Center for Teaching Excellence

Monthly Article Series - Beyond Boyer: SoTL in the context of interesting scholarly things

2009-11-01T18:27:39Z

This article is part of our Monthly Article Series. In this article, Bruce Henderson from Western Carolina University discusses the need for, and merit of, scholarship outside of typical disciplinary scholarship. You can access the article here.

Henderson, B. B. (2009). Beyond Boyer: SoTL in the context of interesting scholarly things. Insight...A Journal of Scholarly Teaching, volume 4. Retrieved October 30, 2009 from http://www.insightjournal.net/Volume4/BeyondBoyerSOTLInterestingScholarlyThings.pdf

Insight...A Journal of Scholarly Teaching is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visithttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/

New Faculty Resource Guide for Online Teaching

2009-11-01T15:34:09Z

The past few years have seen significant growth in the development of online learning in both K-12 and higher education settings. With an estimated four million college students taking at least one online course this year, and forty-four states (including Virginia) now having significant online programs in their K-12 systems, many university faculty are beginning to explore the use of online instruction in their programs and courses. In response to this growing trend and VCU faculty interest, the members of the CTE have developed the Online Teaching and Learning Resource Guide.

This resource guide is designed to help faculty who are seeking to transition their courses from a traditional face-to-face class to one delivered either partially or fully online. It reflects the foundation established in our White Paper from last May entitled "Building from Content to Community: [Re]Thinking the Transition to Online Teaching and Learning." Teaching and learning online is different from traditional forms of education, requiring new practices. This guide will help faculty members reconceptualize their instructional approaches for the online environment.

In "Getting Started", we explore how the web is changing education, what research suggests about online teaching and learning, and how to determine one's readiness to teach online, as well as students' readiness to learn online.

"Course Design" provides resources for translating goals and learning objectives specific to one's course into designs that work online. Specific attention is paid to customizing Blackboard to serve one's learning needs.

In "Teaching Practices," we explore how the role of faculty changes online, the dimension of social presence for both faculty and students, and principles of good practice to meet instructional needs.

"Managing Online Class" covers a variety of administrative areas, such as time management, online routines, icebreakers, academic integrity, accessibility, and support services such as libraries and help desks.

The "Teaching Online Toolbox" explores a wide variety of web-based tools to facilitate instruction, such as blogs, wikis, discussion boards, screencasts, podcasts, and social media. The intent of this section is to help one integrate the right technology that enhances instruction for one's specific discipline.

In "Online Assessment," we look at multiple ways in which student learning can be assessed, both formatively and summatively. Techniques such as concept mapping, active learning, journaling, and testing are covered, as well as specific support applications such as LON-CAPA, Respondus, and StudyMate.

The final section provides additional resources, such as journals and online teaching websites. Faculty can also request additional consultation via a convenient online form in this section.

In this resource guide, we have assembled research-based resources and background articles on each topic, as well as "how-to" processes and best practices covering a range of topics. We hope that the resource can provide VCU faculty with a solid starting point for thinking through the challenges and possibilities of online teaching and learning.

Monthly Article Series - What is technological pedagogical content knowledge?

2009-10-01T14:09:22Z

This article is part of the CTE's Monthly article series. In this article, the authors Matthew Koehler and Punya Mishra, from Michigan State University, introduce the concept of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK). Building on Lee Shulman's original notion, they offer a framework to guide the integration of technology in teaching.

You can access the article here.

CTE Small Grants Program

2009-09-28T10:00:00Z

The Center for Teaching Excellence's Small Grants Program is currently accepting applications. The purpose of this Small Grants Program is to supply the faculty with necessary resources to support their own development as a learning-centered teacher. Especially encouraged are proposals that can demonstrate how the funding will be used to grow a larger project. Applications are due October 30, 2009. For information and to apply, visit here.

CTE Workshops and Brown Bag Luncheons for October

2009-09-23T17:31:29Z

The CTE is offering 14 workshops and 5 brown bag sessions during October. Workshops are an opportunity for faculty to both explore topics and share practices across disciplines. Our Friday Brown Bags provide an opportunity for a more informal conversation to take place between faculty on subjects of topical interest.

Read more below about our October workshops in the areas of Learning-Centered Teaching, Enhancing Teaching with Technology, and Teaching with Blackboard, as well as our upcoming Brown Bags.

For more information and registration, check out our CTE Workshop Calendar.

]]>

LEARNING-CENTERED TEACHING

Developing a Teaching Philosophy
This workshop will help you create a teaching philosophy from scratch, or to rewrite your existing philosophy. The focus will help participants explore the explicit and implicit messages behind their philosophies.
Date/Time/Location: 10/2 9 - 10:30am, Harris Hall 5182

Developing a Teaching Portfolio
It is never too early to begin a teaching portfolio. In addition to exploring the functions of a teaching portfolio, participants will learn about the portfolio content, development and organizational strategies.
Date/Time/Location: 10/2 11am - 12 noon, Harris Hall 5182

Developing a Learning-Centered Syllabus--Contract to Roadmap
This workshop will help you (re)write your course syllabi in such a way that you engage and motivate more of your students - including non-majors, while maintaining the contractual nature of the document.
Date/Time/Location: 10/2 1 - 3 pm, Harris Hall 5182

Exploring Learning-Centered Teaching: A Framework for Self-Evaluation
This workshop will introduce faculty to a learning-centered rubric that can be used to assess one's own course and can provide faculty with realistic steps for integrating L-C techniques into their course(s).
Date/Time/Location: 10/7 1 - 3pm, Harris Hall 5182

Improving the Effectiveness of Your Lectures
Over the last few years we have witnessed a sometimes vociferous debate between the lecture bashers and the avid lecture defenders. Unfortunately, not much has emerged form these conversations that informs our work in the classroom. From our perspective, it is not about lecturing for the sake of lecturing, nor is it about euthanizing the lecture. Rather, there is a time, a place, and a reason to lecture. Participants in this workshop will explore the contexts in which the lecture can be most effective.
Date/Time/Location: 10/27 9 - 11am, Harris Hall 5182

TEACHING WITH BLACKBOARD

Developing ePortfolios
Participants will gain an introductory overview of the portfolio tool and create a sample portfolio.
Date/Time/Location: 10/7 9 - 11am, Cabell Library 320

Getting Started with Blackboard
Learn how to customize Blackboard to create an online learning space that enhances your class and facilitates student learning.
Date/Time/Location: 10/13 9 - 11am, Cabell Library 320

Exploring Web Based Communications
Learn about communication tools in Blackboard and on the web that facilitate connecting with your students and promoting student engagement.
Date/Time/Location: 10/26 1 - 3pm, Cabell Library 320

Assignment and Gradebook Management in Blackboard
Learn how to more effectively distribute assignments, collect student work, and provide feedback back to students once graded.
Date/Time/Location: 10/29 1 - 3pm, Cabell Library 320

ENHANCING TEACHING WITH TECHNOLOGY

Using Wikis in Education
Wikis are openly editable websites, and their use has opened the door to new opportunities for collaboration and user-generated content on the web. This session will introduce participants to the educational use of wikis, and examine key questions and challenges faced in successfully implementing them into coursework. Faculty participants will brainstorm potential uses in their own courses and gain hands-on experience setting up and using freely available wiki tools on the web.
Date/Time/Location: 10/8 10am - 12 noon, Cabell Library 320

Exploring Social Media for Teaching and Learning
The web has become a very different place than it was just a few years ago. Blogs, wikis, podcasts, instant messaging, social networking sites, and video / image sharing sites have transformed the web into a space that is social and participatory. Through demonstration of a variety of social media practices and discussion of key questions, this session will ask participants to consider how the social web may be impacting education and the implications it may have for practice.
Date/Time/Location: 10/13 1 - 3pm, Harris Hall 5182

Making Thinking Visible: Using Concept Mapping for Instructional Planning and Teaching
Have you wondered if your students really understand what you've been teaching? Do you think they "get it?" Do they think they get it? Concept mapping is a tool that can help both you and your students realize what they do and do not understand. It can be used as a teaching and evaluation tool, and a way for you to develop your course. This workshop will introduce you to this learner-centered technique and how concept maps can be used, created, and assessed.
Date/Time/Location: 10/14 9am - 11am, Cabell Library 320

Critical Thinking on the Internet
The critical reasoning skills that we developed in dealing with print-based media do not always readily transfer to the digital realm. How do you determine the author or owner of a web-site? What tools and practices help us to evaluate the authority of information on a web site? If content on the web is not static, how can the history and development of a web site be examined? This session is designed to address these questions and introduce tools and practices that can make us - and our students - more savvy users of the Internet.
Date/Time/Location: 10/19 1 - 2:30 pm, Cabell Library 320

Exploring Digital Storytelling: An Overview of the Process
Digital storytelling (DST) uses new digital tools to help ordinary people tell their own `true stories` in a compelling and emotionally engaging form. This session provides an overview of a process for creating your own digital stories and encourages faculty to explore how DST might work in their discipline/content area.
Date/Time/Location: 10/21 9 - 11am, Harris Hall 5182

BROWN BAG LUNCHES - Harris Hall 5182

Exploring Open Courseware: Issues and Questions
OpenCourseWare is a term applied to course materials created by universities and shared freely with the world via the internet. Current examples include the MIT OpenCourseWare Project, Open Yale Courses, iTunesU and course videos on university YouTube channels. How are open access course materials impacting traditional notions of education? What advantages / disadvantages are presented by an open education model? Please join us to discuss these and other questions.
Date: Friday, October 2

Rethinking How We Teach Science
Content? Understanding? Facts? Application? How do you teach in a discipline that places equal value on facts and the application of those facts? Join us and share your
experiences in teaching science for understanding and application.
Date: Friday, October 29

Twitter: Does It Have A Place In Education?
Twitter is an increasingly popular social networking / communication tool which allows users to post brief (up to 140 characters) messages. It has begun to gain appeal in a
range of contexts including politics, journalism, business and education. This session will feature a panel of VCU faculty and staff who will share their varied uses of Twitter. Join us to participate in conversation about the possible advantages and disadvantages of using Twitter in education.
Date: Friday, October 16,

Scholarly Teaching
How do you make decisions about course design and/or revision? How do you make decisions about your own professional development? Join us for a conversation about what's worked and what hasn't. Together, we can learn to make more informed decisions about course design, pedagogy, teaching / learning styles and context.
Date: Friday, October 23

What Is Online Learning?
What is online learning? How does this differ from learning online? How is teaching being re-conceptualized as a result? With an estimated four million college students taking at least one online course this year, and forty-four states (including Virginia) now having significant online programs in their K-12 systems these questions beg fresh consideration for higher education. This brown bag session invites faculty members to discuss the current impact of the web on their courses, share ideas for online program development, and consider possible advantages and disadvantages afforded by teaching and learning online.
Date: Friday, October 30

Monthly Article Series - The Mindset List

2009-09-08T14:23:01Z

This article is a part of our "Monthly Article Series." Each fall, Beloit College publishes a "Mindset List" which helps us identify the worldview of the entering freshman class. The creators of this list, Beloit's Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Emeritus Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, remind us of rapidly changing cultural references for our current generation (http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2013.php).

This year's "Mindset List" can be found here.

CTE Brown Bag Lunch Series for Fall 2009

2009-08-25T18:39:12Z

The CTE hosts Brown Bag Lunches every Friday from 12-1:30pm in room 5182, Grace Harris Hall. These informal sessions are designed to generate discussion around topics of interest to faculty across VCU. You are invited to bring your lunch and join your colleagues in exploring a variety of topics.

Registration for specific brown bag lunches can be done at http://tinyurl.com/ksx2eb

The Fall 2009 series includes:

]]> September 2009
EDUCAUSE Top Learning and Teaching Challenges
The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Top Teaching and Learning Challenges Project is a higher education community effort designed to identify issues related to teaching and learning with technology, and to assemble resources that can help to address them. This session will engage participants in a discussion of these key challenges, and consider ways VCU might respond to them.
Date: Friday, September 4

Facilitating Difficult Dialogues
Have you ever left a class period thinking, "that discussion didn't go very well." or "Wow, if only I could get my colleagues to have such an enlightened conversation?" Have you ever avoided difficult but important discussions because you were afraid that you wouldn't be able to manage the discussion? Come and join us as we talk about our trials, tribulations, and triumphs.
Date: Friday, September 11

New Opportunities for Presenting and Visualizing Information
The visual presentation of information drives much of the activity in educational settings. For better or worse, slideware tools like PowerPoint, are often the dominant format for presentations. This brown bag session will invite faculty members to share their best practices and worst nightmares for delivering presentations. Participants will also be introduced to some new web-based presentation tools, and asked to consider ways these tools might impact teaching practice and engage learners.
Date: Friday, September 18

Learning-Centered Teaching at VCU:Reflections and Ruminations
Now that many of us have integrated some aspect of learning centered teaching into our practice, what changes have we experienced in our teaching, in our students' learning, or are we just losing our time, minds and sleep? Join us as we reflect on the past couple of years at VCU.
Date: Friday, September 25

October 2009
Exploring Open Courseware: Issues and Questions
OpenCourseWare is a term applied to course materials created by universities and shared freely with the world via the internet. Current examples include the MIT OpenCourseWare Project, Open Yale Courses, iTunesU and course videos on university YouTube channels. How are open access course materials impacting traditional notions of education? What advantages / disadvantages are presented by an
open education model? Please join us to discuss these and other questions.
Date: Friday, October 2

Rethinking How We Teach Science
Content? Understanding? Facts? Application? How do you teach in a discipline that places equal value on facts and the application of those facts? Join us and share your experiences in teaching science for understanding and application.
Date: Friday, October 9

Twitter: Does It Have A Place In Education?
Twitter is an increasingly popular social networking / communication tool which allows users to post brief (up to 140 characters) messages. It has begun to gain appeal in a range of contexts including politics, journalism, business and education. This session will feature a panel of VCU faculty and staff who will share their varied uses of Twitter. Join us to participate in conversation about the possible advantages and disadvantages of using Twitter in education.
Date: Friday, October 16

November 2009
Classroom Impression Management
You know you are a great teacher. Why aren't your student evaluations showing it? Might it be the impression you've left on your students or what they've read on that famous professor-rating website? Join us and share your experiences in how you've managed your classroom and created a positive attitude toward you and your subject.
Date: Friday, November 6

Smartphones in Education
A recent study by Pew Internet noted the continued rise in use of Smartphones to access the internet for information (nearly 40% of cell phone users access the web with a phone). The implications of mobile computing practices for education are only just beginning to be understood. Join us for this session as several VCU faculty members share their experiences using smartphones in their teaching.
Date: Friday, November 13

Improvisational Teaching
What do you do when your lesson plan flops? How can you take advantage of "teaching moments" when they arise serendipitously? What do you do when your backup plan doesn't work? We think you'd agree that there is both an art and a science to teaching and learning. Join us and share your best improvisational teaching moments so that we can learn from each other.
Date: Friday, Nov. 20

December 2009
Blackboard: The Next Generation
There is little doubt that learning management systems (LMS), like Blackboard, provide a convenient and consistent means to support web-based delivery of courses. Indeed, with an estimated 80% market share, Blackboard has become a default expectation on many college and university campuses. With its Project Next Generation upgrade, Blackboard heralds the integration of many web 2.0 features and a media rich course environment. What is the potential impact of these changes for faculty? Is there an implied pedagogy in LMS tools like Blackboard? Is the traditional LMS viewed as a learning space by faculty and students? Join us to engage with these and other questions about how the use of Blackboard shapes teaching and learning.
Date: Friday, December 4

Registration for specific brown bag lunches can be done at http://tinyurl.com/ksx2eb

Brown Bag Fall 09.pdf

Welcome New Faculty

2009-08-13T16:08:27Z

Welcome new faculty! The Center for Teaching Excellence has several programs and services geared just for you. You might be interested in our Mentorship Program and Small Grants Program. You might be interested in reading our New Faculty Resources Guide or attending one of our many workshops.

If you have questions about the CTE or our services, please contact us.

Featured Small Grant Reports: Enhancing Student Engagement and Critical Thinking During Chaplin Intern Orientation

2009-06-08T16:40:11Z

The CTE is highlighting some of the final reports from our Small Grant Program, 2007-2008. The Small Grant Program supports faculty in their efforts to improve teaching; reports from the participants are due in August, at the conclusion of the grant cycle.

This report comes from Alexander Tartaglia and Diane Dodd-McCue in the Patient Counseling Program in the School of Allied Health Professions. The primary objective of the project was to revise the Chaplin Intern orientation process and align it with the experience-based, action-reflection method already employed within the Program in Patient Counseling.

You can read the full report here.

CTE White Paper on Online Teaching and Learning

2009-05-18T19:47:19Z

The delivery of courses online is nearly as old as the web itself, but as with any innovation, some faculty members have been early adopters while others have watched the development with both interest and skepticism. As publishing and managing content on the web has become easier, and as the delivery of online courses has become increasingly more popular, more faculty members have begun exploring ways to offer their courses online.

There is a common perspective that moving a course online is primarily about designing and sequencing course content. While content is important, we also believe that recent changes on the web - toward a more social and interconnected space - have necessitated the rethinking of what it means to make the transition to online teaching and learning. The unprecedented access to information coupled with the ability by anyone to publish online are disrupting how one teaches and learns, raising questions in the minds of faculty as to whether their own practices should change.

The CTE has authored a white paper, Building from Content to Community: [Re]Thinking the Transition to Online Teaching and Learning, that is intended to serve as a resource for faculty who are teaching online or are considering making a transition. We hope this paper serves as the starting point for conversation, and invite you to share your ideas by leaving a comment.

The paper is linked here. White Paper Online VCU (May 2009).pdf

We look forward to continuing the conversation.

Teaching and Learning with Technology: Perspectives from VCU Faculty Members

2009-04-21T19:42:24Z

This episode of the CTE's Teaching and Learning podcast series features a conversation among VCU faculty members Jose Alcaine, Terry Carter, Jen Darragh, John Kneebone, Betsy Nance, Audrey Short and Ruth Westervelt, all of whom were participants in the 2008 Teaching and Learning with Technology Institute. During the discussion they reflect on their experiences using technology in their teaching over the past year, share their views about challenges and successes and offer insights about how their practice continues to evolve as they think about the impact of technology on learning.

The conversation will certainly be of interest to others who are thinking about the meaningful use of technology in education. The episode closes with some particularly relevant comments about why today's faculty members - now more than ever - should seek to enhance learning and engage students through the use of technology.

Show Notes
CTE Teaching and Learning with Technology Institute

You can listen to or download the episode below:

Download file

TeachTechReflect.mp3

CTE Teaching and Learning Podcast - Writing in Open Spaces: Reflections on Blogging in the Classroom

2009-04-15T21:23:26Z

Although much has been discussed and written about the educational use of blogs it remains a topic of interest. Many thoughtful educators continue to explore how writing blogs can be used to support learning, engage students with authentic audiences, and build community in the classroom. Complex pedagogical issues emerge when faculty and students invite dialogue in the blogosphere.

In this episode we explore the perspectives of VCU faculty members, Bonnie Orzolek and Liz Canfield, who have been integrating blogging into their Focused Inquiry courses for the past several years. During the conversation they discuss how blogging supports important learning outcomes in their courses, and also share key insights about how students grow as writers and thinkers in the process. We hope you'll participate in the conversation by sharing your comments.

You can listen to or download the episode below:

Download file
WritingInOpenSpaces.mp3

Featured Small Grant Reports: Visualization and Computation for 21st Century Junior Engineers

2009-04-09T19:25:56Z

This report comes from Amy Throckmorton in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering. This study broadly sought to motivate junior engineers to nurture their intellectual curiosity, to be professionals, and to ultimately attain rewarding careers in engineering.

You can find her report here.

CTE Teaching and Learning Podcast - Facebook: To Friend or Not to Friend?

2009-04-02T18:32:32Z

As students continue to use Facebook to connect and communicate in increasing numbers, it has also become common for faculty members to consider the use of this social networking site to facilitate interaction in educational contexts. One of the perennial questions that arises is whether faculty should accept Facebook "friend requests" from students.

In this episode, we are joined by VCU faculty members Mike Abelson, Melissa Johnson and Stephanie Rizzi who share their experiences with using Facebook and offer their perspectives on the pros and cons of "friending" students. In the course of the discussion they address some of the complexities of faculty members having online social identities, point out some uses that have supported some community building among their colleagues, and offer some meaningful advice to faculty who are new users or who are considering the use of Facebook.

We invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your comments.

You can listen to or download the episode below:

Facebook2Friend.mp3

May 2009 CTE Summer Institute on Teaching and Learning

2009-03-24T14:28:02Z

We are pleased to announce the May 2009 CTE Summer Institute on Teaching and Learning is now accepting applications. This is one of two institutes offered each summer that offers a unique faculty development opportunity (Watch for information on the June Teaching and Learning with Technology Institute - coming soon). Both institutes fill up quickly each year. This Institute combines a blend of interactive presentations, thoughtful conversations, and meaningful group work. Faculty participants emerge with a more sophisticated understanding of the teaching and learning process, a renewed sense of purpose, a lot of good ideas, and access to a considerable range of educational resources--not the least of which is 19 of your colleagues who share your commitment to high quality teaching.

Please click on the link below to read more about the May Institute and to download the application. Applications will be accepted through Wednesday, May 6 by 4pm.
Applications can be mailed, emailed, or faxed (827-1393)

For questions, please contact Zachary Goodell (zggoodel@vcu.edu) or 827-0562.

http://www.vcu.edu/cte/workshops/teaching_learning/index.htm