Reach to Teach Mission Statement

Quotes of the Month

GIFTS (Great Ideas for Teachers)

Across the Campus

    Desire to Learn

    Quizlet--A Great Study Tool

    Spring Blast Critical Thinking Challenge

    Nursing Goes YouTube!

    QEP Accomplishments

Learning Links 

Book Group  

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.

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QUOTES OF THE MONTH

The best way to get a good idea is to get lots of good ideas.  – Linus Pauling

People are like sticks of dynamite; the power's on the inside, but nothing happens until the fuse gets lit.  – Mac Anderson, Simple Truths

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GIFTS

Linda Suskie states that instructors can make good use of multiple choice questions on assessments.  But one must first “remove all barriers that will keep a knowledgeable student from getting the item right, and remove all clues that will help a less-than-knowledgeable student get the item right.”  Use multiple choice questions to determine problem areas; if more than half of your students missed an item, the question may not be good or the way you taught the concept may need revision.  Suskie offers the following 10 tips relating to question construction and content to create good multiple choice questions:

1. Keep vocabulary straightforward and simple.

2. The “stem” (question) should ask a complete question.

3. Avoid trivial questions.

4. Avoid negative items and double negatives.

5. Avoid grammatical clues to the right answer.

6. Avoid “none of the above” and “all of the above.”

7. Make your options approximately the same length.

8. Use typical errors or misconceptions as incorrect options.

9. Repeat keywords between the stem and the incorrect options.

10. Use meaningful exercises to get away from rote learning.

Bart, Mary, Rethinking Multiple Choice Tests for Assessing Student Learning, Faculty Focus, January 14, 2009, based on Linda Suskie’s seminar, Developing Tools and Strategies to Assess Student Learning.

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Fourteen faculty and staff participated in training in the D2L learning environment in early February.  They discovered some very powerful tools and found the new learning management system (LMS) to be user friendly.  During March and April, you will have your opportunity to participate in training sessions at a variety of times to begin learning our new LMS.   

Our WebCT license ends on April 30; so online, hybrid, and enhanced courses will be delivered in D2L beginning summer term.  You are encouraged to attend one of each of the five training sessions to help you become more comfortable in this new environment.  Refer to the following chart to see which training sessions best fit your schedule; you will also find this information on the Professional Development website.  To post your name on the blog for sign-up, use the following link to create a Google account if you do not already have one.  (https://www.google.com/accounts/LoginAuth?continue=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&hl=en)  Questions?  Call or e-mail Ginger Dewey at 327-8038 or dewey@yorktech.com.

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Quizlet—A Great Study Tool

A Skip Downing OnCourse Learning workshop offered by Marni Jones, Learning Specialist at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, suggests an active strategy to help your students learn.  (http://oncourseworkshop.com/Learning041.htm)  This workshop focuses on Quizlet, a free website created by a high school student.  Ms. Jones asks her students to go to www.quizlet.com to create sets of terms and definition from which games, tests, and printable flashcards are generated.  Students learn as they enter their information and reinforce as they use the resulting games, tests, and flashcards.

Laura Sturgis has created study materials in Quizlet for her economics students.  She asks each student to create an account and then shares her site with them.  The students can decide how to study—use flashcards, fill in the blank, drag and drop, and take practice quizzes.  Did the tool help students prepare for their first exam?  Their reactions were:

“I like quizlet.  It helped me prepare for the quizzes and the exam.”

“I enjoy quizlet.  It helps a lot with studying.”

“Quizlet is very helpful.”

“Quizlet is great.”

Try this online study tool and look for a positive reaction from your students!

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Spring Blast Critical Thinking Challenge

The April 1 Spring Blast will feature a QEP Critical Thinking Challenge.  Teams of students will test their critical thinking skills while they compete for fabulous prizes!  Please encourage students from your programs to participate and exhibit their critical thinking skills.  For more information, contact the representative from your division:

IET - Ed Moore

BCAS - Martin Grant

HHS - Sue Tatro/Michelle Wells

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Nursing Goes YouTube!

Nursing instructor Gina Misle has discovered that using YouTube, a Web 2.0 tool, offers a great opportunity to engage students as they apply nursing concepts to movie clips.  Read more about her experience:

Mental health nursing includes many aspects of client assessment including the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains of learning.  Nursing instructors are challenged each semester to thoroughly cover this topic in the classroom—and make it fun and interesting.

One of greatest benefits in our department is that we are all voracious readers, and we love to share what we have learned; it helps to brainstorm and discuss what we’ve tried and worked and what we’ve tried and bombed.  We preserve each other that way.

The most recent Nurse Educator, January/February 2009, journal highlighted an article, An Untapped Resource Using YOUTUBE in Nursing Education, by Janice Agazio, PhD, RN and Kathleen M. Buckley, PhD, RN.  I read the abstract and said, “This looks good.” I read the article, and, after about the third paragraph, I said, “I can try this!”  Viola—it was great!  I used some of the suggested movie trailer clips in the classroom, and the clips stimulated the best discussion I could have ever imagined.  (Be cautioned not to over use the clips so that it becomes boring…you know this can happen.)  Using movie clips as examples of mental health conditions is a very productive use of technology, especially as it reaches students in a wide range of ages from traditional to nontraditional.  The message is in the medium—everyone watches movies!

Student reaction to this activity was great. We have integrated watching movies into the syllabus as a course requirement.  Students must also watch one movie from a list of recommended movies on their own time as homework and be prepared for class discussion each week.  This assignment was also a big hit; some of the students actually had to show their families that it was required!  The activity brought the students together; some students even got together as a group and had movie night…great!!! They gained more perspective watching movies as a group.  (I did provide guidance as some of the material is not G rated.)

You may find it takes some time to preview these movies, and it takes a little effort to prepare for the class. It also takes faith that the technology works in the class, but that is what a practice round is all about!  The movie assignments have worked so well that others in the department have implemented movie assignments as classroom activities as well.

We encourage you to give Web 2.0 tools a try and find something that will work for you and your course; there is something out there for all of you.  Have faith that you will stimulate class discussion.   Make some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy your class—your students will!

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  QEP Accomplishments for the Academic Year 2008/2009

The campus continues to move forward with the Quality Enhancement Plan.  The following list outlines the progress and accomplishments to date:

1.    Adapted the model scoring rubric for various activities/courses.

2.    Created an electronic data collection template and data collection process.

3.    Established a group of faculty and staff from BCAS, HHS, IET, and Student Services to pilot critical thinking activities which will be assessed using critical thinking rubrics developed and modified for each division.   BCAS Group – Karen Hedgepeth, Theresa Spisak, Andrea Phronebarger, George Sweet, Frank Caldwell, Martha Macdonald, Jim McDermott, Kathy Neal, Gale Moore, Rik Orr, Cathy Kerwan, Gwen Wilson, Brian Hipp, Ginger Dewey, Lori Ochsner;  HHS Group – Lynne Fantry, Brenda Weatherington, Kim Ford, Deborah Dukes;  IET Group – Susan Sherlock, Jason Kefover, Jason Ghent, Jamey Abercrombie, Tom Dickerson;  STUDENT SERVICES – Kara Traverse, Carole Sarn, Kenny Aldridge, Ginny Borell, Sally Herlong, Brandi Piner.

4.    Updated QEP website to include an archive of all critical thinking rubrics and activities.  www.yorktech.com/QEP

5.    Added new members to the QEP ACTiON Team:  Team Leader Taunya Paul  and Assessment Expert Michele Wells.

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Learning Links

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prevents colleges from releasing educational records without student permission.  The U.S. Department of Education has recently updated this act to give colleges guidance not just about what information they can’t release but also about what they can release.  The new rules strive to find a balance between student safety and student privacy.  Read more from a December 2008 Inside Higher Ed article.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/12/09/ferpa

Visit the Sloan-C Effective Practices site to discover techniques, strategies, and effective online practices for online education.  You can search for articles based on type of technology and the context of learning or by the “five pillars of quality online education”—learning effectiveness, scale, access, faculty satisfaction, and student satisfaction.  (Sloan-C is a consortium of institutions and organizations committed to quality online education.)

http://www.sloanconsortium.org/effective/index.asp

About.com offers five Internet savvy study tips for online learners.  Suggest these strategies to your students as alternative methods of study.

http://distancelearn.about.com/od/studyskills/a/StudyOnline.htm

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Book Group

A group of faculty and staff meets at noon 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 current books are Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich and Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream by Adam Shepard (choose one).  The next book is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.  Enjoy lively discussions in SS Conference Room A.  Join colleagues in an environment where every member speaks and questions freely on the subject matter under discussion. 

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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:

April 10

Reach to Teach Archives

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