Blog Prompt for My Freshman Year

For the final blog entry, write a 500-750 word reflection on My Freshman Year.

• What was the most surprising aspect of this book, and why did it surprise you?

• In light of the challenges faced by undergraduate students highlighted in the book, what advice would you give a new college student?

• In light of what you have learned about the typical undergraduate student, what advice would you give a new college instructor?

• Throughout the semester, we have made numerous claims about the nature, motivation, and tendencies of undergraduate students. Has this book changed your perspective on undergraduate students? If no, why not? If so, how so?

Please read the entries posted by the other members of your learning community before we meet on Thursday, December 2. You don't need to comment on these entries, just read them and mentally note points of similarity and difference.

The Shadow Scholar

Fascinating article from The Chronicle of Higher Education about the extent of student cheating, written by someone who currently writes papers for a "custom essay company":

The Shadow Scholar: The man who writes your students' papers tells his story

[h/t to Adam Fetterman]

What do you think of his justification for this type of plagiarism?

Future resource for accessibility issues in higher ed

Advisory Commission on Accessible Instructional Materials in Postsecondary Education for Students with Disabilities

[h/t to Cali Anicha]

Blog Prompt for Week 13: Teaching Diverse Learners

Remember that we rearranged the readings in the syllabus. We will be reading chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 in Tools for Teaching, "Students as People" in On Course, and an excerpt from Learner-Centered Teaching this week.

If you are blogging, discuss what you found most surprising, interesting, or useful in this week's reading. What, in your opinion, are the strongest arguments in favor of being "learner-centered" in your teaching? What are the potential pitfalls? What questions did you have after completing the reading?

Commenters can respond directly to what the blogger wrote, or consider some of the questions above in their responses.

Blog Prompt for Week 12: Using Evaluation to Improve Teaching

Using this week's readings as your guide, design a (formative) midterm course evaluation that you could use in a future class. Explain your assessment instrument to your blog readers, using the following questions as your guide:

• Why are you planning to ask these particular questions?
• How do these questions help you to assess your effectiveness as a teacher?
• How would your midterm course evaluation differ from a final course evaluation?
• How would you administer this evaluation (in-class survey, online survey, focus group, etc.)? Why?
• How would you make use of student feedback from this evaluation?

Commenters:

Suggest an addition or alteration to the midterm course evaluation provided by the blogger, either in terms of content (questions asked) or procedure (how student input is solicited).

Based on what you read for this week, how would this change alter/improve the feedback received from students?

Blog Prompt for Week 11: Tackling Problems in the Classroom

If you can post your 3 course objectives before Thursday, I can review them and give general feedback to the class when we meet.

Bloggers:

Please use the first few lines of your blog entry from this week to report the three course objectives you've developed for your final project. Use the remaining space to respond to the prompt below.

Commenters:

Please post your course objectives on your own blog before you comment on your peers' blogs. You do not need to respond to the course objectives, just the part about tackling problems in the classroom.

Blog prompt:

This week's readings cover common to not-so-common problems in the classroom, and range from classroom climate issues (like the mid-semester doldrums) to the individual level of "problem students." Drawing from your own experience as a student or TA, which problems do you think are the most likely to occur in your classroom? Of all the strategies for tackling these problems presented by the reading, which did you find the most useful? Why?

NDSU Resources for Final Project

Dates and Holidays for Spring 2011 and Fall 2011 can be found here.

NDSU Policy 331.1 on course syllabus requirements can be found here. Additional information (including a syllabus template) can be found at the bottom of this page.

NDSU's Dead Week Policy can be found here.

Blog Prompt for Week 10: Syllabus Construction

Two reminders:

• We switched the readings for this week with the readings for November 18 in order to get a head start on the final project. That means we are reading Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 59 in Tools for Teaching, along with "Before the Beginning: The Syllabus," "First Days of Class," and "Last Days of Class" in On Course this week.

• You have the option to write your blog entry on whatever you found most interesting or most useful in the readings. Just let your commenters know that you're free-styling this week.

If you are following the prompt, please respond to the following in your entry:

(1) Using the guidelines provided by Davis and by Lang, draft a set of course objectives for your syllabus. For each objective, identify which level of learning it corresponds with, what you will do to achieve it in your course (teaching techniques, activities, assignments, etc.), and how you will assess whether or not it has been achieved.

(2) When it comes to course policies, attendance and late work penalties have been the subject of repeated debate in our class. Draft either the attendance policy or the late work policy that you plan to include in your course syllabus.

Commenters:

When providing feedback, think about how well the course objectives match up with the assignments used to teach or assess them. Are there other assignments or activities that the instructor could use for any of the objectives? If someone else has already provided feedback on the course objectives, comment on the attendance policy or the late work policy. Does it seem fair? Is there anything missing? Can you see any potential loopholes?

Commenters may also want to outline a few course objectives and/or a course policy of their own. Taking the time to do this now will give you a head start on the syllabus.

Blog Prompt for Week 9: Assignments and Grading

Here are this week's discussion questions. In response to feedback from the midterm course evaluation, I've made the first one less specific than usual, to give you more freedom in what you can write about.

1. What did you find most interesting or most useful in this week's reading? Why?

2. How could you apply what you learned this week to the construction of assignments and/or grading policy in your final project? Please give specific examples.

Commenters: Remember that your main goal should be to add something new to the conversation. Make sure to read both the entry and the other comments carefully.

Blog Prompt for Week 8: Testing and Academic Honesty

Please respond to the following discussion questions in your 400-500 word entry:

• Both Lang and Davis discuss a variety of issues associated with testing in the college classroom. Based on what you read, what do you feel are the most important testing issues facing today's college instructor? Why do you think these issues are most deserving of our attention?

• Another big topic this week was the problem of cheating. What do you think are the primary causes of academic dishonesty? Based on what you read, what do you think are the most effective deterrents to cheating? Why?

Commenters:

Please use your comments to identify similarities and differences between what the blog author identified as most important / most effective and what you would say in response to these questions.

Teaching Philosophy Workshop

Directions for next week's teaching philosophy workshop can be found here.

My teaching philosophy can be found here.

An additional exemplar, written by a student in last year's College Teaching class, can be found here.

Hybrid Learning and Problem-Based Learning

Interesting article on "hybrid learning" from Education Week. Speaks to some of the issues raised during our discussion of online classes in Week 4.

Hat tip to Cali Anicha, who sent this article to me.

She also tipped me off to the following blog post, which speaks to some of the issues raised during our Week 5 class:

Evidence that Problem-Based Learning Works

Journals on College Teaching

Higher Education
Journal of Higher Education
Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Innovative Higher Education

You can also search for journals in your field by using

[YOUR FIELD] + EDUCATION

as your search terms

Blog Prompt for Week 5: Learning in Groups

In a 400-500 word entry:

• Develop an informal, nongraded group activity that could be used to assess comprehension of material from a lecture in your field.

• Develop a formal, graded group project that could be used to enhance learning in your field.

• Explain how you incorporated this week's readings into the development of your group activities, and how you would evaluate the graded project in a way that encourages collaboration while remaining fair to the individual group members.

Commenters:

Evaluate either the non-graded activity or the graded group project (if another commenter has already assessed one of them, pick the other). Draw from the readings to make suggestions for how it could be improved.

Technological Literacy

Here is the Dan Madigan article (and the corresponding resources) mentioned by Lang in the "Teaching with Technology" chapter:

The Technology Literate Professoriate: Are We There Yet? (Madigan, 2006)

Online Resources for increasing technological literacy.

Creativity in Education

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

Thanks to Patrick Hall, who directed me to this video.

Blog Prompt for Week 4: Technology

If you are blogging this week, your entry should be posted by 12 p.m. on Wednesday, September 15. If you are commenting, your comments should be posted by 12 p.m. on Thursday, September 16.

Directions for bloggers:

In a 400-500 word entry, please respond to the following questions:

• Lang discusses both positive and negative aspects of using technology in the college classroom. Based on what you read, and your own experiences, what are the best arguments in favor of using technology? What is the best argument against it? What should you keep in mind when using technology in your teaching?

• Based on how technology is used in your discipline, what did you find to be the most useful tips offered by Davis? Why?

• After completing this week's reading, what questions did you have about the use of technology in the classroom?

Commenters:

Feel free to use the questions above as a guide in your comments (you could, for example, contrast how technology is used in your discipline, or answer the questions posed by the blogger).

How (Not) to Lecture

Teaching scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off

What's the Problem With Quiet Students? Anyone? Anyone?

By Mary M. Reda
Chronicle of Higher Education

Katherine Streeter for The Chronicle

My colleagues' stories and the theory I was reading helped me understand how instructors see the "problem" of quiet students and fueled my sense that "getting them talking" preoccupied many of my colleagues. Even with my new interdisciplinary understanding of silence, I realized there was a crucial question that we weren't asking: What can quiet students tell us about classroom discussions and silence?

Through a yearlong study of a first-year composition class in which students periodically wrote about their experiences of classroom silence, followed by a series of interviews with five students who self-identified as "quiet," I explored what students themselves believe about speaking and silence. I discovered that students understand classroom discussion and silence quite differently than their instructors generally do. Students have complicated interpretations of the classroom that we rarely confront when we focus on "getting them talking." When I asked my students about their classroom experiences, I didn't hear the kinds of stories I expected to—complaints of boredom, confessions about being unprepared, angry litanies of alienation. Instead, in the hundreds of pages of reflections and 15 interviews, students explored their active choices to speak or to be quiet—choices that involve careful analysis of the professor, their classmates, and themselves.

Read more

Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits

By Benedict Carey
The New York Times

Every September, millions of parents try a kind of psychological witchcraft, to transform their summer-glazed campers into fall students, their video-bugs into bookworms. Advice is cheap and all too familiar: Clear a quiet work space. Stick to a homework schedule. Set goals. Set boundaries. Do not bribe (except in emergencies).

And check out the classroom. Does Junior’s learning style match the new teacher’s approach? Or the school’s philosophy? Maybe the child isn’t “a good fit” for the school.

Such theories have developed in part because of sketchy education research that doesn’t offer clear guidance. Student traits and teaching styles surely interact; so do personalities and at-home rules. The trouble is, no one can predict how.

Yet there are effective approaches to learning, at least for those who are motivated. In recent years, cognitive scientists have shown that a few simple techniques can reliably improve what matters most: how much a student learns from studying.

Read more

Blog Prompt for Week 3: Lectures

Remember: If you are blogging this week, your entry is due by 12 p.m. on Wednesday, September 8. If you are commenting, your comments are due by 12 p.m. on Thursday, September 9.

Directions for bloggers:

In a 400-500 word entry, please respond to the following questions:

• Based on your experiences as a student, what does effective lecturing look like? What does ineffective lecturing look like? Because blogs are public documents, please avoid mentioning specific instructors or classes.

• Based on this week's readings, how might the ineffective lecturing have been improved?

• How will you apply what you learned about lecturing from this week's readings to the lecture component of your teaching demonstration?*

* If you've already completed your teaching demo, feel free to write about how you would apply these readings to future lecturing gigs.

Guidelines for commenters can be found in the Blog Prompt for Week 2.

Fictional student email for Week 2: Discussion

Dr. Platt,

I'm really worried about my participation grade. I know that I don't speak up in class much. But I have a social anxiety that makes it hard for me to talk in front of other people. My heart beats really fast and I sweat and my hands shake. I don't know what to do because I know that we are graded on participation and I really want to get a good grade in your class.

Alex Smith

Blog prompt for Week 2: Discussion

Remember: Half the class is writing a blog entry this week and half the class is commenting on those blog entries. I will you let you know which group you are in when you email the link to your blog to me.

If you are blogging, your entry is due by 12 p.m. on Wednesday, September 1. If you are commenting, your comments are due by 12 p.m. on Thursday, September 2.

Directions for bloggers:

In a 400-500 word entry, please respond to the following questions:

• What was most interesting and/or useful to you in this week's reading? Why?

• How could you apply these principles of discussion to the classes taught in your field? (Provide concrete examples)

• After completing this reading, what questions do you have about discussion-based learning?

Directions for commenters:

Access the two (or three) blogs you've been assigned via the list to the right of this entry ("Our Teaching Blogs"). Leave feedback for the authors using the comment function on their blogs.

Good comments:

• Demonstrate that you have carefully read and understood the post.

• Contribute something useful to the conversation, rather than just echoing or affirming the author.

• Seek to answer at least one of the questions the author has posed.

You might, for example, compare/contrast the use of discussion in your field with what the author is telling you about their field, or offer a suggestion for implementation from your own experience with discussion in the classroom.

Each comment should be 100-150 words in length (total of 300-450 words across the 3 blogs).

Feel free to email, IM, or call if you have questions. I will also be in the Minard coffee shop for office hours from 4 to 5 p.m. on Monday.

Teaching blog

One of the primary goals of this course is to apply the pedagogical theory and general teaching techniques learned to the specific context of your field and your classroom. To that end, each student will create and maintain a teaching blog on the Blogger platform.

In order to facilitate peer-to-peer learning, we will alternate between updating our blogs one week and offering feedback to our learning community the next. Blog prompts will be posted on the course blog by the instructor each week.

Blog entries must be posted by 12 p.m. on the day before class, and comments must be posted by 12 p.m. on the day of class.