Thursday, January 19, 2012
Tomorrow's Professor Blog: Helping Difficult Students Read Difficult Texts
http://derekbruff.com/site/tomprof/?p=205
The posting below looks at eleven contributing causes of students' reading difficulties. It is from Chapter 9, Helping Difficult Students Read Difficult Texts, in the book, Engaging Ideas : The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom, by John C. Bean. Second edition. Published by Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint. 989 Market Street San Francisco, CA 94103-1741?www.josseybass.com Copyright (c) 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
Regards,
Rick Reis
reis@stanford.edu
Whenever teachers discuss problems with student writing or critical thinking, they inevitably turn also to problems of student reading. Just as speaking and listening skills are intertwined, so too are writing and reading skills. Many of today's students are inexperienced readers, overwhelmed by the density of their college textbooks and baffled by the strangeness and complexity of primary sources and by their unfamiliarity with academic discourse. Armed with a yellow highlighter but with no apparent strategy for using it and hampered by lack of knowledge of how skilled readers actually go about reading, our students often feel overwhelmed by college reading assignments. The aim of this chapter is to suggest ways that we can help students become stronger readers, empowered by the strategies that we ourselves use when we encounter difficult texts.
Causes of Students' Reading Difficulties
Before we can help students improve their reading skills, we need to look more closely at the causes of their reading difficulties. Our students have, of course, learned to read in the sense of achieving basic literacy. Except for an occasional student with a reading disability, college students do not need to be taught reading in this ordinary sense. Rather, they need to be taught to read powerfully. In the words of a sociology professor collaborating with a reading theorist (Roberts and Roberts, 2008), students need to become "deep readers," who focus on meaning, as opposed to "surface readers," who focus on facts and information. Drawing on cognitive research in reading, Judith and Keith Roberts (2008) explain that deep reading is processed in "'semantic memory' (rooted in meaning) as opposed to 'episodic memory' (tied to a specific joke, gesture, episode, or mnemonic to aid recall) (p. 126). Deep readers, they claim, interact with texts, devoting psychological energy to the task:
A good reader forms visual images to represent the content being read, connects to emotions, recalls settings and events that are similar to those presented in the reading, predicts what will happen next, asks questions, and thinks about the use of language. One of the most important steps, however, is to connect the manuscript [they] are reading with what [they] already know and to attach the facts, ideas, concepts, or perspectives to that known material [p. 126].
The question we face as educators is how to teach and foster this kind of "deep reading." In this section I identify eleven contributing causes of students' reading difficulties.
1. A School Culture That Rewards Surface Reading
Roberts and Roberts (2008) make a powerful case that our current school culture, which allows savvy students to get decent grades for minimal effort, cultivates surface reading. They argue that the prolific use of quizzes and other kinds of objective tests encourages "surface learning based in... short-term memorization for a day or two... rather than deep learning that is transformative of one's perspective and involves long-term comprehension" (p. 127). Moreover, they argue, many students don't value a course's "big ideas" because deep learning isn't needed for cumulating a high GPA. (They cite evidence that nearly half of college students spend less than ten hours per week on out-of-class study, including time for writing papers and studying for exams.) Students like multiple choice tests, the authors say, because most objective testing allows students "to skim material a few days before an examination looking for the kinds of facts, definitions, concepts, and other specific information that the particular instructor tends to stress in examinations" (p. 129). When students apply a cost/benefit analysis, they see, quite rationally, that deep reading "may be an unwise use of valuable time if there are no adverse consequences" (p. 129). In short, unless we as teachers evaluate student performance at the levels of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, "reading at that deeper level will not occur" (p. 129). (For an in-depth critique of school cultures that promote surface learning, see Weimer, 2002.)
2. Students' Resistance to the Time-on-Task Required for Deep Reading
Roberts and Roberts rightly identify students' desire to avoid the deep reading process, which involves substantial time-on-task. When experts read difficult texts, they read slowly and reread often. They struggle with the text to make it comprehensible. They hold confusing passages in mental suspension, having faith that later parts of the text may clarify earlier parts. They "nutshell" passages as they proceed, often writing gist statements in the margins. They read a difficult text a second and a third time, considering first readings as approximations or rough drafts. They interact with the text by asking questions, expressing disagreements, linking the text with other readings or with personal experience.
But resistance to deep reading may involve more than an unwillingness to spend the time. Students may actually misunderstand the reading process. They may believe that experts are speed readers who don't need to struggle. Therefore students assume that their own reading difficulties must stem from their lack of expertise, which makes the text "too hard for them." Consequently, they don't allot the study time needed to read a text deeply.
3. Teachers' Willingness to Lecture over Reading Material
Once students believe that a text is too hard for them, they assume that it is the teacher's job to explain the text to them. Since teachers regularly do so, the students' reading difficulty initiates a vicious circle: Teachers, frustrated by their students' poor reading comprehension, decide to lecture over the assigned texts ("I have to lecture on this material because students are such poor readers"). Meanwhile, teachers' lectures deprive students of the very practice and challenge they need to grow as readers ("I don't have to struggle with this text because the teacher will explain it in class").
4. Failure to Adjust Reading Strategies for Different Purposes
Inexperienced readers are also unaware of how a skilled reader's reading process will vary extensively depending on the reader's purpose. Sternberg (1987) argues that college students?facing enormous amounts of reading? must learn to distinguish among different reading purposes and adjust their reading speed accordingly. Some reading tasks require only skimming for gist, while others require the closest scrutiny of detail. Sternberg gave people a reading comprehension test consisting of four passages; each of which was to be read for a different purpose?one for gist, one for main ideas, one for detail, and one for inference and application. He discovered that good readers varied their reading speed appropriately, spending the most time with passages they were to read for detail, inference, and application. Poor readers, in contrast, read all four passages at the same speed. As Sternberg puts it, poor readers "do not discriminate in their reading time as a function of reading purpose" (p. 186). The lesson here is that we need to help students learn when to read fast and when to read slowly. Not every text requires deep reading.
5. Difficulty in Adjusting Reading Strategies to Different Genres
Besides adjusting reading strategy to purpose, students need to team to adjust reading strategy to genre. Students tend to read all texts as if they were textbooks?linearly from first to last page?looking for facts and information that can be highlighted with a yellow marker. Their tendency to get either lost or bored results partly from their unfamiliarity with the text's genre and the function of that genre within a discourse system. Learning the rhetorical function of different genres takes considerable practice as well as knowledge of a discipline's ways of conducting inquiry and making arguments. Inexperienced readers do not understand, for example, that the author of a peer-reviewed scholarly article joins a conversation of other scholars and tries to stake out a position that offers something new. At a more specific level, they don't understand that an empirical research study in the social or physical sciences requires a different reading strategy from that of a theoretical/interpretive article in the humanities. These genre problems are compounded further when students are assigned challenging primary texts from the Great Books tradition (reading Plato or Darwin, Nietzsche or Sartre, or an archived historical document) or asked to write research papers drawing on contemporary popular culture genres such as op-ed pieces, newspaper articles, trade journals, blogs, or websites.
6. Difficulty in Perceiving the Structure of an Argument as They Read
Unlike experts, inexperienced readers are less apt to chunk complex material into discrete parts with describable functions. They do not say to themselves, for example, "This part is giving evidence for a new reason," "This part maps out an upcoming section," or "This part summarizes an opposing view." Their often indiscriminate, almost random use of the yellow highlighter suggests that they are not representing the text in their minds as a hierarchical structure. To use a metaphor popular among composition instructors, these students are taking an ant's-eye view of the text?crawling through it word by word?rather than a bird's-eye view, seeing the overall structure by attending to mapping statements, section headings, paragraph topic sentences, and so forth.
7. Difficulty in Reconstructing the Text's Original Rhetorical Context
Inexperienced readers often do not see what conversation a text belongs to?what exigency sparked the piece of writing, what question the writer was pondering, what points of view the writer was pushing against, what audience the writer was imagining, what change the writer hoped to bring about in the audience's beliefs or actions?why, in short, the writer put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. They have difficulty perceiving a real author writing for a real reason out of a real historical moment. Also, inexperienced readers often fail to appreciate the political biases of different magazines and newspapers or the theoretical biases of different academic journals and presses. These problems are closely related to the following one.
8. Difficulty Seeing Themselves in Conversation with the Author
Possibly because they regard texts as sources of inert information rather than as arguments intended to change their view of something, inexperienced readers often do not interact with the texts they read. They don't ask how they, as readers in a particular moment in time, are similar to or different from the author's intended audience. They don't realize that texts have designs upon them and that they need to decide, through their own critical thinking, whether to succumb to or resist the text's power.
9. Difficulty in Assimilating the Unfamiliar
Developmental psychologists have long noted the "cognitive egocentrism" of new college students who have trouble walking in the shoes of persons with unfamiliar views and values (Kurfiss, 1988; Flavell, 1963). No matter what the author really means, students translate those meanings into ideas that they are comfortable with. Thus, to many of our students, a philosophic Idealist is someone with impractical ideas, whereas a Realist is praiseworthy for being levelheaded. The more unfamiliar or more threatening a new idea is, the more students transform it into something from their own psychological neighborhoods. The insight of cognitive psychology here is that these problems are related neither to stupidity nor to intellectual laziness. To use language from brain research, learners must build new concepts upon neural structures already in their brains, and sometimes older structures need to be dismantled before new ones can be built (Zull, 2002).
10. Lack of the "Cultural Literacy" Assumed by the Text's Author
In the jargon of reading theorists, students do not have access to the cultural codes of the text?background information, allusions, common knowledge that the author assumed that the reading audience would know. Knowledge of cultural codes is often essential to making meaning of the text (See Willingham, 2009, pp. 25-52, for a review of cognitive research on reading comprehension and background knowledge.) So significant is this cause that E. D. Hirsch has tried to create a national movement promoting "cultural literacy," lack of which he claims is a prime source of students' reading difficulties in college (Hirsch, 2006; Hirsch, 1988; Hirsch, Kett, and Trefil 1987).
11. Difficulties with Vocabulary and Syntax
Inadequate vocabulary hampers the reading comprehension of many students. Using a dictionary helps considerably, but often students do not appreciate how context affects word meanings, nor do they have a good ear for irony or humor. Moreover, the texts they read often contain technical terms, terms used in unusual ways, terms requiring extensive contextual knowledge, or terms that have undergone meaning changes over time. Additionally, students have difficulty tracking complex sentence structures. Although students may be skilled enough reading syntactically simple texts, they often have trouble with the sentence structure of primary sources or scholarly articles. When they are asked to read a complex sentence aloud, their errors in inflection reveal their difficulty in chunking grammatical units; they have trouble isolating main clauses, distinguishing them from attached and embedded subordinate clauses and phrases.
Harvard Graduate School of Education Summer 2012 Leadership Institutes Harvard Institute of Higher Education
Harvard Institutes for Higher Education
Over forty years ago, the Harvard Graduate School of Education was among the first to apply the principles of business management to the world of higher education. Today, HGSE continues to be at the forefront of new thinking in higher education leadership-from exploring 21st century institutional challenges to reacting to the changes the country’s new administration brings.
Objective
With an outstanding faculty and a dynamic network of 10,000 alumni who maintain long-term relationships and often return to us as their careers advance, our programs have had a significant impact in the US and around the world. Our goal is to continue to attract educational leaders who bring a commitment to personal growth and institutional success.Benefits
HGSE offers a vibrant portfolio of leadership development programs designed for higher education administrators, from directors and department heads to university presidents. Because the management issues you face depend on your position, we group you with peers with similar experience. A balance of synthesized research and experiential learning is designed to stretch your thinking and encourage discussion of common challenges. Participants bring different perspectives and represent a range of institutions, from large research universities to small liberal arts colleges and community colleges.
Campus Technology: 5 Facility Design Tips for Universities
 UConn's new facility with its "green" roof |
The project kicked off in 2010 with the goal of replacing aging social science, humanities, and undergraduate classrooms that were built in the 1950s. Those facilities lacked central cooling systems and weren't conducive to some of the modern technology that faculty members were using and that students had come to expect.
"These were fairly well-used buildings where quite a bit of activity took place," said Alex Roe, director of planning for the Storrs, CT, institution. "It was definitely time to look at replacing them with a more modern, tech-friendly facility."
Before UConn's planning team rolled in the wrecking ball and hired contractors it took a step back and focused on five important areas. Each addressed a different aspect of the project, according to Roe. This early planning resulted in a successful project that opened for students at the end of August 2011.
Here are the five areas that all universities should consider when designing state-of-the-art facilities.
- Form a committee and lean on it. UConn's planning department kicked off the Classroom Building project by -- appropriately enough -- talking to the school's classroom committee. The group comprised a member from every school and college on campus. Other members included the university's architect, representatives from the IT, telecom, and registrar's offices, and members of the cleaning and maintenance divisions. Key issues addressed by the committee included how the building would be cleaned and maintained, how the class scheduling would be handled, and what kind of technology would be integrated into the space. "We leaned heavily on the committee," said Roe, "and relied on it to help us design the classrooms and to figure out how technology would be integrated into the space."
- Pick an experienced architect. Look for a firm that has experience working in the university space and that knows how to create a space that can accommodate technology. "We purposely sought out an architectural firm to help us with all of the technology aspects that go into designing a modern classroom," said Roe. Other top considerations included the maximization of natural light, new acoustical materials, and environmentally friendly finishes. The architect should also be comfortable working with committees -- so many of which exist on the typical college campus -- and molding the new facility in a way that matches the school's culture. "Find an architect who can talk to people about everything from furniture to finishes to technology," said Roe, "and who can incorporate that information into the final design."
- Go green. UConn's Classroom Building is its greenest facility to date. Most of the materials used to construct it came from within a 500-mile radius of the campus. In the facility's two auditoriums, for example, the acoustical panels and ceiling grids were constructed from bamboo, a rapidly renewable resource. "We were careful to select materials that are durable, green, and easy to maintain," said Roe, "even if such materials cost more upfront." Other green features include a green roof where rainwater is collected and used to irrigate some of UConn's landscaping, efficient fixtures, natural light filters, and high-performance insulation.
- Consider the long-term maintenance costs. As more universities rehab or replace existing buildings Roe said long-term maintenance costs should be a top consideration. "I can't speak for other institutions, but our operating budget isn't exactly increasing right now," said Roe. "Affordable maintenance was a big concern." Take restroom partitions, for example. Knowing that those surfaces can be inviting for students armed with writing instruments and too much time on their hands, Roe said UConn installed aluminum partitions with raised diamond-cut surfaces in the Classroom Building. "They were more expensive than traditional partitions," said Roe, "but they are pretty tough to write on and much easier to clean."
- Know what you want and what you don't want. Going into this project Roe said UConn's classroom committee and planning team had a pretty good sense of what they already had [facility-wise] and what they didn't want replicated in the new facility and the related technology. "We were at least smart enough to know that," she said. To gain that knowledge she said the two groups categorized UConn's current space and conferred with faculty members whose technological acumen ranged from very little to very advanced. "The faculty members were great at helping us identify what we already had and whether it was successful or not," said Roe. "Using that information, which included the varying types of classrooms and technology we had across campus, we benchmarked internally and made good decisions."
Bridget McCrea is a business and technology writer in Clearwater, FL. She can be reached at bridgetmc@earthlink.net
Diverse Issues in Higher Education: Educators: Obama’s Vision for STEM Needs Greater Congressional Buy-in
January 18, 2012
by Reginald Stuart
When
President Barack Obama rolled out his higher education agenda early in his
term, his ambitious goals were widely embraced by higher education leaders and
major employers across the country as the right ideas at the right time for
America.
Today,
as Obama readies for a re-election bid, support for his goals seems as strong
as ever in the higher education community. Less than hoped for has been
realized, for sure, they acknowledge. They say some of Obama’s efforts have
fallen victim to a stubborn economy that is generating far less tax revenue for
the government to fund his and other programs. His agenda also has been hurt by
divisive bickering among political leaders at all levels of government over
spending priorities and education funding.
The
score on his first term, observers say: mixed, with an explanation.
“Given
the gravity of the issues with which he’s been dealing and the lack of positive
responses, he’s done well,” says Dr. Charlie Nelms, chancellor of North
Carolina Central University, agreeing with the sentiments of others. “He
(Obama) had to use a lot of political capital on the health care bill and a lot
of energy on the deficit,” Nelms says. “He’s had two wars and the economy. It’s
pretty clear bipartisanship hasn’t been there.”
Obama
came out the gate with myriad big ideas for American higher education. Basing
much of his case for action on an assortment of studies showing steady slippage
by the United States in educational achievement compared to other
industrialized nations, Obama challenged education leaders and employers to
step up their game lest the nation continue to fall behind in educating the
kinds of knowledgeable people needed to keep the nation competitive. He set a
goal for the nation of boosting its college graduation rate by 20 percent by
2020, with special emphasis on training students in science, technology,
engineering and math, or STEM.
To
reach the big goal and make college more affordable for more people, Obama
proposed pouring hundreds of millions more federal money into higher education
with greater support for community colleges, tax credits for parents with
children in college and replacing the student loan guarantee program with
lower-cost direct government loans. Most significant to colleges serving
low-income students, Obama proposed significant enhancements for the Pell Grant
program, including boosting the size of individual Pell Grants and changing the
program’s status to that of an entitlement program.
The
agenda moved ahead with some degree of success for a while, despite opposition,
mostly from Republicans. Then came the mid-term elections in November 2010.
Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives, thrusting Obama’s
overall agenda, including his plans for higher education, into the path of even
stronger headwinds of opposition.
The
higher education tax credit became law as did the overhaul of the student loan
program eliminating the middleman (banks and other private lenders) and
lowering student borrowing costs. The long-term plans for significant increases
in funding for community colleges have not fared well.
Meanwhile,
Republicans, asserting they were trying to rein in federal spending, blocked
efforts to change the status of the Pell Grant to a guaranteed entitlement and
forced Obama to give up funding of summer Pell Grants in exchange for raising
the maximum amount of an individual grant by $500 to $5,500. Republicans had
wanted to lower the grant maximum to $4,800. They have vowed to continue their
budget cutting efforts, including Pell Grant funding, if they keep control of
the House.
“We’re
at a real crossroads right now,” says Edith Bartley, director of government
affairs for the United Negro College Fund. She echoes the thoughts of others in
expressing uneasiness about the future of once reliable help for colleges with
a history of serving racial minorities.
“Unfortunately,
with the economy and climate in Congress, we’re in the process of chartering
some uncharted waters,” says Bartley.
Dr.
Glen Jones, interim provost at Arkansas State University and president of the
National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, shares
Bartley’s sentiments. Jones agrees with others in saying he did not think Obama
was overly ambitious in his call to arms, that there is ample data supporting
bold steps to address what some are calling an emerging crisis in American
education.
“People
in general support the vision, but it is directly limited by the lack of
funding,” says Jones. “I don’t think his (Obama’s) advisers realized what it
would take to achieve it.”
Jones
says “a lot of people support Obama’s vision.” He thinks the president just
needs to do a better job of getting a greater buy-in from a wider base of
people.
“It’s
a vision that has to be owned by the people, not just the president,” Jones
says.
Delaware
State University President Dr. Harry Williams, who gives Obama high marks for
his “aggressive agenda,” says “institutions on the ground,” such as his
college, now need to “work even harder to make those things happen. The
reality, in terms of what he’s (Obama) up against, it’s an uphill battle,” says
Williams.
“I
know we are going to have to do our part,” he says. “I think we can get there.
I’m optimistic.”
The Afro-American Book Stop: Mark Your Calendar, Carl Weber is coming....
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Echo360 FREE Webinar: An Inverted Webinar Event: "Blended Learning Best in Class: Taking the Distance out of Online Learning"
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An Inverted Webinar
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4faculty.org: How do People Learn?
by
Suzanne Miller & Kristina Kauffman
Before you plan your course(s) it is important to give significant
thought to:
-
Who your learners will be, and
-
How you can best reach them.
Recent research on the brain and on how people
learn is having a revolutionary impact on the study of education. A quick
search of the Internet will reveal a wealth of information on the topic. While
much of the research applies to how children learn, our knowledge of adult
learners has expanded dramatically as well. Based on that new knowledge and what
our experience suggests works best in the classroom, we review two key areas:
learning patterns and learning theories. Concepts related to learning patterns
actually grow out of learning theories, but we will begin with them in the hope
that they will illustrate the relevance of learning theories. MORE
EDUCAUSE West/Southwest Regional Conference 2012
http://www.educause.edu/WSWRC12
EDUCAUSE West/Southwest Regional Conference
February 22-24, 2012 • Portland, Oregon and Online
Engaging Everyone Effectively
Engaging Everyone Effectively
The second annual EDUCAUSE West/Southwest Regional Conference will be held February 22-24, 2012, in Portland and simultaneously online. Take advantage of this opportunity to gather with colleagues in your region.
Amid rapid change in higher education and information technology, the importance of IT engagement continues to grow.
How do we effectively engage in teaching and learning on our campuses and beyond campus as technology shrinks time and distance? In the spirit of this year’s conference theme, “Engaging Everyone Effectively,” we will look at ways to collaborate, lead, and assess IT’s role within higher ed as it continues to evolve. Join your colleagues and leaders in the higher ed IT community as we explore the many facets of IT engagement.
How do we effectively engage in teaching and learning on our campuses and beyond campus as technology shrinks time and distance? In the spirit of this year’s conference theme, “Engaging Everyone Effectively,” we will look at ways to collaborate, lead, and assess IT’s role within higher ed as it continues to evolve. Join your colleagues and leaders in the higher ed IT community as we explore the many facets of IT engagement.
Registration is open. Browse the face-to-face and online programs for innovative and practical ideas and hot topics. Be inspired to see the bigger picture and return to campus with a new perspective.
Who Should Attend?
The West/Southwest Regional Conference is designed for higher education IT professionals who work in: enterprise systems and services, IT infrastructure, IT leadership and management, libraries and digital content, security and privacy protection, support strategies and services, teaching and learning, and web and media development.
The full conference program will be February 22-24, 2012. If you can’t attend in Portland, join us online! Make the most of your visit to Portland. The conference will take place at the Hilton Portland & Executive Tower, conveniently located in downtown Portland.
Wednesday General Session
Julie Evans
Chief Executive Officer
Project Tomorrow
Friday General Session
"The Obviousness of Open Policy"
Cable Green
Director of Global Learning
Creative Commons
Additional Event Opportunities
CIO and Senior IT Leader Roundtable, Wednesday, February 22, 2:30–5:00 p.m.
This event will bring together higher education CIOs and senior IT leaders for an informal discussion on current issues and campus challenges, as well as provide networking opportunities before and after the roundtable. Roundtable registrants who can't attend the full West/Southwest conference are invited to make the most of their day by attending the conference's opening general session at 1:00 p.m. and reception at 5:30 p.m. (Please note: This event is limited to 35 participants. You may register for the roundtable separately for $50 or at no additional fee when you register for the full conference.)
This thought-leadership roundtable is designed for those on campus in the following roles:This event will bring together higher education CIOs and senior IT leaders for an informal discussion on current issues and campus challenges, as well as provide networking opportunities before and after the roundtable. Roundtable registrants who can't attend the full West/Southwest conference are invited to make the most of their day by attending the conference's opening general session at 1:00 p.m. and reception at 5:30 p.m. (Please note: This event is limited to 35 participants. You may register for the roundtable separately for $50 or at no additional fee when you register for the full conference.)
- CIO or senior-most IT leader
- Senior IT manager aspiring to a leadership role
i>Clicker FREE Webinar: Clickers in the Classroom: Pedagogical Best Practices
i>clicker is proud to sponsor a presentation from
one of our most popular speakers!
Roger Freedman
Wednesday, January
25, 2012
1:00 PM EST
So you've adopted a clicker system? What now?! Faculty and staff interested in getting the most out of in-class use of student response systems (clickers) are invited to register for a pedagogy workshop intended for those who are new to clickers or looking for new ideas and best practices. Long time clicker advocate, Dr. Roger Freedman, Ph.D., lecturer in physics at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) will lead this informative session. Among the subjects the workshop will cover are the following:
- Giving points for answering questions
- Writing good clicker questions
- Utilizing "peer instruction" and other types
of questions - Do's and don'ts when implementing clickers
This webinar is just one of a series of pedagogy webinars scheduled for spring 2012. Read more here.
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