a gap of two grade levels between residents who came from South America and those from Central America—12.6 and 10.3 years, respectively.

The largest components of Miami's Hispanics in 2009—Cubans, Colombians, and Nicaraguans—had, on average, completed 12 or more years of school.

Milwaukee's Education Gap

Almost the converse of the Hispanic trend in Miami is the achievement gap between Milwaukee County's black population and its population as a whole. The gap in degree attainment is much larger—15 percentage points. It's a place where opportunity for blacks seems to have largely evaporated since its manufacturing heyday.

Sammis B. White, a professor of urban planning at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, said the area had been devastated by the loss of tens of thousands of jobs, beginning with recessions in the 1970s and 1980s, and displacing black workers hired for manufacturing jobs in the 1960s. Many of them had been recruited from the South and had limited educational backgrounds.

"They made good livings, but those livings could not continue," Mr. White said.

These unionized jobs, involved in creating durable goods, manufacturing heavy equipment, and fabricating metals, typically provided wages that could support a family, said Marc Levine, a professor of history, economic development, and urban studies at Milwaukee.

There's some sense, too, that the collapse was disproportionate. Mr. Levine pointed out that a higher share of blacks than whites worked in those trades, and so they bore the brunt of the fallout as those jobs disappeared.

Now that the path to prosperity relies on a strong educational background, a flourishing working class in Milwaukee has given way to a city of sharp economic divides. That's partly evident in the widening degree attainment gap for black Milwaukeeans.

In 1980, 7 percent of blacks age 25 and older in Milwaukee County were college graduates, compared with about 8 percent nationally and about 17 percent for whites in the county. Nearly 30 years later, the estimated share of college graduates in the black population had risen only to 12 percent, well below the national average and about 20 percentage points below that of whites.

In some ways, Mr. Levine said, the differences that show through the share of people with college degrees are a function of racial disparities that exist across the board.

There is no one particular cause. Milwaukee suffers not only from high levels of poverty but also from high concentrations of poverty in inner-city neighborhoods, which Mr. Levine said have continued to increase. The poverty rate within the city limits stood at an estimated 27 percent in 2009. Much of the job growth has also been in the suburban and exurban fringe, where exceedingly few of Milwaukee's blacks live.

"I think the backdrop to all this is that socioeconomic conditions have created an environment which makes it fairly difficult for African-American males, and African-Americans in general, to go on to college," Mr. Levine said.

The Chronicle of Higher Education: Census Data Show Rise in College Degrees, but Also in Racial Gaps in Education

D.C. Couple Donates Film Collection to Three Louisiana Universities

Diverse Issues in Higher Education
January 25, 2011 by Pearl Stewart

Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., now has its own “silver screen.

An impressive collection of films about African-Americans is now housed on the campus and will be presented beginning in February to commemorate Black History Month.
The 89 motion pictures, released between 1915 and 1969 and recently converted to DVD from reels, are part of the memorabilia collection of Washington, D.C., toxicologist Dr. Lewis Brown and his wife, environmental chemist Dr. Shamira Brown. The couple met as undergraduates at Dillard University in New Orleans and both earned graduate degrees at Southern.

Some of the stars’ names will be familiar to audiences — Paul Robeson, Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Lena Horn. Others may be more obscure — Eddie Anderson, Clarence Muse, Ethel Waters, Herbert Jeffries, Fredi Washington, Spencer Williams. It is largely because of the latter group that the Browns are so passionate about sharing their collection.

“Most of these are movies that won’t be seen on TV. They have been thrown away,” Lewis Brown says. “Most young people don’t know anything about these people, and if they have heard about them, they have heard a lot of negative things. They should open their minds and see the whole picture.”

At 41, Brown isn’t old enough to have seen most of these films when they were initially released. For him, it has been an ongoing history lesson, especially learning about silent filmmaker Oscar Micheaux and director Eugene Jackson, a distant relative of Brown’s and a co-star of the TV show “Julia” with Diahann Carroll.

The Browns made the donation to Southern’s history department last fall, and more recently sent much of the same material to Dillard. Lewis Brown says they also are donating 79 episodes of the famous but controversial TV show “Amos and Andy” to Southern’s New Orleans campus. The NAACP has strongly objected to the stereotypical characters in the show, but Brown says “Amos and Andy” — as well as the opposition to it — represents an important part of history that should be preserved. “This is an example of something that needs to be discussed instead of hidden or thrown away,” he says.

Despite having careers in science, the couple is immersed in Black history and culture. Brown is also a gospel radio show host. “We both have relatives who were involved in music and acting,” he says, explaining that Spencer Williams, Andy in the “Amos and Andy” series, was a cousin. “It turned out that he also directed and starred in a number of films.”
One of Shamira Brown’s relatives was the 1930’s actress Fredi Washington, best known for “Emperor Jones” with Paul Robeson in 1933 and “Imitation of Life” in 1934.

While at Dillard, the couple realized that both families had passed along stories, photos and memorabilia of their famous relatives, so the collection grew and now includes posters and written material about the films, cast members and the social climate at the time.

Along with the donated DVDs is a detailed list that contains much of that supplemental information.

The eclectic array of films includes comedies such as “Watermelon Man,” (1969) with Godfrey Cambridge; numerous dramas, even Micheaux’s silent “Body and Soul” (1924); westerns such as “Bronze Buckaroo” (1938) starring Herbert Jeffries; and dozens of musicals, among them “Basin Street Revue” with the legendary Lionel Hampton, Sarah Vaughn, Nat “King” Cole and Count Basie.

“We are so excited to be able to do this,” Shamira Brown says. “These films are a part of history, and really, a part of the civil rights movement.”

Dr. Dorothy Smith, dean of Dillard’s college of general studies, agrees. “This is an invaluable contribution to our campus and community,” she says

Smith hasn’t made any specific plans for screening the films yet, but she says her goal is to make sure they are circulated throughout the campus and made available to the New Orleans community.

In a way, Smith is Lewis Brown’s inspiration for his collection. “I taught Lewis history at Dillard,” she recalls. “I remember him well. He was very studious and very interested in history. You never know how much impact you are having on students.”

D.C. Couple Donates Film Collection to Three Louisiana Universities

Tomorrow's Professor Digest: Hitting the Ground Running: Making Strategic Changes

I stepped into the department head role unexpectedly in August 2007 when the former head accepted a dean?s position elsewhere. The challenges that the department faced at the time were declining student enrollments, relatively low research productivity, and loose alignment with the university?s vision to be more interdisciplinary. Since then, the department has made significant improvements in five different strategic areas: curriculum, research, space and facilities, development, and public relations. I believe that there is a honeymoon period during which people in an organization are willing to give a new leader some latitude and try new things. Thus, it is important to hit the ground running.

Curriculum
Structural changes. Three structural changes were made. First and most significantly, we split our bachelor of science degree into two options: a traditional professional option and a new interdisciplinary option. The interdisciplinary option allows a student to pursue a minor of choice. During a student?s senior year, a capstone project that relates computing to the selected minor is undertaken. This option caters to students who have interests outside of computing and aligns with our institution?s vision to be more interdisciplinary.

We also made our minor more flexible and added a courses-only option for our masters? students to better cater to employees of local industry such as RightNow Technologies and Zoot Enterprises.

Course changes. One new course to highlight is an interdisciplinary Web design course that was first offered in the spring 2009 semester. We developed and now team-teach the course in equal partnership with the art department. The course has attracted one hundred students from diverse disciplines in each of its first three offerings and is likely to serve two hundred students per semester now that it has an ?arts? core designation.

Instructor enhancements. Because our faculty is fairly small, we have hired industry practitioners to teach certain regular offerings (such as software engineering and computer security) and special onetime offerings (such as user interface design). Students have responded favorably to being taught by industry practitioners and being exposed to cutting-edge industry tools.

Results. Student enrollments in regular computer science courses have increased by more than 10% and the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology cited the interdisciplinary option as a strength of our program.

Research
The strategy used to increase research expenditures is twofold. First, incentives were aligned with desired behavior by articulating a standard teaching load (two courses per semester), a course buy-out policy (providing one ninth of one?s salary), and general standards for promotion using research as the area of excellence. Second, good hires were made in this area. Results. Funded research has increased 150% from fiscal year 2007 to fiscal year 2010. One of our faculty members won an NSF Career Award.

Space and Facilities
It is important to understand the space that your department controls and to ensure that it is being used effectively. To this end, our department has made three significant changes.

First, eight graduate student areas were largely reorganized. Graduate students who work with the same professor or on related research projects are now seated in the same room. In addition, many of the graduate student rooms have been named (e.g., Data Mining Lab) to foster future grant applications.

Second, an underutilized room has been converted into a space that functions as a robotics laboratory and small classroom. In order to make computer science more appealing, some of our early courses now incorporate a short robotic unit, and we have added new elective courses in the areas of robot vision and robot navigation. The room doubles as a showroom for prospective students.

Third, an underutilized student lounge was given a facelift. The room is now used for student club meetings, by students between classes, by students studying together, and even by the occasional student who wants to nap on the sofa!

Development
When I first became department head, development was the area that I least understood. Two and a half years later, I understand that development, if done successfully, greatly enhances an organization.

Advisory board. A strong advisory board can provide critical feedback on current directions and future opportunities and assist the department in better understanding current industry needs. This in turn can provide ideas for development opportunities.

Our advisory board has been updated with nine new members since 2007. In general, advisory board members who can contribute incisive feedback to the department and who are in positions of leadership within their companies have proven especially valuable.

Industry Affiliates Program. Our department began its Industry Affiliates Program in 2007. Industry Affiliates members pay a yearly membership fee (currently $25,000 to join at the gold membership level and $15,000 to join at the silver membership level) in return for various benefits. Presently, we have three members in our Industry Affiliates Program and hope to grow this number once the economy has better recovered. The annual revenues that we receive ($55,000 in 2009) enable us to hire a half-time associate research professor in an area of critical need (software engineering).

RightNow Technologies Distinguished Professor. In 2006?2007, the department had failed on a faculty search that included a generous three year start-up package provided by RightNow Technologies. After discussions with key people, the search criteria were reformulated to cast a wider net. The resulting search was successful and allowed us to hire a midcareer researcher from Johns Hopkins University for the fall 2008 semester.

The success of this search was critically important from a development standpoint. Making an impactful hire not only allowed the department to benefit from the start-up monies, but also makes it more likely that this company will continue to support us in the future.

Other ideas. Development benefits range from scholarships for students, to support for an adjunct instructor to teach a course, to being given the use of a boardroom for an annual retreat. Development is an area where outside-the- box thinking can be very effective.
It is important to remember that development is an ongoing process and does not stop when a gift is made. Remember to thank your donors.

Public Relations
Stakeholders want to be associated with an organization where positive things are happening and information regarding the organization is easy to obtain. To reach our stakeholders more effectively, we have turned to our departmental website and other communication tools. Website. In summer 2007, our website was out of date, incomplete, and difficult to maintain. Our system administrator recommended porting our website to Drupal, an open source, content management platform that allows nontechnical users to make changes to the website using a relatively straightforward editing system. During the spring 2008 semester, two students undertook an independent study project to make a shadow copy of the current website using Drupal, and we went live with the new version in summer 2008.

Whether it is recruiting a new faculty member, allowing a prospective student to more easily learn about our curriculum, recruiting a new member for our advisory board, or letting a potential donor know more about our organization, having an up-to-date and informative website is crucial.

Other ideas. We have promoted our department members by applying for various awards at both the college and university levels. In the spring 2009 semester, department members won three College of Engineering awards and one university-wide award. Winning awards acknowledges outstanding work being done by department members and sends a positive message to the outside world about the quality of the organization.

Conclusion
Although I work differently as a department head than I did as a faculty member, I am enjoying the challenges of the position greatly. I enjoy working with the organization?s stakeholders to improve it, learning new skills, and meeting new people.

In order to make strategic changes, here are a few final suggestions for new department heads: understand your context, seek buy-in, be patient but persistent, seek opportunity in adversity, utilize students when practical, be willing to do some of the work yourself but also be willing to delegate, choose your battles carefully, read relevant literature (e.g., Gardner, 1990; Sample, 2002), and finally, celebrate wins whether they are big or small.

References
Gardner, J. W. (1990). On leadership. New York: Free Press.
Sample, S. (2002). The contrarian?s guide to leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Tomorrow's Professor Digest: Hitting the Ground Running: Making Strategic Changes

"Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading"

These are the 24 slides shared during a presentation last week at the Digital World conference in NYC. They're the latest results in a BISG (Book Industry Study Group) ongoing survey about consumers and e-books. One of the four key findings is that, "free is key for ecustomers."

"Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading"

Inside Higher Ed: Can Students Learn to Learn?

January 31, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO -- Why do some students in a course perform better than others of roughly equal ability?

The answers, of course, are as varied as are students. Some spend more time studying, or study more efficiently; some have other priorities; some don't connect with the instructor. Some of these factors relate to metacognition, defined variously as knowing about knowing or being able to understand why we learn the way we do. A student with metacognition may realize after a disappointing test that she didn't study hard enough, and needs to devote more time to academics. The student operating without metacognition may respond to the same setback by trashing his instructor on RateMyProfessors.com

While some colleges have long taught study skills, some institutions are experimenting with efforts to teach much more than how to study: they are looking for ways to grow their students' metacognition. Many of these projects are still small and don't have years of data to report, but on Friday, several of those involved in the efforts shared their enthusiasm for the approach in a session at the annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. The projects discussed here were from members of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, which received support from the Teagle Foundation to coordinate the efforts.

So how does this work?

Kristin E. Bonnie, an assistant professor of psychology at Beloit College, said that on her tests, she has always let students pick a few questions on the multiple-choice portion (say 3 of 25) that won't be graded. It's a way to show students that she understands they may not grasp everything right away.

In the past, she just let students cross out the questions they didn't want to answer. Now, she makes them answer all the questions -- and to exempt a question from grading, students must pick from a list she provides of the reasons they are selecting that question. Students choose from options such as "I don't remember the material" or "I was able to narrow it down to two possibilities, but not one" or "I didn't study" or "I'm not confident of my answer," among others.

The idea is to make students think for just a minute about why they don't know an answer (or don't know it with confidence).

In another metacognition strategy, students are asked, after they take exams and then when they receive their grades, to take a few moments for reflection and to answer such questions as how much they studied, how they studied, and so forth. Those reflections can be anonymous -- understandable, Bonnie said, when she reads a reflection that states simply "there wasn't a whole lot of studying going on" (although she quipped that she had a good idea who wrote that response).

By forcing students to stop for a few minutes and associate their study habits with their exam performance, and to think about why they don't know an answer, the academics hope to change students' habits -- to encourage them to figure out what they don't know and to study in more effective ways (and more). "We want those who are not doing well to think about it," Bonnie said.

In an era of national mega-projects designed to measure and improve student learning, the session on metacognition was a bit old school -- just faculty members talking about how they were trying new strategies in their courses, and were thinking about the results. No national samples of hundreds of thousands of students. And while Teagle and the Associated Colleges of the Midwest encouraged (and Teagle provided seed money for) the focus on metacognition, the projects were faculty-designed, based on the hunches and experience of individual professors in their own classes. And yet the room was packed, with deans and provosts forced to sit on the floor or listen outside the doors when capacity was reached.

Karl Wirth, professor of geology at Macalester College, said that metacognition requires students both to understand how they are learning and to develop the ability to make plans, to monitor progress and to make adjustments.

So one technique used is to distribute "knowledge surveys" to classes, in which students are asked whether they know the answers to questions (with the ability to say that they know half answers in some cases). He demonstrated by giving the audience a survey on metacognition with various prompts such as "What is metacognition?" and "Describe several metacognitive activities that can be used to improve student learning."

Wirth said that by using these surveys (in which students estimate their knowledge, separately from taking the actual test), students learn to accurately predict how much knowledge they have for an upcoming test or requirement. Over time, students become accurate with their predictions, and those who are predicting low performance are thus challenged to tackle whatever learning or studying issues are holding them back.

David R. Thompson, associate professor of Spanish at Luther College, said he started using surveys of student attitudes and study habits along with regular testing of his language students. When he found that the surveys alone didn't lead to significant changes, he followed up with discussions about study habits, behaviors changed.

"Simply being explicit in class makes a difference," he said

Holly Swyers, assistant professor of anthropology and sociology at Lake Forest College, described an experiment at her institution that involved creating a "pod" in which three courses were coordinated to use metacognition through special programs that also involved student affairs, residence life, athletics and other departments.

First-year students in the various courses went through exercises such as writing themselves a letter at the beginning of the semester about how they thought they would be doing six weeks in -- the period at which "warning grades" are given. Students gathered at that time to read the letters, and to talk about how stunned many were that they were not doing as well as they thought they would. "This is a lot harder than I thought," was a common theme in students discussion of their letters.

Then the students heard presentations from people who had been in their situation the year before but had "recovered" from warning grades.

John Ottenhoff, vice president of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, said it was too early to use the results to suggest any broad plan for reform of teaching. But he said that the program in just two years has generated "lots of practical ideas and some signs of improvement" in student learning.

Further, he noted that many professors worry that any emphasis on study skills will come at the expense of content, which many faculty members feel they lack enough time for as it is.

Many of these exercises amount to very short periods of time at various times in the semester, not so much time as to "sacrifice" any content, "and not burdening a professor."

—Scott Jaschik

Inside Higher Ed: Can Students Learn to Learn?

Dillard University Athletics Update January 2011

Dillard University Athletics Update January 2011

iModerate Research Technologies: New Study Shows How Ebooks Have Changed the Reading Landscape

Denver, CO January 27, 2011 - In a recent study to understand how portable, multi-function devices or MFDs (e.g., iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android devices, etc) are changing consumer book reading habits, consumers who utilized these devices expressed a tremendous affinity for them, struggling to come up with any significant shortcomings to reading ebooks on them. These consumers also revealed their specific preference for MFDs, usage occasions and their ebook purchasing habits.

The two-part study with over 300 MFD owners who have read an ebook in the past 6 months, was conducted by online qualitative research firm iModerate Research Technologies and research and publishing consultancy, Brock Associates. A summary of the results were presented at Digital Book World 2011 in New York City.

The study found that the top three reasons MFD users prefer reading on their device as opposed to a hard copy book are the convenience it offers (80%), the ease of purchasing ebooks (61%) and the backlit screen (41%). Moreover, the three most common occasions for reading on MFDs are: while traveling (72%), while waiting for an appointment (72%) and while relaxing (70%).

“I think we can expect to see growth in ebook consumption in the coming year because consumers suggest that reading books on a multi-function device is such a convenience to them,” says Laurie Brock, President of Brock Associates. “As long as they have their device with them 24/7, they are going to read on it – especially if the price for an ebook remains reasonable.”

Qualitatively, consumers provided the reasoning behind why their reading habits have increased, and the story surrounding the benefits that MFDs and ebooks offer:

Increased Reading
Respondents indicated they are “time-filling reading” primarily on a MFD. Because respondents nearly always have these devices with them, they use them to read ebooks during otherwise “dead” pockets of time, such as when waiting at the doctor’s office or while their kids play on the playground.

“When we're going somewhere in the car and my husband is driving, I'll read some. If my kid is playing on the playground or something, I'll sit and read while she's playing. It's just convenient to pull out if I have a few minutes that I'm not doing anything.” Female 25-34

Convenience
The greatest benefit of the ebook experience stems from the tremendous convenience of storing books on devices that respondents nearly always have on hand. Rather than lugging heavy paper books or being stuck with just one or two titles, an ereader (whether multi-function or dedicated) allows users the luxury of having an entire library at their fingertips.

“I like being able to have many books that I can choose from to read all in one place… All I have to do is download whatever books I want to read to my devices and I can read one book for a while or switch to another book if my mood changes and I want to read something else.” Male 25-34

Digital Format
The digital format provides a variety of secondary benefits that enhance the ebook experience. These include the ability to adjust text size, make notes or highlight text, bookmark pages, search within a text and read easily in the dark.

“I also like that I can easily highlight them without ''ruining'' them… It lets me easily reference things in the future. It's like being able to put unlimited bookmarks in a book without having them stick out all over the place.” male, 25-34

About the Study
The two-part study began with a purely qualitative research exercise where 30 respondents participated in live, online one-on-one interview sessions. Phase two utilized a hybrid market research approach where 60 one-on-one sessions were incorporated into an online survey which netted 304 completes. In both phases, respondents were men and women aged 18+, who own and use a multi-function electronic device and have read at least one ebook on this device in the past six months. Readers were defined as Heavy Readers if they had read 6 or more books/ebooks in the last 6 months, Medium Readers if they had read 3 to 5 books/ebooks in the last 6 months or as Light Readers if they had read 1 or 2 books/ebooks in the last 6 months.

Summary slides of the study are available as a free download from iModerate Research Technologies.

About iModerate Research Technologies
iModerate Research Technologies listens, connects and digs deeper with consumers online to provide the market research story organizations need to win in the marketplace. Years of research and development by veteran field experts, as well as analytical specialists, produced the concept, methodology and software that have allowed iModerate to help Fortune 500 companies, large and boutique research firms and prominent organizations strengthen their research results. Focused on providing customized qualitative research solutions, iModerate is broadening online research capabilities by delivering essential qualitative insight. iModerate is based in Denver, Colorado. For more information please visit www.imoderate.com

About Brock Associates
Laurie Brock, President of Brock Associates, has been involved in the information and publishing industries for over thirty-five years. She has extensive experience in market research and the development of both print and electronic publications.

Media Contacts:
iModerate
Adam Rossow
303-928-8406
arossow@imoderate.com

Brock Associates
Laurie Brock
303-830-8307
laurie@brock-associates.com

iModerate Research Technologies: New Study Shows How Ebooks Have Changed the Reading Landscape

The New York Times: The Perils of Literary Profiling

By GEOFF NICHOLSON
Published: January 28, 2011

It’s probably time to update the list on my Facebook profile for the books I “like.” If you think that “liking” a book is a fairly nebulous and meaningless concept, you’ll get no argument from me. I made the list a couple of years back and jotted down the first few titles that came into my head (“Gravity’s Rainbow,” “The Big Sleep,” “More Pricks Than Kicks” and “The Anatomy of Melancholy,” if you must know). They weren’t selected entirely at random — they’re all books I think are great — but I didn’t spend much time pondering the selection, and on another day I might well have chosen four completely different titles.

Looking at the list now, however, I can see that it contains elements of the pretentious littérateur and the moody loner, both of which are obviously to be avoided. And if the horror of the Arizona shooting has taught us anything, it’s that some place a high value on what can be gleaned from a man’s reading habits, whether actual or simply professed. I have no idea if Jared Lee Loughner was really a great reader of Plato, Lewis Carroll, “The Will to Power” or “The Communist Manifesto,” as he claimed, but he wanted the world to think he was. And perhaps you really can judge a man by the books he displays on his bookshelf (or keeps on his Kindle).

In which case I pray that no F.B.I. agent, criminal profiler or (worst of all) news pundit ever gets a look at my bookshelves. There, alongside Swift, Plato, Lewis Carroll and Marx, you’d find the Marquis de Sade, Mickey Spillane, Hitler and Ann Coulter. Books are acquired for all kinds of reasons, including curiosity, irony, guilty pleasure and the desire to understand the enemy (not to mention free review copies), but you try telling that to a G-man. It seems perfectly obvious to me that owning a copy of “Mein Kampf” doesn’t mean you’re a Nazi, but then I would say that, wouldn’t I?

Thanks to Timothy W. Ryback’s “Hitler’s Private Library,” we now know that Hitler read “Don Quixote,” “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and “Gulliver’s Travels,” and considered them “among the great works of world literature,” in Ryback’s words. This is problematic enough, since a taste for great literature is supposed to make us more humane and empathetic, isn’t it? But then Ryback tells us that Hitler had “mastered” the writings of Karl May, an ultraprolific German author of cowboy novels featuring the characters Old Surehand and Old Shatterhand. Hitler’s fondness for tales of the Old West may mean something, but if you’re trying to understand Hitler there are more obvious places to start.

Reading habits would seem to be relevant enough to someone’s biography, especially if that person is a writer. In his study “Built of Books,” Thomas Wright attempts to reconstruct the contents of Oscar Wilde’s library, which was dispersed and auctioned off between his imprisonment and trial. It’s worth knowing (though hardly surprising) that Wilde read the Greek and Roman classics, Shakespeare, Hegel and some French pornography, but difficulties arise when Wright tries, in a self-described moment of “quixotic madness,” to make the book a partial autobiography, in the belief that if he read everything Wilde had read, Wilde would become a “Socratic mentor, who would help me give birth to a new self.”

Forging a deep link between criminals and their books can be even more quixotic. Ed Sanders, in “The Family,” tells us that one of Charles Manson’s favorite books was Robert Heinlein’s “Stranger in a Strange Land,” but we’re also told that Manson was barely literate. Both John Hinckley Jr. (Reagan’s would-be assassin) and Mark David Chapman (the murderer of John Lennon) have been connected to “The Catcher in the Rye,” Hinckley by having a copy in his hotel room, Chapman by calmly reading the book outside the Dakota apartment building while waiting for the police to arrive after he shot Lennon. But it’s hardly surprising that a book that has sold well over 35 million copies has occasionally fallen into the hands of criminals.

The psychiatrist Fredric Wertham got things about as wrong as can be when he argued, in “Seduction of the Innocent” (1954), that the fact that prisoners and juvenile delinquents read “crime comics” meant that comics were causing, or at least stoking, their criminal tendencies. Current evidence suggests that if criminals read at all — and let’s not forget how many prisoners are functionally illiterate — then they read much the same books as the rest of us, business and self-help books included. This, anyway, was the conclusion reached by Glennor Shirley, who in 2003 conducted a survey of prison librarians for the American Library Association and learned that prisoners’ favorite writers included Stephen King, Robert Ludlum, Danielle Steel and “all authors of westerns.” Admittedly, she is referring to their reading habits in prison rather than outside. (Here I might add that when I learned one of my short stories had appeared in an anthology used in a prison literacy program, I was relieved to know I was part of the solution, not part of the problem.)

The self-help nature of some prison reading can be disturbing. Scandal arose in Britain two years ago when it was revealed that prisoners were being allowed to read “inappropriate” books, including the memoirs of other, more successful criminals, stories of prison escapes and, inevitably, “Mein Kampf.” (More cheeringly, Avi Steinberg, the author of the recent memoir “Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian,” reports a vogue for Anne Frank’s diary among some female prisoners he worked with.)

For my part, I can say that the presence of Mickey Spillane’s books on my shelves hasn’t persuaded me that I need to start packing heat, nor has ownership of an Ann Coulter volume moved me to denounce Arabs. Such explorations of the dark side notwithstanding, most of us read books that reinforce the opinions and tendencies we already have. And yet and yet . . . the fact is, books really do have the power to influence and change people. That’s why some of us like them so much. A generation of European students (not to mention Russian revolutionaries) read “The Communist Manifesto” and thought it made a great deal of sense. Right now somebody is reading Jack Kerouac and deciding to go on the road, or reading William Burroughs and thinking it might be a lark to become a gentleman junkie.

So, if you actually did examine my bookshelves you could probably reach some reasonably accurate conclusions about my age, class, nationality, sexuality and so on. You would see that I’m not some dangerous, volatile, politically extreme nut job. Rather, you would decide that I’m a bookish, cosmopolitan sophisticate, with broad, quirky and unpredictable interests, a taste for literary experimentation, a sense of history, a serious man with a sense of humor and a wide range of sympathies. At any rate, that’s what I’d like you to think.

The New York Times: The Perils of Literary Profiling

Inside Higher Education: What Degrees Should Mean

January 26, 2011

What should a college graduate know and be able to do? There are as many views on that as there are colleges (thousands), if not individual professors and students (many more).

The diversity of opinions about what a college education means has long been seen as a strength of American higher education. But in recent years, many employers and policy makers have argued that the lack of a common definition of what students should know and be able to do -- and a dearth of adequate methods of gauging whether they know it and can do it -- has contributed to a decline in the quality of higher education and to the awarding of more degrees, but of lesser value.

The push to set such standards at a national (and even federal) level has, in turn, led many college and faculty leaders to complain that a one-size-fits-all approach to defining student learning would result in greatly oversimplified definitions of learning.

To try to provide a shared understanding of what degrees mean -- but without, its designers insist, turning that into a government or other mandate -- the Lumina Foundation for Education is today releasing a draft of its Degree Qualifications Profile, created by four leading higher education researchers and policy experts (more on them later).

The profile, around which Lumina officials plan to begin a several-year discussion in which colleges, accreditors and other groups will test and refine it, is intended to establish, in more specific ways than has historically been the case, what the recipients of associate, bachelor's and master's degrees (regardless of discipline) should know and be able to do.

"There is no generally accepted understanding of what quality represents in American higher education," says Jamie P. Merisotis, Lumina's president and chief executive officer. "Our view is that the absence of that shared understanding of what quality means has resulted in employers being dissatisfied with what higher education produces; policy makers being unsure of their investment; and students and families having a lack of clarity about choice of institutions and the relative value of their degrees."

The degree framework, he says, is designed to help develop that shared understanding across majors, programs and institutions. Paired with the foundation's other major student learning project, known as "tuning" -- which focuses on what degree holders should know within specific disciplines -- the qualifications profile could help create a common definition of what a college credential should represent, he said, so that better tools (portfolios, projects, and tests) can be developed to measure how well students are actually accumulating the requisite knowledge and skills.

Lumina officials describe the qualifications profile -- loosely modeled on the degree frameworks that the European Union and other countries have adopted -- as potentially "transformational" for American higher education, but they acknowledge that a great deal would need to happen for it to have anywhere near that effect. Several outside experts that Inside Higher Ed asked to assess the standards saw significant hurdles to its adoption by colleges -- especially overcoming the faculty skepticism about any effort that seems to be dropped from on high and that can be seen as substituting national standards for institutionally based ones.

"A learning framework that really promotes student success has to be developed at the local level and has to be led by front-line faculty and staff," Larry Gold, higher education director for the American Federation of Teachers, said via e-mail. "Nothing is less likely to help students succeed than an overly standardized curriculum and assessment regime imposed from the outside. So the Degree Profile can make a contribution if the efforts coming out of it are developed and driven by front-line faculty and staff at the institution and if these efforts receive the kind of continuing support that makes them sustainable -- particularly investment in the faculty and staff charged with making the program succeed."

The Genesis

Lumina first began floating the idea of developing a qualifications framework about 18 months ago, in a series of behind-the-scenes meetings with higher education leaders and policy makers. Foundation officials portrayed a commonly agreed-upon understanding of what a college degree means as an important tool to knocking down some of the barriers that inhibit college completion, which has been at the center of Lumina's agenda for the last several years. Those barriers include the difficulty of transferring academic credit from one institution to another, and the failure to recognize the value of learning that takes place outside traditional classroom settings, which often goes unrecognized in a system in which the "credit hour" is the coin of the realm.

But Lumina's leaders also saw the profile as key to ensuring that not only are more degrees awarded, "but that those must be of high quality," said Holiday Hart McKiernan, senior vice president and general counsel at Lumina.

The foundation assembled four longtime experts on assessment and student learning -- Clifford Adelman of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, Peter Ewell of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, Paul Gaston of Kent State University, and Carol Geary Schneider of the American Association of Colleges & Universities -- to "reduce to writing, without worrying about implementation, what would be the core competencies" for recipients of various degrees. The four researchers spent months poring over the comments of outside reviewers and, not surprisingly to those who know the four of them, debating intensely among themselves.

Their final product divides the desired skills and knowledge into five basic areas -- specialized knowledge; broad, integrative knowledge; intellectual skills; applied learning; and civic learning -- and lists within each the key learning outcomes in which a student should be competent, with the expectations for students increasing as they move up the three degree levels. For specialized knowledge -- knowledge acquired in a specialized field of study, for instance -- the profile lists the following outcomes at different levels:

The associate degree holder:

* Describes the scope and principal features of the field of study, citing core theories and practices, and offers a similar explication of a related field.
* Illustrates the field’s current terminology.
* Generates substantially error-free products, exhibits, or performances in the field.

The bachelor's degree holder:

* Defines and explains the boundaries, divisions, styles and practices of the field.
* Defines and properly uses the principal terms in the field, both historical and contemporaneous.
* Demonstrates fluency in the use of tools, technologies and methods in the field.
* Evaluates, clarifies and frames a complex question or challenge using perspectives and scholarship from the student’s major field and at least one other.
* Constructs a project related to a familiar but complex problem in the field of study by assembling, arranging and reformulating ideas, concepts, designs or techniques.
* Constructs a summative project, paper or practice-based performance that draws on current research, scholarship and/or techniques in the field.

The master's degree holder:

* Elucidates the major theories, research methods and approaches to inquiry, and/or schools of practice in the field; articulates relevant sources; and illustrates their relationship to allied fields.
* Assesses the contributions of major figures and organizations in the field; describes its major methodologies and practices; and implements at least two such methodologies and practices through projects, papers, exhibits or performances.
* Articulates major challenges involved in practicing the field, elucidates its leading edges, and delineates its current limits with respect to theory, knowledge and practice.
* Initiates, assembles, arranges and reformulates ideas, concepts, designs and techniques in carrying out a project directed at a challenge in the field beyond conventional boundaries.

Lumina officials and the authors say they went out of their way to fill the degree profile with "concrete, illustrative student learning outcome statements" that use "active verbs that tell all parties -- students, faculty, employers, policymakers and the general public -- what students actually should do to demonstrate their mastery."

That may be true compared to other documents of its kind, but even some of the outside reviewers -- many of whom were higher education researchers -- described the profile as "abstract." Lumina officials admit that the document is complex, and that the full impact of the degree profile won't be felt unless and until college leaders and their faculties begin discussing whether and how the qualifications laid out in the profile apply to their own students, and how they might go about documenting that the students to whom they award degrees have accumulated the knowledge and skills in question.

Most of the outside experts with whom Inside Higher Ed shared the degree profile said they found little to argue with in the qualifications and outcomes put forward by the four authors. "This is a very good document that shows where higher education should end up," said Michael Poliakoff, policy director at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. "It is very strong in stressing the fact that this needs to be an institutionwide conversation, and ensures that there is thorough integration of these learning elements" across academic programs.

But like others interviewed, Poliakoff stressed that without a clear sense of how (and whether) it can be implemented on campuses, the profile will make little difference. "Without getting it down to the level of requirements and assessment, it will fall short of its full impact," he said.

Richard Arum, whose new book, Academically Adrift, gives observers of higher education new ammunition with which to question how much learning is taking place on campuses, said that he and his co-author, Josipa Roksa, were impressed on first review of the Lumina document. "It draws attention to what students know, rather than to the general 'let's count course credits and assume they've gotten something out of it' approach to students," he said. "If colleges and universities did this, it would shift things in a positive way."

Arum described himself as "skeptical," however, about "where the incentives are to get the colleges and universities to do this, to decide 'this is a useful framework to us.' "

Like Gold of the AFT, Arum argued that "the only way [that higher education can successfully] focus on improving student learning is with the faculty at the center of it," but added that "learning has been pushed to the periphery of higher education, just the way faculty have been pushed to the margins."

If the degree profile provides a "common vocabulary about what students can do" around which trustees, administrators and instructors can ultimately have a discussion about what they want students on their individual campuses to know and be able to do, it could have the sort of "transformative impact" that Lumina envisions, Arum said. "You could imagine trustees or regents, using this framework or something like it, saying to administrators, 'What are you doing to ensure that our students can do these things? Show me the plan you have for making sure they do, and show me the evidence that you're accomplishing this.' If that leads campuses to use what's out there and identify better ways to measure higher-order skills, this could be a useful tool."

The Lumina Strategy

Lumina officials, who have in the past been accused of pushing initiatives on colleges (and especially the foot-draggers on campuses) rather than collaborating with them, say they know that the degree qualifications profile project will work only if institutions (and their faculties) buy in. "We do not think this is something that should be imposed on [faculty members], ... but they do bear the brunt of failure if [higher education] does not deliver on defining quality," said Merisotis. "We had a really good faculty-level conversation about this, and we think we have a good plan for involving them. Are we expecting universal harmony about this? Heck no. But I think we’ll be very transparent about what it is, and help people digest it."

The foundation plans to enlist several groups to help it test and refine the degree profile, including, to start, two accrediting agencies (the Western Association of Schools and Colleges' senior college commission and the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools) and the Council of Independent Colleges.

Ralph Wolff, executive director of the Western accreditor, said in an interview Monday that the association had created a panel that will decide whether and how the agency might incorporate the qualifications profile into its standard aimed at ensuring that institutions have clearly defined graduation requirements and levels of achievement for degrees. "Whether it becomes just a suggested framework or is actually incorporated into the standards is very premature," Wolff said.

"For some people, this could raise a series of concerns about homogenizing curriculums and setting outcomes for institutions, and all those issues will be fair game in our discussions," Wolff said. "But the authors seem to have struck a balance between writing [the learning outcomes] with enough specificity and clarity that they have meaning, yet enough diversity and flexibility so that different institutions can adapt it to fit their kind of education. We see the idea having enough potential to explore further."

Richard Ekman, president of the Council of Independent Colleges, said he and his group have come around after some early skepticism about the Lumina project, which he said he found "really unappealing" from early discussions with Lumina. In those planning meetings, he said, Lumina officials described the project as designed to "ensure comparability" of American degrees with those in the European Union (which has embraced its own qualifications framework through the Bologna accords). And Lumina was also, he said, "talking about working hand in hand with the [Obama] administration," foreboding the kind of federal involvement in curricular and other matters that private colleges like Ekman's members tend to loathe.

But Lumina's language has changed, Ekman said. "They're now talking about these frameworks as a way of working toward higher quality across a variety of American colleges and universities in a voluntary way, and contributing toward this ubiquitous discussion without putting it in the context of standards that are in the control of the government. This is now a concept that I believe is worth our exploring."

Ekman said that teams of presidents, faculty leaders and assessment experts from roughly 25 campuses will work on the CIC project, with the ultimate goal of "finding language that might work for a broad group of our institutions." That could be a challenge, he acknowledged, because the group's members include small institutions that do nothing but liberal arts and other institutions with more professional orientations.

"I think the general categories are fine, but the test will be making them fit what colleges actually do," Ekman said. "I made it clear I wasn't buying into it 100 percent, but that I did think it was concept worth exploring. I'm pleased that Lumina is willing to take a flyer on us."

Is Commonality the Goal?

In releasing the profile, Merisotis and others at Lumina have emphasized that one of its goals is in creating a "shared understanding of what a degree represents in terms of learning," as he put it. But how common must a common framework be to be valuable?

Perhaps the biggest tension in the last few years' debates over higher education accountability has been the pressure on the part of some policy makers to insist on outcomes and measures that are comparable across programs and institutions, on the theory that to make decisions among colleges, consumers need the same information from all of them. But that, critics argue, leads to reductionism that helps no one.

Adelman, the former Education Department researcher who is among the profile's authors, says he envisions colleges engaging in an "iterative process" that leaves lots of room for individual institutions, or groups of them, to go their own way in crafting degree profiles that work for them.

Imagine the degree profile, he says, as the outline of Alfred Hitchcock that came to be an iconic representation of the filmmaker. Then imagine provosts, deans and professors at a lot of individual colleges, or associations of them, discussing which learning outcomes in the profile work for them just as-is, which they'd jettison, a few they'd add.

"College X's portrait might look like a Gauguin, another's might be a Dürer," he said. "Three years from now, you might find 24 different versions, but they'd have the same reference point. They'd have the same form, and be based on the same palette -- the Hitchcock outline."

That result isn't neat and clean, perhaps, but it stands independently of government, and "it's a heck of a lot better than what we have now," Adelman said -- a situation in which politicians perceive colleges to pay too little attention to learning and constantly threaten to wade in and fix the problem.

And they will, Adelman warned, if colleges (and accreditors, whom he sees playing a key role) don't confront their perceived failings themselves. That may be difficult, he acknowledged, but the Lumina project offers a pathway toward doing so. "If higher education runs away from this challenge, it will lose all its claims to sanctity" on questions of student learning.

—Doug Lederman

Inside Higher Education: What Degrees Should Mean

Diverse Issues in Higher Education: Louisiana Merger Study Puts Southern University Chief, Katrina-damaged Schools in Spotlight

January 27, 2011 by Pearl Stewart

NEW ORLEANS – When Ronald Mason resigned as president of Jackson State University last year to take the helm of Louisiana’s Southern University System, he was the focus of a bitter debate over a proposed merger of some of Mississippi’s historically Black universities. He was against it; then he was for it – sort of. Mason came up with his own plan, but opponents leveled all proposals before they got traction.

Now, just months after he began his tenure at Southern, Mason is once again in the middle of a merger imbroglio. Just as Gov. Haley Barbour had floated the idea with the Mississippi legislature, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal recently announced he is proposing a study of merging historically Black Southern University at New Orleans with the larger, nearby University of New Orleans, which has predominantly White enrollment. SUNO is in the Southern System and UNO is in the Louisiana State University System.

The governor is asking the Louisiana Board of Regents, which oversees higher education in the state, to determine the feasibility of merging the two institutions into one and possibly moving the new entity into the state’s other higher education bureaucracy -- the University of Louisiana System.

“It is important that this study remain an objective analysis, driven by facts and data, predicated on the best interests of students,” Jindal said in a press statement. “We will wait until we receive the completed study before formulating or recommending any legislative proposals for the upcoming session.” In the press release, the governor also noted that SUNO has a 5 percent graduation rate and UNO has a 21 percent rate.

Dr. Joseph Bouie Jr., president of SUNO’s faculty senate and a former chancellor of the university, says the study is the culmination of years of efforts by state officials to shut down SUNO -- efforts that Bouie says have included withholding FEMA funds for repairs to buildings – “and we are still back to 85 percent of pre-Katrina enrollment because this community needs SUNO despite everything that is being done to discourage students from coming here.”

Buoie says, “Not a single faculty member – to a person – not one, is in favor of it.” He said a 2006 study by the Board of Regents concluded the school should not merge because of their distinct missions and roles.

Meanwhile, Mason already had drawn criticism when he said in an October speech that he favored a possible merger of the two schools – with UNO becoming part of the predominantly Black Southern System.

He still stands by that idea. “If UNO wants to change systems, there is already a system in New Orleans, Southern. Such a move would keep both schools open, facilitate academic and fiscal efficiencies and strengthen the Southern system,” Mason said in a written statement to Diverse.

Regarding the governor’s study, Mason says, “If the study recommends his idea, I assume both schools would be closed and a new school would take its place. I do not think closure of SUNO (or UNO) is a good idea.” Mason added that he expects the Southern system’s board of supervisors to draw the same conclusions at a special meeting on Feb. 4.

At UNO, Jindal’s announcement also is being met with skepticism. “First of all, is it a merger or a takeover?” University Senate chairman Dr. Neal Maroney said, posing issues that he said concern UNO faculty members.

“We’re a research university and SUNO isn’t, so how will faculty be shared? And who’s going to be in the administration?” he said.

Maroney noted there wouldn’t be a need to duplicate administrators, which could considerably reduce costs. He also noted that UNO is currently without a chancellor, since former Chancellor Tim Ryan resigned abruptly last fall, while SUNO has a chancellor, Victor Ukpolo. So Maroney wondered if there were a merger, would UNO need to hire a chancellor?

Maroney did concede that a merger could result in savings and said he supported “any reduction in administrators.”

SUNO’s director of public information, Eddie Francis, said the administration was not taking a position on the idea but waiting for the results of the study, noting that it has been proposed in the past. He did, however, comment on media reports about SUNO’s declining enrollment and its purported 5 percent graduation rate. Francis said in a written statement, “Our Fall 2010 enrollment was 3,166, up from our spring 2006 enrollment of 2,037 (our first semester back from Hurricane Katrina), a 67 percent increase.” Francis added that graduation rates for a six-year period that includes the 2005-2006 year of Hurricane Katrina are “tainted” and that the university serves a unique population that often completes college after more than six years.

Maroney agreed that recovery from the devastation of Katrina continues to affect both institutions. According to Maroney, UNO’s fall 2010 enrollment was 10,500 and has been steadily rising since Katrina. And like Francis, he said the graduation rates do not take into account the effects of the hurricane and the increase in non-traditional students.

Jindal set a March 1 deadline for the Board of Regents to present a report based on the study. Mason suggested that instead of conducting a month-long study, “We should do a thoughtful study of ways the institutions, including Delgado (community college) can work together to improve the education product and potentially save money without closing any institution.”

With all of the high-level pronouncements from the governor, administrators and public officials, students say they are feeling a bit overlooked. “Honestly, we’re not being given enough information right now,” UNO student government president John Mineo said in a written statement to Diverse, adding that students need to hear more about what a merger would entail. He also said the uncertainty of whether the institutions will exist in the future could affect enrollment.

“However, I do believe it's too early to judge the effects of such a plan. We won't know if this plan is for the better or worse until more details are given to us,” Mineo said.

Even if the study results in proposed legislation, a two-thirds majority in the state House and Senate would be required to enact a merger.

“We think the governor is counting votes, so it may be possible for it to pass,” Bouie said, but he said he has gathered support to file a lawsuit in federal court to block a merger if necessary.

Diverse Issues in Higher Education: Louisiana Merger Study Puts Southern University Chief, Katrina-damaged Schools in Spotlight

Concept Maps Help Build Connections to Learning

By Mary Bart

About eight years ago, students taking Alice Cassidy’s Biology 345 course were asked to create a learning portfolio as their final project for the course. The portfolio was intended to help students demonstrate their learning in creative ways that include examples, connections and reflections, based on three key criteria: content, links and visual diversity. Two pages of the eight-page portfolio had to be a concept map.
Concept mapping, a technique first described by Joseph Novak in the late 1960s, uses visual representations to show relationships among ideas or concepts. It can be an effective way to help students gain a better understanding of difficult concepts.

In the online seminar Concept Mapping: How Visual Connections Can Improve Learning, Cassidy, head of Alice Cassidy In View Education and Professional Development and the former associate director of the Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth (TAG) at University of British Columbia, shared some of the concept maps her students created and noted that student feedback on the assignment was largely positive.
“I found that they valued the experience very much–the creativity of it, the way it valued not only how they showed their understanding of key concepts of the course, but how it valued connections they made between the course, or formal learning, with other aspects of their lives, or informal learning,” she said.

Concept maps come in many forms, including a Spoke: where all related concepts are linked to the main concept in the middle of the page; a Chain, where concepts are linked in a linear sequence; or Net, which is a highly integrated and hierarchical network. And the good news is, there’s no one correct way to create a concept map and there’s no wrong place to start, Cassidy said.

To help you get started, Cassidy provided the following guidelines:

1.Note, on paper or electronically, the concepts you wish to include
2.Rank or order the concepts; starting with a key or main concept you wish to emphasize.
3.Step 2 might help you choose the type of concept map to construct (e.g. chain, tree, spoke, etc.)
4.Step 3 helps you decide where to place your first concept on the page
5.Decide where to cluster or arrange the rest of your concepts
6.Add these concepts, one by one
7.Connect the concepts with lines or arrows
8.Label the lines or arrows with one or a few words to describe relationships between concepts
9.Add more concepts if needed
10.Review your completed concept map and re-arrange/re-work it, if necessary, by adding, subtracting or changing concepts.

As noted, concept maps can be created on paper or electronically. Some of the software tools used to build concept maps or mind maps (simpler versions of concept maps that do not have terms linking the key words) include: Cmap, Inspiration, MindGenius, Creately, and Visio.

Concept Mapping: How Visual Connections Can Improve Learning
By using a concept map, you have a visual tool to depict a set of ideas by linking them and explaining the connections. Concept maps provide a powerful way to help students organize, represent, and understand knowledge.

Concept mapping may be applied in any academic discipline to make better sense of a reading, document learning or thinking, or brainstorm a project. Used properly, they can substantially increase student understanding of difficult topics.

Presented earlier this month, this seminar provides an introduction to what concept maps are and how you can use them in the classroom.

Concept Maps Help Build Connections to Learning

UB Web Seminars: Improving retention and graduation rates with CRM software

Thursday, February 17, 2010 at 2pm, ET

Speakers:
Manuel Lujan - Vice President of Enrollment at Texas A&M University-Kingsville & Vineet Singla - Senior Product Manager for CRM at Campus Management

As graduation and retention rates continue to decline, more colleges and universities are looking to their CRM software to help identify and resolve academic and financial issues early, and to keep students on track with their programs. But extending CRM beyond the recruiting office to other departments and campuses presents new challenges, including integration with others systems, brands, and workflows across campus. Case study by Texas A&M University.
Through a case study by Texas A&M University, this web seminar will illustrate how Talisma CRM from Campus Management goes beyond recruiting to:
•Help identify and proactively advise at-risk students
•Keep students on track for graduation academically and financially
•Provide faculty, advisors, and administrators a 360 degree view of students
Who will benefit:
Presidents, chancellors, enrollment and retention officers, academic deans, IT directors. Anyone may register.

Critical Insights. Timely Information. Free Registration
University Business produces web seminars on topics of special interest to higher education leaders. Moderated by UB's Web Seminar Editor, JD Solomon, each web seminar features presentations by higher education leaders and industry experts. These online events are underwritten by our sponsors so that you may view them for free.

UB Web Seminars: Improving retention and graduation rates with CRM software

The Teaching Professor: How to Deepen Learning through Critical Reflection

Date: Wednesday, 04/20/11
Time: 12:00-1:30 PM CDT
Cost: $259 ($284 after 04/13/11)

Featured Higher Education Presenter: Barbara Jacoby, Ph.D.

How deep is the learning that takes place on your campus?
Too many students simply acquire pieces of knowledge without establishing relationships among them, integrating new information with prior learning, or grappling with big questions. Critical reflection can engage students in learning that challenges their assumptions and deepens the way they understand issues and concepts.

Critical reflection provides one of the best ways to transform rudimentary assignments intro truly transformational learning opportunities.

A process of analyzing, reconsidering, and questioning knowledge, critical reflection adds depth and meaning to college coursework. It also develops critical thinking skills–an essential college learning outcome.

In How to Deepen Learning through Critical Reflection, Barbara Jacoby, Ph.D. will clarify misconceptions about critical reflection and explain the steps involved in incorporating this powerful teaching strategy into course designs.

This 90-minute audio online seminar will cover:
•Designing and implementing critical reflection activities
•Connecting reflection to course content and experiences
•Engaging students in meaningful reflection
•Assessing and grading learning achieved through critical reflection
•What critical reflection is and is not
•The range of critical reflection techniques
•Effective facilitation strategies
•How reflection can address the “big questions” in a discipline
•Applying theory to practice
•Using reflection to challenge simplistic conclusions
This seminar will also include case studies depicting how critical reflection leads to the achievement of course-based learning outcomes.

Who should attend?
This training opportunity is recommended for all campus professionals concerned with improving student learning, including:
•Faculty members in all disciplines
•Faculty involved in service-learning and other experiential courses
•Faculty, academic administrators, and student affairs professionals who coordinate internships, service-learning, and study abroad opportunities
•Faculty trainers
•Directors and staff of Centers for Teaching and Learning
•Student affairs professionals
•Directors and staff of service-learning, community service, and civic engagement offices or programs
•Campus ministers and leadership educators
Unlimited participants at a single site

The cost to participate in this 90-minute audio online seminar is $259, regardless of the number of participants from a single sign-on location at your campus. This is an outstanding opportunity to sharpen the pedagogical skills of all educators at your campus for one affordable, fixed fee. We recommend reserving a lecture hall or meeting space in advance of this event to accommodate a large group.

Your presenter
Barbara Jacoby, Ph.D. is Senior Scholar for the Adele H. Stamp Student Union–Center for Campus Life at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is also a Fellow of the University’s Academy for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and was a Center for Teaching Excellence Lilly Fellow during the 2007-08 academic year. She writes and consults extensively and makes numerous speeches and presentations across the country.

Q&A
During this live, interactive session, you will have opportunities to share your own experiences with critical reflection and to pose individual questions to Dr. Jacoby.

The key to unlocking deeper levels of understanding is critical reflection. Learn how to use this powerful teaching strategy to enrich the academics at your institution by registering for this seminar today.

The Teaching Professor: How to Deepen Learning through Critical Reflection

Disaster Resistant University Workshop at UNO - February 16-18 2011

Disaster Resistant University Workshop at UNO - February 16-18 2011

Hampton University lands $2.69M training grant

January 28, 2011

Hampton University has received a five-year, $2.69 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to partner with high-need Virginia school divisions to offer educational training for administrators.

Administrators will learn research-based practices designed to turn around low-achieving schools, a university news release said.

Participating divisions were classified as level I or level II based on low-income population data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The level I districts - Portsmouth, Franklin, Danville and Roanoke - will pay nothing to participate. The level II districts - including Suffolk, Hampton and Newport News - will receive partial funding because they don't meet the education department's definition of "high-need."

Hampton University has received a five-year, $2.69 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to partner with high-need Virginia school divisions to offer educational training for administrators.

Administrators will learn research-based practices designed to turn around low-achieving schools, a university news release said.

Participating divisions were classified as level I or level II based on low-income population data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The level I districts - Portsmouth, Franklin, Danville and Roanoke - will pay nothing to participate. The level II districts - including Suffolk, Hampton and Newport News - will receive partial funding because they don't meet the education department's definition of "high-need."

Hampton University lands $2.69M training grant

Academic Impressions: AI Higher Ed Impact: Weekly News & Key Takeaways January 21 - 27 2011

Academic Impressions: AI Higher Ed Impact: Weekly News & Key Takeaways January 21 - 27 2011

Innovative Educators Webinar: Getting Adults Back In: Applied Baccalaureate Degrees as a Tool for Adult Degree Completion

Thursday, February 24 ~ 2:00-3:30pm CST

Webinar Descriptions
This webinar will focus on the development of applied baccalaureate degrees and the role that they can play in increasing adult baccalaureate degree completion. Significant focus will be placed on: the different types of applied baccalaureate programs, best practices in applied baccalaureate programs, challenges that applied baccalaureate programs often face as well as strategies for overcoming those challenges, the role of distance education in applied baccalaureate programs, and the role of community colleges in applied baccalaureate programs.

Objectives
•Become familiar with the most common types of applied baccalaureate degrees.
•Identify the types of students attracted to applied baccalaureate programs.
•Discuss the role of applied baccalaureate programs in adult baccalaureate degree completion.
•Present emerging best practices in developing and maintaining applied baccalaureate degree programs, including the role of experiential credit.
•Anticipate challenges that applied baccalaureate programs may face and strategies for overcoming those challenges. (We will especially focus on the challenge that applied baccalaureate programs may face from faculty trained in more traditional academic disciplines.)
•Discuss opportunities for leveraging distance education in applied baccalaureate programs.
•Review the role of community colleges in applied baccalaureate programs.
•Provide an overview of recent literature on applied baccalaureate programs.

Who Should Attend?
Community college and university faculty and administrators interested in adult degree completion at the baccalaureate level.

Who is the Speaker?
Van L. Davis, Ph.D.,Director of Special Projects
Texas higher Education Coordinating Board
Van Davis is Director of Special Projects at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Van holds a Ph.D. in 20th Century U.S. history from Vanderbilt University and taught at both public and private institutions for ten years before joining the THECB in 2007. Van currently works with Texas' applied baccalaureate and adult degree completion programs at public universities and community colleges as well as providing support for the state's many distance education programs. Van has also worked with Texas' course redesign project, online faculty professional development project, and has assisted in the development of the state's digital learning objects repository. Van is currently developing and administering Texas' new adult degree completion initiative, Success by Degree.

Upcoming Webinars
February 1
The Connection Between Student Retention and Assessment: Building a Departmental Assessment Model From the Ground Up

February 1
Women Veterans Returning to Campus: Exploring the Military and Gender Transition Issues

February 2
Reframing the Role of Student Conduct: Shifting your Campus Culture

February 8
Responsive Grantwriting: What Grantmakers Really Want to Know

February 10
Teach Students How to Learn: Metacognition is the Key!

February 10
Back to Basics: Providing Quality Customer Service in Higher Education

February 16
Building Bridges to College Success with Latino First Generation College Students

February 16
Overview of Appreciative Advising

February 17
Teachable Moments: Managing Aggressive and Overly Involved Parents

February 17
Integrating Contextualized Learning and Basic Skills: Instructional Strategies that Increase Student Success

February 18
Managing Disruptive Classroom Behavior

February 22
Understanding Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: How to Improve the Academic Success of Student Veterans on Your
Campus

February 23
Undocumented Students: An Overview of Policies, Myths and Best Practices

February 23
Laying the Groundwork for Re-Accreditation

February 24
Communicating in Crisis: How and When Should Parents Be Informed

February 25
Identifying and Managing Aggressive Student Behaviors, Attitudes and Emotions

February 25
Constructivism Applied in Classroom Teaching

March 3
The First-Year Experience: A Critical Foundation for Student Success

March 4
Suicide, Social Problems and Anxiety: Managing Mental Health Issues on Campus

March 4
Creating Tests That Assess Higher Order Thinking Skills

March 8
Helping UnderPrepared Students Succeed: How to Influence Student Engagement, Learning and Persistence

March 10
Maximizing the Impact of Advising on Student Success

March 11
Providing Appropriate & Targeted Feedback to Today's College Student

March 17
Organizing and Delivering Advising: Models for Success

March 18
Improving the Odds for a GI Grad - That Critical 1st Year

March 22
Identifying and Reaching Unprepared Students: Strategies for Creating Success in the College Classroom

March 22
Designing a Successful Service-Learning Course: A Practical Approach

March 23
Retention 101: Student Outcomes and University Benchmarks

March 24
Training Academic Advisors: Conceptual, Relational, & Informational Issues

March 29
Service-Learning Course Development: Developing Real Community Partnerships that Work

March 29
Implementing A Successful Developmental Program Model

March 30
Learning Communities: Creating Environments that Retain, Engage and Transform Learners

March 31
Assessing the Effectiveness of Your Academic Advising Programs

April 5
How to Promote Your Service-Learning Programs to Key Audiences

March 30, April 6 & April 13
Critical Thinking: Designing Instructional Strategies to Promote Critical Thought

April 6
Student Engagement in Class: Increasing Learning and Persistence

April 7
Moving a Classroom-Based Course to Online or Hybrid

April 7
It's All About Change: Negotiating the Culture for Improved Advising

April 12
Motivational Interviewing: An Intervention for At-Risk College Students Seeking Career Services

April 13
Empowering At-Risk Probationary Students using Appreciative Advising Inside and Outside the Classroom

April 14
Best Practices for Implementing Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) in Support of Student Learning and Achievement

April 19
Veteran Resource Centers - How They Will Impact Your Campus and Your Community

April 20
Organizing an Integrative First Year Experience on a Community College Campus - A Case Study

April 20
Strategic Grant Funding for Community Colleges

April 21
Developmental Education: How to Create an Effective Training Program for Faculty

April 22
Critical Thinking & The First Year: Pedagogy, Challenges and Assessment

April 28
Implementing Web 2.0 Tools to Achieve Student Learning Outcomes

May 5
Appreciative College Instruction

You may also be interested in:
Increasing Online Student Engagement and Retention through Online Human Touch:February 3

Incorporating Active Learning Strategies Into Your Online Teaching Environment:February 9

Critical Thinking: Designing Instructional Strategies to Promote Critical Thought:March 30, April 6 & April 13

Innovative Educators Webinar: Getting Adults Back In: Applied Baccalaureate Degrees as a Tool for Adult Degree Completion

Technolog on MSNBC: KINDLE books now outsell paperbacks

By Athima Chansanchai

When Amazon announced that its third-generation Kindle "eclipsed 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' as the bestselling product in Amazon’s history," we knew it'd only be a matter of time before we heard the announcement that Kindle books outsell paperback books. And now, about a month after that Kindle announcement, it's here, from Jeff Bezos: "Kindle books have now overtaken paperback books as the most popular format on Amazon.com."

This comes six months after Amazon announced Kindle book sales had overtaken hardcover sales and had predicted Kindle books reaching this milestone in the second quarter of this year, so it's ahead of schedule. Not only that, but the company announced that its fourth quarter sales topped $10 billion for the first time.

Since the beginning of the year, for every 100 paperback books Amazon has sold, the Company has sold 115 Kindle books. In July, Kindle books surpassed hardcovers, selling 143 for every 100.

Hardcover sales still trail Kindle books, with the latter selling three times as much during this same period. These numbers stretch across "Amazon.com's entire U.S. book business and includes sales of books where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the numbers even higher." Amazon reminds us that "millions of free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are also available to read on Kindle."

The numbers are mind boggling: the U.S. Kindle Store now has more than 810,000 books including new releases and 107 of 112 New York Times bestsellers.

The price point of Kindle books may also have something to do with its sales: over 670,000 of these books are $9.99 or less, including 74 New York Times bestsellers.

Technolog on MSNBC: KINDLE books now outsell paperbacks

QR Codes 101: Make Links to Your Website from Anywhere

QR Codes 101: Make Links to Your Website from Anywhere

Underworld Magazine: 9 Websites to Learn the Basics About HTML 5

Underworld Magazine: 9 Websites to Learn the Basics About HTML 5

Smashing Magazine: We Can Do Better: The Overlooked Importance of Professional Journalism

Smashing Magazine: We Can Do Better: The Overlooked Importance of Professional Journalism

2011 Black History Month Celebrations at Dillard University – Dept. of Social Sciences

Dillard University will host its opening activities for the 85th Annual National Black History Celebration on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011. Following greetings by Dillard President Dr. Marvalene Hughes, the Dillard University Concert Choir, under the direction of S. Carver Davenport, will perform. Dr. Alan Colón, Dillard’s National Endowment for the Humanities Eminent Scholar in African World Studies, will deliver the keynote address, “Celebrating Black History: Past, Present and Future.” A dialogue between the audience and a panel of students will follow. The program starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Professional Schools and Sciences Building’s Georges Auditorium. For more information, call (504) 816-4701.

2011 Black History Month Celebrations at Dillard University – Dept. of Social Sciences

Academic Leadership Live The Online Journal: Resident Block-rotation in Clinical Teaching Improves Student Learning

Volume 8 Issue 3 Summer 2010
Posted On Wed, Sep 01 2010 14:47:44
Authors: Ralitsa Akins , Gilbert A. Handal

ABSTRACT
In 2007, a new block-rotation in clinical teaching was implemented for the third-year residents in the pediatric residency program at Texas Tech HSC in El Paso, Texas. We describe the design and implementation of this rotation, as well as its impact on student learning and satisfaction. During 2.5 academic years, the teaching residents supported the experiences in the pediatric clerkship of 129 medical students. Evaluations of teaching residents and clinical teaching rotation, as well as written feedback indicate improved student learning and satisfaction. Our clinical teaching rotation presents a structured approach to “teaching residents to teach” with an ample time for practice of the new skills and discovery of resident own teaching style. We recommend the implementation of teaching block-rotations to augment training experiences and student learning.

BACKGROUND
Residents are expected to teach students, peers and patients, as a part of the core competency of practice-based learning and improvement. However, oftentimes, they are expected to be good teachers just by the virtue of being residents, with little or no preparation for teaching (Bensinger, Meah & Smith, 2005; Busari et al, 2006; Sargeant & Werner, 2008). Junior residents often have more exposure to students than senior residents; thus, junior residents are expected to teach medical students at the time when they are trying to gain specialty knowledge themselves, experience intense time pressures, and may feel not fully equipped to teach at that early stage of their training (Jablonowski, 2004; Bensinger, Meah & Smith, 2005).

There is a wide variety in the methods used to teach residents to teach, as well as in the time invested in resident training to become good teachers. The teaching interventions vary widely too, and may be in the form of resident-led teaching conferences, small groups, workshops, development programs, teaching rotations or Objective Structured Teaching Examinations (OSTE). These experiences could be formal or informal, closely supervised or not, didactic or hands-on.

There has been some inconsistency in the reported results from resident teaching interventions, and little is known about how much training could be considered sufficient. Common shortcomings of studies of resident teaching experiences are small numbers of participants, short post-intervention periods, difficulties in establishing comparable control groups, and decreased power of the studies (Dewey et al, 2008). Many suggested curricula in resident teaching have emerged without being validated (Wamsley et al., 2004; Farrell et al, 2006). Resident curricula in teaching are also varied and may encompass a number of topics including leadership, teaching skills, evaluation, feedback, team management and career development (Julian et al, 2007).

The time invested in teaching residents to teach programs may be as short as one-hour or as long as a longitudinal curriculum overarching one or more years of the residency training. A two-day teaching workshop of an experimental resident group (n=14) compared with a control group (n=13) demonstrated increased teaching abilities of the workshop participants (Busari et al, 2006). OSTE was used to evaluate the teaching of two groups of residents after a 10.5-hour workshop-based teaching training (n experimental = 13, n control = 11); the teaching intervention helped to improve the teaching skills of the residents (Gaba et al., 2007).

A teaching program consisting of 4-hour sessions during each training year revealed an increasing appreciation of the teaching role of the residents during the progression of their training, with the senior residents being the most interested in teaching (Johnson et al, 1996). A four-month longitudinal teaching course improved resident confidence in teaching and the residents reported satisfaction with the course content (Julian et al, 2007). Monthly half-day workshops for second-year residents focusing on teaching skills elicited better understanding about the effort involved in teaching and the role of being a teacher (Dimitrov, 2008). Participation in resident Chief’s Rounds for one year or longer led to improved resident case preparation and oral presentation skills (Khagsiwala et al., 2007). James, Mintz & McLaughlin (2006) found that assigned reading material and one small group session on teaching skills implied better teaching skills as reported by the resident peers, but failed to elicit better teaching experience from the teaching residents.

With such a variety of approaches, it may be difficult for program directors to choose which would be the teaching experience for their residents that would offer the most value. The differences between and among the specialty training requirements add to the uncertainty about the best method in teaching residents to teach.

ROTATION DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
We share our experience in designing and implementing a block-rotation in clinical teaching during the last year of pediatric residency training. The curriculum content and educational experiences in the rotation continued to evolve during two academic years, based on feedback from faculty, residents and students. We implemented the new rotation during the third year of pediatric residency training, when the residents are well-versed in medical knowledge and have more clinical experience. For the planning and implementation stages of the new rotation we followed the 10 steps described by Kirkpatrick (Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick, 2006); these steps are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Clinical teaching rotation planning and implementation steps

#
Step
Identifiers

1.
Determining needs
· The practice-based learning and improvement competency requires that residents learn how to teach.

· Student honor rates in the pediatric clerkship needed improvement

2.
Setting objectives
· Improve resident teaching skills

· Improve student honor rates in the pediatric clerkship

3.
Determining subject content
· Pediatric clerkship curriculum based on COMSEP recommendations

4.
Selecting participants
· Third-year pediatric residents

· Pediatric faculty

· Students in pediatric clerkship

5.
Determining the best schedule
· Design must accommodate resident and student schedules

6.
Selecting appropriate facilities
· Inpatient part of student pediatric clerkship

7.
Selecting instructors
· Clinical faculty – patient care oversight

· Academic faculty – teaching and assessment oversight

8.
Preparing audio-visual aids
· Teaching resident sessions/curriculum

9.
Coordinating the program
· Residency coordinator and clerkship coordinator, working together

10.
Evaluating the program
· Evaluations from students and residents


All residents in our program have two workshops annually on teaching skills, throughout all levels of residency training. The purpose of introducing the new rotation in clinical teaching was to further develop residents’ effectiveness as medical educators. Resident teaching is a recognized skill with explicit responsibilities, and requires ongoing nurturing. The resident teaching activities have two major components: clinical (bedside) component, and didactic (classroom) component. The teaching resident prepares the students for rounds, demonstrates patient examination techniques, reviews student notes, discusses complex cases, and oversees students’ presentations. Additionally, the teaching resident has scheduled didactic sessions with the medical students, ranging from lectures to vignette discussions, to NBME-type question sessions, to Jeopardy-like team games. An example of resident schedule is presented on Table 2.

Table 2 Example of a teaching resident weekly schedule.

TEACHING RESIDENT WEEKLY SCHEDULE
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY

8:00
8:00-09:00

Morning Report
8:00-9:00 am

Small Group
8:00-9:00

Evidence Based Medicine
8:00-09:00

Morning Report
8:00-09:00 am

Small Group

9:00
9:00-11:30 am

Rounds WB/IMCN
9:00-11:30 am

Rounds WB/IMCN
9:00-11:30 am

Rounds ICN/IMCN
9:00-11:30 am

Rounds ICN/IMCN
9:00-11:30 am

Rounds ICN/IMCN

10:00

11:00

12:00
Student Lecture by Faculty
Student Lecture by Faculty
12:00-4:00 PM

Resident Didactic

Lectures
Student Lecture by Faculty
Student Lecture by Faculty

1:00
Resident preparation afternoon for activities and didactics with students scheduled for the week
Resident continuity clinic

2:00

3:00
Teaching resident activity:

Case vignettes and/or

Jeopardy Game

Teaching Resident activity:

NBME Preparation and/or Case Review

4:00
Faculty oversight is continued during the clinical teaching block-rotation. The clinical faculty oversees the quality of bedside teaching and preparation for rounds, while the educational faculty oversees the appropriateness of applied methodology and resident progress in teaching skills and giving feedback to students.

It is important to note that during the clinical teaching rotation the teaching resident takes no calls, so he/she can be available for teaching every day. Our experience showed that the presence of the teaching resident on a daily basis is very important for the student learning outcomes.

RESULTS
The new teaching rotation was approved by the Residency Curriculum Committee and implemented as of July 1, 2007. During 2.5 academic years (2007-2009) the teaching residents taught a total of 129 students. A retrospective data review study of the teaching rotation was approved by TTUHSC El Paso, IRB #E09076. Analysis was completed for recorded numerical and textual data. In rotation evaluation, we followed the four levels identified by Kirkpatrick (2006): reaction, learning, behavior and results.

Level 1: Reaction
Resident teaching assessment by the students is anonymous. Table 3 presents the teaching resident overall evaluations from students, on a 5-point Likert scale, where 1 is poor, and 5 is excellent.

Table 3 Student evaluations of teaching residents. Since there is only one teaching resident per month, to protect resident identity, results are reported in 6-month blocks.

Teaching Resident
Academic Period
Average Score

July – December 2007
4.0

January – June 2008
4.0

July - December 2008
4.6

January – June 2009
4.3

July – December 2009
4.0

Average score for all teaching residents
4.2

Level 2: Learning
The student evaluation of the teaching rotation included 7 questions about resident’s performance and quality of teaching. Table 4 presents the compound mean calculations of scores for all student groups since the inception of the rotation in July 2007. All questions were rated on a Likert scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is poor and 5 is excellent. Though all ratings were above 4, the highest rating items were related to gaining better understanding about the topics taught by the teaching resident, appropriateness of the curriculum topics, and well-structured and organized teaching activities.

Table 4 Questionnaire items and compound mean scores across all students

Item
Average score

I gained a stronger understanding of the topics covered by the resident.
4.4

I found the resident’s lectures to be interesting and engaging.
4.1

I received an adequate amount of guidance and mentoring during the rounds.
4.2

The content of the curriculum provided by the resident was appropriate.
4.3

The teaching was well-structured and organized.
4.3

The use of vignettes was valuable in teaching topics discussed.
4.2

This resident helped me prepare for the NBME.
4.2

Level 3: Behavior
Resident and student text comments submitted in teaching rotation and clerkship evaluations were analyzed with qualitative research software, The Ethnograph v5.0 (Qualis Research). Two major themes were identified: (1) guidance and support, and (2) improved learning environment.

Guidance and Support
The students perceived the teaching residents as “very knowledgeable,” “very patient,” “great teachers,” “very helpful” and “explaining really well.” It was important to the students to feel that the teaching residents exuded consideration for students’ learning needs, and that the residents made an overt effort to make the learning process “fun and interactive.” As one student described,

“The teaching resident made sure we got involved in patient care in the nursery and did a very good job orienting us to how things operate, and made us comfortable there during our nursery rotation. She also did a good job presenting information that was pertinent to our exam, as well as useful in clinic. She used lots of resources to make sure we learned high-yield information. She had enthusiasm for teaching. The vignettes were well organized and correlated to lectures well. She was always more than willing to answer questions thoroughly.”

The need for guiding and supporting student learning was also recognized by the residents:

“I have learned that the students are really eager to learn, and that I have to maintain this enthusiasm. So, when I start getting the feeling that they start drifting off, I ask for their comments and I don’t discourage them or stop them from voicing out their opinions. Right or wrong, I acknowledge their efforts.”

Improved Learning Environment
The responsibility or preparing student didactic sessions and leading student teams placed an emphasis on the quality of resident preparation during the teaching rotation, which in turn improved the student understanding of the material, as well as the trust-relationship between residents and students. As one resident explained,

“I ended up enjoying this rotation because I learned a lot myself. I learned that if you are prepared and updated on your lessons, you’ll be able to analyze how your students are thinking, help them enhance their clinical thought process and confidently explain. And after getting them to think, I share with them what is the correct answer, and I would hear them say “ah” and “oh.”I got to know each student personally.”

The students expressed their appreciation of the well-rounded curriculum, the engaging nature of the student-resident encounters, and the attentiveness in ensuring that all students learn:

“The teaching resident went through physical exam with us and then observed and critiqued our skills. We also did questions and went through articles that added to our education. The resident also helped with presentations and helped us find various data on our patients. He was very approachable, knew the material well and explained it well on the student level; he was great to have on rounds to help answer questions and give constructive feedback.”

Residents reported they prepared more extensively on the topics they were scheduled to teach to students. Protected teaching time and time to prepare didactic materials was highly appreciated by the teaching residents, and also provided for self-study on selected topics for the pediatric board exam.

Level 4: Results
The percentage of the students in the pediatric clerkship on our campus who earned “Honors” in pediatrics, defined as achieving 75th percentile or higher on the shelf exam, steadily increased since the start of the resident clinical teaching rotation (Table 5).

Table 5 Percentage of honor students

Academic Period % Honor Students

AY 2007-2008 15%

AY 2008-2009 28%

AY 2009-2010 (6 mo) 45%

Student feedback and improved shelf exam results, as well as increased student satisfaction with the pediatric clerkship are being attributed to the teaching rotation. The students are very satisfied with the teaching residents. As a student noted in the anonymous clerkship evaluation, “I loved everything about the teaching rotation! I love having teaching residents!” Another student wrote, “Keep the teaching residents! They are fantastic!”

LIMITATIONS
Our experience is limited to one residency program in pediatrics and encompasses only two-and-a-half academic years. Other events, such as improved session organization and small group contact time could have also been contributing factors to the observed outcomes.

CONCLUSION and RECOMMENDATION
Teaching courses may lead to improved resident confidence in teaching, as well as improved student evaluation of residents’ teaching effectiveness (Wamsley et al, 2004; Bensinger, Meah & Smith, 2005). Our experience implies that a focused teaching rotation added to the annual teaching workshop-based interventions is valuable for student learning.

Our experience with a clinical teaching rotation for senior pediatric residents suggests that it is beneficial for student learning. Based on the improved student satisfaction with the pediatric clerkship and increased student achievement on the pediatric shelf exam, we recommend the implementation of teaching block-rotations to augment the training experiences and learning for both, residents and students.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge Merle Ipson, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Maria-Teresa Ambat, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, for their contributions to the development and implementation of the clinical teaching rotation curriculum. Special thank-you is due to Robert Suskind, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Marie-Martine Logvinoff, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Clerkship Director, and Lorena Villalobos, clerkship coordinator, for their tireless support. Special acknowledgement is due to Kristinmae Claros, B.A., coordinator of the resident teaching rotation, for her invaluable contributions to the successful implementation of the rotation, as well as to Mildred Olivas, B.S., for her technical support in the preparation of this paper.



REFERENCES
Bensinger, L.D., Meah, Y.S., & Smith, L.G. (2005). Resident as teacher: The Mount Sinai experience and a review of the literature. The Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine, 72(5):307-311
Busari, J.O., Scherpbier, A.J.J.A., Van Der Vleuten, C.P.M., Essed, G.G.M. (2006). A two-day teacher-training programme for medical residents:Investigating the impact on teaching ability. Advances in Health Science Education, 1I:133-144
Dewey, C.M., Coverdale, J.H., Ismail, N.J., Culberson, J.W., Thompson, B.M., Patton, C.S., & Friedland, J.A. (2008). Residents-as-teachers programs in psychiatry: A systematic review. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 53(2):77-84
Dimitrov, A. (2008). Residents as future teachers (RAFT). Family Medicine, 40(2):83-84
Farrel, S.E., Pacella, C., Egan, D., Hogan, V., Wang, E., Bhatia, K., & Hobgood, C.D. (2006). Resident-as-teacher: A suggested curriculum for emergency medicine. Academic Emergency Medicine, 13:677-679
Gaba, N.D., Blatt, B., Macri, C.J., & Greenberg, L. (2007). Improving teaching skills in obstetrics and gynecology residents: evaluation of a residents-as-teachers program
Jablonowski, K.A. (2004). Teacher or student: The resident’s role in teaching at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. CPA Bulletin, 36(3):18-19
James, M.T., Mintz, M.J., & McLaughlin, K. (2006). Evaluation of a multifaceted “Resident-as-teacher” educational intervention to improve morning report. BMC Medical Education, 6(20): 6 pages. Available: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/6/20
Johnson, C.E., Bachur, R., Priebe, C., Barnes-Ruth, A., Lovejoy, F.H., & Hafler, J.P. (1996). Pediatrics, 97:907-916
Julian, K.A., O’Sullivan, P.S., Vener, M.H., & Wamsley, M.A. (2007). Teaching residents to teach: The impact of a multi-disciplinary longitudinal curriculum to improve teaching skills. Medical Education Online, 12:12
Khasgiwala, V.C., Boiselle, P, Levine, D., Lee, K.S., Barbaras, L., & Kressel, H.Y. (2007). Resident as a teacher: Assessing the benefits. Academic Radiology, 14:1422-1428
Kirkpatrick, D.L & Kirkpatrick, J.D. (2006). 3rd Edition. Evaluating Training Programs. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco
Sargeant, D, & Werner, D. (2008). Training on How to Teach. Family Medicine, 40(2):84
Wamsley, M.A., Julian, K.A., & Wipf, J.E. (2004). A literature review of “Resident-as-teacher” curricula: Do teaching courses make a difference? Journal of General Internal Medicine, 19:574-581

Academic Leadership Live The Online Journal: Resident Block-rotation in Clinical Teaching Improves Student Learning