Faculty Projects - Clear Assignments

Professor: Manuel Lopez

Department: Philosophy and Religious Studies

Name of Group: Successful Teaching Practices and Teaching International Students

It is an unfortunate reality of life that words often make much more sense in our minds than they do in written or spoken form. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been told by my mother to retrieve the “dingy” on top of the “thingamabob” which, while undoubtedly clear in her mind, never lead to a successful retrieval of the item she needed. Sometimes additional clarity is needed even when the person giving the instruction is under the impression of being quite clear. Dr. Manual Lopez, from the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, speaks to imbuing clarity in his assignments as a result of attending CETL’s Successful Teaching Practices sessions:

"I felt my assignments were not as effective as I wanted them to be. Sometimes the general idea of the assignment was right but there was not a clear/focused goal. Sometimes I needed to clarify the presentation of the assignment (generally tended to be vague). I wanted to improve my assignments (their rationale, their goals, their effectiveness). I changed all of my assignments following ideas I learned during the Successful Teaching Practices workshop. I also implemented some ideas learned in the Teaching International Students workshop."

He lists the changes he implemented in order to create more effective assignments below:

• I rewrote all of my assignments for World Religions (which I will use for the upcoming summer session) and made some changes to my current Religion and Popular Culture course. My assignments are now more focused and with clear goals.
• I also added more variety of assignments testing different skills. It is not only about writing a paper (thesis, argument, etc.), but about helping them analyze a text, or expose them to world religions news, or make them think about what religion is (there is more scaffolding on the way I have designed the assignments).
• I started using rubrics in a more systematic way. This has helped me reduce grading time and also make my grading more consistent.
• In my Religion and Popular Culture class I had a final paper. During the workshop it was suggested that this is not always a very effective way of designing an assignment since, after the paper is done (especially if it is due at the end of the semester) all of my feedback is practically useless since there is no way for them to change their paper and, at that point, they do not care as much. I added the need to deliver a draft so I can give early feedback on the paper. They also have to come and discuss my feedback with them.
• From the Teaching International Students workshop I have applied a couple of changes. The first is to write my assignments not as a narrative but as a list of requirements their papers need to have. I am doing the same with email responses to students. This has reduced student questions regarding the nature of assignments.

As a result of these more lineated assignments and the addition of organized rubrics, Dr. Lopez writes that his grading has become more “systematic and objective” in addition to taking less time, that his students have produced the “best” papers he has seen (despite the assignment being the same last semester), and that he receives less complaints for the reason behind a specific grade from his students.

 Write up by: Jon Pumper

Faculty Projects – Learning the Learning Outcome

Professor: Shannon Collins

Department: CSD

Name of Group: First Year Only Sections

Learning outcomes are everywhere nowadays. In fact, a quick google search of “learning outcomes” would provide the outcome that even learning outcomes now have learning outcomes, so that those who are learning to create learning outcomes can come out assured that their learning is the outcome of previously established learning outcomes (which undoubtedly also fulfilled learning outcomes).

Yet, in spite of—or maybe because of—their rather ubiquitous nature, many students pay very little attention to learning outcomes. Professor Shannon Collins, department of CSD, speaks to this fact with her own classroom findings:

"At the beginning of the semester, I had students complete a document that had them list their courses and the learning outcomes for each class, and many asked the question, 'What is a learning outcome?' Sadly, not one student out of thirty-three could name at least one outcome for each class."

Collins sought to re-emphasize the importance of learning outcomes by establishing them as guideposts for evaluation:

"I realized that if I spent more time discussing [the learning outcomes] and connecting them to my lectures, PowerPoints, and the textbook, the students could use the outcomes to help study for exams. They created their own study guides using the learning outcomes for the unit. I also added learning outcomes for each unit to the content pages of D2L."

As an additional bonus, this aided her in answering the ever-persistent questions concerning exams:

"Every year it seems that students in my classes are always asking 'What do I need to know for the exam?' Though this isn’t a difficult question, I wanted them to find a way to start picking out what I felt were important concepts, ideas, vocabulary, and how to make connections across the content. I drew attention to the learning outcomes for the course and for each unit and talked explicitly how they were related to the content."  

By the end of the semester, Collins found that students were not only more privy to the learning outcomes in their individual courses, but they were also able to effectively use them as methods for guiding their learning:

"I completed the same activity at the end of the semester by having them identify the learning outcomes for their courses. It was rewarding to see the previously blank form now filled in. It was encouraging to see them highlight the outcomes and ask questions based on those. This made me realize they were trying to understand them and how important they are to the course and/or topic. I feel like by the end of the semester, the student had a better understanding of the types of tests I give and the content I cover in an exam. It helped me answer their questions about exams when I could refer back to the learning outcomes."

Write up by Jon Pumper

Faculty Projects - Clear Rationale

Professor:  Kaishan Kong

Department:  Languages

Name of Group: Successful Teaching Practice

Life is simply more enjoyable when you understand why you are doing the things you do. For instance, a person might demand that you swallow a stalk of celery whole, a rather unpleasant if low-calorie experience, and you would be utterly miserable if you were not aware that it was to compete in the local celery consumption contest and now you had a chance to go home with brand new, celery-themed cook book. Assignments are much the same way: homework that may otherwise be deemed as “busy work” is more likely to be enjoyable when the purpose behind it is well contrived and clearly articulated to the students. Dr. Kaishan Kong, department of Languages, speaks to this technique (among others) in her project associated with CETL’s group “Successful Teaching Practice:”

"The project was to create a collaborative video for the final summative assessment in the Beginning Chinese course. The purpose was to engage students to use Chinese language in a context, encourage negotiation strategies and enhance their collaborative skills. The techniques I applied from the CETL Successful Teaching Practice workshops included:

-Giving clear rubrics and peer review.

-Grouping students with a purpose.

-Clear delivery of the group project purpose, rationale, process and expectations.

-Role play in class to prepare for the final project.

-Develop a process for the overall project: prepare, introduce, monitor and end."

Refocusing on purposeful learning, Kong cites that the students were much more receptive to the assignment when they knew the reason for it:

"I shared my rationale for the group work and clear expectations. Students understood that this project was an opportunity for them to apply what they have learned in a comprehensive way and to enhance their communicative skills, so they were very willing to do it."

She notes that it’s simply a matter of voicing what you are already doing:

"I always have students’ best interest in mind when preparing for my lessons, but making it explicit to the students was helpful to connect me with students. By sharing the rationale of this project, I made students understand the benefit of this activity and my intention. They trusted me more and were devoted to achieve learning."

In addition to this change, Kong also altered her project design in relation to group composition, classroom work time, and project segmentation:

• Grouping Students: "I grouped students based on their proficiency level and the dynamic that I have observed in class." 
• Work Time: "I designated some time in class for them to prepare for the project.  I observed group interactions and gave feedback. Students approached me with their questions and inquiries for confirmation and clarification. I also alerted students to the common pitfalls, from sentence patterns to uneven workload distribution."
• Segmentation: "I broke the project into several segments and was transparent with the points to each segment. I also gave each student a peer-review form to grade on their colleagues’ contribution to the team project."

She ends by referencing the significance CETL’s best practices had in her alterations she enacted not only to her project, but also for her course:

"It was an experiment of backward design for my course. When I had a list of expected outcomes for the final project, I moved backward to consider how I would design my teaching so students would be able to achieve these skills in order to demonstrate these skills in the project. In this way, instruction and assessment became more relevant to the final objectives."

Write up by Jon Pumper

Faculty Projects: Working with the Textbook

Professor: Andrew Sturtevant

Department: History

Name of Group: First Year Only Sections Community of Practice

I have never gathered the statistics, but I’m fairly certain the number of Americans who keep a history textbook on their night stand is fairly low. Textbooks don’t exactly make for “light reading,” and often act as the factual and financial falchion stuck in college students’ sides. But their importance for learning cannot be overlooked: in the history of pedagogy, the textbook has stood the test of time (in addition to recording it).  Dr. Andrew Sturtevant, Department of History, looked to re-emphasize the importance of the textbook in his FYO classroom, by providing strategies and techniques for students to implement as they dive into the dense waters of history:

“I hoped to help students read their textbooks more effectively. I’ve noticed that students are often overwhelmed by the reading and unable to pull out the importance and significance of the reading. I hoped that if I shared a little bit about how textbook chapters are arranged and what to look for then students would be less intimidated by the readings."

His project was to create a step-by-step instructional worksheet that provided students with advice on how to read the textbook. Sturtevant outlines it as follows:

• "[The worksheet] started by asking the students to 'pre-read’ the text, looking at the images and captions, titles and subtitles, and other signposts and then to determine from these what the subject of the chapter might be."
• "Next it encouraged students to identify the major points and arguments of the chapter by identifying annunciatory language and to think about how the details and evidence fit into this larger schema. I encouraged them to express this graphically with a thought-mapping diagram that had them identify the main idea, subordinate/supporting ideas, and then supporting evidence.  I hoped thereby to help students who find it difficult to tell 'what’s important' in the reading." 
• "Finally, the worksheet encouraged students to do a few minutes of reflection after reading to think about what the most important takeaways of the chapter was and compare it to larger course themes and other readings.  We then walked through the worksheet in class."

As is the case with most projects, Sturtevant found it difficult to fully assess the effect the worksheet had on his students. Interestingly enough, he noted that that there was actually less understanding of the course materials in his “worksheet” section compared to a "non-worksheet" section of the same course, though—as he points out—this could be due to any number of external issues. Despite the ambiguous results, Sturtevant deemed the project a worthwhile endeavor:

“I thought the experience was a useful one for me and the students alike. Although textbooks have a clear pattern and formula, this isn’t always apparent to students. Decoding and demystifying that pattern, I hope, makes the textbook less intimidating. For me, it’s useful to remind myself that things that are obvious to me now, and were obvious when I was a student, aren’t always so obvious to my students. I’m using the worksheet again in my regular section of the course this semester. If nothing else, it points to the importance I place on the readings and to the students’ learning.”

Write up by Jon Pumper

Faculty Projects – The Ever Ubiquitous Deadline

Professor: Patti See

Department:  Student Success Center: Developmental Education Courses

Name of Group: Successful Teaching Practices: Group Work

For those in the world who shudder, cringe, or tip over the nearest office printer upon hearing the word “deadline,” the rather morbid etymology of this everyday phrase may come as little surprise: originating from the American Civil War, a “dead line” was a literal line that prisoners of war were not allowed to cross, under penalty of death. This bleak association with the phrase carries well into the academic world, where every semester students (and faculty alike) struggle, sweat, and figuratively (or literally) bleed in order to meet the mountains of deadlines piled up on their respective desks.

But the contemporary deadline is not a form of purposeless torture: deadlines can be used to one’s advantage as a constructive form of organization, a way to stay on task. They can also become less intimidating if they are coupled with deadlines along the way: in this manner, an enormous project ceases to become one huge undertaking and instead a series of smaller, more manageable steps. An idea gathered from CETL’s group entitled “Successful Teaching Practices: Group Work,” Patti See, from the Student Success Center, anticipates this addition in her semester long documentary project:

"If I Knew Then What I Know Now: Advice for Next Semester’s GEN 201 Students” is a group final project to create a documentary of students’ experiences as they regain good standing.  They are to work in groups of three to five and include pictures, video, voice narration, music, etc. to create a video.  They also are to write a one page reflection on this project, explaining the group dynamics, members’ roles, what they’d do differently, and what they learned.

This past semester I realized that simply because students wrote down their plans they didn’t necessarily follow through. A number of students said that they didn’t actually START filming until the beginning of finals week (our final was on a Friday). This spring I intend to have two deadlines: one at midterm in which I ask students to turn in a short version of their advice documentary, and one during the final exam in which they turn in the completed one.  This also allows students to map their progress throughout the term, since the main goal of the course is to keep the students on track to regaining good standing. Students in GEN 201 really struggle with deadlines, and, as one of my Fall 2014 students pointed out, if I require them to get something done half way through the term, the final project is not as stressful."

She ends by briefly advocating the CETL group process:

"Though I had done group projects in my classes for years, I was able to tweak this semester-long project with much of the information learned in the CETL group.  At the end of the fall term, I also asked my students after they completed their projects what would have made this process work more smoothly.  They had excellent advice, which also supported what I’d learned in the CETL group."

Write up by Jon Pumper