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December 2008 |
Volume 3 Issue 3 |
Reach to Teach Mission Statement
GIFTS (Great Ideas for Teachers)
Frequent Exams - Better Results
Across the Campus
Students Watch in Fast Forward
Reach to Teach Deadlines and Archives
REACH TO TEACH MISSION STATEMENT
Reach to Teach strives to:
· Provide information, strategies, and tools to improve teaching and learning
· 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.
On a positive culture in your school and in your classroom: A study on recognition, which included more than 10,000 business units and more than 30 industries, showed a direct link between regular recognition and praise and specific business outcomes, like increased individual productivity, higher loyalty and satisfaction scores from customers, better safety records, and fewer accidents on the job.. --Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton, How Full is Your Bucket?
GIFTS
Problems and conflicts often occur when students work in collaborative teams. Potential conflict can be avoided if each team crafts an agreement before beginning the project. The agreement should address questions such as these:
1. Who will be the team leader? Will the leadership role be rotated?
2. Who will do what work? Will the group designate a backup for any tasks?
3. Are there any dates or problematic dates to work around?
4. When, where, and how often will the group meet?
5. How will the team handle the different versions as revisions to the project are made?
6. Who is responsible for submitting periodic postings/assignments?
7. How should team members provide constructive feedback to each other?
8. How should team members handle subpar or incomplete work?
Instructors should offer feedback on these agreements, highlighting where they are too general or too soft. Ask groups for revisions until the agreements address each concern effectively.
Frequent Exams – Better Results
A 2007 The Teaching Professor article summarized research by Myers and Myers on the effects of two exam formats on student achievement. The research suggests that more frequent testing yields better student performance than infrequent testing.
The same instructor taught two sections of an introductory statistics course. Students in the control section took two exams and a cumulative final. Students in the experimental section tested every two weeks (with one/third the normal time allowed for testing) throughout the semester and then took the cumulative final. The following table illustrates the differences in the results of this experiment.
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Test average |
10 percentage points higher in experimental section |
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Final exam average |
15 percentage points higher in experimental section |
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Withdrawals |
More than 10% of students withdrew from control section; no students withdrew from the experimental section |
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Course/instructor evaluations |
71% rated instructor as “one of the best” in experimental section; 36% rated instructor the same in the control section (same instructor) |
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Recommendations |
49% of experimental section would recommend course to other students compared to 14% in the control group |
How do researchers explain their results?
· Students were less likely to cram for exams since they had less content to study.
· Students were able to change study habits more quickly since they received more frequent and early feedback from the instructor.
· Students felt more self-confident and capable with more frequent testing.
· Students were more highly motivated to study and be successful.
If you strive to maximize student success using this strategy, please share the results of your experiences!
Reference: Myers, C.B., and Myers, S.M. (2007). Assessing Assessments: The Effects of Two Exam Formats on Course Achievement and Evaluation. Innovative Higher Education, 31, 227-236.
Excerpted from Frequent Exams: Better Results for Students, The Teaching Professor, June-July 2007.
Coming Soon to a Virtual Classroom Near You!
April 30, 2009, will signal the end of an era in online learning at York Tech as May 1 heralds the beginning of the new era! Welcome to the age of Desire2Learn, better known as D2L. D2L will replace WebCT, our current learning management system (LMS).
D2L offers many advantages and improvements compared to WebCT including built-in Web 2.0 tools such as blogs and a cleaner format for our courses. The new LMS will have a different look as it is menu driven rather than icon driven.
Examples of advantages and improvements:
· Edit directly on a page instead of navigating several menus for access.
· Pick and choose modules from different courses to build/revise your course.
· Selectively release a quiz/exam with different restrictions for different students as needed.
· Save discussion board questions and topics for the next term while eliminating former student responses.
Spring semester will be full of training opportunities as we use this time for the transition from WebCT to D2L. D2L staff will provide a train-the-trainer session during late January or early February, and campus-wide training will follow. You can look forward to getting more information about upcoming training and how the transition will progress. If you have questions, please feel free to contact Ginger Dewey at dewey@yorktech.com or 327-8038.
If you would like to see what D2L has to offer, refer to their website at http://www.desire2learn.com/. If you are interested in seeing some of D2L’s features, use our new Atomic Learning service to see training videos at http://highed.atomiclearning.com . If you are off campus, the username is yorktech, and the password is atomic.
The following are just a few “favorite” e-mails from students to teachers as posted in The Chronicle of Higher Education Chronicle Forums:
Hello this is ___ again. I am so sorry if I have caused you any incontinence, but......
I don't like bothering the internet over every little thing.
I want to take your class, but it conflicts with another (REQUIRED!!!) class for my major. I asked the other teacher if she could move her class so I could take yours, but she won’t do it. So could you move yours?
Subject: Proof this paper before you grade it please! Thanks! I attached a Word file and fill free to make your corrections in the Word document and save it and attach it to an email back to me.
About the midterm, I havent read the last couple of books, can I just read your notes and be o k?"
I saw that I lost points on the lab for questions I left blank. I thought they were rhetorical questions. Can I answer them now and get back the points?
The Chronicle Forum provides a place for faculty to post, read, and respond to their “favorite” e-mails from students. Faculty thoughts ranged from disbelief at student rudeness and audacity to the acknowledgment of disintegrating boundaries between students and teachers to a criticism of faculty cynicism in sharing student e-mails. To read more “favorite” e-mails and to see faculty responses, go to http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,29894.0.html.
Students Watch Lecture Videos in Fast Forward – What do you think?!
In the The Chronicle: Wired Campus Blog, Jeffrey R. Young states that students listening to online lecture recordings are whizzing through 1-hour lectures in as little as 30 minutes. Others say their students are watching recorded lecture 1.6 to 2 times faster than they were recorded. Students from Utah to Massachusetts to the Netherlands to South Africa are speeding up their lecture videos, even though their instructors may sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks!
Al Ducharme, from the University of Central Florida, feels that students can absorb content much faster than instructors can dish it out. What do you think?
The Chronicle: Wired Campus Blog, October 15, 2008.
Help students find the easy way to build a Works Cited page for research papers. Key in data, and the free software automatically creates bibliographies and citations. You can also use a similar feature in Word 2007 found under the References tab. You may still need to assist students in determining the key information to include in the citation, but the software will ensure the documentation is in proper format.
Read a thought-provoking Q&A with Kathleen F. Gabriel who has written a new book, Teaching Unprepared Students: Strategies for Promoting Success and Retention in Higher Education. Gabriel’s book is designed to help faculty members to consider their role in reaching unprepared students. Her suggestions include better engaging instructors rather than referring all students for academic support or the tutoring center, setting high expectations for all students and holding them accountable, and treating unprepared students with respect. Read the Q&A as well as questions and comments by others at InsideHigherEd.com.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/11/25/gabriel
BOOK GROUP -- One Book/One Community
A
group of faculty and staff meets during lunch break on Fridays to discuss a
chapter a week from books that we have jointly selected as promising for
discussion. We enjoy both the book talk and the chance to get to know each
other better. If you’d like to join us this spring, just call or e-mail Taunya
Paul for more information,
paul@yorktech.com or X7316.
The book for spring is Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O’Nan. O’Nan’s story explores how the closing of a chain restaurant profoundly affects the lives of many.
This book selection is also part of the new Library Club project, One Book/One Community, to encourage the College community to enjoy the same book at the same time. The Library will sponsor a blog next spring for open conversation and comments. Call or e-mail Debbie Jones if you have questions, 325-2883 or Deborah.Jones@yorktech.com.
REACH TO TEACH DEADLINES AND ARCHIVES
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.
Next article submission deadline:
February 6
