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Monday, February 21, 2011

New Orleans Black Chorale Annual Concert BHM Feb 2011



The New Orleans Black Chorale's annual Black History Concert
will be held on Sunday February 27 at 6:30 pm
at Xavier University's Administration Auditorium.

The Concert is FREE and open to the public

The NOBC will premier two works by Robert Morris and will also perform an arrangement of "We Shall Overcome' by Uzee Brown, as well as the original work of the Chorale's director Dr. John Ware, "An African American Hymn, In Our Dignity."

Featured guest performers include Earlin Vincent of Houston, Albinas Prizgintas guest organist and Xavier University's artist in residence Wilfred Delphin, guest pianist.

In addition the Chorale will give special recognition to the New Orleans Public Library for the addition of the new African American wing.
The Chorale's honorees for this year are the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, the Sisters of the Holy Family and the Josephites.
In addition Rev. Warren Ray will be honored for his leadership of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in New Orleans for many years.

The New Orleans Black Chorale specializes in performing music
by African American composers and is especially dedicated to the
preservation and performance of American Negro Spirituals. In
addition to the annual Christmas concert, the Black Chorale also
presents an annual Black History Concert and performs in venues
throughout the New Orleans region. The NOBC is under the direction
of Dr. John E. Ware, 2010 Big Easy Entertainment Classical Arts
Awards Lifetime Achievement Award Winner.
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DU United Way Kick-off 02 18 2011



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BITS - Blackboard Webinars Spring 2011


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United Methodist Higher Education Foundation (UMHEF) Scholarship Deadline April 4th 2011


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Free Webinar: The Future of Fair Use - Sponsored by EDUCAUSE & The National Association of College and University Attorneys


Title: The Future of Fair Use

Date: Friday, February 25, 12pm - 1pm CT

Type: Webinar: FREE!

Sponsor: EDUCAUSE

Register: http://net.educause.edu/RegisterNow/1028116

Summary
In this EDUCAUSE Live! we will discuss ethics and strategies for overcoming institutional roadblocks related to publishing and teaching with copyrighted media. As fair use protections and potentials continue to expand, how can non-specialists help shape a more rational future for fair use? Topics will include the myths and realities of fair use, best practices, DMCA exemptions, and the practicalities of working with copyrighted media across a full spectrum of scholarly and pedagogical activities.
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Inside Higher Ed: Can You Trust Automated Grading?


February 21, 2011

FAIRFAX, VA. -- If a computer can win at "Jeopardy," can one grade the essays of freshmen?

At George Mason University Saturday, at the Fourth International Conference on Writing Research, the Educational Testing Service presented evidence that a pilot test of automated grading of freshman writing placement tests at the New Jersey Institute of Technology showed that computer programs can be trusted with the job. The NJIT results represent the first "validity testing" -- in which a series of tests are conducted to make sure that the scoring was accurate -- that ETS has conducted of automated grading of college students' essays. Based on the positive results, ETS plans to sign up more colleges to grade placement tests in this way -- and is already doing so.

But a writing scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology presented research questioning the ETS findings, and arguing that the testing service's formula for automated essay grading favors verbosity over originality. Further, the critique suggested that ETS was able to get good results only because it tested short answer essays with limited time for students -- and an ETS official admitted that the testing service has not conducted any validity studies on longer form, and longer timed, writing.

Chaitanya Ramineni, an ETS researcher, outlined the study of NJIT's use of the testing service's E-Rater to grade writing placement essays. NJIT has freshmen write answers to short essay prompts and uses four prompts, arranged in various configurations of two prompts per student, with 30 minutes to write.

The testing service compared the results of E-Rater evaluations of students' papers to human grading, and to students' scores on the SAT writing test and the essay portion of the SAT writing test (which is graded by humans). ETS found very high correlations between the E-Rater grades and the SAT grades and, generally, to the human grades of the placement test.

In fact, Ramineni said, one of the problems that surfaced in the review was that some humans doing the evaluation were not scoring students' essays on some prompts in consistent ways, based on the rubric used by NJIT. While many writing instructors may not trust automated grading, she said, it is important to remember that "human scoring suffers from flaws."

Andrew Klobucar, assistant professor of humanities at NJIT, said that he has also noticed a key change in student behavior since the introduction of E-Rater. One of the constant complaints of writing instructors is that students won't revise. But at NJIT, Klobucar said, first-year students are willing to revise essays multiple times when they are reviewed through the automated system, and in fact have come to embrace revision if it does not involve turning in papers to live instructors.

Students appear to view handing in multiple versions of a draft to a human to be "corrective, even punitive," in ways that discourage them, he said. Their willingness to submit drafts to E-Rater is a huge advance, he said, given that "the construction and revision of drafts is essential" for the students to become better writers.

After the ETS and NJIT presentations encouraging the use of automated grading, Les Perelman came forward as, he said, "the loyal opposition" to the idea. Perelman, director of writing across the curriculum at MIT, has a wide following among writing instructors for his critiques of standardized writing tests -- even when graded by people.

He may be best known for his experiments psyching out the College Board by figuring out which words earn students high grades on the SAT essay, and then having students write horrific prose using those words, and earn high scores nonetheless.

Perelman did not dispute the possibility that automated essay grading may correlate highly with human grading in the NJIT experiment. The problem, he said, is that his research has demonstrated that there is a flaw in almost all standardized grading of short essays: In the short essay, short time limit format, scoring correlates strongly with essay length, so the person who gets the most words on paper generally does better -- regardless of writing quality, and regardless of human or computer grading.

In four separate studies of the SAT essay tests, Perelman explained, high correlations were found between length and score. Other writing tests -- with times of one hour instead of times of 25 minutes -- found that the correlation between length and score dropped by half. In more open-ended writing assignments, the correlation largely disappeared, he said.

After reviewing these nine tests, he said that for any formula to work (grading by humans in short time periods, but especially grading by computer), the values that are rewarded are likely to be suspect.

Perelman then critiqued the qualities that go into the ETS formula for automated grading. For instance, many parts of the formula look at ratios -- the ratio of grammar error to total number of words, ratio of mechanics errors to word count, and so forth. Thus someone who writes lots of words, and keeps them simple (even to the point of nonsense), will do well.

ETS says its computer program tests "organization" in part by looking at the number of "discourse units" -- defined as having a thesis idea, a main statement, supporting sentences and so forth. But Perelman said that the reward in this measure of organization is for the number of units, not their quality. He said that under this rubric, discourse units could be flopped in any order and would receive the same score -- based on quantity.

Other parts of the formula, he noted, punish creativity. For instance, the computer judges "topical analysis" by favoring "similarity of the essay's vocabulary to other previously scored essays in the top score category." "In other words, it is looking for trite, common vocabulary," Perelman said. "To use an SAT word, this is egregious." Word complexity is judged, among other things, by average word length, so, he suggested, students are rewarded for using "antidisestablishmentarianism," regardless of whether it really advances the essay. And the formula also explicitly rewards length of essay.

Perelman went on to show how Lincoln would have received a poor grade on the Gettysburg Address (except perhaps for starting with "four score," since it was short and to the point). And he showed how the ETS rubric directly contradicts most of George Orwell's legendary rules of writing.

For instance, he noted that Orwell instructed us to "never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print," to "never use a long word where a short one will do" and that "if it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out." ETS would take off points for following all of that good advice, he said.

Perelman ended his presentation by flashing an image that he said represented the danger of going to automated grading just because we can: Frankenstein.

Paul Deane, of the ETS Center for Assessment, Design and Scoring, responded to Perelman by saying that he agreed with him on the need for study of automated grading of longer essays and of writing produced over longer periods of time than 30 minutes. He also said that ETS has worked safeguards into its program so that if someone, for instance, used words like "antidisestablishmentarianism" repeatedly, the person would not be able to earn a high score with a trick.

Generally, he said that the existing research is sufficient to demonstrate the value of automated grading, provided that it is used in the right ways. The computer "won't tell you if someone has written a prize essay," he said. But it can tell you if someone has "knowledge of academic English" and whether someone has the "fundamental skills" needed -- enough information to use in placement decisions, along with other tools, as is the case at NJIT.

Automated grading evaluates "key parts of the writing construct," Deane said, even if it doesn't identify all of the writing skills or deficits of a given student.

— Scott Jaschik

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AD Associated Degree: 10 Ways Nationwide Teacher Cuts Affect You

February 20th, 2011

It’s never easy to let go of teachers because of limited educational funding, but many school districts have been forced to cut back over the last few years. Every time a teacher is laid off, a valuable educator is lost and students suffer. Whether or not you have a child in grades K-12, teacher cuts affect everyone in one way or another. Here are 10 ways nationwide teacher cuts affect you:

Undermines the Quality of Education: Many school districts are cutting teachers based on the number of years they’ve been teaching, not how well their students perform or how effective they are in the classroom. This layoff system not only puts young teachers at risk for losing their jobs, but students are also getting the short end of the stick. Making layoffs without considering performance can be detrimental to student academic performance because the teachers who stay may not be the best educators. Just because a teacher has been at a school for multiple years doesn’t necessarily make him or her better educators — they just have more experience. Falling academic performance may cause students to lose interest in academics, drop out of school or give up on their dreams of going to college.

Loss of School Programs: Nationwide teacher cuts will result in the loss of many important school programs. Traditional school programs, such as physical education, family and consumer science, art and music are being cut from school districts of all financial levels to save money and shift the focus toward weaker subjects like math, science and reading. Unless the school can find another position for these teachers, they’ll likely be cut. These traditional classes have stood the test of time because kids love them and they work. Without these essential programs, students may flounder in school and lose sight of their dreams to be a musician, artist or athlete.

Hurts the Profession: Teacher layoffs will undoubtedly hurt the profession by causing potential educators to shy away from the field. In addition to layoff risks, prospective teachers may be subject to pay cuts, furloughs and less healthcare coverage. Since most educators already feel they’ve been shortchanged in salary and job security, prospective teachers may opt for different professions that don’t have these ongoing problems. A decline in new teachers will put added stress on current teachers who may have more students to teach, and keep schools from gaining fresh, new talent. The education profession will continue to suffer if changes aren’t made to preserve teaching jobs and maintain reasonable salaries.

Increases Job Competition: Layoffs will cause thousands of teachers to explore alternative careers, therefore increasing job competition across the board. Laid-off teachers are seeking a wide variety of full-time and part-time jobs to stay afloat. Some are waiting out the budget storm and hoping for a teaching job when things get better, while others are moving on to other careers and not looking back. Employers of all fields will see an even greater amount of applicants competing for the same job. Laid-off teachers with advanced degrees, specialized skills and years of experience will give other applicants some serious competition.

School Closures: In addition to teacher layoffs, budget cuts and program cuts, many districts have no other choice than to close certain schools. Many times smaller and older schools are closed down and joined with larger and newer institutions so that students, teachers and faculty have somewhere to go. However, these school closures almost always come with severe teacher cuts to accommodate for the move and lack of funding. Even those teachers who get to keep their jobs will have to give up seniority and may end up teaching a completely different subject. School closures also negatively affect students, who have to pick up and move to an unfamiliar setting that can be both mentally and emotionally draining.

Raises Taxes: Some states have taken the initiative to raise taxes to avoid cutting jobs and services that hurt residents and the economy. The taxes are intended to be used for increased education funding. The states that didn’t implement a tax raise chose to make larger teacher cuts, reduce state funding, shorten the school years, suspend programs and eliminated preschool.

Undermines Economic Development: Teacher cuts can have a devastating effect on the country and your state’s economic development. Not only can a lack of teachers damage education and limit student achievement, but it may also compromise the quality of a state’s workforce. Without these teaching jobs, states could see a significant decline in the standard of living and quality of life. More students may struggle academically and choose not to graduate or attend college. Teachers play a key role in the development and success of students. If teachers’ jobs and resources are cut down any more, it could seriously undermine our economic development.

Increases Class Sizes: Fewer teachers means larger class sizes. When student-to-teacher ratios increase, it significantly reduces the amount of time teachers can spend working with each student. Teachers will be maxed out trying to teach 30 or more students and may not be able to perform to the best of their abilities. The same goes for the students who are in these large classes. Large classes typically come with a slew of behavioral problems, and students have trouble excelling in such distracting settings. Struggling students who need more attention and advanced students who need more challenges will also be negatively affected by larger class sizes.

Widens Achievement Gap: Teacher cuts are only doing students a disservice, especially when referring to the achievement gap. Layoffs keep the achievement gap from narrowing because students aren’t receiving the kind of education they need to improve their standardized test scores. Limited resources, program cuts and larger class sizes only worsen the problem. The education system will need more teachers to improve student performance and narrow the achievement gap between students of different races.

Shapes our Future: Teacher cuts will shape our future and the future of today’s students in more ways than one. It could strengthen the occupation as a whole or cause a decline in interested applicants. It could make teaching a more selective career or a desperate field. Students are also impacted by teacher cuts and will most certainly experience the effects of a struggling economy. Only time will tell if these teacher cuts damage the education system or make it stronger.
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Washington County News: Florida A&M University and EPA partner to promote sustainability, environmental careers and watershed management



Florida A&M University and EPA partner to promote sustainability, environmental careers and watershed management

At a ceremony today, Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU) entered into two agreements with EPA focused on green initiatives. The first commits EPA and FAMU to cooperate in addressing environmental issues ranging from energy policy and sustainability to food security, health disparities, environmental justice and children’s health. FAMU is the fourteenth university to join the agency’s Collegiate Sustainability Initiative and, as part of the agreement, EPA will work with FAMU to help green the university’s campus and make students aware of internships and career opportunities in the environmental field. A second agreement was also signed between FAMU, EPA and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection that designates the university as the first Center of Excellence for Watershed Management in Florida.

FAMU President James Ammons signed the two Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) during a ceremony this afternoon at the university’s Lee Hall Auditorium.
“EPA is committed to expanding the conversation on environmentalism by engaging Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs),” said EPA Regional Administrator Gwen Keyes Fleming. “This collaborative partnership with FAMU will allow us to advance our mutual goals of greening the university’s campus, promoting sustainability initiatives throughout Florida and educating the next, more diverse generation of environmental leaders.”

Under the first MOU, EPA committed to provide technical assistance to support several existing centers at FAMU including the Center for Environmental Equity and Justice, the Center for Environmental Technology Transfer and the Center for Water Quality. EPA and FAMU plan to undertake joint research projects, and EPA has committed technical support to assist with FAMU’s ongoing research on the environment, health disparities, pollution control, radiation protection and micrometeorology. Lastly, EPA will collaborate with FAMU’s Career Center to make students aware of internship opportunities and with the Office of the Provost to develop faculty exchange opportunities.
“This collaborative initiative in sustainability and watershed management will foster multidisciplinary and multi-scale research and community outreach programs that provide solutions to sustain and enhance environmental and watershed functions in Florida and other states in the Southeastern region,” said FAMU Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Cynthia Hughes Harris.

EPA and the FDEP signed the second MOU with FAMU designating the university as a Center of Excellence for Watershed Management. This is first Center of Excellence to be designated in Florida, the second HBCU, and the eighth in the Southeast. To become a recognized Center of Excellence, the institution must demonstrate technical expertise in identifying and addressing watershed needs; involvement of students, staff and faculty in watershed research; capability to involve the full suite of disciplines needed for all aspects of watershed management; financial ability to become self-sustaining; ability to deliver and account for results; willingness to partner with other institutions; and support from the highest levels of the organization.

Some of the benefits of being a recognized Center of Excellence include receipt of EPA technical assistance where needed (instructors, speakers, etc); promotion of the Center of Excellence to stakeholders; EPA letters of support for grant opportunities; and identification of opportunities for Center of Excellence involvement in local and regional watershed issues.

More information about priority watersheds in the Southeast is available online at: http://www.epa.gov/region4/water/watersheds/index.html
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Social Media Examiner: 4 Steps to Podcasting Success


Nathan Hangen at the Social Media Examiner offers 4 Steps to Podcasting Success. If you’re considering becoming a podcaster you’ll want to check out this helpful post. Here are the four easy steps:
•#1: Decide on Show Frequency
•#2: Decide on Format: Audio vs. Video
•#3: Determine Length Option
•#4: Determine Production Quality
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Innovative Educators: Service Learning Course Development: Design, Community Partnerships & Syllabus Creation


This 3 part series will combine theory and best practices to create a nuts-and-bolts approach that guides service-learning faculty through the complicated, but rewarding process of building a service-learning experience that benefits students, the community and their futures. See specific webinar descriptions below.

Webinar 1
Designing a Successful Service-Learning Course: A Practical Approach
Tuesday, March 22 ~ 3:00-4:30pm EDT

Join us for a nuts-and-bolts presentation that will guide service-learning faculty through the complicated, but rewarding process of building a service-learning experience that benefits students, the community and their futures. A practical, step-by-step approach will be presented.

Webinar 2
Service-Learning Course Development: Developing Real Community Partnerships that Work
Tuesday, March 22 ~ 3:00-4:30pm EDT

This course will help service-learning faculty to match their desired service-learning courses to appropriate, developmental service-experiences and reflections throughout the semester. It will take them through the idea stage, to community collaboration in course design, to syllabus development, to constructing productive assignments to exams or other culminating experiences.

Webinar 3
How to Design an Effective Service Learning Course Syllabus
Tuesday, March 22 ~ 3:00-4:30pm EDT

This webinar will help participants learn how to communicate consistently, effectively and to the right people. It will take attendees through the critical steps of establishing strategies for use on campus, with the media, and with other important groups; developing messages; defining audiences, setting objectives, preparing budgets, structuring assessments and creating timelines.

Who is the Instructor?
Maureen Shubow Rubin was appointed Associate Dean of the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication at California State University, Northridge in 2010. She served as Director of Undergraduate Studies from 2006 to 2010. Prior to this position, since 1998 she served as founding director of the Center for Community-Service Learning where she helped to develop and secure funding for over 300 new service-learning classes. She has written and implemented successful grant proposals to help students on her campus participate in projects centered on gang prevention, school readiness, computer literacy, self-help legal assistance, and bringing English and citizenship skills to immigrant elders, among others. An experienced faculty trainer and peer mentor, she has published widely about service-learning pedagogy, civic engagement, community collaboration and effective outreach. In 2001, she was awarded the Richard E. Cone Award from California Campus Compact for excellence and leadership in cultivating community partnerships in higher education.

Rubin joined the University in 1984 as a professor of journalism where she specialized in teaching law, public relations and media ethics, all of which have been subjects of numerous articles she wrote for both scholarly journals and mainstream media. In 1993, she was voted Outstanding Journalism Educator in the State of California by the California Newspaper Publishers Association. Prior to joining the university, Rubin was Director of Public Information for President Carter's Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs in the White House, and held similar positions for a U.S. Congresswoman and Consumer Federation of America. Rubin is a graduate of the Catholic University School of Law In Washington, D.C., holds a Master of Arts degree in Public Relations from University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from Boston University.

Related Webinars
February 25
Constructivism Applied in Classroom Teaching

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

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

April 6
Student Engagement in Class: Increasing Learning and Persistence

Upcoming Webinars
February 25
Constructivism Applied in Classroom Teaching

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 8
Making Appreciative Advising Work: Culture, Climate and Conversion

March 10
Maximizing the Impact of Advising on Student Success

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 23
Retention 101: Student Outcomes and University Benchmarks

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

March 24
Veteran Students: Creating a Trauma Informed and Military Friendly Campus

March 25
Supporting the Engagement, Learning and Success of Students At-Risk

March 29
Implementing A Successful Developmental Program Model

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

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

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

March 31
Assessing the Effectiveness of Your Academic Advising Programs

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

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
Kiss Kiss: How An Academic Success Program Can Gain Faculty Buy-In

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

Innovative Educators
3277 Carbon Place
Boulder, Colorado 80301
www.innovativeeducators.org
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