The Teaching Research Nexus:

Student working on a project

What does it mean to teach at a research institution?   The question was asked of me again a few days ago; the cold reality of promotion and tenure often drives the initial conversation.  However, universities are starting to change the culture.  We know from years of study that adopting new pedagogies that actively involve students in their courses will increase engagement and thus retention.  Yet as a faculty member with a hefty research agenda, how does one do this? 

The University of Michigan just released a study of faculty work-life.  Compared with an earlier study, there was a nearly 40% increase in the number of faculty who valued or highly valued teaching.  As one of the leading institutions in teaching innovation, it is interesting to watch their culture change.  Last year, President Mary Sue Coleman recognized the multiple demands on faculty, pointing to their “record levels of research and discovery,” as well as their “innovative teaching” and “the force of creativity.”  Her phrasing shows how the university has adopted Boyer's model of scholarship.  


How will other research universities answer the call for innovation?  One model is becoming popular: SOTL or the scholarship of teaching and learning.   Researching and then writing about one's class has a certain appeal for faculty, yet it is not a model that works comfortably in all disciplines.  Faculty can also bring research into the classroom, but only if the gap between class content and the research is not too great.  A third option, teaching about the research process, has a lot of positive factors. 

Engineering faculty Prince, Felder and Brent (2007) suggest teaching students about the process itself, using our personal experiences about how we do research:

"What researchers do routinely is confront open-ended and imperfectly defined problems, figure out what they need to know and how to find it out: search out sources of missing information; hypothesize and test possible solutions; arrive at final results; and defend them.  The traditional lecture-based teaching model, in which instructors present perfectly organized derivations and examples on the board or in PowerPoint(tm) slides, and then ask students to reproduce and/or apply the information in assignments and tests, bears little resemblance to the research process.  An instructional strategy that comes much closer to emulating research is inductive teaching."

Inductive teaching is a term that encompasses several strategies: problem-based learning, inquiry-based learning, project-based learning.  Students are given a challenge and asked to solve it; the learning takes place through their attempts to meet the challenge.  We can find examples of this approach across campus--you can visit the PBL (problem-based learning) rooms in the Pendergrass library or BESS 123, and talk to faculty like Tenn TLC Ambassador India Lane (Veterinary Teaching Hospital), and to our Creative Teaching Grantees Elizabeth Cooper (Psychology), Carl Wagner and Nikolay Brodskiy(Mathematics), Cary Staples (Graphic Design) and many others.

For more on problem-based learning: see the PBL Initiative. 

Or view:

Problem Based Learning

View more presentations from Mark Swiger.

Balancing Flexibility and Fairness Through Course Design

Thank you to Mark Potter at MSCD Center for Faculty Development for this post!

●       “Prof. Smith, I won’t be able to make it to class tonight because unfortunately my flight back from vacation has been delayed by an hour and now I won't make it back to Denver in time for class.  Is there supposed to be a quiz today and if so is there any way I can make it up?”

●       “Hey Professor, I am terribly sorry, but I am unable to attend class this evening due to family issues. I am writing to see what precisely we went over tonight, and what I need to review in order to not fall behind.”

●       “I will not be able to make it to class today due to a conflict with work but I have attached my re-write of the last paper and will get the notes from someone who was in class. Please let me know if there are any important announcements I will miss.”

We have probably all seen emails from students like the ones above, and in fact these are probably fairly mild examples; I have received far more outrageous student emails than these.  It is understandable if we react viscerally to them.  We may want to reply with a snarky email, or, more to the point, penalize the student for missing class or assignment deadlines.  Students should just follow the rules and then “problem solved,” right?

Well, sort of.

Perhaps there is a place for empathy and compassion toward the student whose work schedule changes abruptly, who has (even an unspecified) family emergency, or whose family travel plans become derailed in the middle of the semester.  Like it or not, student demographics are changing as are students’ priorities and work habits (Higher Education Research Institute, 2010).  More students work to cover costs while in college, more students attend college with specific job-skills development in mind, and the range of aptitudes, study skills, and college preparedness continues to widen. 

Maryellen Weimer (2006) encourages instructors to put themselves in their students’ shoes by taking a college course outside their field of expertise every few years in order to experience all the aspects of learning, including balancing course deadlines with work deadlines.  Still, while compassion and empathy may be warranted, we want to avoid granting special treatment to individual students, and it is important for the sake of our own workload and our own time management to hold students to reasonable standards, or “lines in the sand” (Robertson, 2003).

Learner-centered course design can help us to balance these competing demands between compassion and fairness.  Learner-centeredness shifts responsibility for learning to students while granting them more opportunities, control, and options over how they demonstrate their learning (Weimer, 2002).  We can use course design both to hold students responsible and to provide allowances for when life “interrupts” their studies, all while preserving our lines in the sand and our sanity.

Some course design ideas that accomplish this include:

●   Carrots.   Incentivize on-time submission of assignments.  I accept late papers (up to three days late) from my students, but only those students who submit their work on time have the option to rewrite their papers and to incorporate my feedback for an improved grade.

●   Bounded flexibility.  A colleague at Metropolitan State College gives his students a “syllabus quiz” in the first week of the semester.  Every student who passes earns 5 credits toward turning in work late (1 credit = 1 day).  Students can cash in all of their credits at once with one assignment, or they can split them across assignments at different times in the semester

●   Cooperative/collaborative learning.  If students have to miss a class session in a course that incorporates group learning, they have a resource--their fellow students--on whom to rely to try to catch up, rather than coming right away to the instructor to find out what they “missed.”

●   Technology.  Web-based tools, such as Blackboard, wikis (on Blackboard or public sites like PBWiki), and Google Docs can reinforce cooperative learning and the sense of community within a course.  If students unexpectedly miss a class meeting, they can turn to these online resources where they might find threaded discussions designed to supplement in-class learning or examples of student work/reflections completed in class and posted to a Wiki.  Students may also be able to use the online tool to contact their “group” for help. 

Of course, students need to know that the interactions and engagement that occur in class are not replicable and that missing class means missing out on an opportunity to learn.  Still, the premise of this essay is that life sometimes gets in the way of the best of intentions, and providing some opportunity for students to learn--an opportunity that does not rely on the instructor delivering instruction twice over--is preferable to penalizing the student by doing nothing.

Additional Resources:

Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. “A Snapshot of the First Year Experience.  Accessed on July 15, 2010 at http://www.heri.ucla.edu/PDFs/pubs/briefs/HERI_ResearchBrief_OL_2009_YFCY_02_04.pdf

Robertson, D. (2003). Making Time, Making Change: Avoiding Overload in College Teaching. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press. 

Weimer, M. (2002). Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 

Weimer, M. (2006). Enhancing Scholarly Work on Teaching and Learning: Professional Literature That Makes a Difference. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 

Preparing for a new semester

Microcosms.  Ruth Davidson Abrams (1912-1986)

Welcome back!  The start of each semester is a time of optimism and vision, and for those of us who are consummate planners, the beginning of a class is an important start for our vision.  We know that building relationships is important for student learning--students want two things: to connect with their teacher and to connect with their peers. We want our students to learn, and we have a mental image of how this will happen.  I suggest cultivating a second, connected vision, one that extends our image of student learning.  Can you envision what you want your students to be able to do at the end of class? This is an important shift in our thinking process.  After all, learning can be very private, very individualized.  When we talk about what we want students to be able to do, we often use phrases like, I want students to think critically, to analyze situations, to problem solve, to apply solutions, to gather new information and use it.  We want students to use what they learn.  And to learn best, students are essentially creating their own understandings of the information that we give them in ways that are workable for them. 

On the first day, we can make stronger connections with our class if we think through how people connect.  Although the default for the first day is to "go over" the syllabus, this is not the best way to start.  Save the syllabus for the second half of class or later.

1. First, get them involved immediately by having them do a short activity that gets them thinking and talking with their neighbor.  This can be an opportunity to find out about their previous knowledge of your subject.
   
   
2.  Introduce yourself  in a way that not only establishes your credentials, but also makes you human to our students.  Tell them something about yourself and explain your philosophy of teaching and your goals for the class.
   
   
3. Let the students introduce themselves, with a focus on why they are in your class and what they hope to learn.  Give each student an index card to write out their basic information and list of their goals.  You can use the card to help you remember names and to recall students from previous semesters. Since they can also fill out this information on Blackboard, you could ask them speculative questions about your subject matter and have them introduce themselves as they answer a question.
   
   
4. Since there are barriers to our vision of student learning, of course, it helps to be realistic and confront these barriers with your students from the first day.  On their card or online, have them list their other obligations.  This keeps us from making assumptions about their work loads and helps us identify those students who truly have a lot on their plate, such as those students with families.
   
   
5. A lot of us have read our syllabus out loud to students.  An alternative is to give them five minutes or so to read it silently, telling them that you will ask them to explain sections to their peers in their own words. Let them know that this is not a way of wasting time but it is a check on their interpretation of the syllabus.  You want everyone to be on the same page.  For instance, you can ask them to identify the most important section for their peers--and then tell them what you identify as the most important section.  Usually, my students will talk about the assignments or the grading system.  I point out that the course objectives or my statement on class participation are the most important for me.
   
   
6. By soliciting feedback from students on the first day, you set them up to expect this kind of interaction.  Regularly asking them for feedback on the class and their understanding of the subject matter lets you know how class is going and it gets students into the habit of thinking seriously about the class and their learning.  Then they are more prepared to fill out end-of-semester evaluations thoughtfully.

Want to read further about the first day?  Dee Fink has a good list of ideas for starting class, developed from faculty input.  
 
James Rhem, The National Teaching and Learning Forum editor, talks about friendliness in class and how that impacts the quality of a class.  It's a good article, provocative reading, and towards the end, he describes a study on students' feelings about faculty at Miami University in Ohio.  This study lists items that are "most likely to enhance or detract from the student-professor relationship versus those that were not as likely to enhance or detract. In the group that mattered a lot were such items as:

• Shows patience in explaining points to students
• Treats students as equals
• Smiles and displays a friendly demeanor
• Speaks politely to students
• Is accessible to students outside of office hours
• Conveys the desire to have each student learn and do well"

Rhem continues, "You begin to see the pattern here. I have drawn on the concept of friendship to inform our understanding of what authentic friendliness might mean, might look like, and it is precisely that which most students are looking for."

Enjoy your first day back in class.

A Pre-Holiday Message

The end of the semester is almost here, when our students head home and we take a break.  For many of us, the holidays are a time of reflection about our lives, our families, and the New Year.  It's natural to reflect on our teaching as well.  Teaching--like other service fields--lends itself to thinking.  We have a multitude of daily interactions for months with our students, so our brains become very busy. 


We can either turn away from these thoughts or embrace the creativity and energy that comes from reflection.  I have a few suggestions for starting points.  One, write down your thoughts and include both negative and positive thoughts (be sure to think of positive aspects of your class, even if it did not go as well as you wanted).  Take a pen or type your thoughts in a quick brainstorm and then file your thoughts away with your teaching materials for that class.  Next time that you get ready to teach this course, those comments will be there and can spark some thinking about new ways to tweak the course and improve it.


Second, consider quotations as a starting point for reflection.  These act as queries which encourage your thinking.  Below are some quotes which you might find helpful as you reflect on your semester. 

Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem.  That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily.
~Thomas Szasz

"Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or doing it better." ~ John Updike

“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.” 

~ Mark Van Doren

We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself. 
~Lloyd Alexander

 

Finally, this is a useful reminder when we consider our classrooms as creative learning environments.  It's the conclusion to an article on creativity research (Mary Jane Petrowski, 2000):


"Margaret Wheatley reminds us that scientists have long ago established that life is inherently creative at all molecular levels. It is instructive to reflect on what scientists tell us about creativity before we return to our libraries and students (Wheatley and Kellner-Rogers, 1999, p. 13):

• ``Everything is in a constant process of discovery and creating.'' In other words, we are hardwired for creativity.

• ``Life uses messes to get to well-ordered solutions.'' The Ideo ``deep dive'' reminds us that we should ``fail often and early in order to succeed sooner''.

•  ``Life is intent on finding what works, not what's right.'' Creativity is not about perfectionism and there is no one answer; rather there are many answers that will work.

• ``Life creates more possibilities as it engages with opportunities.'' Engage at all costs with opportunities for learning. Just as creativity requires isolation and privacy, stimulation, novelty, and new experience also fuel it."

Want to see fun creative ideas on video ?  Check out "the FunTheory."  I like the piano steps and this year's winner, the speed camera lottery!  

Have a safe and enjoyable holiday.  I will be back after January 1st. 
Taimi

Just for kicks

It was pointed out to me that I have not talked to you all in awhile.  Perhaps I have the same malaise hitting all of us this time of year, as we try to motivate students to complete the semester while facing their slumped bodies and glazed eyes. I felt the same way after three days of lectures on the brain.  Give me a week and I will post more about that!

So, let me share a few funny videos with you.  

Thank you to the Engaged Learning blog for this suggestion:

It's on cow tipping.


And physics.





This one is courtesy of my 13 year old son.  Perhaps you have teenagers too and have seen these. If not, be warned.  It's goofy.

 

Hot Kool Aid

Grading Jail?

Nels Highberg (in a recent Profhacker blog) talks about grading that can sometimes feel like retribution from students--but he argues for some semblance of satisfaction from the process.  Some faculty members that I have talked to see grading as a chore because they "already know" how each student is doing (this is, of course, in classes of 50 and under).  In a recent discussion during a national conference of faculty developers, one prominent researcher in higher education argued that she was campaigning against the strict curve as counterproductive to retaining our best science and math students...and so the conversation about grading goes on.

http://www.xkcd.com/

Is grading a game?  A gateway?  A reward?  A recognition of excellence or mediocrity?  A true assessment of abilities?  An ongoing conversation about learning?  Ask a student and they might tell you that they work to earn their grades, as if time on task necessarily equates with exemplary work. 


As for myself, I hate grading (I almost said "dislike" but let's be honest), but I love constructing tests.  Quizzes and tests are more about what I can convince them to study, how I can entice them to think.  I like the conversation but putting on the final touches of grade is unpleasant.  Do you know why?  Grading tests and papers, to me, always points out where I failed to teach well.   I know that it also shows me where students failed to pay attention and work to understand.  Yet, I can also see where I did not explain a concept adequately or where I did not give students enough practice or support in their learning.  I want to finish with the grading so I can try again!  As soon as class is done, I am making notes for improvements.  There is always the next class and the chance to teach more students even better.


So I am part of this ongoing conversation about our attitudes towards grading.  Nels steers us towards other opinions and resources:

"Since writing that post [on grading jail], I have encountered more and more talk about grading.  ProfHacker Natalie posted a great roundup of the various pieces of grading advice we have offered since ProfHacker’s inception.  Several people on Twitter and Facebook linked to Dr. B’s thoughts on “The Five Stages of Grading,” which Jeff Rice followed up on in a discussion of “cliches like the burden of grading.”  He followed up on that post with another one extending his thoughts.  Steve Krause offered his own thoughts on effective and ineffective grading practices (his post is a personal favorite of mine, I’ll admit).  Talk about grading is not going away.

"I intended for my original post on grading jail and this one to be part of a more philosophical or theoretical discussion of the attitudes we bring toward the grading process because I think those attitudes shape how we grade, so we should acknowledge them."


I agree.  Grading is necessary and talk about our attitudes is very helpful.  As we told our eighth grader the other day, "your work looks horrible."   Since his poster represents his thinking on the project, it had better look good. That was an honest assessment!


We can be honest with our students.  They need to hear valid assessments.

Plagued by Plagiarism?

Plagiarism bugs all of us--faculty and administrators.  As a former writing instructor who was also a department chair, I dreaded the moment when I would look at a paper and swear that this kid had not written major portions of it.  The programs like SafeAssign (used at UT with Blackboard) are wonderful in terms of tracking down those "cut and paste" paragraphs that do not belong in college work.  As the OWL at Purdue states "There are few intellectual offenses more serious than plagiarism in academic and professional contexts."  Their article on plagiarism is a helpful overview that you can point out to students. 


A recent Chronicle article by Ryan Cordell on Susan Blum's book A Culture of Sharing provides a nice overview of the current conversation on plagiarism.  He covers her argument that many students are unprepared and unaware of finer points of research usage, yet Cordell says that given the rise in plagiarism incidents, this is a 'hard sell."  The comments at the end of the article point out the disagreement.  One respondent is tired of the excuses, while another commenter recounts the complex factors that result in plagiarism--and this person points out a related problem.  Students can learn to cite correctly while still not using enough of their own wording.  This is a writing problem.


I encourage everyone to use SafeAssign or a similar program and to make this program available to students.  The report is color-coded to show where material originates--and can be very helpful to students writing drafts.  Let them look at their reports and see what they are doing well and what they need to change.  With our current culture of "sharing," we need to give students multiple opportunities to learn another way.



When students view a report, they can be instructed to look for the color (blue, in this example) that corresponds to their own words.  Most students are horrified when they see how little is "theirs" when the assignment requires them to analyze and evaluate information and ideas--and when they realize that each paragraph has to have their analysis.


As I watch my son learn to write research papers in middle school, I wonder when this process will "click" for him.  I understand that the process must be broken into steps so that students learn each step.  Yet the hardest aspect to grasp seems to be citation.  Last year, he learned how to find sources (but he was still copying sources into a paper).  This year, he has research, a bibliography, and he is trying to write everything "in his own words."  He is still nowhere close to writing independently with integrated sources.  Will he learn enough in high school to handle college research?  Only if he writes more than one research paper a year will he feel at ease with the process. 

For a thorough statement on issues and best practices, read the page produced by the Council of Writing Administrators.  Best practices include:

• Discuss plagiarism in class and providing examples of plagiarism as well as examples of successful papers
• Design original tasks, that ask students their opinions and require new approaches to material
• Sequence assignments so that they build into a final paper.  Make the research paper very visible by staging the assignment and guiding students through the process
• Focus on having students read (and report on) their research
• Ask students for documentation.  For instance, require a research log, with links to their online research and copies of any book pages cited.

 http://www.wpacouncil.org/node/9


For information specific to UT, visit the UT Writing Center.