Teaching Excellence Workshop

1. Teaching Excellence Workshop Geoffrey Gamble, President Joseph Fedock, Provost Gregory Young, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Marvin Lansverk, Chair, Faculty Council Jeff Adams, AVP Lynn Owens, HHD

2. Our Goals for the Workshop • Highlight the characteristics of good teaching • Introduce various instructional and assessment strategies to improve student learning • Help you prepare for next week! • Introduction to P&T and Sponsored Programs/Technology Transfer • Share some wisdom from senior faculty

3. Academic Advising Workshop forNew Faculty • Details to be announced (but will certainly involve food) • Agenda: • What advising at MSU looks like • Questions advisors should ask • CORE 2.0 • Tips for effective advising • Advising resources across campus • How the Academic Advising Center and departmental advising work together • Sponsored by the Academic Advising Center (University Studies) and the Teaching/Learning Committee • Look for an e-mail announcement

4. What is your level of teaching experience? • I could probably run this workshop. • I have as much experience as many associate professors. • I have limited experience as the primary instructor. • My only teaching has been in labs or recitations. • I have no experience.

5. Introductions • Name • Where are you from? • What department are you in? • What is your research area? • Describe the courses you will be teaching this year.

6. It is now 9:45

7. What is your comfort level about your teaching assignment(s) this year? • Terrified • Totally Compfortable

8. Observing Teaching • Questions to think about while watching: • the strengths and weaknesses of the instruction • the amount of learning you think is occurring

9. Questions to think about: • Do you want to be remembered? • How do you want to be remembered? • Remember your best teacher: • What made them best for you? • Were they best for everyone? • Remember your worst teacher: • What made them the worst for you? • Were they the worst for everyone?

10. What Constitutes Good Teaching (Guide page 2)* • Sensitivity and Concern with Class Level and Progress • Preparation--Organization of the course • Knowledge of the Subject • Enthusiasm (for subject and teaching) • Clarity and Understandability • Availability and Helpfulness • Impartiality of Evaluation; Quality of Examinations (*summary of 31 studies from student and faculty perspectives)

11. What about Millennials?The five R’s of engagement: • Relevance • trying to solve problems they find intriguing, beautiful, or important • Rationale – they want to know why • Relaxed – they are less formal • Rapport – connect on personal level • Research-Based Methods – It is all about engagement.

12. 0 Coffee Break We’ll start promptly at 10:45 !!

13. 0 Active Learning in Your Classroom To lecture or not to lecture, that is the question.

14. 0 What is active learning? Characterized by: • students involved rather than listening • less emphasis on transmission more on skills

15. 0 What it isn’t

16. 0 What is active learning? Characterized by: • students involved rather than listening • less emphasis on transmission more on skills • emphasis on higher order thinking skills

17. 0 Taxonomy of Bloom Evaluation synthesis Teaching goal analysis application comprehension knowledge

18. 0 What is active learning? Characterized by: • students involved rather than listening • less emphasis on transmission more on skills • emphasis on higher order thinking skills • Students engaged in activities (e.g., writing, reading, discussing) • more emphasis on students’ exploration of their own attitudes and values

19. 0 Why we lecture • It’s the traditional model of higher education. • It’s what was done to us. • IT WORKED FOR (MOST OF) US! • “Give a faculty almost any kind of class in any subject, large or small, upper or lower division, and they will lecture.” -Blackburn, 1980

20. 0 Is lecturing evil? A lecture can: • motivate • model scholarly behavior • present current material • organize material to benefit a particular audience • effectively deliver large amounts of information

21. 0 Six Ways to Discourage Learning in the Lecture • Insufficient "Wait-Time" • The Rapid-Reward • The Programmed Answer • Non-Specific Feedback Questions ("Does anyone have any questions?) • Fixation at a Low-level of Questioning • The Condescending Response adapted from AAS Education: http://www.aas.org/education/publications/sixways.html

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26. 0 Why don’t they get it ?

27. 0 Bad news about lectures ... • Most students do not pay meaningful attention for 50 minutes without breaks. • Lectures can encourage students to try to “process information later.” • Lectures have been shown to result in very low levels of student retention. • Remember: Our students are not , for the most part, younger versions of us.

28. 0 Active Learning Taxonomy of AL Cooperative Small Group Learning CSGL Discussion Teaching goal Think-pair-share Problems/In-class writing Time for Questions Lecture

29. Our Mantra: It’s not what the teacher does that matters; it’s what the students do!

30. How do you know how it’s going? • End of semester student evaluation forms • Self-created teaching surveys • 1-5 scale or written answer • letter to chair • Video tape yourself • Peer observation • Self-created learning surveys • “one minute” or “muddiest point” papers • NOTE: If you ask students’ opinions, you must respond to it publicly.

31. Lunch is being served !!!Please sit with colleagues from your college. We will begin promptly at 1:00 pm!!

32. Designing an effective syllabus* • Where does your course fit? • general education course • first course in a sequence • required course for majors • advanced course with prerequisites • Who are your students? • What are your specific course goals? • How will you know if you meet your goals? • How can you use your syllabus to frame their expectations? *See Guide, page 21

33. See www.montana.edu/teachlearn Syllabus Checklist • course name and number • your name, office location, phone number, and e-mail • scheduled office hours • policies regarding your availability outside of office hours including e-mail response • Use of learning management system (D2L) or other e-resources • required purchases such as textbooks, rulers, and protractors

34. Syllabus Checklist • policy on using or having access to calculators, personal digital assistants (PDAs), Internet, and so on (required vs. optional) • detailed description of how grades are determined • descriptions and goals of assignments and tests • dates, times, and locations for all tests or other out-of-class requirements. • policy on missed classes or tests

35. Syllabus Checklist • detailed list of course goals and objectives • course calendar including exams, drop dates, and holidays • an explanation of how this course fits into students’ overall education and the specific university goals • firm statement on academic honesty (conduct code)