August 2008

· Promote a spirit of open dialogue and collaboration within the teaching community

Reach to Teach is a bimonthly publication focusing on instructional articles and news. We hope that you will benefit from information and ideas to provide the best learning opportunities for our students at YTC. Please share your successes and challenges as you provide instruction in the classroom and one-on-one services vital to our customers and to our success as a college. Share your tried-and-true strategies or your recently discovered learning activities. Include results of your successful student interactions or helpful information you’ve acquired at a conference or workshop. Please e-mail lochsner@yorktech.com to contribute to future issues of Reach to Teach.

They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. --Carl W. Buechner

Research tells us that faculty/student interaction has a tremendous influence on student persistence. When instructors know their students’ names, make them feel like valued members of their class, and build links between their class and their career goals, students are more likely to persist in their classes.

What can you do to encourage student persistence? Try these tips from faculty at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York.

Maximizing student success is a goal that can only be met with a team effort of all faculty and staff at York Technical College. Together we can engage students in their career planning and learning, diagnose their difficulties, and help them overcome barriers that threaten to block their success.

The goal of the professional development program is to provide the tools and resources for all of us to become more effective in serving students not only in the classroom but in every aspect of their York Tech experience.

Throughout the 2008-09 academic year, you will find opportunities 1) to learn more about our college resources, 2) to discover or rediscover effective teaching and learning strategies, 3) to become more aware of your role in helping students no matter what your position on campus, and 4) to build relationships with your colleagues as we make York Tech the best place to work.

Choose to participate in a variety of workshops that will help you reach your 2008-09 personal and professional goals. Each workshop is marked with at least one icon indicating a track/category, and many workshops fit into more than one track. If you participate in at least four workshops in a given track, you may complete and submit a bookmark to receive a Certificate of Participation. You will be able to pick up bookmarks at workshops that you attend.

For each professional development workshop attended, your name will be placed in an end-of-year drawing. The grand prize winner (full-time employee) may attend a conference like The Teaching Professor conference to be held in Washington, D.C., June 5-7, 2009, or an approved conference of your choice. Other prizes include books and materials that will help faculty and staff improve student success. To receive a Certificate of Participation or to be eligible for the drawings, workshops must be attended by May 1.

Use this link to access the pdMax workshop schedule. Please use the hyperlinks in the schedule to view brief audio-visual workshop descriptions. You can also access the schedule, a text version of the schedule, and this guide from the Professional Development web page.

As you know, student learning is one of the core values of our college. In our commitment to student learning, we will focus on identifying and assessing our students’ learning outcomes. Dr. Dan Weinstein, Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness at Winthrop University, is working with us to help us build a campus-wide framework for intentional assessment.

Dan has served as a consultant with student learning initiatives at colleges across the country and has studied under James Nichols, a nationally recognized expert in the field. Dan also began his career at a two-year college.

Dan joined us in July to set the stage for identifying and assessing learning outcomes for our programs. We have designated fall semester as the time to identify learning outcomes for selected programs. Workshops will be scheduled to help faculty determine their respective program learning outcomes. Dan will be available as needed to work with individual departments across the college to facilitate the process. During spring semester, we will identify criteria and measurement tools for use in the next academic year.

Our many distance learning opportunities can create confusion for faculty and students alike. Teleclass? Telecourse? Hybrid? Internet? How are they different?

As you advise students, help them understand which courses they are taking and whether or not they need to attend an orientation. Students can check their schedules for the codes for the courses they are enrolled in. You may help get them to an orientation they must attend or save them an unnecessary trip as they begin their semester!

Discover if students possess the traits, skills, and knowledge that will help them be successful in online classes before enrolling! The college will soon have Readi (Readiness for Education At a Distance Indicator) assessment available to help diagnose a student’s readiness for online learning and determine if distance learning is a good fit. This tool can identify students who are at risk of not doing well in online courses; as a result, they can be advised accordingly.

Watch for more information about Readi assessment, and encourage your students to take advantage of this self-evaluation tool!

The college is subscribing to Atomic Learning, a web-based training service for more than 110 applications. It includes just-in-time training, resources for classroom activities, and many tutorials. You can look forward to this convenient way to improve your skills and knowledge in many different areas. You’ll be notified as soon as Atomic Learning is available.

One of the best resources for improving and enhancing teaching is the expertise of other instructors. You can take advantage of the strategies that other instructors employ and also share what you do in the classroom by using York Tech wikis and blogs.

Learning Resources put together a wiki for sharing information about Web 2.0 tools. You can find general information and step-by-step instructions at the Get Caught in the Web 2.0 link:

Participate in the York Tech Teaching & Learning blog. The current challenge is to build a list of 50 successful teaching tips and strategies. Go to the link below to add to the blog; check back often to see what others have listed and to find (or add) the next topic of interest.

Have you created Camtasia videos that could be useful in another instructor’s class? For example, if a psychology instructor created a Camtasia lesson on schizophrenia, perhaps a nursing instructor could use this video in a nursing class. An economics instructor might be interested in a math lecture on how to substitute values into formulas.

If you are willing to share your files with someone else or would like to collaborate with another instructor to create videos, call or e-mail Ginger Dewey (327-8038 or dewey@yorktech.com ). Ginger is developing an RLO database where you can search for the video of your choice.

Would you like to avoid changing links in your course every time you update or change a Camtasia video? Your solution is just a phone call away! Contact Bryan Thomas to organize your Camtasia videos in a manner that will save you time and energy. As you update or change videos, Bryan will make those changes on the server; but the link in your class remains the same.

Call or e-mail Bryan to find out if this great service is for you, 981-7078 or Bryan.Thomas@yorktech.com.

You can now use new and improved resource links and WebCT homepage template for your WebCT course. Why switch to this improved template?

Students will navigate their WebCT courses more easily if their homepages reflect a more consistent appearance. Faculty will find many built-in components, such as MS Office viewers, links to campus resources, statements regarding academic integrity and netiquette, critical thinking information, and more.

The new template helps us meet a new level of quality within our courses. If you are creating a new course or want to convert your old course to the new template, call or e-mail Ginger Dewey (327-8038 or dewey@yorktech.com ).

“Why does that student get extra time to take a test? Is that fair?” Find the answers to these questions and more using a web-based training program for faculty and staff called “In Their Shoes.” The Special Resources Office is making this web-based disability training opportunity available to all YTC faculty and staff. This is a one-year subscription service and is licensed only for York Tech employees.

Go to www.aa.psu.edu/intheirshoes, key in our college ID (sroytc), and follow the log-in directions from there. There are pre- and post-tests with lots of information about different types of disabilities and the responsibilities of those in higher education. Take advantage of this interactive learning experience and see disabilities from a different perspective…in their shoes!

You now have a great new way to advise students using only Campus Cruiser! Avoid the “Datatel crowd” during peak advising times; discover how you can access your advisee test scores, program evaluations, transcripts, and more to help them register for their courses—all using new menus in Campus Cruiser.

Utilizing Campus Cruiser will move us away from nearing our maximum license usage in Datatel and help us avoid the problems associated with heavy usage. Using this old tool in a new way will make advising easier and better for both you and your advisees.

Many faculty and staff attended training sessions during the summer; as participants asked questions and made suggestions, the system has been tweaked to become a most effective tool. More workshops will be offered during the fall semester, so take advantage of the workshops or just explore Campus Cruiser on your own.

Do you share folders between your office computer and smart classroom computers? Do you copy files from your office computer to a flash drive to take with you to your smart classroom? If you are already sharing files or you would like to share in the future, discover the simple method of using files located on your office computer in any classroom.

Call or e-mail Bryan Thomas in the Educational Technology Center to set up your shared files. Contacting Bryan will eliminate the steps you would normally take in setting up your shared files. An added benefit to calling Bryan is that whenever a classroom computer is re-imaged, you will keep your shared files!

Classroom computers are re-imaged between terms; current shared files are typically lost when the computers are re-imaged. Reduce potential problems (and your frustration level); call or e-mail Bryan at Bryan.Thomas@yorktech.com or X7078.

Try some new ideas to grab your students’ attention at the beginning of each class. Use some fun techniques to remind students of what they learned during the previous class and bring them up to speed for today’s lesson.

In the current online issue of Faculty Focus, Ike Shibley compares the tasks of teachers and doctors. We may not see our work with students as a matter of life and death; but we may certainly influence our students’ academic life or death. As we begin a new school year, read this short article about how you may be the tipping point between students staying in school and dropping out.

Participate with others across the country in a Distance Teaching Strategies wiki. You can read and respond to several categories that have been created—building community, improving learning, creating course materials, and reducing workload. You will also find links to other sites for great ideas to maximize the success of your online students.

Join the Faculty/Staff/Retiree Book Club for lively discussion each Friday from noon to 1 p.m. in Student Services Conference Room A. The book selected to kick off the fall semester is Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America’s Soul by Kenneth R. Miller. Participate in fascinating conversation that will encourage you to contemplate philosophy, science, politics, religion, history…. Plan ahead for The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan, a study of our corn- and oil-based society. Read the editorial reviews for each book using the following links; they are sure to pique your interest! You are invited to join the readings and discussions for either or both of these books. Call Taunya Paul at X7316 if you have questions.

Make this your teaching and learning publication! Send us your feedback by letting us know what is helpful and useful to you. Contribute material, and tell us if you or your department would like to be a regular contributor. Share your best practices as well as what you’ve learned along the way. Tell us what you and your colleagues are doing to better serve our students and associates throughout the community and the college. Send your contributions and comments to lochsner@yorktech.com.

	Critical Thinking		Readings & Reflections
	Helping Students Learn		Building Community
	New (and Used) Kids on the Block		Serving Students
	Technologies		WebCT

Telecourses (TCO)	Telecourses may combine video instruction with textbooks, study guides, and instructor support; they may be textbook based only. Telecourses have assignment and test deadlines.	Students must attend a mandatory orientation to meet their instructors and receive course materials.
Teleclasses (TCL)	Teleclasses are live audio-video classes delivered by TV to or from off-campus locations. Students at different sites interact at a specific day and time.	Students do not attend a pre-class orientation.
Online Courses (INT)	Online courses are taught through WebCT via a computer over the Internet. Students must typically log in regularly and follow timelines for assignments and tests.	Students may attend an optional orientation at the beginning of the semester to become familiar with WebCT.
Hybrid Courses	Hybrid courses include a combination of classroom and online instruction.	Students do not attend a pre-class orientation.